Clive Mark

I'm HORRIFIED. The Oxford LNER Cattle wagon wagon fiasco might be funny ha ha .....but in reality it is one of the most stupid and unforgivable blunders in model railway history. Unless Oxford acknowledge their crass mistake and retool this stupid product I will fear for the future of Hornby. The Parkside kit for the 9 foot wheelbase LNER cattle wagon is the only option. If the quality and accuracy achieved by Hornby in recent years is compromised by Oxford's "style" then its back to kits folks and in spades. Thank God Parkside will continue through Peco.

1950's 64' Bulleids are absolutely essential. I hope it will be Hornby....separate grab handles....sprung buffers....etc.

I think you have been unlucky to have one so badly affected. Does sound like rough packing.

Only three but the shape of the body is absolutely commendable. If Hornby put their minds to it they can come out on top. Their body shell of their China made release has a better profile along the top than Martin Finney's (now Brassmasters) resin body....and that is quite good.

Very "old fashioned proper model shops of the past". I used to spend lunch hours rushing in the tube to get to Kings Cross. Good place. Tony Dyer was such a genuine man. The Reading shop was also the "sort of thing" you will never find today thanks to "progress".

This is an incredibly good product just like the Southern Cattle wagon. I have, so far, bought 11 of the BR versions with a view to renumbering and reallocating etc. I do not care if the colour is a bit "off". It beats the Ratio kit by miles. Hornby have an incredible cheek to ask the price which they do for their older Airfix Toad (tooled 30 years ago approx.?) which has the stansions going down to the bottom of the solebar making it AA23 or BR built. The underframe is disgusting by todays standards. The body is ok if you want to carve off the moulded handrails.

Still in Albion street where you can park for 30 minutes.....if you are lucky....I parked the other day within a few feet of the shop and went storming off down the streets of Exmouth to find him. I used to live in Honiton 'till three years ago. Time plays tricks on the mind. Got my senses back and backtracked a long way through the streets after googling the address to find I had parked in the same street as the shop. Then found I was parked almost outside the shop. Oh Dear ! Never mind ....made some very good purchases after a sweet shop "I can have this and I can have that" experience....and I escaped a parking ticket. Its half hour parking.

In here recently. Truly amazing prices on some items. Well worth a visit if you are in this area.

Its always a pleasure for me to buy at South Devon Railway. There are usually good prices and the staff both in the model shop and canteen are very pleasant. I used to live in Devon and I shopped there together with Small World in Barnstaple. Even though I am back in Oxfordshire I always drop in for a nosey around and often feel pleased when I leave the model shop with a purchase.

WARNING!!! I went to Ratio House today and their stock of Parkside kits in the shop has been transferred to the Peco shop at Pecorama. Expect some disorganisation for a while. I understand the packaging is to change to show PECO ownership.

Some of the 1935 Maunsells lasted to 1965/66....nearly as long as the later Bullieds! so they cover a thirty year time span from Southern steam right through to almost the end of steam on BR Southern.

I spoke to Richard recently and he has had to abandon the 13 ton BR Hopper if that's the one you were thinking of. So the new retooled LNER Toad is the last one.

The Dave Geen kit is an earlier diagram than Ratios.

Many of these post 1935 BCKs were used with an older BCK which Hornby already do to form the majority of the devon and cornwall B sets. I definitely think Hornby should do this in Crimson/Cream and BR Green. They could produce the B sets as used on the Padstow services. And sell them with T9s.

Nice products but Hornby have really goofed with this. Obviously did not do their homework.

Thanks for that Martin. Oh dear ! What do we do now ? Fox transfers ?

Car No 34 is shown on page 125 of Kevin Robertson's "In the Tracks of the Bournemouth Belle" on that trains last day 1967. The coach has pre 1960 Pullman crests and pre 1960 lining. Anyone know whats going on? Is Kevins photo date wrong? Have Hornby assumed Car 34 received post 1960 livery to match the U types and got it wrong ? Some Pullmans were running well into the 1960's with pre 1960 crests especially on the Western "standby Pullman" sets. This can be seen in some pictures in Antony Ford's book.

Leaving empty handed requires phenomenal self discipline and control.

Lets hope Hornby do the Toad absolutely PERFECT because if they do they will not regret it. Sales will compensate for last minute fine tuning.

I would still rather tackle these problems than scrape handrails off a Ratio kit, which if I remember correctly was a bit hybrid itself. I started scraping a Ratio toad side about thirty years ago and nearly finished that first side. With one or two rivets lost I just could not go on. Intense madness and boredom took over. No Archers rivet transfers in those days and Geoff Kent's rivet creation was uknown to me. The toad kit went in a bin eventually. I still feel "hallelujah" at Hornby's new development.

Oh Thankyou God ! Now I won't have to scrape the handrails off my Ratio Toad kits....which will be disposed of once Hornby have their's for sale. A brilliant move by Hornby....AND LONG OVERDUE. Why have we had to suffer crap toads all these years ?

Found a picture in Mike King's Wagons of the Southern of a Bullied version. Picture caption dates it in 1960. It is still in original livery with the 'R' of the small SR on the side blotched out. Caption says vehicle withdrawn 1963. I could not wait for BR liveried Bullied versions so bought a couple of the Bullied (Dia 1530) at Alton Models this afternoon with a view to repainting. I probably will not bother having seen this picture. Quite a few of these SR Cattle wagons probably went to the scrapyard with original livery somewhere underneath all the muck and lime wash. Just need need to adjust the numbering and lettering. Excellent product. Well done Hornby.

Yes ....I agree with this....but has anyone any idea when ANYONE will do a Maunsell U. There seems to be curse upon this engine !

Hornby are doing Joan, Ursula and Car 83. A good choice. Antony Ford's book shows these three to be in regular use on the Bournemouth Belle during the 1960's. Joan was also used on the North of England Pullman trains. There's a picture of her behind a peak at St Pancras.

Just to point out that Falcon Brass is not integrated into the Dart Castings range. Falcon Brass has its own website called Falcon Brassworks. http://www.falconbrassworks.com/