Hroth

Hornby, TAKE MY MONEY!!! Want one NOW!!! (deep breath. An R3430 if you please....)

Nice to see the decoration samples of the B12, R3430 looks very pretty, only let down by the strangely coloured plastic wheel spokes that don't match the green on the rest of the loco! The only disappointment is the thought that we've (at least) another 7 months to go before we can get our paws on one! (Any theories about the disintegrating Brit in the background to the photo of 61533?)

And a liberal application of grunge too?

Well, at least it gives a little time to recover from the excesses of the Hattons Hornby sale!

New prognostication. Hattons now advising R3430 as arriving on or after the 29th December 2016.

Just got an email from Hattons, advising that the H&P Peckett is now due on or after 24th December 2016. I suppose its to be expected...

Surely your man will get your coat for you! Drops 'arf-a-brick and legs it for the distant horizon......

Oh come on, you can do wonders with some duct tape and a carrier bag!

They've had a clear out of the test track, it looks suspiciously empty, no prototypes and just a few old locos lurking in the middle (eg the old B12 at 22"). The way the Peckett scurried about, I felt it should be pushing a wagonload of cheese..... Looking good!

@ toboldlygo: Nice grunge, but too sunny - old 70034 should be seen on a dank, grey day, drizzle streaming down her flanks, struggling up Shap with leaking glands and a claggy fire...... @robmcg: Alas, regardless of their doom,The little victims play! Looking at TH, I think of Tess, played by Nastassjaa Kinski, harvesting root vegetables for cattle feed in a cold soggy field. Muahahahaha!!!!!!

I'm not a shedbook hound, but according to the Hornby webpage, 70034 ended up at Carlisle Kingsmoor so it should be a candidate for a "toboldlygo" bucket of grunge weathering job. Pity its so expensive at the moment......

Just what it says on the tin! (points at thread title)

I just had a thort...... Rather than new locos as such, perhaps Hornby could differentiate their high-end models by abandoning the 16.5mm gauge entirely. I'm not advocating a hair-shirt embracement of P4, but a move to EM gauge might be a positive step, and would certainly draw a line between Railroad and the main range. It can't be that difficult, its already possible to buy an RTR Class 24 with drop in OO, EM and P4 wheelsets at the equivalent of Hornby main-range pricing, so Hornby diesels could be made "convertible" at the factory without much effort whilst steam outline might involve changes in frame bushing and longer axels. I can't imagine convertible options for steam locos! Drop in axel sets for goods and passenger rolling stock and a deal with Peco for EM points and flexitrack based on their new bullhead profile and the jobs done and dusted. Anyone going for new main range models won't be put off by a change in gauge and Railroad (with an improvement in scope and levels of detail) might satisfy the OO traditionalists. Hornby EM. Its got a ring to it!

To be fair, Hornby DO have the basis for a pre-grouping theme, for the GWR at least, with a nexus located around 1909. There's: The Star class The Dean Goods The half-cab Panniers The Achilles class The recent clerestory coaches Other manufacturers could contribute Moguls and Cities... Additional classes like the "Barnum" 2-4-0 locos would be nice! Whilst some models are less detailed than others, all that is needed is to provide the correct liveries (esp for the coaches) and then convince people that they want to model Edwardian England... Hornby also have other models in their past that are purely pre-grouping, like their Caledonian pair, the Single and the Pug, plus the Terrier, though these don't form a coherent whole as the GWR types. A different problem is of course, how far back to push pre-grouping. Its probably safe to say that the late 1880s are probably as far back as you can go before the locos start looking odd, can't be used with later stock without raising eyebrows and are generally small and fragile. As for the 50 Shades of Green problem, if Hornby developed a LNWR stud then that wouldn't be a problem, though I'm sure that even then there would be arguments of theological intensity about the correct shade of black and if it should be gloss, satin or matt...

