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Here is a 3 some...Notice the “trim” line effect when you have two manufacturers the same next to each other. Not quite as apparent when you mix and match

Take note of the cab forward windows.. No massive plastic lump in the cab ... a lot of other manufacturers could learn from this..

Despite my protestations, it looks like I got caught out on my own preorders today as 4 blue greys accidentally arrived, two TSOs, BSO and the FO. I put it alongside my Replica Railways FO, and surprised how dead on these two were, indeed the Replica FO, if it had flush glazing may actually have taken the lead off of the Hornby one.

Hmm.. So I took the challenge here.. I’ve just dismantled my latest R4715 Hornby CK to component parts. (I left the push fit windows, buffers and gangways in) It took me 80 seconds to completely assemble a Mk1 coach and put it in the box. It’ll be on ebay later (as I bought it to strip out the lighting unit and bogies for another coach). It’s worth pointing out new Mk1’s are much easier to assemble than Margate ones, which were a 3 piece body (2 separate sides and a roof, which fitted into grooves under the roof and in the frame, which then was clip fitted into the vestibule ends and a bit delicate to handle), then after this is done there are two screws to put in... the Chinese ones as you saw then, require no tools. That makes my assembly rate at 40 coaches per hour.

Tried being famous, but i’m too lazy, but it’s easy to be infamous.

Here’s a line drawing specifically referencing the 5000 batch for the North African theatre.. http://www.wikiwand.com/en/United_States_Army_Transportation_Corps_class_S100 Note the drawing refers to 48” centres, not 54”. But 54” diameter wheels. There was an artickle I picked up some time ago referring to the NA campaign and locos being diverted there, and later not required, where the reference to US vs European config was referred to i’ll See if I can dig it out. Outside chance I may see GRanite Rock 10 in December. Here’s it at Watsonville in service condition (note air pumps,which presumably is a post war US requirement), it’s also oil fired. These are from 1946, so immediately post war. http://archive.graniterocktools.com/img/content/museum/steam_engines/engine_10.jpg http://archive.graniterocktools.com/img/content/museum/1940-1949/army_surplus_steam_engine_2.jpg This is its sadder looking sister today..#5014. http://c8.alamy.com/comp/D1JB3G/old-railroad-steam-engine-in-former-gold-mining-boomtown-turned-ghost-D1JB3G.jpg

Crowd funded DJ 71’s now £109 at Hattons... http://www.hattons.co.uk/stocklist/3094212/1000588/1000672/0/DJ_Models_Dave_Jones_OO_Gauge_1_76_Scale_Electric_locos/prodlist.aspx £30 off rrp, £16 less than Kickstarter price. Just ordered the GFYE E5010, takes my fleet to 5 class 71’s and the only variant so far not duplicated by Hornby.

Now available at Hattons for £109 http://www.hattons.co.uk/stocklist/3094212/1000588/1000672/0/DJ_Models_Dave_Jones_OO_Gauge_1_76_Scale_Electric_locos/prodlist.aspx

I live in fear that one of mine ends up in this thread :-)

Blue SYP for me..., groan i’d Be up to 10 Westerns then.

I appreciate I went round the houses on that post :-) I initially thought it was wrong and that the numbers, whilst larger Scottish type, were too high. Then I also found another picture that was correct. I was a bit surprised to find that in a period of 10years this loco had 4 different styles of repaint. And been caught on camera ex works each time. Looking at its allocation history it seems to have moved around a bit too. I wonder if this one was a works queen. Either way i’m Changing my mind about this one.. a Scottish Black 5, with large numbers, that ended up allocated in London in such style...it’s growing on me.

Reminds me of a story once back when Lord Nelson was on the Mainline... Standing by this bridge with a handful of other photographers, this guy drives up, stops winds his window down and says why is everyone standing by this bridge with cameras ? This guy responds... “We are waiting for Lord Nelson” at which everyone nods their heads. The guy in the car looks puzzled and says “you guys from the flat earth society or something, Nelsons been been dead 200 years” and drove off.

Well ain’t you a pretty little thing...

