No Decorum

Full marks to Dapol. Glad you're getting the problem sorted out. It sounded horrendous.

April/May, says Bachmann. That'll be 2016, before anyone starts. I'm waiting for that one too, not least because SWMBO likes a blue steamer. I bet the blue will look better than on Hornby's blue King. Pictures of the latter are starting to appear but it's hard to judge.

Ah! I only wondered how a fictitious locomotive could have pulled anything. It's clear now. Thanks.

You're quite right, of course. For example, I think that ViTrains 37s capture the windscreens better than Bachmann ones but many prefer the Bachmann version. Excuse me for not digging out my ancient Lima 37 to remind myself what I think of it. I'm curious, though. If your sub-class of freight locomotive never saw routine passenger working, how can it have seen non-routine passenger working if it's fictitious? Note that I've nothing against might-have-beens as such.

IMH (and boring) O. Did the horizontal knobs put me off buying one? No. Would they put me off buying another? Probably. Would they disqualify it from being model of the year? Yes.

Sorry if I trod on your toes, Dave. I meant that models of the same prototype from different manufacturers are bound to split the market, even though there are some here who clearly have enough cash to buy lots of both.

Thank you for taking the trouble to make those suggestions. The Terrier might end up working a light railway terminus or through station but it is as likely (shock horror) to end up pulling wagons round a Christmas tree, although not this Christmas. Either idea is likely to vanish if someone announces the three gas turbines in 00 or any number of other things. Incidentally, if I were Dave, I would avoid producing anything already produced but in need of improvement, the King is a good example of how that can come unstuck. I'd also avoid anything at the top of wish lists. The risk of duplication is too high. What he needs to do is look for something relatively obscure - the sort of thing we didn't know we wanted until it appears. I had a long and interesting chat to a member of the Bachmann staff before the London Transport Museum special trip and he said that Bachmann's response to the C class's rapid disappearance off the shelves was, "Hello! :-)" He was quite right. Although I have a C class built from a kit, Bachmann has succeeded in generating an appetite for pre-nationalisation Cs that I never knew I had. Over to you Dave!

Yes but I hadn't realised how risky! A yard of 0 gauge track and a leftover controller isn't going to do it. I've been eyeing wagons, track and so on and the forthcoming black Gronk and a few Heljan hoppers tempt as well. I don't know where it wil all end. If only we could go back to the Golden Age we have just emerged from, when locomotives didn't appear at the rate of half a dozen a month.

Good point about 00 but I think we shall have to agree to differ on the flangless wheels and pivoted truck. I'd like to add that my Hornby A4 will take much tighter curves because it was possible to pare off four pieces of plastic on the inside of the truck to allow the flanged wheels more lateral play.

I don't model 0 gauge but I did get a Dapol Terrier and I have to admit to being rather bowled over by it. All the same, many years ago I saw a video of a Terrier being pushed along by double heading a train with an E4. It was the E4 which caught my eye so I had been well and truly softened up when the Bachmann model appeared. Old, intersting and small? Oh yes, let's have them!

I can't tell whether the cylinder and steam chest ends are metal or paint but they look worlds away from the blobs applied to "Duke of Gloucester".

Well, not quite. IMHO, it's more like producing everything to P4 standards and then changing to 00.

Curious. If the Hornby models are to be believed, when Ron Jarvis designed the rebuilds, he omitted flanges on the trailing wheels. It must have led to poor riding.

It's an ill wind blows no good. I wear Rule 1 to a frazzle and I also have a number fetish - one of the joys of RTR today is that even humble goods wagons of the same type can be got with different numbers. With a fancy for an auto-fitted Pannier sandwich and bearing in mind the howls at the price of the autocoaches, I doubt that Bachmann will do a re-run any time soon. Hence the crimson version will pass as a somewhat less faded unlined maroon in conjunction with the lined maroon. It's good enough for me and if anyone complains, I'll retreat back to the excuse that it's a crimson one not yet repainted maroon. I have the greatest admiration for what Brian Kirby does but I'm the sort who can even mess up renumbering.

Well I'll be hanged! I live and learn but clearly not enough! Sorry about that.

Excellent work but it seemed to me that the moulding on the disc was designed to fit it over the lamp iron to locate it properly. Should it not be at the bottom of the disc and on the inside?

I'll thank you for that now!

All the more praiseworthy. I like the brass and copper - Hornby has only just starting to catch up with that sort of thing.

Well, for a start, the Heljan has brass axle bearings, a heavy chassis and lights. It's the first time I've seen running lights on a shunter. Not only that but the lights are excellent renderings of separate lights i.e. without being embedded in the bodywork behind them. It's a worrying development. If manufacturers take up the idea and apply it to steam locomotives, all my steamers will be obsolete! I have to agree that the Sentinel is a stunning little model for the price, even if Hornby has skimped on the paint.

I think I'd still like to have the lights - I'd just want to isolate the flasher turn the flashing off.

I'm a bit bothered about the flashing lights. I know it's a bit of fun but, like a joke, it could wear a bit thin in time and they aren't true to prototype. Apart from that, so far as I'm concerned, the project seems to be turning out very well.

Fair comment but if I were a manufacturer, especially a new one, I wouldn't invest my money in an 00 gauge TEA. I love the approach Revolution is taking and wish it would be repeated in 00 but I doubt that it would generate the necessary sales to make it viable.

Much as I should like to agree, I don't think it would be a good move as Bachmann produces a decent TEA.

According to today's Bachmann Club e-newsletter, stock is now below 50.