Ian Hargrave

Black Eric now arrived & running in. A looker for sure…starting with the box. A very attractive package for sure with a top quality finish. All well on track so far .The lights are not as intrusive as on my Caprotti.I’ll live with it.

Email from DHL just received. Shipment from Rails on its way to me for delivery tomorrow. This has to be Hornby 5428 as I have nothing else on order via Rails.

Bulleid Pacific 34090 carried the name Sir Eustace Missenden Southern Railway The name plate was a long one,thus it came with a top and a bottom piece and in curved form in order that it fit .

True.And it doesn’t carry the latest in Hornby technology either.No illumination,no plug in tender coupling. Fine with me for it’s also one of my models of the year.Looks good & performance top notch.Buy.

And eats dead frogs too😀

I received 2 texts from a strange address…one yesterday,one this morning advising delivery by RM. I binned both,thinking I was being scammed. How wrong I was. Duly delivered 30 minutes ago in fine shape and excellent working order. An SR sunshine Black Beauty for the banana vans .Beautifully packaged in attractive secure box. Well done Accurascale once more.

Bless you . Canton’s pet Saint.

I think it’s going to be a question of move over purists.The new generation wants all the latest techy As a confirmed Dino that’s the way it is I’m afraid and that’s the way H has decided to go.Hornby are up for it. Nobody else has made a move,so we’ll just have to run with it. As sure as night follows day,I couldn’t build one.

Considering the years of clamour for this model,I am truly surprised that they have confined their releases to a visit to Didcot and 2999 .Lord Palmer is an offshoot of that surely. Robin’s ANTB is a benchmark in late GWR modelling,followed by a good many of us eager to see one run there….in addition to our own systems…yet both releases are outside his time span. As one whose early years memories are enlightened by Saints…yes I saw them working until 1953, I hope for an expansion of the repertoire in the not too distant future. But of course I’m delighted to see them.Who wouldn’t be ?

In the form of these two releases not at all. Lord Palmerston was withdrawn in January 1944. And Saints were in frequent everyday use until 1953. I was given a Box Brownie camera at about 7/8 years old and stood on Cardiff General ( none of your Central nonsense) taking some very crude snaps of them now long lost. We can only hope.

2975 Lord Palmer was withdrawn in January 1944. So it’s a GWR time frame. Oh please no lamps & sundry gimmickry. Let’s just have a decent accurate working model. And eventually,a post 1945 Saint with curved frames.

Looking at Laurence Waters list,the last to survive in original condition was 2947 Madresfield Court,withdrawn April 1951

As were 39 of the class…with new front ends,outside steam pipes,new cylinders & extended frames. Just one 2937 Clevedon Court ) ( a name that stays with me still as I remember seeing her on a number of occasions ) was so treated to be the final conversion in June 1948.

Note the spelling…double n. My son is baptised with a third Christian name of Lynn…after his maternal grandfather

2906 Lady of Lynn ( 86C ) August 1952. Much loved.