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On the subject of nameplates. I have 4 Dapol westerns. None of which are carrying the nameplates as placed on the box. This has been a boon for me, as I standardised on 1 nameplate manufacturer for my westerns ensuring the same consistent dimensions, paint finish and polish/steel finish of the plate, which often is not possible if mixing an OEM nameplate with that of other vendors for the same class. It is also sometimes an added issue trying to place a nameplate / number plate over than of a printed one, if the dimensions are not the same. Had they been printed I'd probably have purchased more cautiously. So I wish all vendors would go this route. (I understand some don't/can't/won't want to spoil a collectors finish and affix themselves but many buyers will be savvy enough to fix it, or ask their local shop to fix it for them (maybe this could be an optional extra before shipping to have them fitted ?) The other option is what Replica did with its class 45... Offer an unumbered one, with some rub on transfers for names / numbers in the box ? (Oh and I have 4 Dapol sets of western nameplates spare if anyone wants, as mine are now running as D1010/D1023/D1041 and D1048). As it is, I'm still considering doing a D1058. Post edit: On reflection of the above post... Just making unumbered examples and forget the nameplates in my case would have been fine. :-) so given the success of the western, and the relatively standard rail freight variant carried for many years by the class 92...An unumbered one may not be such a bad thing... Poll time perhaps ?

Still the wrong one for nunney castle, in BR livery either way. Hornby seems reluctant to do a single chimney late crest castle in any form. That said, it was the staple diet for many years prior on the old tooling, though that was the norm for the class. An easy one to do would be 4082 Windsor castle, early crest collett tender, photographs show it with curved, flat topped and stepped versions. Though admittedly one variant was that it swapped identities with 7013 Bristol Castle in 1952. Wasn't there a castle with an 8 wheeled collett tender at one point ? We seem to have strayed a bit from a King however.

I haven't seen this style in single chimney form ? Have they done it, in non-limited edition format ? Its a trade off of either a repaint, very expensive conversion or an incorrect top. That said if doing as preserved, theres no escaping that huge mechanical lubricator (I read somewhere is off 7027) added sometime in the last 5 years on the left side, and the PKP air pump on the right side, air pipes, electric pipes on the loco and the storage / gsmr boxes on the tender). ignoring some other details (pipes, handrails, steam pipes etc), as part of this thread, http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/92697-Hornby-castle-class-differences/ and just focussed on the chimney / cylinders, for the newly tooled versions of the castle, Ive looked over: 4073 Caerphilly Castle - R3237 Single Chimney, curved sides, wrong livery (Great Western 3500gl tender) 5011 Tintagel Castle - R2848 Single Chimney, curved sides, wrong livery (Great Western Collett tender) 5043 Earl of Mount Edgecumbe - R3301 Double Chimney, Stepped top (BR early / Hawksworth Tender) 5053 Earl Cairns - R2822 Single chimney, flat top (BR early / Hawksworth Tender) 5068 Beverston Castle - R2849 Single Chiney, flat top (BR early / Collett Tender) 5075 Wellington - R3105 Single chimney, flat top, wrong livery ( GW / Hawksworth Tender) 7007 Great Western - R2958 Single Chimney, stepped top (Appears Correct loco body version ) but is a very rare limited edition, would need a GW crest removing off the splasher. (BR Early / Hawksworth Tender) 7023 Penrice Castle - R3118 Double Chimney, Stepped top (BR Late / Collett Tender) 7029 Clun Castle - R2994XS Double Chimney, Stepped top (BR Late / Collett Tender), DCC Sound. 7034 Ince Castle - R2850 Double Chimney, Stepped top (BR Late / Collett Tender), 7036 Taunton Castle - R2986 Freeman Duchy set Single chimney, flat top (BR early / Collett Tender) 7037 Swindon - R2852 Single Chimney, stepped top (BR Late / Collett Tender), would need a GW crest removing off the splasher - appears to be the best one to use but is a very rare limited edition. as for suitability, ranking would be (inc cab handrails, pipes and cab windows). 1. 7037 - correct style body, & tender, remove a crest (but this prototype could cost you over £200 notes !) 2. 7007 - correct style body, & tender, remove a crest (but this prototype is also over £150 notes !) 3. 5053 / 5068 / 7036 - almost correct body and for tenders: 1. 7037 - correct style body, & tender, remove a crest (but this prototype could cost you over £200 notes !) 2. 7023, 7034 or 7029 (note 7029 is a sound tender). My conversion cost: £80 for Penrice Castle, £20 for 5053 body, £10+ change for Fox Nameplates and sold the redundant Penrice body for £25. to come of course is Hornbys 5051 R3454 Dryswyllyn Castle, but who knows how that will appear, but the artwork suggests Single Chimney, curved sides, wrong livery (GWR Collett tender but correct handrails) I am thinking my Tintagel Castle might become 4079 at some point.

