Forester

The SE 4-4-0s were such an important part of the railway scene their position in successive polls seems way below what might be expected and it is hard to see why this should be when other SE loco types have risen into view in the polls and been selected for production. I suspect the decision to split D from E has possibly distorted what otherwise has been a rise in interest in the types and would ask the team to re-consider this. I agree the L and L1s need to be separate but there is a split here between voters who think the L1 stands a greater chance because it was attempted by Triang, and those who think the L is a much more interesting design and would prefer that. Not much the Poll Team can do about that. Quite why all producers have ignored the outstanding and existing beauty of the NRM D class is totally beyond me. Anyway, thanks for reviewing this and exercising their proven judgement in these matters..

Unusually for a Pullman train the Bournemouth Belle was mainly Third Class. Cars 94, 95, 96, 97, 98 and 99 were specially converted from First to Third Class for it. From Chris's list: As single cars Hornby did Car No 98 as R4385 and Car No 97 as R4475. Also Car No 95 is available separately as Hornby R4477. Hornby have not done any more 12-wheelers for some time, sadly.

Pre 1950s ( I assume you mean from 1946 post-war to 1949) you need matchboard-sided Pullmans with early crest, mainly 12-wheelers. The Hornby Bournemouth Belle set R2819 and coach pack R4381, athough containing Britannia "Alfred the Great" from the early 1950s, is useful here as many Pullmans ran from the first post-war run in 1946 through the 1950s until replacement around 1960.. Among those are: Car No. 94 and Car No. 96 from the train pack and First Class Car Sunbeam, Car No.45 and Car No. 95 from the coach pack - all 12-wheelers. In fact the whole of these packs would not be wrong, apart from the loco, even if they did not necessarily run together pre-1950.

Remember the Two Ronnies' famous sketch ended with the words: "I know my place!" Ordinary folk tended to avoid First Class areas by choice, and not necessarily because they felt inferior. Indeed there was a kind of inverse snobbery which lead many people to try to be clearly seen as Not being First Class. My Dad, proud of being an ordinary guy, would dress always smartly with a collar and tie and a jacket when going out but would refuse point blank to wear a suit for any occasion let alone formal wear for, say, a wedding. He did this to show he was not some kind of "toff", which otherwise he could easily have passed for, having excellent social skills and manners. That was very common in those days. Edited to add: His stance was very much approved of and copied by family and friends of his generation. Less so by the following generation, who were not content with the social divide and challenged it - with results we all now see: a more equal society, and a very much toned down "First Class".

Why do we need another one?

WHY?

BR policy at the time the Britannias were built was black name plates, but Riddles did everything he could to promote his new pacifics so many were given red plates when new (typical transport boss - make up a policy for everyone except me !) David Clarke lists 70000/4/5/9/14/15/17/18/37/45/48/52/54 as having red plates at some time (several WR Brits there) and 70049 as having blue plates for a while. At the time I was spotting WR Britannias in the late 50s they had black plates.

Oh! Do catch up you Poll Guys!

Not only that, but after amusing themselves with the oddball they are more likely to sell it on quickly if it doesn't fit with their layouts, leading to an early supply of secondhand models and more resistance to purchase new.

The Hornby Schools class were always well ahead of their time. Even now the Super-detail Schools range struggles to persuade owners of the previous (now Railroad) models to upgrade.

The South Eastern has the same problem with its 4-4-0s that the Eastern had with its 0-6-0s a few years back, namely there are too many and no one type ever seems to come out on top. Slowly the D class has risen into view but still short of its true potential. Meanwhile the L and L1 drag each other down and the D1/E1 ensures neither gets anywhere. Disappointing.

Polished copper and brass fittings is just their latest obsession. A few years back it was Electrication flashes which they plastered over everything. Before that it was shiny silver valve gear and rods. How ever good their latest models, they never really got past being a toy-maker at heart.

Sad the LSWR fans are talking about all this exotica while the SER fans are still so desperately short of such critical items as a SE 4-4-0, any 4-4-0 !

Slip the thinnest blade you have behind the nameplate and ease the pegs out of the holes. If it won't come off take off the body and pare away the glue on the back of the pegs inside the body and the pegs will come out. To fit the Manston crest in the correct postion between the lining bands you will have to fill and paint the peg holes and glue the Manston nameplate higher, closer to the top lining, and paint over the "West Country" scroll. Not as easy as you might think to do a really professional job with different nameplate locations or WC/ BoB identity changes.

If you have another five years to spare....

