No Decorum

McC’s comment was a fly to a fish! 🤣 That list is diesel and one electric. We’ve been told that (what is it, five?) steamers have been promised but not yet announced. That is excellent. Naturally I don’t relish delays, however unavoidable they may be, but I’m a fan of early announcements. Twelve months gives me time to plan finances. Announcing something with (sometimes) only days until it appears isn’t helpful at all. I await the very enjoyable quarterly announcements of a certain manufacturer with a mixture of enthusiasm and dread.

Absolutely. To me, a gimmick is a feature which doesn’t work properly or is clumsy to use. For example, the slats on a Hornby 50 or the rotating axleboxes on a Hatton’s 66*. If something represents the reality of a prototype and works as it should, such as remotely controlled pantographs, then it’s a feature, not a gimmick. When Bachmann introduced the servo-motored pantographs on the 90, I wondered in a post what would follow. Rotating cooling fans powered by a servo and linked to the fan sound? The rotating axleboxes which are such a feature on 59s and 66s? Lo and behold, someone was working on them! I recall being a small boy and seeing a train on the London Underground emerge from the tunnel into the station and producing a huge blue flash. I asked my father what would happen if somebody was caught in the flash. He was reassuring but the imposing scene remains with me still. *There are many other examples.

“Multiple new tooling projects” according to the e-mail from Bachmann. I wonder should I buy a pack of Tena pants. I would need a pair for a K4, the cancelled Parallel Scot and J39 or any of the missing AC electrics. I dare say there are plenty more from my “B list” and Bachmann might very well produce something which I didn’t know I wanted.

The point is frequently made that we cannot be sure of the exact shade of colour on a loco from a century ago. However, certain practical considerations can help. Take Oxford Rail’s GER grey N7 as an example. The number is painted large in order for it to be easily read but it does not contrast well. That would indicate that the shade of grey is too light. The same might be said about Heljan’s GNR grey O2 judging by samples seen so far. On the khaki Mogul, black numerals rather than white would contrast better with the shade used, indicating that the khaki should be a lot darker. Consider as well that khaki was intended to be an unobtrusive colour. Hi-vis yellow would be obliging to German pilots!

I think Accurascale is right. Hornby’s attempt to provide lights on the Turbomotive has been a bit of a disaster. First of all, you shouldn’t have a light or a lamp on the back of the tender if pulling a train. The correct place for a lamp (lit at night or unlit during the day) is on the last vehicle of the train. If the loco is reversing any distance, for example from a shed to a terminus, there should only be one lamp on the front. When a locomotive is hauling a train, the arrangement of the lamps indicates the type of train. The express passenger arrangement is fairly safe for a dedicated express passenger type but will need to be changed for a mixed traffic type, from, for example, express passenger to express goods or goods train without continuous brakes. There were ten different classes, each requiring a different arrangement of lamps. That is without considering the Southern, which had two extra lamp irons and arranged lamps by the destination of a train rather than its type. In short, it’s a minefield and the best way of tackling it is by providing unlit lamps which can be moved as appropriate. That is, at the current state of 00 model technology. Who knows what may develop in the near or distant future?

I recall that Simon Kohler promised replacements when the first tooling appeared. It never happened.

DPD finally released 93 with sound into my hands today. It’s a beautiful model and sounds grand. The instructions say that on DC it will need 5V to start working.

Going by my signature, I have to agree. It’s time that yawning gap started to close and which manufacturer better than Bachmann? After all, it was Bachmann which introduced the servo-powered panto.

Lovely layout. I found the couplings reluctant to couple. I replaced them with Bachmann short straight couplings for now and they solved the problem. Normally, I use Kadees for a fixed formation – the shortest which work. It might be time for me to look at alternatives.

That makes NASA staff look like amateurs!

I wanted a King Arthur but even I couldn’t stomach that. On the other hand, I remain fond of my ancient Hornby 2MT. That’s nothing to do with the model itself. Many years ago, I visited the SVR and was told that I was free to climb on any locomotive I wished so long as it wasn’t in steam. The 2MT was one, Leander another. Bliss! Those were the days.