I'm sure Hornby will make more than just the 4 listed so far. Patience and it will come. I suspect picking the unpopular numbers first is a way of selling two bites at the cherry, if they made the BR blue on and a different numbered green one in BR first... what would everyone buy next ? Given the demand for the class, if they sell the 1st batch, I don't see why there wouldnt be more following. Chances are then the 1st batch will reappear swelling round on ebay as the "must have it nows" relinquish their purchases when the starlight fades.

I just did exactly that.I converted a 5053 body to 5029 Nunney castle in its 1960s late logo / single chimney form, by swapping the tender / loco chassis from a Penrice Castle. I removed the nameplates prior (and have them in a box), they pretty much fell off.

Not forgetting several are prone to Mazak rot too.

Agreed, especially when sales of the jubilees and 4MTs started to wane, the bodies and tenders sold quite well too. From memory, I recall selling (elsewhere) £23.95 for a chassis, £9.95 for the body and £12.50 for the tender. At the same time the whole loco would barely sell for £34.50. Trouble is I doubt today a 2MT body would get more then £15, leaving the chassis at £100+ I was surprised the new DCC ready jubilee wasn't compatible to the older jubilee, I'd have thought there would still be a good trade in upgrading older jubilees to dcc ready, as well as some interest in swapping speaker equipped tender chassis, and people wanting the newer short firebox jubilee bodies.

It's quite definitely a Hornby USA product. Sold with US couplers, and a completely different under chassis tooling to the European one.I dived in and bought a US (granite stone) - had to source it in the US as no one (not even The big H in the UK) had one, and an EU (usatc) thinking they would be identical and a doddle to change its coupling... 5001 (it's US army number) never left the US, it was a switcher at army supplies stores, Philadelphia dock yards (I am told), until 1947 then sold to industry. Withdrawn in 1960 and rescued in 1995, restored 1997 ready for the Sacramento rail fair of 1999. It was overhauled again and returned to steam in 2015. A lot of what I have on them is hearsay, but understood the ones remaining in the US were supposed to goto North Africa, and a slightly different configuration to Europe, but by the time of despatch, the campaign was over, presumably sending them back to retrofit to European spec wasn't worth the hassle. Incidentally, the tanks have just been replaced on 5001/10, the old scrap tanks have been donated to 5006 at the Oklahoma railroad museum, which has none and is only for static display. Here is the parts donor that got Granite rock 10 working again https://www.flickr.com/photos/donbrr/3138008804/ Had some fun with 10/5001 when I lived in Davis, CA in the late 90's early 2000s. There are quite a number if these preserved in the US, including 3 repatriated from the former Yugoslavia, to Ontario, Canada (though I can't find any pictures). Can post a picture of both Hornby versions & the Bachmann one side by side at some point, though I'll do it with the model rail one when I get it, so as to keep the thread on topic :-)

American S100s had cowcatchers and buckeyes. Not Buffers http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/11424 That said american steam locos only seemed to have 3 colours... Silver, Black and white for the letters :-)

Colour rail has a picture of D5002 at Eastfield in 1972, don't know if thats any use ?, theres one of the other side at Cheadle Heath too.

Someone hitching a lift on the footplate of that grange !

my humble amateur review to join the professional reviews.. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/99273-dj-models-j94-update/?p=2389005

Ive done my Trainset trials. verdict is in. Being a family guy I don't have time to do the scenery, so excuse the lack of it (and the heath robinson construction), I like to just "play" trains. Some day I will join my local club and learn to do it better :-) All images done from the iPad. Anyway to the models.. I'm not going to bore about the box, except to say the fittings are straight forwards:.. 2x coupling, 2x vac pipes, 2x steam pipes all push fit, plus 1 business card from Dave, all ribbon wrapped. Onto the model. The paint job is spot on, indeed its excellent. The colour rendition of both models is very good, indeed it's excellent ! I used to think my "Whiston" from Hornby was a nice rendition, but the colours on Robert are much more as I remember them. very nice cab detail, the footplate on Mech Navvies is noticeably a shade darker than the brighter cab of Robert. Both detailed and painted exceptional. Running: Very smooth, and a nice realistic speed. I think the all wheel gearing makes for a smoother ride. I did notice a J94 style wobble on points, which is what I recall seeing the real thing do. Very nice at slow speed. Then was the surprise. I have some silly gradients and figured I'd do a haulage test. I should point out both videos my Gaugemaster Q was at speed 70 ! (you can noticeably see the difference in speed between the Hornby and DJ models. The number of wagons was a load based on what it would take with a standing start on that gradient. 1. First Robert I figured the all wheel gearing would give it some umpth... unfortunately not, I reduced the load and tried again... and again... final tally 9 Wagons. 2. Then Whiston Whist ran up it ok and with some speed and took 4 more wagons with it than the DJM J94, final tally 13 wagons That said it hardly looked glamourous. see the comparison videos between Whiston and Robert, I was slightly disappointed that Whiston pulls more up the gradient (4 extra wagons) than Robert.. However flip side is Robert by far pulls its wagons more elegantly up that gradient than Whiston. My opinion: Looks: The paint job takes it to DJM Detail: The Hornby J94 isn't bad, but the buffer beam detail, smoke box darts and the high standard of the cab detail takes it for DJM. (note the more accurate chimney and the correct profile of the forward cab windows). Haulage: Have to give it to Hornby it pulls more Smoothness: DJM.. it looks like a J94 runs, smooth starting, very slow detail and more accurate scale speed. I couldn't resist putting all 3 J94s on that gradient with 26 wagons.. Lets face it, this engine won't be racing round my track, on a level for slow speed control and smoothness the DJ J94 will do fine. Lastly..whoops.. Robert came to grief on an insulfrog point during my first slow speed take (hence the race approach to the videos)... one thing to keep an eye on, as it happened on a few different points, not that I consider my track to be perfect by any measure ! I'll step aside for the experts to do their reviews.

