Floreat Industria

I see that Hornby are taking pre-orders again today.

I would like to know as well. By the way Hornby is selling again at the moment!

Olivia's on ebay now says the coaches left Hornby 26th November and they are starting posting on Monday 30th.

It's sad to think that 3005/6 ended up at Kingsbury scrapyard on 27th October 2016. Here is the set arriving.

The Cheltenham site is showing releases 65837 31 August 1214 and 65817 30 September 1010 March 2021

Rails of Sheffield currently have several varieties at a bargain £175.

Hattons are quoting July to September

The photograph of Sir Nigel Gresley and his two daughters standing next to Hush Hush with the driver, fireman and inspector in the cab makes an interesting study in grey. Sir Nigel's coat is no doubt the mid grey typical of the period and his two daughters have contrasting dark coats. The light and reflection makes the loco body one shade, the cab another and the tender yet another. Also, the numerals are an interesting study in black, grey and white. One thing that does come over is that anthracite grey certainly seems to be too dark. Where I found the photograph on the web in the last couple of weeks now unfortunately eludes me!

Presumably the locomotive was painted in standard photographic 18% reflective grey for its marvellous works photograph. Would there have been any sense in changing the shade for entry into the little actual service it saw?

The large model which stood in the now closed Darlington museum and which is now, I believe, in the Head of Steam museum was supposedly contemporary with the real loco and was painted in what I remember as a light photographic grey. The loco was still a legend when I was growing up in North Road, Darlington in the 1950s and there was never any mention of it being quiet - just secret.

Enthusiasts would be interested in the scrapping of any any rail vehicles and you can't usually see the secretive workings of scrapyards for heaps of something or other. Gone are the days when you could turn up at a South Yorkshire scrapyard with your spanner and screwdriver to remove your own Routemaster numberplates and pay them £1 on the way out. The containers had been there for some time and weren't connected with the Eurostars. More likely to stop people stealing the scrap to sell back!

I can't wait for the original Hush Hush. It was a legend in Darlington when I was a boy and I used to gaze at the large scale model of it in Darlington museum. Something clicked when I glanced at the Beatles Eurostar. It was the first to be scrapped at Kingsbury and here are a couple of photos I took on 27 October 2016. 3006/5 snaked very slowly into the sidings while a southbound express waited at the signal. The M42 was at a standstill.

I've been fancying one for some time but the price, possible faults and radius needed have put me off. Rails selling them at £129 and Hattons saying they will negotiate 10 1/2" radius finally made me order one and it came today. The last thing I wanted was bits dropping off and getting lost so I took the body off and had a good look at the drop links. One was working very nicely and nowhere near getting caught. The other one was wobbling all over the place and could not be bent or kept away from the rest of the motion. I found that the pin holding the top of the drop link is a force fit and I removed it with my fingernails! I presume a tiny bit needs filing from the pin so it will go in just a litle bit further and stop the wobbling. On taking it out (with no force needed) the pin holding the other end dropped out from where it is attached to the centre driving wheel. On examining it with a magnifying glass I found that it is a splined force fit but the splines are only about 1mm long so no wonder so many motions have been coming to pieces. I put the pieces in a tiny zipper bag and also removed the other non-sloppy side and the pin also came straight out so in it went into another little bag. The pins are so small you can hardly see them. Perhaps re-assembly with the tiniest bit of instant glue in the hole would cure the problem but I will not be re-attaching them in the near future until I have put a bit of thought into it. The loco happily pulls a couple of Peco coaches round my perfectly flat Roco 10 1/2" radius curves at a scale speed but the pickups need adjusting. Only the bogies seem to be picking up properly. I'm happy with it at the price but it isn't a patch on my Bachmann loco for quality.

You will need NEW splashers as the J71's were taller and quite different to suit the bigger wheels. Also, they had the shorter bunker like the early J72s.

2313 and 68696 seem to have been shy of being photographed on the right hand side but by 1957 when 2313 was 68720 she had got over her shyness and shown that the front of the ejector pipe was straight. Darlington may of course have altered it at a boiler change.

