County of Yorkshire

The final 'handed' coaches built by the GWR (and I think in the UK for that matter) were in fact the Centenary stock of 1935, with the BTK's handed. All else built after this was built right handed (brake comp on the right when viewed from corridor side). . CoY

The italic text in my post was copied and pasted verbatim from today's Engine Shed entry around 1 minute before the time of my post (13:42). The entry has quite clearly been edited; whether my comment prompted this edit we'll never know... CoY

Erm... "We also recently received all six of the BR 63’ Hawksworth carriages. While perhaps not stealing the headlines like the J36 and Lord Nelson, these models have been reintroduced after a break in the range, which we hope is good news for many of you. It’s also the first time they’ve appeared in Crimson and Cream, which was reason enough to show them off to you here in The Engine Shed." That's not correct though - is it? CoY

The GWR station building has now landed, with images up on Hattons. Is it me, or does the roof look to be of a lower pitch from the pre-production images? I do like the look of this, but surely the lack of chimney is a major clanger? How easy would they be to fit separately? CoY

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Given that you can pick up any of the GWR liveried Kings for around seventy - ninety notes depending on version, and add some HMRS/Fox/Modelmaster transfers of choice, and add some matt black under the running plate, which mug is going to pay £160 plus for this? The fabled 'R Number' collectors? In fact, I think - I forget exactly where - at one point you could get 'The Bristolian' train pack for around £130, which with the three Colletts coming in at (say) £30 a piece, you were getting a King in shirtbutton livery for £40! CoY

I) They've been de-accessioned to make space for some coffee vending machines. (Mallard next up to go; it's being replaced by a Pizza Bistro by the turntable, whilst a cocktail bar is being fitted inside the Dynamometer Car).

Lime Street on a Sunday afternoon... Other layouts tomorrow, I've a very, very early morning ahead of me... CoY

Yes, that's a bow-ended C54 C60/C62 (inset door handles - not commode handles as the C54 had) third in what has to be wartime brown, with an LMS corridor third (?) behind it. The coach behind the King isn't a centenary, it's a D124 brake third of 1937 with its end door open. Cheers, CoY

I've just ordered about 40-years worth of 4mm GWR transfers from Modelmaster, given that they may be totally unobtainable a year from now. Echoing Guy's post above, I am trying to summon the bravery to order about £1,500 of kits from David Geen before his retirement, which will be a selection of my (anticipated) future modelling needs. With RTR, even second hand prices are rising inexorably, and so it makes sense to get what you need now, even if it has to go into storage for a decade or so. I snapped up a Hornby Star, 52XX and three Colletts in BR livery from the silly-cheap Hawkin's Bazaar fire sales of 2014/2015, and whilst I haven't touched them since, I know I will need them at some point in the future of my modelling project. CoY

I completely forget that Lime Street was going to be there until I arrived, and I can't remember the last time my jaw quite physically dropped. Will concur with others and say that Sidmouth was delightful - I could have stood at the Station end of the layout looking up the line all day, with a comfy seat, a flask of tea and some sarnies! Lime Street, as you can tell, blew me away. Seeing images online whets the appetite but seeing it in the flesh is something else. What isn't given away by online images is that the general hubbub of the operation is enthralling in itself - the operators out front of the layout are almost an extension of the crowds waiting to cross the road outside the grand hotel, and the clusters of people in dialogue atop the bridges of the approach cutting... Much Murkle was worth the wait to finally see it; there were a few running issues whilst I was there, but Nick's operator team kept engaging with the punters. I got some excellent pictures for future modelling inspiration, particularly of the station, goods shed and the signal box. I was bitterly disappointed to learn that Nick is not a cider drinker, though... Impressed by The Bridge; even in T gauge it was an imposing piece of modelling, made all the more impressive by the fact that it's all the work of one man. N gauge and Modern Image are not really of interest to me, but most of them were always thronged by crowds, which was good to see. Trade support was very comprehensive, and I picked up some pieces that have proved very elusive over the last year or so, including some GWR Toad allocation transfers by Old Time Workshop sold by H&A (?) models, and three PC models unbuilt GWR toplight kits for a bargain £27, which come with cast ends, rooves and fishbelly (rare!) & American bogies. The gaudy pre-printed sides will be discarded and Worsley Works brass coach sides will be substituted in their place... That said there was a lot of box-shifters in attendance, all selling the latest Hornbach locos at very similar prices, and they did look as though they hadn't shifted many. How many Hornby Castle's do you need when faced with £130 for the latest release, when good (near-mint) second hand examples can be had for £70 - £100? Telling that the busiest trade stand was the 'Anoraks Anonymous' second hand dealer; I'd never seen so many gannets under one roof before! Had a catch up with Paul Isles from Hornby after his titbit at the self and same show last year re: the expansion of existing pre-nationalisation coach ranges. I thanked him for this coming to pass in the from of the Maunsell Kitchen Car, and beseeched him not to forget about the railway company points West. He wouldn't be drawn on anything else though... Also good to meet Andy Y again whilst putting the world to rights with Paul and I on all matters re: size of the OO market, manufacturing costs, and the most popular region(s) to model. I might put some pictures up later. CoY

Hornby's Paul Isles thinks that all GWR locos look the same. I asked him to take the comment back but he wouldn't. CoY

BOGIES!

A British Model Railway web forum?

