Clearwater

In military history circles, there are some interesting debates about the accuracy of people's personal testimony. The closer to the event, the more accurate the testimony tends to be. There is a tendency for old men to a) remember things how they want them to be remembered b) not to want to show themselves in a way they wouldn't want to be seen/perceived c) be subconsciously influenced by the impact of 50/60/70 years of popular culture around particular incidents, a form of false memory syndrome. An example might be that a veteran 78 years after D-Day confidently asserts that it was a Tiger tank that ambushed them where the documentary evidence is that particular type of tank could not have been at that location at that time. I see no reason why the testimony of railway men would be any different and, particularly when talking about anecdotes about a controversial figures such as Thompson would be any different. (in a similar vein, I doubt the veracity of e,g . the Collett/Churchward "hand me an illumination" story). As such, I'd think a historian should be wary of such sources, including memoirs written many years after the events they describe. I'd be interested to understand the provenance of the RTCS books. If they were written for an enthusiast audience 50+ years ago, it's quite probable that they themselves contain errors. If that's the case, I'd be very wary about treating them as gospel. As ever, if we're modelling a particular loco, if you want to be sure, you need a contemporary photo showing that particular detail. David

I agree this looks like an organised theft deliberately targeting this layout. If this is correct, that means whoever committed the crime must have known exactly where to go and appears to have taken some care about the break in. If a targeted break in, then the thief will know as well as we do that ebay will be too visible to dispose of such a collection. I don’t think it is a random as otherwise they would probably not have taken as much care to not damage the rest of the layout. Picking up on a point made to me on Facebook, this may be for a collector and not a model operator. If the former, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume that they’ve commissioned model builders in the past as well. I wonder if that community, as well as track builders, might be aware of those with an interest in that period? Sadly, I doubt this crime is one the police will ultimately have much interest in unless there’s a DS Dodds around… as such, if the crime is to be solved, the information is likely to come from within the modelling community.

This strikes me as a bizarre release harking back to such hits as the 2012 Olympic sets. It suggests a more toy as opposed to enthusiast driven mentality at present. We obviously don't know the economics to Hornby. A few extra units at a low marginal cost may help amortise tool cost / be quite profitable if they sell a couple of hundred sets.....

I agree that it looks particularly good on brown however I feel the shirt button can look lost on large tenders or tanks.

Barwell seems a much better location… central, good motorway links to all parts, road/rail connectivity to Far East trade ports. Almost like they thought about where made sense to locate!

I'm not quite sure of our holiday plans yet, but if I'm in the country I'd love to come and would be unlikely to get away without being accompanied by my sons..... (10 and 6). David

Given Hornby is refreshing their black 5, I can’t see that happening. Think a Saint was also mentioned (which is arguably a proto black 5…) as well. I’d reckon they’d be more likely to pick a small ish tank engine not from the GWR. How about a jinty?

I went once but found it hard to gauge the meeting.

Mike how different was the (G)WR In this respect to the other former big 4 concerns? Was the LNER still discernible, for example, particularly in obscure outposts in the same way in the late 50s? David

Great picture. Is it the angle of the photo or does the track camber? @The Fatadder - that's my justification for never selling anything!

This has popped up on my Facebook feed. Is it from when @Andy Y visited Brent?

I’d wonder if Dapol could cheat a little and mimic panelling through a good paint job like the Hornby clerestories. Someone cleverer might think of a new hybrid technique. For example, could you injection mould flat sides for a steel bodied diagram, but then clamp the side into a 3D printer and overlay the beading onto that side?

I’m not sure that works. I’d reckon if someone was a stickler for accuracy, they’d have already modified the commercially available Mk1s and detailed them. If you’re not too bothered, why would you shell out for the marginal improvement?

Doing a bit of desktop research, am I right that these are all 48’ diagrams ? Also, did these coaches run on suburban services up towards Princes Risborough? Third question. Wouldn’t the GWR lake livery have gone by the time the 41xx were introduced. Can we reasonably infer that Dapol must also be planning a Churchward era 2-6-2 tank? Interesting that they ran direct services from Reading to Moorgate. A precedent for Crossrail services…

I agree. 56/57 foot and gloss over the 4mm difference. Analysis I did pictured below. You pretty much end up with the diagrams Slaters chose. Funny that. Smart I think to pick both a pretty livery (crimson lake) and sets. People will buy 4/5 for the set. If I was them, I’d a) pick prototype numbers that weren’t plated over in BR days and therefore wouldn’t have been in earlier liveries and b) look at the whitewash as an ‘unusual’ coach given its longevity (I know was much modified later).

There’s a good article on Lode Star and it’s condition in the newest GWS magazine. Lots of interior photos of the smoke box and how the elbow pipes were patched over. Basically, it looks like it was not intended /expected to steam again and the conservationists want to keep the Swindon work.

