Mike70

I don't think there is anything special about Book Law. But this is probably the first super detail A3 to be produced in the LNER livery as it was in operation. There have been some versions of Flying Scotsman in LNER livery. But they were all in the preserved state. Also I think it is the first time this tender has been produced in LNER in apple green.

The valve looks a lot better.

You also make a valid point, it's horses for courses. If Hornby had just produced a basic rail road model and a super detail version with all the bells and whistles, they might have lost a lot of sales to people who don't want Rail Road, but are not willing to go above £120 mark. I think this has been suggested somewhere else, but maybe they need three versions of the model, Railroad, mid range and top of the range? I wonder how feasable that would be? Yesterday I had a look at the Wishlist Poll. The Turbomotive and the W1 were on the list. If Hornby do end up producing one of these loco's, I do hope they give it the full bells and whistles treatment. I also hope they return to Cock Of The North at some point and produce a new bells and whistles version.

Has it been confirmed by Locomotion that the LNER version is based on the operating condition rather than the preserved condition (with LNER livery)? I read the comment by gr.king on 30th July, which suggested it would be the operating condition. But I haven't seen a confirmation. Apologies if I've missed it.

It's not up to the standard of an A3 or an A4. But in fairness it is not the same price as an A3 or an A4 either. I'd have been happy paying a bit extra for more detail (valves), a better motor and tender pick ups.

The photo below suggests they were chrome/stainless steel. http://d240vprofozpi.cloudfront.net/locos/P/p2_cockothenorth.gif Maybe they were chrome/stainless steel ex-works, then painted green at a subsequent works visit. Mike70.

I've just been looking at Service Sheet 260C for the King Class loco. The King doesn't have a flywheel fitted to the X9108 motor. So why does the P2 need one? Sorry if it is a daft question. Mike.

I finally got my Cock out this afternoon. Gave it a quick run on the rolling road, while SWMBO went out shopping. I'd given some serious thought to upgrading to the TTS version. But after speaking to Rails on Saturday, it sounds like most of their allocation is sold out to pre-orders. For £99 plus postage, R3207 is pretty good. My only 'buts' are the plastic valve gear, 3 pole motor and lack of tender pick ups. I'd have been willing to pay a bit more for something approaching the standard of the A3/A4's. The posts about retro fitting 5 pole motors are interesting. But I'm not sure I've got the nerve to tackle it.

Has anyone experienced problems with the main range version R3207 over points and do you think it would benefit from the additional tender pick ups on R3246TTS? I still haven't opened my R3207. I'm still debating if I should try and get the R3246TTS. In a previous post, somebody mentioned that the space inside the loco is a bit tight for fitting a DCC chip. Having the chip located in the tender, seems to be another advantage of the TTS version. I bought my R3207 from Hattons for £99. Rails are advertising R3246TTS for £136. Assuming I could sell R3207 on EBay and cover my costs, an extra £37 for the TTS version seems reasonable.

Just had a dispatch note from Hattons for R3207. Looks like their second batch has arrived.

Anyone got there hands on a TTS DoG yet. Just curious if it's got tender pick ups or not. That might be a good indication if the P2 TTS has. My R3207 has not arrived yet and I'm thinking of switching to the TTS version.

Hhhmmm.... Food for thought.

I thought the main range version had tender pick ups?

I think that is the date they have been quoting (on their website) for some time now.

If you do a search on Google for R3207 ehattons and follow the link to R3207 to the Hattons website, you will notice that the Product Title is Class P2 2-8-2 2001 'Cock O' The North' in LNER livery . "Main range"version. Etched nameplates & enhanced livery - allocation sold out to pre-orders. I think this is what you are seeing on your Hattons account pre-order page, i.e.. it is just the product title and does not mean you have missed out. Earlier this afternoon Hattons told me that they had received a small batch of R3207, that has been dispatched to some people with pre-orders. They are expecting another delivery at some point but are unable to advise when. My pre-order hasn't been fulfilled by the initial batch, so I assume I will receive mine when the second batch arrives.

I've not heard anything yet either. Are you worried you are going to end up in the same boat as Hitler? I contacted Hattons on Thursday. But the person I spoke to couldn't tell me if my pre-order would be fullfilled this week. In fact I got the impression they were unsure if they would be getting any stock this week. Just out of interest, when did you place your pre-order? Mine was placed in May 2013.

Well I've just paid my deposit for the sound version. I normally go for steam locos, but I just couldn't resist this. When I was a kid I had the Hornby APT-P, but that is very basic by todays standards. I also think the APT-E looks more iconic than the APT-P. To run a full size APT-P (about 12 cars) would require a massive layout. But a full size APT-E is only 4 cars long. So you can run an authentic rake on a smaller layout. This thread and the Rapido web-site suggests that the level of detail is going to be quite high. So when you consider how much Hornby are charging for their InterCity 125, I don't think the price is bad at all. Mike.

I meant early in terms of the more recent delivery dates. If you look back though the thread, on the 23rd August Hattons were not expecting R3171 until 5th September. Then on the 27th August they were showing up in model shops.

I wonder if the main range version (R3207) will turn up early like the Railroad version??? I've scanned through some of the recent posts on this thread and I've not seen anything about square bearing housings. Is that what Hornby have used or was their a late modification?

Thinking about it, I've got a Bachmann Class 55 with separate etched nameplates. I didn't realise that the ones on the loco are printed. They actually look quite good.

Looking at the video, the nameplate does not look like something which has been attached seperatley. It looks like it has been printed on. Design clever?

On the Hornby website the main range version is £122.99 and the Railroad version for £82.99. So the price difference is £40. The price difference is reduced further, when you consider some retailers were selling the main range version for £99 and the Railroad version for £73, i.e. only £26 price difference. The Hattons website suggests that the main range version has etched name plates. But I'm not sure it that is still correct as there is no mention of that on the Hornby website.

That makes sense. But I wonder why they were worried about the apple green but not the silver grey on the original locos? Maybe the lighter colour is less likely to fade/discolour? In fact six months earlier the smoke box on 2003 Lord President, which was the first P2 with the A4 style smoke box, had been painted much like Golden Eagle. Are the crests etched plates or transfers?

Golden Eagle and Kingfisher got their green liveries at more or less the same time. Kingfisher left the works four days after Golden Eagle. You can understand LNER experimenting a little bit. But when you see the graceful parabolic curve of Golden Eagle lined up against the blunt finish of Kingfisher, what possessed them to paint 4 more locos like the later? Having said that, I think both models look fantastic and I would love to have one of each. Even if Kingfisher doesn't look as sleek as Golden Eagle, I'd like to have a model of the A4 in all it's various liveries. Hornby produced the Great Gathering and Great Goodbye locos in separate batches of 500 locos each. If they produced both the green locos in batches of 500, I'm sure they would sell. Just out of interest Mick, I've seen your model of 4490 on the LNER forum. Where did you get the crests from? Are they transfers or etched plates?

Even if the minimum order from Hornby is 1000, I can't see Locomotion losing out with this one. The biggest problem will be sourcing the locos from Hornby. Might be worth putting the preferred name and livery to a vote on the Locomotion website.