A few images of the sole surviving Thompson TK restored by the LNERCA on the NYMR. Look at the difference between the ersatz teak and the real thing in the third image - a mirage in vividness! Cheers, CoY

These images taken at Moorgates on the NYMR are perhaps of interest to show a mixed 8 coach rake of genuine teak vehicles both worn-in and recently outshopped, and the Thompson in ersatz teak. Cheers, CoY

The railgun strikes me as either someone having a bit too much time on their hands and not enough supervision in Oxford Rail's R&D department, or a statement from Oxford that they are very much going to pursue the 'toy' end of the OO gauge model rail market. I felt the motorail wagons a bit gimmicky with 'play value', and the announced Dean Goods with snow plough (where's the snow in 4mm scale?) is one of those silly but dead-end concepts, and this is definitely another step in that direction. I mean, how many railguns are people going to buy? What is the R&D and tooling costs on this that couldn't have been better sunk into, say, a range of 'Big 4' open or van wagons, or perhaps some GWR non-corridor stock, or LMS Period 1 or 2 stock; things that would sell in big quantities over many years in a variety of liveries and numbers, thus bringing in a very nice ROI over the long term. Very odd. CoY

GWR Coaches; either Toplights or Collett non-corridors (bow ended or flat ended, I ain't bothered) would be very nice indeed, particularly if they were done to the same standards as the recently released MK3's. To mitigate the risk of design and tooling errors - which Oxford have form for - I would go for the flush sided mulitbar toplight, which saw the least alteration iirc, and I would offer a TK, CK , BTK, BCK and a BG. If they came in at the Mk3 prices (£29 at Hattons) I would but about 15 or so! I would bet a small mars bar that they would sell like the proverbial, erm, hot cakes.... CoY

And at £5 a throw from Kernow, it would be a crime not to snap one up - you can't buy the Cambrian kit for that. My maths using your number of parts above? £0.09 a part! CoY

I have four of the new Hornby Kings and would love to get more at current prices but I cannot justify it, as there were only ever 30 of the beasts in reality and there are only so many I can realistically expect to fit into my secondary main line (which is Rule 1 anyway given that they were restricted to London - Plymouth and London - Birmingham mainlines). I do however think that the advent of these silly-cheap Hornby Kings puts the bullet in the head of a DJ Models King release in OO now. CoY

I understand that the boat carrying these has very recently left/is very shortly to leave China. As such, they are taking full pre-order payment now to help with payment once they are landed. Like the Gate Stock, they are working through the pre-order lists to request payment in advance. If you wanted to call them to pay now they would welcome that - that is what I did last week because I also wanted to secure two of the bargain £5 Bachmann Shunters trucks! I was told that they will likely arrive and ready for distribution within a 'couple of months'. My guess would be late March into early April. CoY

My thoughts: a) The Southern - as with the Bachmann announcement yesterday - dominates. b) Prices are becoming difficult to stomach. c) The Maunsell Diner fits with what Paul Isles told me almost a year ago at the Donny show - that Hornby will expand it's existing coach ranges with complementing vehicles (I think this stands GWR, LMS and LNER diners in good stead). d) Probably the most fallow year yet for GWR & WR models - not even a wagon in GWR livery (sans the Horsebox three-pack, but that is, strictly speaking, NPCCS!). I did think that GWR non-corridors would be next on Hornby's coaching stock 'list' but perhaps that's now one for Dapol? e) It is not really an interest of mine, but it looks like Hornby have finished with the D&E field. CoY

Well then, not a sausage for the GWR modeller from either Barwell or Sandwich this year. However, the Maunsell Diner from Hornby gives me great hope for a future GWR diner! Looking at it, what's left to do to 21st century standards in terms of locos? Hawksworth County, Manor, 15xx and 16xx panniers and...? I did think we'd have got some GWR non-corridors from someone this year, or perhaps a retooled siphon or GWR wagon - perhaps an open or a ballast wagon.... My immediate take from both announcements over the last 48 hours is that a) the Southern has pre-dominated and b) prices are reaching breathtaking - literally - territory. For me, this will be the year of coach kit investments (Geen, Comet, Worsley) and Kernow's 1361, and that will be about it, unless a Danish 47xx hoves into view... CoY

Bullied Coaches! And also what looks like new tool 'Parrot' wagons.

Despite being a GWR man in the heart of Yorkshire(!), I do like LNER coaching stock, and you attention to detail and focus on this oft-overlooked component of model railways is to be admired. The complementary yet clashing nature of Gresley teak and Thompson steel sided stock has always appealed to me; so much so that I am a member of LNERCA! I believe that my great, great grandfather worked in the ECJS and later LNER carriage shops at York, where he was a skilled worker in the marquetry section. I do have some Hornby Gresley's (though I know of their deficiencies) and am very much looking forward to adding Bachmann's forthcoming ersatz teak Thompsons to my fleet in the near future - rule 1 needn't apply on my future layout however, as I will try to shoehorn in a inter-regional from the LNER onto the GWR; perhaps the Newcastle to Swansea or York to Bournemouth through train? Your images here are reflective of coaching stock variances within rakes on both the LMS and GWR systems (Southern with their fixed sets and 'uniform' nature of Maunsell coaching diagrams, less so), and this, for me, is too little modeled. The GWR were notorious for ragbag coach rakes and to be prototypical in my 1947 modelling period I need around eleven different styles of GWR stock and around three different coach lengths in the main! Keep up the good work. CoY