Robin Brasher

My number 1 Goods Shed has arrived remarkably quickly.  I ordered it on Friday 3 November and it arrived the following morning.  I bought it because it was similar to Corfe Castle Goods Shed.  I am very impressed with the model.  I built my model from Plastikard in the 1970s and I like the weight and feel of the Kernow version. I think it conveys the texture of a stone goods shed better than a plastic model.

Could this mean that it will be cheaper to buy TT models from the retailers rather than Hornby?

13:18 Tuesday 26 September 2023, 563 was in steam today and was on display by Swanage Goods Shed.

The picture at Toronto shows the T3 in Adams LSWR livery as in my model.  Now it is in Drummond LSWR livery.

563 is back on the Swanage Railway again. From the picture on Facebook it looks like it is on the Wareham side of the level crossing by Norden Station but it has not yet been reunited with its tender.

563 will be returning to steam from 21 - 29 October. Please see swanagerailway.co.uk. There will probably be testing runs before this and 563 will probably be on display on Saturday 14 October 2023 to coincide with the Swanage Railway AGM.

You can get an update on 563 from the Facebook site 'Swanage Railway Trust 563 Locomotive Group'. As far as I know the tender is now at Norden.

I have just received my EFE cross country set and I am delighted to have a ready to run set of LSWR coaches. The shade used for LSWR coach salmon seems a bit pink to me.  I wonder if EFE has used LSWR building stone rather than coach salmon.

A ready to run T3 hauling the new EFE LSWR cross country set shown in my picture would be an excellent combination. The T3 in the picture is a kit built model of 563. The livery and lettering are different to the preserved example. I think the model is in Urie's 1917 to 1922 livery whereas the T3 in the Swanage Railway seems to be in the Drummond passenger engine livery from 1895 to October 1917.

What manufacturers are planning to make is confidential but not what they are not planning to make.  For instance Simon Kohler told the Wimborne Railway Society that Hornby was not going to make a model of the Blue Pullman and Hornby has not made one. At present 563 is not on view as it is in Herston works to repair some minor damage it received in transit to Swanage.  

If a firm was to make a model of a T3 I wonder who would buy it.  There must be a limited number of people making models of the Swanage Railway or who are running an LSWR layout. Yet if people are going to buy the LSWR cross country set they are likely to buy a locomotive like the T3 to pull it. Not many people are modelling the Liverpool and Manchester Railway but lots of people have bought a model of the Rocket. Perhaps a model of a T3 would appeal to a wider audience but possibly a smaller number than those who bought a Blue Pullman.

On 03/09/2023 at 14:34, Graham_Muz said:

What the whole railway has enquired... A typical sales rep type  / non committal response that any manufacturer might give...

The Swanage Railway shop made the enquiry.

The Swanage Railway has made some enquiries to Dapol and Bachmann about making an 00 gauge model of 563. They said that there is not much demand for one and if they charged £350 no-one would buy it. This leaves the door open to other model railway manufacturers so it is an idea for the 00 Works. 

You will be pleased to read that 563 has arrived at Swanage and can be viewed from King George's playing field

On 11/08/2023 at 20:51, Iltman said:

I hope you don’t mind but if the date is correct then it wouldn’t be the cross country sets as modelled by EFE, they were built between 1908-12.  it could be one of the Suburban sets built around the turn of the century 

Thank you.  The date in the caption may be wrong but Adams Radial no 426 worked on the Swanage branch until just before May 1924. The coaches do look similar to the EFE cross country set.

Every time I log into RM Web I am getting a Threat Secured message from Avast Security as shown in the enclosed picture.

I wonder if admin is aware of this threat and is able to deal with it.

I have tried messaging admin only to be told that admin does not take messages.

Robin Brasher

On 04/08/2023 at 09:34, Ian Hargrave said:

 
The Adams Jubilee A12. But currently sold  out in LSWR livery. In 2019 they did the A10 but that’s long gone. Don’t think tank locos would somehow suit this set… but then that’s my preference . I’d be inclined to wait & see what just might be in the offing on this particular score….not that I have any knowledge of such. 

 

I have not got much knowledge of LSWR coaches but there is a picture of Adams Radial no. 426 with a rake of main line bogie stock at Challow Hill cutting  circa 1902 on page 103 of Swanage 125 Years of Railways by B. L, Jackson. To me the coaches look like an LSWR cross country set as modelled by EFE.

19 minutes ago, Nile said:

All that's needed now is a loco to pull them. Not many current RTR locos could be turned out in LSWR livery.

You can obtain a Hornby M7 and Adams Radial in LSWR livery on the second hand market. The T9s were rebuilt so the Hornby version in LSWR livery is a model as preserved. OO Works models are ready to run and they have made some locomotives in LSWR livery. 

Thank you for the information about the goods van.  For me the production of E8641 LSWR cross country 4-coach pack in LSWR salmon and brown is wonderful news. These will be much more useful for me than the four and six wheel coaches which were getting obsolete for my model of the Swanage Railway.  I already have the BR (ex LSWR) three coach pack that I was going to repaint in LSWR livery but I never got round to it. 

5 minutes ago, Dunsignalling said:

Using track coarser than many employ in OO rather spoils the effect, especially when wheels that run on Hornby Code 80 will work just as well on Peco Code 55.

 

That does make the trumpeting of a "correct" scale/gauge ratio look kinda irrelevant, doesn't it? Certainly, alongside Hornby OO equivalents, the A3 looks more comparable with the Railroad than main range versions.

 

I fully understand that some inspired by TT:120 have been really fired up by it, which is great for them, for  Hornby and for the hobby in general.

 

However, I still don't really "get" why anybody other than hardcore A3/A4 fans would currently go for TT:120 in preference to N which gets you even more into a given space and a massively wider choice of locomotives and rolling stock than Hornby will get anywhere near matching for a decade or two.

 

John    

The Hornby TT:120 A4s are better quality models than the Dapol N gauge A4 and the Hornby TT:120 A3s are better quality models than the Graham Farish A3 which attracts me to TT:120. 

What happens if they have sold out of 46257 City of Salford and you cannot get a replacement? It is not in this year's catalogue.

My BR Mk1 crimson and cream coaches have arrived to go with my cycling lion 'Silver King'  They are also suitable to run with 'Falcon'. Although they are Eastern region coaches they will not look out of place with 'Duchess of Montrose' and 'Sarum Castle'. Crimson and cream coaches also continued to run with British Railways late crest locomotives.

Hornby's subsidiary Corgi is now selling reproduction Dinky Toys produced by Norev through the Corgi Model Club so it has branched out to improve Hornby's financial situation. 

I had another go at getting my ticket from Wareham to East Cowes on the South Western Railway site and here is the result.

Two of the stations on South Western Railways list for closures: Corfe Castle and Lymington Pier, never had a South Western Railway ticket office in the first place. Despite this there are around 230 ticket offices on the list.

I did not know that I wanted an NE goods van to go with my BR Sillver King and two crimson and cream Mk1s until Hornby suggested it.

1 hour ago, Bilbo said:

I don't know if this has been mentioned but Cheltenham Models are now advertising themselves as TT:120 stockists. So with Gaugemaster already on board it looks as if it won't be all direct selling. I wonder if they have a invented a new TT Tier. And who will be next ?

 

It will be wonderful if Cheltenham Models sell TT:120 as they have a sales stand on the Swanage Railway near my flat on some of the railway's special event.  It would be better still if the Swanage Railway and other local shops became stockists.