ruggedpeak

Jim You need to speak to your management (and an agent!) about getting your own TV series. Your photos are awesome but something along the lines of "Stobarts Trucks and Trailers" ("Colas Jim down on the tracks") would have us glued to the TV (and be far better!). A weekly 30 minutes of that would be fab BBC might go for it after Trainspotting Live? For info Scograil have them at £118.95 and free postage. Bargain wherever you get it. Tony

Hattons have it for pre-order http://www.hattons.co.uk/251383/Bachmann_Branchline_32_789_Class_37_0_37099_Merl_Evans_Colas_Split_Headcode/StockDetail.aspx

Presumably a 2017 release then (pending sight of the 2017 range)?

Errr, I am very much in the market for an ATW one to go with my 143, 67, 153 etc. The only contemporary Oxford Diecast Welsh fire appliance is an aerial unit which is a bit OTT for a toasty 142? I guess maybe the others were on other jobs when the 142 went up?

Agreed, totally different market and segment. A £600 train set is not perceived as a "premium" item. People who buy a £10k watch are nuts, buying it at an airport is even more nuts! The problem with airports is they are run by money grabbing muppets. It's interesting that when I go shopping at Westfield I don't have to walk for miles through an airport terminal to get to the shops, yet if I want to get on a plane I have to walk through a bloody shopping centre full of gormless shoppers gazing at overpriced fags, booze and watches, whilst being defrauded of the VAT on any purchases. Hence I now tend to use proper airports like City & Southend that focus on traditional airport activities like putting people on planes. Perhaps if they spent less time running shops and more time doing plane related stuff they might have been able to cope with the odd bit of snow for the last 20 years. I strongly suspect the purchasers of such sets do not have a detailed understanding of the difference between Railroad and detailed, few if any RMWebbers or indeed I suspect anyone who reads a model railway magazine, would buy such a set. A very different demographic from railway modellers or £10k watch buyers. Also a potential entry point for those who also spend £300 on a Lego set as Southport says. They spend a lot on the latest thing they remember from their childhood for their own kids. I have a colleague who does precisely this.

Not half as bad as producing a popular model and then being given dictats on morality over spares and decoders. Beware the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Models being released Inappropriately. Moulds will be publicly smashed in a live webcast to prevent a recurrence of this degenerate behaviour and the offenders made to install DCC sound in N gauge Wickham trollies (no trailers allowed) to demonstrate their devotion.

The point I was making was that the Virgin ones have dropped dramatically in price in a relatively short space of time. I didn't make a direct comparison between the GWR at list and the Virgin reduced price, but was alluding (clearly too subtly for some) that the same fate might befall the GWR ones i.e. after a list and retail in the £300 region, they could end up south of £200 or even £150. Try reading para 2 as a whole as it renders your original point null and void. You are raising a different point. Which linked to the first paragraph and the post I was responding too about holding off buying one, as whilst that might result in the same traumas as we've seen with Pecketts, in fact the GWR ones may also end up being nice and cheap in a few months, well below even the current discounted retail prices. Hope that helps clarify my point.

For the record, this catalgoue will have been the period around 1980 onwards. So yes, that long

So not Daisy Duke then

List is £320, many retailers have it at close to £300 when rounded up and postage included (Hattons, GM etc). However you dress it up Hornby are pitching it as a £300 model and perhaps trying to set a tone, which is substantially above the list £279.99 for the Virgin TTS version. The Virgin ones are now available retail at under £160. Interestingly Colletts seem to have dropped their price on the GWR set, currently £246.35 but the DuckDuckgo search result showed £255.99, which I assume was an earlier search bot result. https://www.collettsmodelshop.co.uk/Hornby-r3510-gwr-hst-125-train-pack-limited-edition Even more interestingly as a comparison, is Rails doing the Virgin powers cars with 5 coaches for £295. Based on their £160 for the power cars, that £2 off each coach (retail) https://www.railsofsheffield.com/Hornby-r3390tts-virgin-class-43-hst-pack-with-tts-sound-plus-5-coaches-JJJA32361.aspx . Not bad, £300 (rounded) for a decent length (for a layout, not reality) HST set. So for the nominal £300 you can have a sound equipped Virgin HST train versus GWR power cars and one coach. And Rails do the same 5 coach set up with the non-TTS Blue Grey "Limited Edition" Anniversary set.

