County of Yorkshire

I popped into the show late on Saturday afternoon. I have to say that this was the friendliest show I’ve ever been to; almost all exhibitors were very generous with their time and advice! Outwell Village was probably my favourite. A real treat to see a sleepy East Anglian backwater on the eve of the Second World War. The track work was particularly well done in code 75, so much so that I struggled to believe it wasn’t EM! The scratch built buildings and the weathering of the stock was also very inspirational. I also thought Chester Road was a fine example of what you can do with a small baseboard, and the operator gave me some excellent advice on my own layout project. I enjoyed Settrington, as funnily enough I had passed the extant station site when driving up to Pickering that day! The attention to prototype detail was very well done, especially given it’s N scale. I appreciated Holly Bank Road and Lomond Street too. Many pictures were taken. Finally, a very reasonably priced refreshment kiosk made a nice change from some of the more expensive catering seen at ‘bigger’ shows. I’ll be sure to attend the summer show in August. Keep up the good work! CoY

I see Kernow have listed the fishbelly and 9ft American railmotor bogies as spares on their website. I think they include wheels and at £8 each seem like a bit of a bargain?

That’s helpful to know, thanks. Is it Railmatch or Phoenix Precision colours you’ve used there? My airbrush has been sat in its box since I bought it in the Modelzone closing down sale a decade ago! I’ve not mustered the courage to give it a go yet…

Hi Neal, I love the 70 footers! Sorry for missing this, but how did you paint them? Was it an airbrush or rattle can? Cheers, CoY

The Durham wheel slip was in October 1994 and it was repaired within 18 months, back in service 1996. She worked mainline again until 2001 and on the NYMR until 2002. Its also a Peppercorn designed Pacific, not a Thompson. Definitely good to see her back, though.

I would prefer opening doors and working brake gear and dynamos before detailed interiors.

Nice coaches! From top to bottom I think what you’ve got there is: - Collett C77 corridor third - Collett D127 brake third - Churchward (toplight) C30 corridor third - Collett C54 corridor third - Collett D84 brake third - Collett D94 brake third - Collett D95 brake third - Collett E127 corridor composite - Collett E128 brake composite - Collett E162 corridor composite - Hawksworth E165 corridor composite Suspect most will be either BSL or Comet metal kits. The toplight may well be a Slaters plastic kit. Cheers CoY

Which ones have you gone for Robin? I can’t decide between shirtbutton or overall brown. Need to actually see the livery samples first!

Picked up the Coral, Aero & Hydra wagon kits in 4mm from Brian at the Donny Exo. First thoughts are that the Coral & Aero kits are amongst the best 3d prints of railway rolling stock I’ve yet seen; I don’t think they’ll take much fettling. The crated propellers for the aero kit are particularly fine. I look forward to making them up.

Well it’s not Collett Sunshine coaches, as apparently they’re identical to Collett bow-ended coaches. That’s why Accurascale never produced the Manor, and why Hornby never produced the Grange, as they were identical to the Bachmann Hall and wouldn’t have sold. Oh, hang on… 😉

Au contraire…

A re-run of the Manors?

What a load of tut. Compare a Collett C77 ‘Sunshine’ corridor third with a Collett C54 ‘bow ended’ corridor third. They’re chalk and cheese, and would contrast well in model form; especially if the former had proper flush glazing. I think late-period Collett coaches are a massive gap in OO GWR RTR. An essential coach from the late 30s to the mid 60s, as well as the preservation scene. I’d buy at least a dozen.

Not a model railway bargain as such, but my local Lidl has these storage containers in stock. £1.99 (were £2.99) for a pack of four. They’re a perfect size to store kitbuilt wagons and the like - as modelled by my kitbuilt GWR Mink C! Works out at 50p each; I might go and get a few more.

Absolutely not; bargain bin fodder. As I’ve said in the announcements thread, imagine if this had’ve been a new-tool County with the newer Collett coaches in the 1945-1947 Hawksworth livery (which H have never done). I’d have bought at least a couple! I’m struggling to understand who this train pack is aimed at? Enthusiasts and time-served modellers are all hanging in for a new-tool County, whilst newer modellers and those who aren’t fussed about the fidelity of their models aren’t going to fork out £180 on a 40 year old loco tooling and a couple of (50?) year old coaches. You could probably buy the constituent parts of this train pack at a swap meet for about £75 or so. I genuinely think the 2024 range announcement is an admission from H that they’re no longer going to pursue the high-spec end of the market with new tooling. As such, there is zero chance we’ll see a new tool County or Saint from Hornby this decade. Thank goodness for our friends at Dapol, Accurascale and Rapido! CoY