Comparing my Hornby’s to my Bachmanns, I found Hornby’s is wider and shorter, Bachmanns being taller and slimmer. Gut feel, from looking at it, is Hornby has the better shape profile. For continuity, I bought an older Hornby Mk1 buffet, this is longer in length (about 4-6mm !) and but holds pretty much the same shape as the recent sk/bsk/so ( I tried to swap chassis from an SK to put with the buffet but it’s a no go, so I swapped the lighting unit and bogies instead) and it sits lower & closer to profile of the new ones as a result. I now have a 6 coach rake in maroon, BSK/SK/SK/RMB/CK/BSK all with the same Hornby lighting kit and bogies. The buffet is the odd one out because of the window edges, but it sits better than the Bachmann one, in colour, height and profile when in a Hornby rake, i’m hoping Hornby’s 2018 range will fix this properly. Overall I think Hornby did a good job with the New Mk1, it might have moulded fittings but it is very nice, however personally Bachmann/Hornby don’t match.. a Mk1 shape is exactly that..when you look down a train consisting of mk1’s..its very straight and true, along the roofline, gutterline and sole bar it’s very uniformal.. it’s not a mix match of different heights and widths...unless it’s a train of mixed Mk1/2and anything else...colour is a different topic, except for roof deterioration of colours, in the days of blue and grey there was much less interpretation...standard means standard. Here’s a video I did of a Peckett pulling 8 last year... it’s got everything in it.. old Hornby, New Hornby and Bachmann.. it’s easy to tell which is which, when really I shouldn’t be able to: My recommendation would be to buy a full rake because together it looks a very good set but not to mix match Manufacturers, unless your mix matching different coach versions (Mk1/2 etc).

A few “engine sheds” ago Hornby referred to a “Big H”, but the latest collectors club refers to a “Big surprise”. I think it’s been sussed that a Lord Nelson is one, but is an LN a “Big H” ?. I’m thinking the SECR 01.. do Bluebell types refer to this as a big H ?..it’s certainly bigger than a H, and has a H boiler..there is a hint that an O1 is on the cards out there. Could be both.. a 4-Big and an O1 :-)

A pannier might not be a bad guess, they posted pictures of someone measuring 9400 at Steam a few years back, Bachmann since announced a 9400, so I think duplication maybe off, but a 16xx or a 15xx is only a matter of time for someone to pick off.

That’s worrying, I telephoned this morning too, which is what prompted my post.You’ve been told it will stand. I’ve been told the opposite. No mention of 10% on the new website... https://www.Hornby.com/uk-en/thecollector It does say.. “Earn Loyalty Reward Points with every purchase” The absence of one and emergence of another, I do take as to be a replacement. I agree we have to wait and see, but two different messages on the same day doesn’t inspire me to believe much. From a sales ploy, I can’t help thinking the new club with its raised price is a ruse, Bachmanns club is massively successful, if they tempt Bachmann to price match Hornby’s club, both could fail.. who is going to pay £80 or £160 a year for 2 full fat club memberships ? By with a little clever marketing Hornby would then have denied Bachmann of a very successful sales channel which is much harder to rebuild once the goodwill is lost...

Just looking at R3385TTS and something doesn’t look right... Here’s a few pictures I’ve found of it.. (Early crest, riveted tender) http://www.rcts.org.uk/photographs/archive/380/CAR/CAR1065C.jpg (Late crest smooth tender) https://i.ebayimg.com/thumbs/images/g/jV8AAOSwaeRZMD6s/s-l225.jpg However between the artwork images and the production images it seems to have changed.. The artwork, shows standard numbers, with the class “5” centre top of the number. https://www.Hornby.com/uk-en/br-4-6-0-black-5-class-with-tts-sound.html https://hattonsimages.blob.core.windows.net/products/R3385TTS_3197071_Qty1_cat.jpg But the release has changed to large Scottish numbers, with the “5” now centre under the number... That’s not necessarily wrong, it worked down to london with large numbers, But this image looks the closest match, early crest, large Scottish numbers.. but the 5 is above the large numbers, with the bottom of large numbers just inline with the frame.. as are all the other images http://www.rail-online.co.uk/img/s/v-3/p940328814-3.jpg But not higher up as now released.. http://www.kernowmodelrailcentre.com/p/53339/R3385TTS-Hornby-Black-5-Class-5MT-Steam-Locomotive-number-45116# Turns out it’s correct though.. http://www.rail-online.co.uk/p129376112/h5CFCE8F8#h5cfce8f8 This loco seems to have had a very varied last 15 years, with at least 4 repaints and several tenders.