Given, in true internet fashion, we’re all now absolute experts in IP and related commercial behaviours, I thought this article about M&S in most of today’s papers was interesting: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/bath-marks-one-spencer-aldi-b1999554.html https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/m-s-concedes-perfect-match-valentines-gifts-are-strikingly-similar-k99ww3fdg

I find Horrible Histories suffices to ensure some basic historical knowledge. Clearly Johnson’s current small kids are a few years away from graduating from Peppa to HH.

I’m not going to Wade through every post…. However, with one or two exceptions, it strikes me that railways are usually incidental to the plot of the film. Interesting to use enthusiasts but ultimately not the thing you focus on in the movie. Yes, there’s some malapropisms of Bulleid locos in From `Russia with `love and tenuously, you could claim the Orient Express as a feature of the plot but to base a train pack around it? I think it’s stretching the point. One recent movie that does feature steam trains is Paddington 2. A chase scene involving Tornado. A circus train. A pullman. That to me has the ingredients for a “Railways in film.”

We can probably make a guestimate of the size of the exposure. If Rapido make an average of £200 per set of revenue and sells say 5,000, their sales are £1m. Clearly their loss isn't going to be the full amount, but I'd have thought a claim in the hundreds of thousand pounds could be a good starting point. A large number for Hornby, plus legal fees, who don't make much profit, but the real cost in in the management time that it takes up.

Based on that logic, will the next in the film series be a Blue E4 locomotive with a pack of two generic teak four wheel coaches "inspired by Thomas and the Magic Railroad?"

There's a number of scenarios. I'd be surprised if SK did not know the broad legal position around licensing given it's been a core part of their business. They'll have a General Counsel and almost certainly at least one other in house lawyer. Whilst I wouldn't expect that lawyer to be an IP expert, I'd expect them to know enough to know when they need to go to get external legal advice. From the April Rapido announcement, it sounds like Hornby approached asking for the rights and were told they were already given up. Whether the approach was jointly for the Titchfield and Railway Children or whether the rights to the latter were offered as an alternative, we don't (and probably won't) know. I'd expect that if this does go to litigation that management would need to flag it in their board report under actual or pending litigation (unless they can convince themselves its under a reporting threshold. If I was a Non-Exec, and they've just got a new one, I'd be asking the CEO what he knew and other board members knew and when. And given Hornby's profitability is low, that threshold shouldn't be very high). Did management know that there was a risk that this launch could be the subject of litigation? What representations did management give? What legal advice was sought and given? How was it summarised to the board? If there is a relationship problem with Studio Canal, how does that affect the Railway Children licence (and other items in this new film range)? Lots of questions. I've just finished watching most of the Hornby UKTV series. What's noticeable is how front and centre SK is albeit he is not a main board director. I assume he is a member of whatever they call their senior management team (ExCo, SLT etc). He is the face of the Hornby brand. I think it's noticeable that we don't see the CEO (or at least not memorably) in the programme. If there is litigation, he will be under a lot of scrutiny as, from the outside, it would appear that he is the central figure in these type of discussions. eg "Simon has a plan to outfox the competition and is sending junior staff member to measure 2007 Prince of Wales." IF Rapido and Studio Canal press their case, this has the capacity to put a lot of strain on the management team when they should still be focused on the turnaround and delivery of sustainable profit. Hence part of my thinking above that if this is a problem (and we're not all just living in the RMWeb bubble where we and only we think it matters) that they will have to find a way of u-turning.

As someone pointed out a few pages back, Rapido must have been tipped off in advance of the Hornby catalogue and hence the unseemly shuffle of Honrby’s announcement from 10am to 7am. That video wasn’t made in 5 mins (though probably not an overly long time period). Rapido would be taking a huge risk if they’d not cleared with Studio Canal what they were doing with that video. It may be that Studio Canal are quite amused by this spat. After all, it could be viewed in a comic light as “two toy manufacturers” argue about an old film. however if they don’t honour the contract with Rapido, it may have other consequences for them with things they care more about.

With the caveat that I'm not a lawyer, I'd have thought the sequence would play out as follows. Rapido believe they have a contract with StudioCanal that gives them exclusive rights to exploit this IP. Question as to what is in that contract, what exactly the rights and obligations are of each party, eg to enforce breach of IP, termination etc. That is not a public contract and we are all speculating (sometimes with the basis of knowledge of what is in similar contracts). Presumably Rapido feel that if StudioCanal does not enforce their IP rights, and that Rapido have a loss under that contract. If Rapido claim against StudioCanal, then StudioCanal now has a potential loss for which they can sue Hornby against for breach of their IP. Of course, if StudioCanal, with much greater power in these negotiations can 'persuade' Hornby to drop their use, then the problem goes away. I'd expect any competent IP lawyer to be able very quickly to assess the nature of the contract and whether there is a breach. Whilst lawyers don't, in my experience, give definitive views as to how a court would judge an issue, they can be pretty unequivocal. This, though, feels like a relationship issue between StudioCanal and Hornby, particularly given the latter's contract with them for the use of the Railway Children licence.

I really wish you'd stop posting pictures like this as it makes me rethink how many more of these I should have ordered!