There’s a video of the turbine version too. That’s both of my orders upgraded to sound.

It’s only repeated once.

Edition 17 – the mouse which nearly caused an international incident! 🤣

I checked the back of the catalogue, expecting to see “Printed in China” (or something resembling that) but no, it was printed in the UK. Hornby’s catalogue over the years has contained many clangers but I suspect this one has hit rock bottom and started to excavate. It does the company no credit.

Good grief! I only found a paragraph repeated once. Do tell.

I’ve noticed that if I order on line, my order gets added to my list of orders but if I order by phone, it doesn’t. The stuff still turns up. Kernow seems to have thousands of orders to get through. That’s good news to offset the closing of Hatton’s and the ending of Warley.

The Model Rail Offers site looks just like the Kernow site and, like you, I believe that Kernow handles the orders. The phone number is different though and the phone was answered “Model Rail office”. Of course, a member of Kernow’s staff might answer the different phone number on behalf of Model Rail. On the one hand, the chap who answered the phone volunteered the information that the model was in Denmark and should be available soon but on the other hand showed no interest when I mentioned that I had had difficulty subscribing to the magazine. Unravel all that if you can; I can’t.

Model Rail direct.

Perhaps manufacturers have been put off because a proposed model failed to gain enough interest. The real 74s were not a success but then 10800 was worse and there was only one of it.

Yes and yes! EFE/Kernow might hesitate to tool up for 20003 (fewer livery options) but I hope it’s being given some thought in the light of how well the first two Boosters have been selling. As for the 74, DJ has made me want one. It was cancelled due to insufficient orders but then, didn’t it require payment up front? Many more models of types more obscure than the 74s have been produced.

Blast! I’ve spent too long reading the catalogue. 🤣

Hornby catalogues have been notorious for their gaffes. The blurb on page 44, for example, caught my eye. “Between 1927 and 1930, 29 steam locomotives of the GWR Class 6000, also known as the King Class, were constructed.” 6000 to 6029 is 30 locomotives. Even that is misleading because another was constructed later to make 31 in total. “These engines were named after notable English kings …”, No, they were named after every English and British king working backwards from the then reigning king. “… it was reflected in their sleek, angular lines …” Can something sleek be angular? “ … and rivets that shimmered in the light.” What? “Much of the class were in service on the West of England main line from Paddington to Wolverhampton.” Now I know why the GWR was nicknamed “The Great Way Round.” 🤣 Moving down to the Princess Coronation Class. “No. 46243 ‘City of Lancaster’ was originally numbered 6243 under LMS.” Not so; 6243 was on the cabside and LMS on the tender. “The locomotive was named ‘City of Lancaster’ in April 1940 and was constructed as streamlined at Crewe Works on 29 May in the same year.” It was named before it was built? I wonder where they put the nameplate. Crewe was very efficient but never succeeded in building a Princess Cornonation in a single day. “The nameplates were chromium plated but over time, the chrome wore away, so it was not renewed.” The decision not to renew the plating was not a consequence of the plating wearing away; “and” rather than “so” is required here. “May 1949 saw the locomotive being de-streamlined and it became the only locomotive to carry its BR number while streamlined.” It became streamlined after it was de-streamlined? There is an interesting piece about Locomotion No. 1 but the last paragraph on page 39 is repeated as the first paragraph on page 40. The first version of Earl Marischal is available but a picture of Cock o’ the North named and numbered as 2002 Earl Marischal is splashed across pages 130 and 131. Someone once said, “Detail, detail, detail.”

I ordered a Class 11 by phone this morning (18th.) and was told that they were in Denmark.

He makes his points well. For me, the outstanding Accurascale launch was the Manor. We found out what the model was going to be when a real Manor emerged from the morning mist. Railroad? American term, inappropriate for Bristish models. The range is not for me but I think it’s a clever way to sell models from old tooling. I got one for my grandson – it was just the job.