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Your subtle work is magnificent. Perhaps adding lamp irons to the 8F could add to the improvements?

Congrats for your excellent work. But looking at this, I always ask why we must pay a hundred pounds for stuff that must be overhauled to such an extent to have a decent running engine?

About comparisons and haulage power, a friend an I once coupled back to back a WD with a Bachmann Spectrum american 2-8-0, and the later was the evident winner. Bachmann could improve copying themselves!

I have rolling stock from all regions, but the Eastern is my dearest.

Hi Ray Thanks for your comprehensive information. I must check this site more often. I'm presently weathering a J39 which has a tender who occasionally derails too. You can follow that through Flickr. My WD tender is permanently attached to the loco as my friend Marcos added pick ups to tender wheels, so an electric connection was mandatory. That may be the cause too. As far as I noted, the wheel sets have reasonable side-play. I must check the other issues you pointed. Thanks! Jos

I own two WD. One runs fine, the other not. However, my major concern is about the tenders. Both derail miserably at points. And I only have Peco slimline code 75 long points, with just two exceptions. The wagon load concern does not affect me as my layout only accepts four coach length trains, or their equivalent in wagons. But the derailings of these loco's tenders drive me mad. Help!

I've been trying to discover why my Hornby A3 and Standard 4 short at curves for a long time. I'm going to see if the protruding shafts are the guilty ones! Thanks!

It seems Hornby invested in good motors, and resigned quality in all other aspects. But good motors with bad bearings and rigid wheelbases are condemned to perennial problems. Not all of us are able to repair these issues. Considering that a Special Editions are not cheap, this is to give too little for the money. I'm convinced that the company is ill-managed, and I believed that for some years, with increasing certainty. The toy market intended products are OK, but I must point that Bachmann is achieving far better results for the same money. There are some lessons to be learnt in Margate!

So rain must happen. That must be soon, after all it's Britain!

A neat blog as usual. May I suppose you are planning to start with the greenery in due course, after this quote: "BR(LMR) train terminating - just imagine the grass!"?

If I dared to open a Pullman coach, I would spend some time colouring the seats and seating some passengers.

In general terms I agree with you. Making savings with detail while asking a hundred pounds for a model seems quite contradictory, and difficult to accept. I was looking for a sample of this engine, but I'm looking for a slightly different version. This one has a "stepped" front, while there is another one with a gentle curve instead, very much like the 28xx. This is the one I'm looking for. I can't find it. Any help is welcome!

Your sharp eye leads to clever solutions. I will study mine, it may have the same trouble. We'll see. However, mine is digitalized, and it can be observed that at certain speed steps it runs smoothly while at others it's a disaster. Usually that indicates that the decoder is inadequate for the engine, or the engine is inadequate for the deco. Believe it or not, it happens!

YW. You know I share your opinion about Hornby & Bachmann. However, in this peculiar case, the tooling of the Bachmann model is much older than the Hornby one, so the comparison may be controversial. Other members of the forum may find such a comparison of much interest. Regards, Jos