Hroth

Ewwww.... Only a couple more trips to Holyhead then its off to Woodhams. (If you could find a "spares or repair" example, you could take off the valvegear, connecting rods and outside cylinders and weather it to "Barry, 1970" condition...)

Perhaps Hornby could sell Scalectrix to Bernie Ecclestone as an F1 driver training aid. He seems to like fiddling with the rules on a race by race basis, Q3 of the 2016 Aussie GP qualifiers was a hoot!

One thing I noticed over the weekend was an online retailer selling a number of R3250 "Flying Scotsman" models for £140 (plus delivery), clearly identified as a limited edition of 500. As the Club page has them marked "out of stock" one can only suppose that Hornby have decided that they weren't selling as quickly as they wanted and flogged the remainder of the stock off on the quiet to any one who'd take them, I suppose at a knock down price. Perhaps they would have made a bit more money by dropping the club price - a bit of an Easter present for club members, or at least make them available for general purchase on the Hornby Shop. Anything would have been better for Hornby than to sell at a discount to ebay vultures. (I suppose there is an outside possibility that the aforesaid vultures ponied up a club membership and bought stock at the club price, but a £10 markup seems a bit slim, vulturewise...)

Must have sneaked through the automatic carriage washer whilst the shed foreman's back was turned. There'll be hell to pay - those rotating brush thingies cost a packet to replace!

Yes well... My brain was thinking "probably" but my fingers decided "too many letters". (Or even "possibly"?)

No problemo! The next Engine Shed blog will be posted this Friday and everyone will have fun dissecting it and reading the runes! As for your engine shed, how about building some workbenches along the walls, where they can be seen at least, with the usual detritus (oily rags mainly) spread across the top and/or boxes and "stuff" stacked against the walls. (Been past Wombourne on the canal many times. I remember Bratch Locks, and when there was an ironworks at Swindon. One year we came down the Staffs & Worcs and watched them casting things there, next time there was a cleared site and the next time a housing estate. The time after, we were held up because a neglected culvert on the foundery site had collapsed in someones garden...)

Thanks for setting our minds at rest!

Oh well, they'll be losing club members come renewal day. Perhaps they're outsourcing the "mag" to Hornby Magazine, like the "Handbook". Lots more recycled articles! Then again, it may be the usual stuff and perhaps they'll be featuring the International Range too? Did they say when the next issue will be fluttering through our letterboxes?

Rob - I use a range of escalating solutions for getting tiny screws to stick to a screwdriver for use in tight spots, especially when the Love of Iron isn't available/doesn't work. In order of severity: Blutac (stuff used for putting posters on walls) Uhu (rubber based contact adhesive) Loctite (cyano-acrylate thread locker) If the last option is selected, coat the threads of the screw with some sort of grease, otherwise the screw will be a ###### to remove at a later date.... Hmmmm.... I see that the AutoNanny (tm, probably) didn't like b&*%!r

Club exclusives "Out of stock": R3250 A3 Flying Scotsman. R3249 BoB Manston. R3248 A1X Sutton. R3247 A1X Whitechapel. R3213 GWR 101 done up as a Southern loco is also out of stock, but there's stock "coming soon". That leaves R3292, the Caly pug and R6781, the 2016 Hornby hopper wagon for eager club members to buy. Perhaps they ought to go back to the days of a "free" club loco or even just an appropriately decorated wagon..... Update 20:10 - R6781 has fallen off its perch too, leaving the Caly Pug as the last loco standing (until more 101s become available!). Club members with expiring vouchers liquidating them at the last moment before their membership expires?

In what sense? Breadth/timescale of models to be delivered or presentation? Don't get me wrong, I wasn't there, I'm just interested in why you feel that way.

On the other hand, data printed in the catalogue is valid for the day its printed and then becomes a reference point for the future, unlike an "accurate" webpage which only documents the current state of play, meaning that previous versions vanish into the mists of the internet. For the website to be more accurate, obsolete details or withdrawn items ought to be migrated to a readily available archive and labelled as such to prevent confusion. Managing information by deleting out of date material is an unhelpful and lazy way to do things.

The "Birthday" edition of the Engine Shed is now up, showcasing (amongst others) the TTS Fowler 2P 4-4-0. Its got a most odd whistle sound - more akin to a party squeaker! I'm also not sure of the engine sound, although that may be due to an over loud volume level. Also mentioned are 42, 52 and 72xx eight-coupled tanks and a couple of new liveries for their main range 08 shunters.

Or that, if they don't get things sorted out with their bank, that come the end of the financial year the WHOLE site will become "Last Chance To Buy"? I'm keeping everything crossed that it doesn't come to that!

