Robin Brasher

Very interesting results. It looks like my S&DR goods train is going to have to manage without a brake van unless I build a kit. I am modelling the Swanage Railway. The U and Q classes would fit a significant gap in my motive power for the passenger service to Basingstoke and the goods service respectively. I have made some kits with varying degrees of success. I have got an Ace Trains 0 gauge coarse scale Q class with a number that ran on the Swanage Railway and this has been a huge success. It is one of those model engines that you can put 48 wagons behind and leave running all day. You don't need to be a rivet counter when you own something that has the weight and feel of a real engine because it is a real engine. If it has sold out in 0 gauge it should be a success in 00 gauge especially if it has a good motor and a metal body.

'Silver King' is a special locomotive for me so I am going to wait for it to appear together with some crimson and cream coaches. Meanwhile I look forward to seeing some pictures of the Easterner set.

I missed out on 'Duchess of Sutherland'. Then it appeared on the Swanage Railway that I am modelling. I bought a second hand 'Duchess of Sutherland' from a set. It was to the present specification with locomotive drive and in pristine condition. It is just as good as 'City of London' is likely to be when it comes out and I paid around £70 for it a couple of years ago so it is worth looking around for good quality second hand items whether you can afford new items or not.

Hornby Dublo made the bridge and the bridge extension is cut from a Hornby Dublo turntable. I don't know how wide the roadway is but the bridge is wide enough for a single track railway. I think the bridge is quite expensive. While many Hornby Dublo items are cheap now some of the rarer items are not.

You can get a lot of action in a small space in a Hornby Dublo layout and the locomotives, track, buildings and rolling stock seem to last forever. My Sir Nigel Gresley is coming up for 70 years old and still going strong without bits falling off. I cannot imagine life without a model railway.

I think that the R044 black point motor passing contact switch is the oldest item still on sale. The original R number was R44. It has been produced from 1955 onwards and originally cost 5 shillings and 10 pence. You can use it to calculate inflation. There was originally an R144 lever frame base to hold the lever frames in position so they could use a common return but this seems to have gone out of production.

I expect other manufacturers will make TT:120 items as there are gaps in the Hornby range. Other suppliers may may signals, turntables, level crossings, goods locomotives and goods rolling stock, scenic backgrounds and platforms.

I am now faced with a dilemma about ordering coaches. I am not sure whether to pre-order the Pullmans and risk Hornby sending them out one at a time and then charging postage or to wait until they come out and risk Hornby raising the price in 2023 by 10% or more.

The Scotsman is an attractive train set but I have held back from buying one because I wanted Pullmans with lights and the 'Flying Scotsman' and 'Silver King' and I did not want to get cluttered up with trains I eventually would not run. I am finding it a bit boring having a circle of track with nothing to run on it and a couple of buildings.

Glancing through the items that Hornby are selling at a discount I find it interesting to see if there are any common factors. Out of the Princess Royal class locomotives I find the BR green 'Queen Maud' less attractive than the maroon versions and less interesting than the Turbomotive. The original price seemed rather high and the discounted price seems reasonable. There seem to be a lot of brake vans, brake coaches and restaurant cars for sale. Some of these are essential or useful but there are only one or two in a train. In Hornby Dublo days the company used two brake coaches and one second class coach in a set although Margate Hornby favoured two composites and one brake coach or even no brake coaches in the sets with four wheel coaches. If you are good at predicting sales you can pre-order composite coaches and then wait until the end of the year to buy restaurant cars and brake coaches.

It looks like the TT range has been a huge success so far despite a few quality control issues. The Settle and Carlisle signal box is now out of stock so it seems to be the first item to sell out. The last few Scotsman sets are available. I decided not to buy the Scotsman sets as I am waiting for the 'Flying Scotsman' and the Pullmans with lights. Not many items available.

The Settle and Carlisle signal box is now out of stock. It seems to have been a huge success despite having the wrong number of window panes. Perhaps purchasers are less fussy about buying buildings than they are about locomotives and rolling stock.