I see that all three black ones are now shown in the "latest arrivals" on the Bachmann site so hopefully they will get them all out in time for Christmas. The green one, still outstanding, makes me sorely tempted just for its sheer attractiveness even though I know it is wrong. I think different numberplates and a Ramsbottom safety valve cover (from where?) could make me forget the length difference. Whether they will arrive before Christmas is another matter as it's getting very close.

Yes, it was always "The Quakers" in my day, but that was a long time ago when they were at Feethams and trolleybuses used to queue outside the ground for the end . I was taken to a match when I was about 5. I remember being interested in the turnstile and being glad when it was half time so we could go home! I haven't been to another match since. When I was pushed in my pram to see the trains on the ECML next to Stephenson's works they were still LNER. My grandmother was a Quaker. A different world. Returning to the thread, I wonder how long the first J72 will take to get to the shops and whether the other three will follow closely. All four say "December" on the dealer's list. I loved the Darlington station pilots and have an early film I took of one shunting a parcels van as an A3 comes in on the "Queen of Scots".

Of the four new Bachmann locos, details are as follows:- 2173 (BR 68690) built Darlington 1914* 68696 (NER 2179) built Darlington 1914 2313 (BR 68720) built Armstrong Whitworth 1922 68733 (NER 2326) built Armstrong Whitworth 1922 *fantasy livery based on photographic grey works photo I was born and brought up in Darlington and never came across the expression Darlo, which seems common today! Regards

The Bachmann site is now showing 31-060 LNER lined black 2313 in the "latest arrivals" list

The last set, TP10, came north to Crewe yesterday, 23.10.19. Only spare driving trailer 12814 remains to be delivered.

Two other sets have now entered service. TP12 took its first passengers on the 5th and TP06 on the 12th October. TP07,08 (currently accumulating mileage prior to acceptance) and 13 have yet to be accepted and as mentioned before TP01,02,03 and 05 are in store. The last one,TP10, and a spare driving trailer should be delivered before long.

As we're filling in the time waiting for the J27 with memories, I found the Harrowgate Hill reference intriguing. I was born in a room overlooking the Great North Road at Harrowgate Hill in 1945. It was conveniently 5 minutes walk from the East Coast Main Line. My earliest journeys to school were by trolleybus, changing in the town centre from single to double deck as we didn't have a car then. My first school, Lynton House, Stanhope Road, was just round the corner from Holy Trinity where I believe Edward Thompson married Sir Vincent Raven's daughter Guen. It is back to being a private house. My second school was Raventhorpe in Carmel Road, recently demolished. Sir Vincent Raven's house, also now demolished, was at the other end of the road. Then I went to nearby Uplands, demolished years ago and house and grounds now a housing estate. Finally, I ended up at the Grammar School, just round the corner from where I started and surviving as a sixth form college. To get to these I had to pass either the front or the yard of North Road locomotive works. My mother drove me to the grammar school on her way to work in a private railway drawing office and we had to go over the level crossing over which everything entering or leaving the works passed, usually pulled by a J94, the driver reading the paper, and often backwards and forwards several times before the gates opened. It was good for train spotting but not good for getting to school on time! Round the corner at the back of the works there was a great heap of J27 boilers with numberplates on high over the fence overlooking a row of houses and we philosophised whether they counted or not for trainspotting purposes. As for health and safety, no one cared in those happy days. There was a footpath from Harrowgate Hill which went right up to the East Coast Main Line and then away again where there was no fence and it went right up to the ballast. We had a den in a bush some 6 feet from the East Coast Main Line with its pacifics thundering past. No one every came to any harm. I now live 5 minutes drive from the West Coast Main line. It's rather strange as the LMS was generally hated by my contemporaries . "Ask them about Fury" was a local saying!

Yes, TP09 was dragged north on 15/11/18 and TP06 was on 2/10/18 Out of interest, the last but one to be delivered, TP13, came north yesterday, 1/10/19.

Do you really mean the first in Passenger Service. TP09 had that honour on 24 August, followed by TP11 on 28 August and TP04 on 19 September. TP06 has been accepted but not yet entered service. TP01,02,03 and 05 are in secure storage at Longtown for the time being.

Fortunately I bought through Paypal. No reply from Panda to me or Paypal so Paypal refunded.