Like your City! What I meant by "malformed" is that when viewed alongside each other the tender attached to 3835 County of Devon is of different proportions to the one attached to 4901 Addersley Hall. Some measurements (rough not precision!): A B C 3853 16 7 23 4091 14 6.5 30 (all dimensions in mm) A: Depth of tender body B: Depth of Fender C: Distance between bunker rear bulkhead and rear of tender In addition, as well as having less room on the rear deck of the tender for the water scoop vent and the water filler cap on 3853's tender (in fact the leading edge of the vent appears to be cut off by the bulkhead), the rear deck is also virtually level with the rim of the tender. Added to this, the monsterous coal mound is merely the cherry on the top! I appreciate that these dimensional differences date from the tender drive era and that nothing can really be done with the tender, other than scrapping it and finding a better one. The matter of flush vs rivets is of lesser importance than the changes made to incorporate the tender drive. Thats why I described it as "malformed". And for a mindbending discussion on the differences between Churchward and Collett 3500 gal tenders, there's a nice thread (http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/89945-churchwardcollett-3500-gallon-tender-differences/ ) elsewhere on RMWeb! I skimmed through it and I don't want to go there! The only "City" tender I have is that that accompanies the Dapol City of Truro kit so I can't vouch for its dimensional accuracy (or even era) apart from noting that it's identical to the tender that accompanies Hornbys "Achilles" class Single "Lorna Doone", which I assume must be a Dean pattern 3000 gal tender as its so much smaller!

Rob - you do know that all Stanier was doing was to try and recreate the GWR on the LMS in terms of loco shape? (After all, a Black 5 is only a two cylinder Castle with a raised running plate) Edging out quickly.....

Further to my post of 22nd Feb above, being a sunny afternoon, I dug out BM and CoD and stuck them alongside each other, then I also got my recently obtained Addersley Hall which also has a 3500 gal tender and added it to the lineout. Comparing the 3500 gal tenders on 4901 and 3835 I can see the gross malformation due to having to accomodate the tender drive mechanism - its not just the mountainous coal load! So it looks like I'll be doing works tender swaps between 4021 and 4901 rather than using 3835. In terms of colour, Hornby use the same shade for all three models... As an aside - should Addersley Hall have such thick, virulently orange boiler lining? It certainly doesn't look like that on the webpage! Another thing, Hornby seem to have deleted R3229 British Monarch, from their website. Completely. This is why we need a decent printed catalogue, internet resources cannot be trusted over even a short period of time.

I know what you mean. When CoTN comes off a curve, I always find that the hedge catches in the smoke deflectors and you end up with twiglets all over the place. No such problems with an A4 in the same situation! (But a R600 bracketed by R605s is sheer masochism. I wouldn't trust a Sentinel to go round that safely!) Hehehehehe...

All I can say, as one who appreciates all sorts of locomotives (and even some of todays boxes on wheels can have a purposeful air), that the GWR made some of the prettiest locos ever that did very well for themselves to the extent that an 'umble mixed traffic engine can hold its head up high in the company of such exalted Express Passenger locos. Its a pity that the Hawksworth Pacific was no more than a pipe dream....

Of course, retailers in "the dealer network", which include the likes of Hattons , Rails , Kernow etc are ALSO someones (relatively) local model shop.

The initial price is just an estimate of what the market will bear (grrr...) just consider Heljan Pilot Scheme diesels and 128 DPUs - all started off at £110+ and now Hattons are selling 16s, 23s, 28s, DP2s and 128s at between £52 and £80. Ok, perhaps they're not an "in demand" item, unless you like/can find a space for unsuccessful diesels or odd parcels units and Hattons seem to have taken less stock of the new issue class 15,17 and 33 locos so they might not have to cut prices to "make space" I once made an unguarded comment in these parts that the Hornby HST "Train Packs" - also two coaches and a motor bogie - were horribly overpriced at the £200+ price level (Hattons do them for "£190ish") and was told off for not appreciating a super-detailed new shiny thing, equivalent to a main range loco and coach with lighting. Oh well..... btw, nearer the date, I'll be placing "pre-orders" with Hattons for a H&P Peckett and an LNER livery B12 if the numbers add up...

And with the GW, for branch line trains (unless you're running an autocoach), all you need are two non-corridor brake ends......

If we're talking silly, perhaps Hornby could do a TTS Peckett?

In those far off, fuzzy days, the phone call probably cost as much as the signal box did. It would probably have been cheaper to get his dad to order one by post from Hattons.....

The "old" 3rd radius oval track set (R1179) had been at the £60 level in at least two of the model shops I've visited during the latter part of last year and was discounted to £50 at Argos just before Christmas (I know, I got one...). The new 1st radius circle track set (R1185) is on pre-order for £50, which could be seen as a similar price level to the still available R1179 as it has a cheaper track selection and no trackmat. You pays your money and you takes your choice, I suppose. Its always possible that by Christmas 2016 Hornby will have run out of stocks of R1179 and retailers that have held onto stocks will be able to promote the set as a superior product at a "premium" price due to the expansion potential of 3rd radius track compared to 1st radius track!