Last few Scotsman sets left. Looks like the set has been a huge success. I have got no idea how many sets were made but it looks like it was at least 800 from reading the main TT:120 thread.

I am fairly interested in the Quasi-Hornby Dublo locomotives but I have not bought any yet. Hornby might bring out a 'Coronation' in the Hornby Dublo range to coincide with our new King's coronation. It reminds me of a Wrenn evening in the Sussex Vintage Model Collectors club. One of our members took a Wrenn 'Coronation' and it creaked and groaned and made it half way round the track. Someone suggested putting some oil on it. The owner said please don't as it will no longer be a mint model once it has been oiled.

It looks like a 1/76 scale version of R8853 Scaledale East Signal Box reduced to 1/120 scale so perhaps Hornby should have simply described it a Signal Box. I am planning to build a small fun railway like the old Hornby Dublo or Tri-ang layouts that I can take in one piece in my car so I am not to worried about accuracy. Having said that I would have thought it would be just as easy for Hornby to make an accurate model as an inaccurate one.

Thank you for the updates on delivery dates. The arrival of a couple of yard lengths of Peco TT:120 track has given me an opportunity to compare the Hornby and Peco track. I understand that the Peco track is an accurate representation of British track and the sleepers are wider and further apart. I have not been able to join the two makes of track. The Hornby track looked correct to me until I saw the Peco track so if Peco makes some set track I would be inclined to replace my Hornby track. In the picture the Hornby track is on top.

I was interested in the PECO GWR station as it is based on West Bay station on the Bridport branch and I travelled on the Bridport branch when it was about to close. Meanwhile you may be interested in my resin buildings on their boxes. The boxes are partly yellow which distinguishes them from the 00 products. I think Hornby also made these model buildings in N gauge. The boxes are works of art and the pictures are about full size. To protect the polystyrene inner packaging you have to open both ends of the boxes and push the models out: not pull them out like I did.

I hope that the supply of models to foreign countries gets sorted out. Meanwhile a friend soldered some connecting wires to a controller on my Hornby TT:120 track and I am pleased to report that we were able to run some old Tri-ang TT locomotives. One example was a kit built BR class 5MT on possibly a Tri-ang 'Windsor Castle' chassis with a Britannia tender. This ran very well.

I laid my Hornby TT:120 track on the tables at Furzebrook Village Hall today. The oval just fitted on a single table but I put it on two tables to avoid my non existent stock from falling on the floor. We are lucky that our tables fit flush against each other and don't have lips. I am looking forward to receiving more track and some locomotives and rolling stock.

A ballast spreader did not work for me on Peco 00 track. I ended up shaking the ballast from a tea spoon and then soaking the ballast with a mixture of PVA and water using a dropper from the chemist. It took ages but the end result was reasonable.

I wonder if the LNER and LMS locomotives will share a common chassis. If they do it will make repairs and replacements easy.

Hornby might produce 'Bristol Castle' as a Hornby Dublo locomotive as it is the 65th anniversary of when it was first made. It was an excellent model with a new type of motor and brass safety valve covers and copper topped chimney. Its brown and cream coaches brought added colour to a Hornby Dublo layout.

I am wondering if it is worth pre-ordering the Hornby TT:120 items now in case Hornby puts up the prices in January.

Apart from the 'Scotsman' set the resin buildings and track are the first items to arrive in the Hornby TT:120 range. Having scratch built some buildings myself I am impressed with the amount of detail in the buildings. I think resin captures the weight and appearance of stone and slate tiles very well. I think that TT:120 is more manageable than 00 gauge for a portable layout that can be taken in a small hatchback to model railway clubs and exhibitions on a single baseboard. Dent station is a good choice because a wide variety of trains have passed through the station and I think some of the Peco scenic backgrounds will suit the location.

You can start your own thread. I think it is a good idea.