Version 3 would be my preferred. Version 2 is ok and would buy if no 3 but no interest in version 1

Don't do that, look what happened on the Peckett forum when people held back and then couldn't get one when they turned out to be the best model of 2016/ever! It all kicked off and even had accusations of moral improprietary by Hornby. Made Brexit look like a walk in the park As for HST's, the price is steep and with the Virgin TTS HST's this should be TTS at the price. £300 and no TTS is taking the proverbial in my view. OK its limited availability, but they need to be careful as the Virgin ones can be got for £165. We shall see but these may sit too, and be nice and inexpensive in a few months.......some of us have been burnt before and still remember. Only a few people will be so keen on these they will pay £300 and not get upset if in a few months they are at £150. Not easy for Hornby as I note Ebay is awash with Virgin HST's with the TTS removed at around £120 each. Just shows the demand for TTS units.

Has that got something to do with [unnecessarily] tight shorts made from ripped jeans or am I totally missing the point (as usual)?

They are a business and what would the reaction be if Pecketts were sold out and it transpired Hornby were sitting on a load of them "just in case"? They'd be told to be ashamed of themselves for secretly hoarding them. Who needs the Holy Grail when there's a Peckett shortage? It is a good thing Hornby have produced a model that a lot of people want, makes people happy (well most) and brings much needed cash into Hornby's and retailer's tills. It is extremely unfortunate that Les' shipment has gone astray but it is hardly a unique experience for anything sent by courier. Hopefully it will turn up in a day/week or two when they find it in the back of the depot. H Has Les checked his wheelie bin/neighbours just in case? I had a shipment delivered whilst away over Xmas and specifically instructed it to go to a neighbour. Only when checking the update email did I find my "back door" had apparently signed for the parcel (no sniggering). Had to text the neighbour to retrieve it as it had been sat outside in the frost for a couple of days luckily it was just cheap Hornby track from Hawkins in a huge box!

ooops!

I certainly would have expected TTS in both cars like the considerably cheaper Virgin version.

A point discussed on the inside back page of this month's Model Rail! I think it was MR anyway - the one with "Tail Lamp"

Just wanted to thank Charlie for excellent customer service over the Xmas/New Year period

As the New Year approaches and post-Warley and the reassuring sight of Hornby's resurgence, it is impressive to think that what is arguably one of the best OO RTR models ever was conceived and developed during a difficult and challenging period for the company. Despite concerns about the future of the company, despite increasing competition and duplication the Hornby team have turned out a masterclass in RTR modelling. And to competitors who claim to offer a successful superior RTR product, you have a new benchmark.

H&P and Dodo just arrived today from Kernow. I have only slid the outer sleeve of but even sat in the box they are quite stunning.

Brilliant. Well done everyone involved.

Thanks to everyone for replying. I have the little bag with the headcodes, frost grill and coupling blanking plug, and that bag is intact. So looks like just the 2nd coupling is missing, which is not a major deal. I'll speak to them next time I'm in. Whoever put the pipes etc on did a proper job with no glue or anything, looks like it was factory fitted.

Silly question - bought 97407 yesterday at a shop. Was test run ok, but didn't look in great detail at it. On getting it home I find the brake pipes and connections are added on both ends of the loco and one coupling is installed and the other missing. On this model presumably the pipes and connectors were supplied in a little bag to be fitted by the user? At the moment it looks to me like this is in fact secondhand but wanted to check. The headcode discs are in a bag but the second coupling is AWOL and I assume was in the pipes bag on original purchase? Or are the pipes factory fitted, if so was the coupling in a separate bag? Any thoughts from others who have one appreciated. Thanks.

0-4-0 steam engine, Christmasy, tight radius curves, you say?