trevor7598

The livery samples of these vans were on show at the Bluebell Railway model railway weekend. Four liveries were exhibited, and despite the spot lights in Bachmann's cabinet,and lack of natural light, all four looked excellent. To my eye the BR red version was of the best shade i have ever seen on a model. The BR(S) green also looked correct ie. not in that horrible dark shade that Bachmann have used on all their loco hauled BR(S) coaches in recent years. The SR olive was harder to make out as it was behind another model on a stationary turntable when i viewed the cabinet. The Rail Blue ex. CCT also looked good , just like an ex.works example!. Overall, in my opinion, these models look just right, and worth the long wait.

I have examined Bigherbs frozen images again, in a dark room. I have to agree about the last coach is indeed a BCL.

Further to my post this morning, i have studied the lightened images courtesy of Bigherb, and it does look as though the first and last coaches in the Adams Radial train are identical. It is difficult to study them closely, But both seem to have 8 compartments with a grafted on van end, with Maunsell style duckets. IF i am right there may only be two types of SR rebuilds in production. Unless Hornby have a composite up their sleeve, there won't be any first class. BUT HEY! this is an observation not a criticism. Carry on with the good work Hornby !.

i agree with everyone who have surmised that the coaches behind the Adams Radial are SR rebuilds of LSWR stock. The leading coach is one with a brand new van end grafted to the older body, mounted on a standard SR underframe. the centre coach is almost certainly a lav. 3rd of the same type as 320 on the Bluebell Rly ( note water tank cover in the middle of the roof ). The last coach is less discernable, but is clearly from the same family. Hornby have played a blinder here, just look at all the loco's out there that hauled this type of stock. Four liveries possible too. Sincere congratulations to Hornby.

I really do hope the S stock venture is a success . It's dipping a toe in the water time, if the waters too cold they'll be dumped at a discount after a while. If the waters warm , who knows, R stock, CO/CP, or even earlier types. LT. Railways are an almost untapped market, and world famous. THE FUTURE'S BRIGHT, THE FUTURES RED !. ( and silver ).

Perhaps some R&D work before announcing a model would be a good plan. This would help to reduce the waiting time somewhat. Hornby have started doing this and some of their models are now available in a very short timescale, and we all know the problems they have had in recent times.

When the 02s were first announced i was interested in an IOW example for old times sake, and a mainland one for my BR( S ) themed garden railway. But i have got so fed up with waiting for this model that i've gone for an E4 instead. As for the Gate set , again a Hornby push / pull set has taken it's place. I made these decisions very recently as the above models seem as far away as ever. For me the waiting is over !.

Coachman correctly points out that peculiarity on Stanier pre/post war brake thirds ie. the lowered sides, complete with lower windows. I have often wondered why these vehicles were designed differently to the other types of the same era. There must be a reason for it . I did wonder when Bachmann withdrew the brake thirds, if they had not modelled this feature and quietly dumped them and retooled.But even the newly released models don't have lower windows and won't look odd in a train of Stanier stock like the prototypes did !.

There has been mention on this thread about Thompson coaches on the WR in the 1960s. I recall from my summer saturdays spent at Reading that quite a few trains had a Thompson corridor 2nd either at the front of the train,or as the last coach. It always puzzled me,why ex BR(E) coaches were used as strengtheners when there were still many Hawkesworth coaches around. The only explanation for this practice has to do with Buckeye couplings I think. I also recall, some if not all, the Thompson SK's had a W prefix to their number which indicated that they were allocated to the WR rather than borrowed. Can anyone come up with the facts ?.

I have a question that I hope a GNR devotee may be able to answer. Regarding the BR version of the GN Atlantic , I note that it still has an Ivatt ' face ' to the smokebox door, is this correct ?. The Atlantic boiler at Sheffield Park has a Gresley ' face '. I was wondering if the few loco's that made it to the BR era had more modern boilers or weather the model correctly portrays the ivatt variety. Unfortunately I don't have any photo's of the BR survivors.

A number of E4s were overhauled at Ashford, both in SR and BR days, those requiring new smokebox doors were fitted with SECR style doors. I am not sure if the smokebox itself was ever to SECR spec. if it required renewel. Always consult photo's when modifying your expensive E4,there are many major and minor differences between various loco's. Bachmann have only produced one type of boiler and there were several types in use, and they got swapped around.

Note the 'Ashford' smokebox door on the early crest version..

HI Jim 104 I'm sorry to read that you are having problems with your E4. Although Guildford is about 60 miles from me, you are most welcome to try your E4 on my garden railway ( near Eastbourne). If it derails you have a dodgy loco. ( weather permitting ).