They are here It's show time. Off to play, report back shortly, first impression is excellent.

Nothing, English whisky is here and is quite good. However Japanese has been good for a very long time. The issue with Single Malt Scot is they are a victim of their own success. The unpredicted (and tremendous Asian demand) takes more than a decade to prepare for (a 10 yr old takes 10 years...), and whilst the distillers have sought to protect their brand age statements (I.E. keep a 10, 12 18 etc sacred at a higher price), they instead created an ever increasing number of non-age statements (i.e. "the distillers xyz selection.." & "the founder selections, the master of ..." releases) and mixed year blends to the point there is ever increasing single / non-repeat batches that cause mass dilution of variety in the market place... The majority of these releases are in the £35-60 bracket, with literally dozens in this range, with new ones replacing older ones every year..making this run into hundreds of different blends in the last decade. (There are quite a number outside this range too). The Japanese however have been very limited in this approach, and instead just increased the prices to control demand but protect the quality.. Ive seen an 18 yr Yamasaki increase from £45 a bottle to £350 a bottle in a matter of a few years and theres very few non-age statements.. thats why it wins awards. (It is recognised there's substantially less production in Japan than the UK). The risk for Scottish, is a repeat of the 1970s.. over production, too high a price and too many bland statements which encourages a change in tastes... for example the ranges of Gin has massively increased in popularity in the past few years. Even today there's good stocks of early 1970s whisky out there, victim of the late 70s recession and taste changes, some of it is used up in the above non-aged blends on the street today, whilst the better stuff is quite pricey.. rest assured non of it is binned.. but there is a lot of it, some of it gets dumped occasionally (remember Aldi's 40 year old offer recently), how good it is is questionable... correspondingly theres not much 80s stuff about as many distilleries shut up shop, sold to the French or just sold it to the cheap high street blends at the time. not sure how this relates to a Peckett though.

A Thorough response, but also you need to consider Advertising / Marketing, Postage, Tax (and if your offering a few other dealers the option to sell some, their margin too) also don't under estimate how much space they consume, and how long they take to process the income, wrap/add that custom certificate, and send. There is also the risk of delay, currency but also unexpected production error which could be omitted details or missed changes in paint shade. I had some experience of with limited editions back in the 1990s, model railways and road vehicles, though I would add the margin offered by the manufacturers was the same trade terms, with some payment term differences. The whole process from order to delivery seemed much quicker in them days than it appears now. Agreed on quantities though Hornby have made exceptions, TCDD 8F was an example.. only 200 made.. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/60754-Hornby-turkish-8f/

I

depends on the quantity, and when.. if its made alongside another run, then it's just an extension. If it's a one off with no other variants the price may be slightly less interesting dependant on quantity. But I wouldn't expect it to be significantly different to the production models, unless the tooling was to be altered... Many previous limited editions have been released at the same time at a price not too different to the standard models.

Maybe before, the reasons why collectors club models were selling at high prices on ebay, was they were underpriced in the collectors club.

Boltons changed so little, but so much

First time I've seen the Prototype HST with a yellow dipped nose with yellow roof and below buffers

Nothing too exciting from me, as Hornby has become the first to recognise the mighty Manchester Ship Canal (With the MSC Peckett and Sentinel Diesel) maybe some of the more well known Hudswell Clark Short / Long tanks (like 31 Hamburg, 32 Gothenburg, 67 and 70 - long tanks and Lady Armaghadale) with some suitable wagons... oh and just a nice class 02 shunter

A couple more arrived this morning, Sourthern region...