BVMR21

These are looking fantastic, really looking forward to seeing them in person. Just need to get yourselves a decent industrial loco out for these and you've got a full set...

Can I ask how easy the smokebox door on these is to remove, or rather, is it fingernail under one edge of the smokebox door or is it something like a tool to lever it? More interested to hear how it's going to be done to prevent damage to the model when fitting.

How about some GWR 70' coaches?

It is still a relatively inexpensive hobby, if you think about it. £140 (alright £139.99 direct from Accurascale) for a high quality 0-6-0 isn't that bad (very good in fact). I would say the only thing missing now is some coaching stock for these locos to pull...

Very much so. Though my personal preference is something between the size of the Hattons Barclays and the Victory, personal favs atm being the PLAs (such as 1857 at the PBR currently), but that's possibly more down to the fact 0-4-0s don't really appeal to me as much as outside cylinder 0-6-0s. In that regard something like Llantarnam Abbey would be perfect for quite a number of layouts, at least in my opinion.

Random question but did the call for retailers on FB lead to some retailers of PI? Only asking as if there were would it be possible to get a list at some point of retailers? In regards to Victory, I will say it is somewhat more difficult to justify multiple of it in a way it isn't for say 16" Bagnalls, or 14" 0-6-0ST Barclays, or other larger classes...

Another good one to watch

Plenty of pictures to show the likes of Seven Mile Bank. It's also useful to remember a not insignificant part of the route did consist of 1 in 40 gradients (and some even steeper), not exactly easy work for these locos, so it wouldn't really be expected to do more than 30 to 40 mph I don't think on those sections. Was not uncommon to double head locos on services either. Very versatile locos from that perspective. Also interesting to note it was mainly the later 8750 variants used on the routes into Brecon, though there is documentation of I believe 7794 being based at 89B at one point, as well as 7736 being photographed on a service. Obviously post 1950 as prior to that it was all Collett Goods and Dean Goods locomotives, of Great Western origin at least.

Not to mention the Newport to Brecon route had some pretty evil gradients, and from what I remember reading they didn't really run that fast anyway on those. Tbh I'm someone who fits into the "I would rather it run slower" group, love a loco that will spend ages at the lower speeds reliably, and these locos as you say were quite commonly at 15mph or less, even with some locos doing 40mph and above occasionally. Something capable of a decent range of speed should be fine for most modellers anyway...

Great to hear these models have been selling well!!! Love mine, and (can't remember if I've said before) it has become very popular when it has run on the club layout from a reliability standpoint, really is fantastic when you need a loco running 6 or 7 hours at a time. Luckily for me I don't have the need to acquire another one currently, as otherwise I would be. RTR Project No2, whatever it may be, will be brilliant to see.

Personally very excited to see Bellerophon plodding around with some Genesis coaches...

Not to mention the smaller geographic area these coaches covered. Anyway it's not too bad, I've been wanting to have a Q13 for ages, so was a no brainer for myself to order, the price is higher than I would normally pay but I'm only likely to buy one, maybe a second if I so felt like it, so from a multi run perspective it is going to cost more per model.

Something else coming to the Accurascale website soon?

Looking like a good bit of kit that!

Believe the weight is around 216 grams.

Will ask if the Accurascale lads could clarify if the artwork will be updated to show the correct route circles on the pre-1950 liveries? (i.e. blue not yellow)

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't the artwork for the pre-1950 liveries show blue circles instead of yellow?

9741 has been ordered, quite exciting really. Will go well on my pres themed layout. Now just to see if I can justify some more...

Brilliant announcement, been hoping someone would do these, got 2 older models from another manufacturer that shall be getting supplemented by these.

Newsletter came through earlier it seems Bellerophon is now due Q3 2024.

I mean not really, I would argue, as someone who is definitely on the young end of the hobby, that steam is very popular, partly because of the preservation era scene, and I do think it more likely we will see more people modelling pre BR steam, but also increasingly the preservation era, plus with industrial steam being very popular, I do generally think steam has a long way to go.

The thing with the Hornby 8F is it cannot replicate certain members of the class (namely the Swindon built variants) so would, at least in my opinion, be perfectly viable as a new tooled model if it included these variants (including the versions with GWR numbering on the bufferbeam in WW2 days).

16" cylinder Bagnalls have variations in chimneys, tanks, etc.. not to mention they both look and sound good, and would go nicely with the 16 ton minerals.

If it is the 8F I do hope the Swindon variants are produced with the GWR style numbers on the bufferbeams...

A larger industrial 0-6-0 steam loco or a Stanier 8F would be what I'm hoping for...