I purchased the BR late crest E4 32500 at Ally Pally. The track on my garden railway is far from perfect after a long winter, but this was no problem for the E4,even on point work. I have also received the SR version this week and that also runs very well ( in both directions ). My track is very old Peco code 100. So i don't know why some people are having problems with the trailing axle. I do however, have three Hornby Gresley Pacifics, none of which will stay on the track, I find that front bogie very troublesome. All in all i'll give Bachmann top marks for a very fine product.

Like the first batch of loco's, one of which i have, i note that the chimney is still the wrong shape. It should be more parallel and the rim is too wide. The 02 chimney, however, looks better.

Yes I remember the Taverns,when converted to green buffet cars,had a pork pie in one on the way home from Exeter. But seriously the Tavern signs, and all that fake brickwork and fake tudor beams just cry out for modern tampo printing. YES bring on a Tavern set!!.

No yellow stripes on Bulleid coaches, but the Southern Railway did produce a modern streamline train. An original MN hauling one of the Bournemouth line six car dining sets.Loco and coaches perfectly matched!! But the SR never advertised or acknowledged the fact that they had such a train. I think their publicity dept. missed a trick!.

On Monday we'll all know what Bachmann's plans are,all the chatter on this topic makes me wonder if there has been a leak from the Bachmann camp. If there has been i would be very surprised, As I have recently worked with them on a project i find it difficult to believe that Bachmann would be careless enough to let their future plans leak to a competitor.. But of course if Bachmann are going to produce an original MN it would not be the first time that duplication had taken place.

RE, 4 VEP Curtains, Both my points may have been aired before on this subject, but i believe the omission of curtains on the blue/grey VEP is in order. In the early days of this livery the units would still have kept them, but before NSE days they were gone ( except in first class ). Also the model has the sliding windows in the closed position, this is also correct as they were permanently sealed after a very short time. Why did BR think they were needed in the first place with a droplight in every door?.

It is strange how some loco's are troublesome for some and not others. I have four Bachmann 'Peppercorns' 2xA1 and 2xA2 and all are perfectly reliable, as far as derailments are concerned . on my garden railway. However, i have 3 Hornby Gresley pacifics whose front bogies are always derailing, so much so that i have confined them to my display cabinet. So it is not all down to the track! As for the P2 i got very excited about this when it was first anounced, but this waned as deadlines came and went, and finally died as RMWEB contributors began to speak of 'cheap' motors, and 'design clever' shortcuts. I hope Hornby will one day do a partial re-tool of the P2,and do justice to a fine prototype.

With nearly all the major Big Four loco. classes, and some of the more obscure ones as well,now covered RTR where do the manufacturers go for future models?. As I see it they have two routes to go down.The first is to produce up to date Loco's/rolling stock as it arrives on our railway system.Secondly,go down the pre grouping route. This area has hardly been touched, especially where rolling stock is concerned.And as some pre group stock had a very long life,giving manufacturers lots of liveries for that expensive tooling. We will have Bachmann's Birdcage trio sets for the large range of Southern loco's to haul,but what will Kernows Isle of Wight 02 have to haul?,for example. Then there the intricate liveries,just right for Tampo printing.Few of us have the skill for intricate liveries,consequently our layouts are all the poorer for it. Kernow Gate set? BRING IT ON !!!

HI All, Here's an interesting one to muse over!. Oxford have recently produced two beautiful 1.76 Southdown coaches for about £12 full retail. EFE and Corgi model buses are over £30 full retail. Could Oxford produce a loco for a lot less than the big two without loss of quality!. I hope so.

I recently purchased a Hornby 2 HAL by mail order, and it arrived in a cut down corrugated box which is a perfect fit for the 2 HAL set and in large capital letters it reads ....... Hornby MARGATE VIA THAMESPORT MADE IN INDIA But on the underside of the coaches MADE IN CHINA. i don't know the origins of the corrugated box, but something is being produced in India.

HI Everyone, As all of you own Hornby Gresley pacifics ,what is the general opinion regarding the front bogie arrangement. I have two A3's and one A4,they are without doubt some of Hornby's finest looking loco's but I have found that the sloppy sliding action of the very lightweight bogie to be a constant source of derailments. Where is the central sprung pivot found on Hornby's Bulleids and Royal Scot ,these stay on the track perfectly as do all my Bachmann loco's . To me there is serious design flaw here All three loco's are top of the range ie. not Railroad.

A few observations on the Hornby 2BIL, i bought a 2BIL in Feb.2013 when they first came out, since then, until last month, it ran on it's own.Now I have the latest BIL unit 2019 and a HAL and it is noticeable that the new units are faster and have a slightly different motor noise to the earlier unit. Have Hornby used different motors in the later units?. However all units run very sweetly. Hornby have used the heavy type buffers on unit 2019, surely this is wrong. Another point concerns the window frames here Hornby have modelled lots of screw heads on them, they should not be there These frames had a flush surface. I for one am glad that the manufacturers are now spoiling us Southern electric fans after so long!. My moans are minor ones!! .