Plundering the pre-Grouping stud is the only way to go for unique locos. It'll never happen, but the late 19th and early 20th century locos of the London and North Western Railway need to be recognised. WE NEED Claughtons, Experiments, Prince of Wales, George Vs, Precursors, Jumbos. IN fact all the simple, effective engines that pulled the LNWR out of the mire of Webb Compounding and were ground down under the dead hand of Derby after the Grouping. And how about some Caledonian locos to keep Scotland happy. Apart from the Pug and the Caly single, there's nothing to represent this major pre-grouping company. Some Dunalastairs and a Cardean might do the trick! I could go along with the suggestion of a Great Bear, but how about those uglys, the Krugers? We could have the 4-6-0 and 2-6-0 variants and how about their successors, the Aberdares? Yep. Doesnt Happen Here!

I must say that my earliest recollection of the class 71 is of a picture of one working the Night Ferry, published in a compendium of stories from Ian Allen Railway annuals from the early 60s. A book I enjoyed, with articles on the new Deltic loco, the Royal Train and how to drive a DMU amongst others......

Its a quaint and strangely attractive loco for a "box". However, as Legend notes, its geographical appearance is very limited, it was essentially a third-rail loco and the pantograph was ONLY for yard shunting - it never ran on a main line on the pantograph. As far as liveries go, I prefer the green ones, and the plain green one (R3376) at that. The blue livery cries out for extreme weathering..... Given the level of detail, the Hornby list price of £155 is appropriate, but as it has competition, will it sell, or will we see it in a bargain sale this time next year? My only other third-rail rolling stock is a 2-BIL set, which I only bought because a. It reminded me of my old Triang EMU and b. Kernows were selling it at a bargain price. There's not much call for third-rail electric on a fictional West Midlands joint secondary line that covers the 50's and early 60's........

Being, at this time of the day, sans coffee, my mind latched onto the "Schools" part of the description and I momentarily wondered where the extra pair of drivers had come from.... Apart from that, you've done a fine job of obliterating the manky stuff that Hornby applies!

I was just thinking.... Knowing that Hornby can be a tad creative with liveries (Olton Hall?) howabout Everton in Express Blue and Liverpool in Maroon?

A matched pair of "Footballers" would be nice, Everton and Liverpool perhaps..... And yes, the less said about Hornby Factory Weathering the better, the weathered K1 looks like its been driven at speed through a dairy farmers slurry pit!

Just got one of those monitors as a head for the Raspberry Pi I use as a JMRI system (can't abide not knowing what the computer is up to!) Better than lugging a proper display about and as it can be incorporated into the control system, more compact too! After a struggle with the composite output of the Pi, it works very nicely in console and xwindow mode, the screen text is even readable - just.... They've sold out of your link now, but there are others of a similar nature that are UK sourced and cheaper, mainly because they don't have audio in, which may or may not be a requirement! For example: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/7-TFT-LCD-Screen-Mirror-Monitor-Backup-Camera-Car-Reverse-Parking-Rear-View-/401078234197?hash=item5d62202c55:g:CYQAAOSwzgRWz-wR A search for 7 monitor, then refining by UK, Buy Now and lowest price+p&p will throw up a good few examples. As for cameras, I saw mono ones like the silver platform ones for £3.95 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/222086483023?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT and colour bullet ones for 6.99 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/222083450976?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT Hope that helps! Just thought, they all need a 12v power supply. Although there are plenty about on ebay, even Argos can supply a nice little 12v 4A power brick, intended for a fridge but it should be able to power a monitor and 2 camera setup very nicely! http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/1398948.htm

The new mag, #107, finally tumbled through my letterbox yesterday morning. At a total pagecount of 52 pages (inc covers) its a vast improvement on recent issues, the page count of all the mags issued since Spring 2015 and including the multi-club winter mag (thats 4 issues in total) only comes to 53 pages! As regards to content, there's a good mix of news, historical and modelling articles, together with the usual adverts and the "Junior Section" at the back. A much better effort! However, the PDF version hasn't shown up on the downloads page yet.

"Sutton" has moved from being "Sold out" to "Out of stock", so perhaps there's more of those on the way. Saturday post has been and gone, no mag here.

On 17th March it was noted here (#1406) that "Last Chance to Buy" had vanished from the Hornby website, but like a vampire it seems to have arisen once more. However, there's not many items and they're not conspicuously reduced. Hornby obviously feel that they need a stock clearance shelf, but perhaps they've taken on board the idea that they don't need to slash prices on it to the bone!

Got an old Bachmann one of those, rolls like a drunken sailor!