What makes Lord Nelson a “Big” announcement ? MN is bigger, in size, price, popularity, reality, performance, boiler size, pressure, wheel dimension even the whistle is louder, there’s even more of them preserved, as they’ve just done the MN, wouldn’t this make the LN a “small” announcement ? The LN maybe one announcement, but as Steve Jobs used to say “oh and just one more thing”... that maybe the next “Big” thing. It would be ironic if the next “Big” thing was a Peckett named “Big”. Last year Hornby did one big, one small steam, one modern, one unit, two coaches and a wagon. Hopefully this year is the same, but i’d Guess that we have the LN, so the others could be SECR 01, or L&Y A class, class 86, 4-BIG, Mk1 Buffet and another wagon... Conflat P would be nice. But I do keep wondering about that unit in the distant station platform of the club magazine.. it doesn’t make sense to put a Bachmann one in shot, it doesn’t look like a Bil/Vep or a Hal), maybe a Hastings unit, or 207 come to mind.... edit: the more I look the more I see a SUB.. Of course, we could be entering consolidation even further, and the “Big” thing could be a price rise, and the noise of the explosion as the bubble bursts. :-)

Agreed, I think it’s going to be a 4-BIG EMU. Hopefully detailed at the same level as the new MK1’s, a bit less tech wizardry, normal NEM couplings with a simple bar connector, and come in at a reasonable £225RRP or less, allowing maybe a £180 on the retail shelf. My maths: (New Mk1 Oct 2017 RRP is £42 x3 = £126 allowing £42 for the motorised coach + £57 for a motor bogie under that coach=£99 ), even then I think this could be sharpened a little more. It doesn’t have to be 4TC quality, And the market place is getting crowded with EMUs, the New Mk1 is more than adequate... Make what people can afford, there’s limited space in the market for £400+ super detailed EMUs.

So what happens to existing members, are we grandfathered in, for the remainder of our term ? or do we just lose the rest of our membership ? Do I need to spend my £15 voucher on something with 10% off double quick from my existing membership ? do I lose both on Nov 1st ? @£40, or £80 to earn “points” buying at full RRP from Hornby’s website, there’s not a lot there in it for me. Club models always leak out to ebay at some point, given the high RRPs now seen I doubt there’s margin in it for carpet baggers anymore. Edit: just called the hotline, the new start date isn’t decided yet but it’s apparently fairly soon, but we will be contacted by email. However the existing club, memberships and benefits will be terminated and it’s expected we will have to sign up again to the new club. Time to spend that voucher whilst you can. With the loss of the Price being secured at the time of ordering and losing the 10% discount I will cancel my preorders and reorder elsewhere. It was a nice incentive that by ordering in Jan 2016 & getting 10% off, then waiting for the locos to be made, but safe in having secured the original price regardless price rises years later, at a time when other retailers have been shifting prices as it suits. For example, in Oct 2016 I ordered Holland Africa Line rrp £184, discounted to £166, price was held until it was released in 2017 despite the price rising to £209, with Hattons and Rails selling at £189. (I subsequently sold my TTS chip for £45 and reduced my MN to £121)... that made the club worthwhile being a part of, even if it delivered little else in way of benefits. Unfortunately if all preorders are to be repriced at full RRP then one example is my lilleshall Peckett jumped from £80 ordered on announcement with 10% club discount to October 2017’s new full RRP of £99...err no thanks. I have pecketts, Duchess, MN, SECR all on preorder at Jan 2017 pricing and discounting, If they do follow through on this, it’s time to cancel all and reorder someplace else’s before they sell out as I suspect this could be a serengeti migration of pre-orders with cancellations @Hornby and reordering elsewhere coming. I think Hornby may have miscalculated here, as despite the club being pants, it was a great incentive to order from a Hornby direct, you get the model first, at a price generally more or less equal than the retail discount price and Hornby gets the extra margin (as despite the price, it’s still higher than trade price to a shop). But price volatility on the high st, sell by dates on models and now disincentivising the end user.. my cancellations will go in, but my replacement pre-orders will become selective and delayed until an actual release/price is known.

Just a note BGCD No1 as preserved has a 26D shed plate attached. AFAIK The then Bury Transport Museum acquired a number of these from Bury Depot, and I remember MSC 32,70, NWGB1, MEA no1 , 945, Planet and Simplex all wore them in the 70’s/80’s at some stage before largely disappearing again.

I’d like to see some more of the elegant looking 4-4-0’s of the inherited by the SR and LNER that made it towards the end of steam... D17 in NER perhaps or a D20, but we’ve not yet had a D16 in GER blue and that can’t be hard for Hornby to do. LSWR T3 would be interesting given it’s recent higher profile.

Stick a TTS decoder in it, just to squeeze a bit more from it.If they really want to cause a frenzy, do it exclusively as a limited edition of 250 as Ellerman Lines for the NRM and really starve the market :-) That would be one model that would bring Hornby out of its financial situation. :-) I’d imagine a couple of blue ones will really sell well, my only request would be to steer clear of some they have already done in rebuilt form please.

I wouldn’t mind one myself, and an L&Y A class, however I think Hornby may be considering an SECR O1.