As always with early wooden-bodied Pullmans which were constantly rebuilt, it depends how accurate you want to be. .Car 27: Available as Hornby R4430. 8-wheel. Correct conversion to Brake. Correct flush sides & late crest for 1960s. But - modelled with incorrect number of windows. Car 249: Not available. 8 wheel 30-seat third class kitchen, fairly similar in layout to Car 169 (below) which you might get away with renumbering. Car 169: Available from Hornby Bournemouth Belle Set R2300. 8-wheel. Correct flush sides & late crest. Good model (Hornby R4424 version has older matchboard sides.) Cecilia: Available from Hornby Golden Arrow Set R2369. 8-wheel. Correct layout. But - incorrect matchboard sides, early crest and Arrows glued to sides. Car 54: Available as Hornby R4166A. 8-wheel. Correct conversion to Brake. Correct flush sides and late crest for 1960s. But - incorrect number of windows.

Mmm... I have on average five or more extra loco bodies for every loco (as many as a dozen bodies in some cases), all with different names/numbers so I can do quick identity changes. They are smaller, lighter, cheaper, easier to store, easier to handle, less likely to get damaged, less likely to be dropped, more likely to survive mishandling than the equivalent number of complete locos. Not sure how to answer your poll, though.

Perhaps we need a thread where people can give their opinion, with reasons, whether any given model in the pipeline is likely to sell out. within six weeks. I just checked my last 12 new purchase locos bought at the usual discount, 15% or whatever. Surprisingly: Four sold out immediately and went on to command large premiums. Four remained in stock for many months and prices remained fairly constant Four crashed to big discounts from the price I paid within a few months (variously from three to twelve months). What to conclude from this? Well there is a nice symmetry here so I suppose the manufacturers did a reasonable job of pricing overall. I did predict three of the four winners but obviously got the four losers wrong, or I would have held off purchasing. On the basis of this, I conclude that I'm not particularly good at predicting the winners and losers. So back to Line One...

4706 looks great. But big black locos really highlight the substitution of maroon for proper a Carmine finish on the coaches.

Please No. It's not "kit built"! The rest of the sentence is what it is.

The first joy of eBay is that it has a "Completed Listings" box. Clicking on it reveals what sold (the price is in green) and what didn't. The second joy is that items can be relisted quickly and easily (and for many of those with a decent selling record, for free). The third joy is the facility to set a selling price but also invite Best Offers. The fourth joy is you can ask buyers to collect. Would anyone buy a 22 ft layout? The answer is yes, they have done in the past. That doesn't mean this one will sell but why not give it a try?

At least the steam test will allow time to dig for some more zinc chromate and grind the last of the titanium dioxide while the painter experiments with his palette knife to get the right shade for his next brush strokes. Perhaps a little bluer on the lower half of the boiler where it doesn't catch the light from the sky? Where's the lapis lazuli ...

The very first Hornby lighted Pullman Train Pack R2300 Bournemouth Belle with 35021 got it very nearly right for late crest early 1960s period : Rosemary (1P), Car 62( 2B), Car 169 (2K), with the accompanying Pullman Car Pack R4169 containing: Fingall (1K), Car 63 (2B) and Car 66 (2P) - all wooden 8-wheel K class Pullmans. Slight quibble with the position of the oval windows on Cars 62 & 63, otherwise excellent. You can still find these Hornby sets in near mint condition on eBay from time to time. This rake could be extended with other late crest wooden K class Pullmans from the Hornby range: Onyx, Octavia, Sappho (R4145A), Cars 58 (R4741), 61 (R4486), 65 (R4482), among others, all noted on the Bournemouth Belle in the '60-61 period. Later in the 1960s the wooden Bournemouth Belle Pullmans were mostly replaced by all-steel K class Pullmans (also modelled by Hornby). So for 1962 onwards you could have: Agatha (R4664), Joan (R4696), Eunice, Evadne, Loraine( R4663), Lucille, Thelma, Ursula (R4697) and Cars 75, 76, 83 (R4694) ,all noted on the Bournemouth Belle with others from this range, but still using the wooden Brakes from the earlier period. With both these Pullman types you may want to consider changing some to a late crest where necessary and repainting roof colour to match, if these things bother you. The Bournemouth Belle Train Pack R2819 with 70009 and accompanying Coach Pack R4381 contains 12-wheeler Pullmans mostly used on the train in the 1950s, Overall, Bournemouth Belle fans are spoiled for choice! (You can even make a reasonable attempt using Railroad Pullmans, but if you don't mind I'll look away now...)

You mentioned the Blue Unrebuilt MN. You bought a green one. Any of these MNs you could now resell on eBay for over £200, BR or Malachite. So now you buy the blue one you really wanted for £137.50 from one of our favourite dealers when it is released - and pocket a whole load of change, Secondhand values of recent well looked-after second-hand models rise in line with the cost of the new ones.

What kind of smoking-induced fantasy is this? Did you ever get to see the Swindon paintshop? Did they mix up a fresh bucket of paint every time they fixed a lamp bracket on or something? It was a production line. They came out looking absolutely pristine and in exactly the same colour. The paint mixing was a professional as everything else they did in the works! This colour-denial thing really has to stop.