Clive Mark

Thankyou Paul, I shall go and have a look! Clive

I don't know if anyone has raised the issue of removing the wheels yet from this outstanding product but I have just been advised by Accurascale that the brake gear will come apart though it needs great care. The rodding for the clasp brakes cuts across underneath the axles so has to be moved to enable wheel change for EM etc.

Richard has left us all a great legacy. Condolences to his family

I agree Godfrey and the book you are thinking of is Wild Swann's THE 4mm WAGON, Part One, Opens, Minerals and Hoppers. The author is the excellent Mr Geoff Kent .....Turn to page no 78.....Bulk Grain Hoppers.

This is terrible news. Richard was always very helpful and friendly. What rotten luck.

This is always such a good show to go to and worth travelling a long distance not only because of the trains but the quality of catering and QWEGS venue make it a comfortable day out.

Both of mine arrived well packed by DPD courier, Excellent customer service by Hornby. Yes I bought two engines as the rebuilt BB/west country is a favourite. Colour match is spot on. Thankyou for doing this Hornby.

The Steaming Sixties 4 - "The Withered Arm in Cornwall" shows a bauxite coloured toad ...pages 35 and 39. The van has the later ducket. Page 12 shows one coupled to a Southern Queen Mary !

The Black Five is early short firebox with combined dome and topfeed - Ayrshire Yeomanry. It is the finescale model (Not Railroad). The Stanier coaches are finescale not Railroad. The set would be a good buy therefore.

Just spoken to Technical Services at Hornby. No sign of the replacement ROC tender bodies yet so be patient everyone !

This is good news. It has restored my faith in Hornby. I have just spoken to technical services at Hornby. They will be reworking unsold stock they hold when the new bodies arrive. They will not be recalling unsold stock from retailers. As stated in previous posts, they will issue the new bodies to previous purchasers of Royal Observer Corps on proof of purchase. Well done to the people who got onto Hornby about this and thankyou to Hornby for the positive response. The less good news is that they will not be producing extra numbers of the 5500 gallon bodies for people to buy as spares. Their email is : technicalservices.uk@Hornby.com

Drove around north Northumberland a few days ago. The old station houses between Alnwick and Coldstream have survived very well as private residences. However I was so pleased to discover the old goods shed in Wooler (now Millers Antiques). Remarkable state of preservation outside and inside. The dealer is friendly and I had a walk around his stock admiring the building from inside. You can walk right around the outside of the building. Just outside Wooler on the Coldstream A697 road is a very small place signposted Akeld Steads. (you can see it easily from the main road). The signal box there is preserved in excellent condition. An absolute gem. This railway ran through some of the best countryside and it is still so unspoilt. What a pity the line closed. It would have been a perfect time warp.

"Yes Taw" and most of the early rebuilt bullieds Hornby did are virtually collectors items. I considered myself lucky to get one mint second hand a few years ago and paid £125 for it! If you switch ROC's body you could still have a mis-match on the Brunswick shades. Could disguise though using various techniques or some weathering.

The 5500 gallon tender is shown on both Hornby's website and the box cover. No evidence at all that Rebuilt Royal Observer Corps ever had a 4500 gallon tender. Not only a spectacular cock up but thoroughly dishonest and contemptuous of loyal customers.

Recently experienced excellent service in this shop.

Excellent show and Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School (known as "QWEGS" in Wakefield) a very good venue. This has been the third year in a row for me and the three and half hour drive worth it. Well done to the organisers.

I have seen the black one and that has a suspiciously smooth 'plasticey' look to it.

I'll leave the list to a 47xx expert but I have seen the Heljan model and although it has the look and character of the beast, I have noticed the points/issues raised by previous posters. Does anyone agree that the driving wheel spokes seem very flat as they approach the boss/hub ? Recent releases from Hornby have had excellent spoke profiles e.g. the B12 For me, if I wanted a really good 47 I would invest the necessary time and money in the Brassmasters ex Finney kit.

Hornby website now showing Sir William Stanier as expected October 2018.....so more time for people's finances to catch up ? and more time for the market to digest the current situation of speculators selling on ebay and customers failing to buy originally for whatever reason to have a think and perhaps buy one at the second chance without ebay inflated gazumping.

Interesting ! I've just remembered the Bachmann coach has separate side panels leaving a visible join at the ends if looked at closely. It shows more on the blue/grey coaches as the ends are coloured blue and not black.

Did "Design Clever" (Dumbing Down?) ever completely disappear ? Hornby's BR Mk1 coaches introduced only a few years ago have moulded pipework on the roof and moulded grabrails at the ends while Bachmann's (tooled up many years ago) have fitted wired detail. The prices of the latest releases of Hornby's Mk1 coaches have almost caught up with Bachmann's price, which has also just gone up. Although the Hornby coaches can have the moulded detail removed and improved to match Bachmann coaches without disturbing the nice paint and lining of the sides.....why do all that work on a whole rake if Bachmann give you that detail ready made. I never understood Hornby's approach with the Mk1 coach and now it is hardly cheaper. They may feel they can depend on brand loyalty to sell these.

The full range of Parkside kits in both 4 and 7 mm scales are stocked by Alton Models in Alton, Hampshire. Stocks are constantly refreshed from Peco with some of the new blue labelling starting to appear.

AC Models in Eastleigh may have some blue sound 40's left. I know Alton Models sold out. They only have blue centre head code 40 left.

I now have both green versions and the blue one. They are slow runners so far so it seems a general problem. They do seem to get faster with a bit of warming up. Appearance of this model is excellent. One of the best diesels in N gauge ....perhaps the best considering the fitting of a speaker as standard ?

75% second homes. I never met anyone in that area who liked model railways. Perhaps they build their layouts at their main homes in London, Bristol etc. Perhaps they work such long hours at their Banking, Property development etc that they havn't the time. Well its their loss.