bart2day

Plenty of 2018 catalogues in Londons City Thameslink branch but no Hornby magazine. Makes a mockery of the £9.99 combined offer really,

It's listed in the new Hornby catalogue as available now. Hornby can be so confusing sometimes. :/

Does this mean it is only likely to hit the shelves in 2019?

How would you know if BR had greater atmosphere if you didn't live through it? I would argue that everyone has ties to a particular era and that is one that they are living in or have lived in. Most younger modellers are not going to have the time or inclination to do a mass of research to find out what trains where running where and when if they didn't experience it firsthand.

My sentiments exactly. I'm a relatively young modeller and my first real experience of railways was on regular summer holidays to Somerset and the West Somerset Railway and this has endeared steam traction to me. Now according to some commenters on here these experiences would have made me want to model the steam era. Not so. While there are of course exceptions younger modellers are generally going to want to model what they know which is not the once a year steam rides but the EMU they take to school everday or the DMUs they spot at their local station. Those who say modern image is boring are missing the point in my opinion. Of the five different classes of passenger trains which currently run through my local station, only one is available in model form (the HST, which itself is over 40 years old).

Absolutely. Just for a moment I would like all steam modellers to imagine how they would feel if the reverse were true. Imagine Hornby announced only one or two steam engines this year and dozens of diesel and electric. I think they would howl with anger. Just because modern image is not everyone's cup of tea does not mean that Hornby should try and pretend it doesn't exist. Bachmann consistently demonstrates there is a strong market for it.

Me too. While it is nice to get these older models up to today's standard, in my opinion their focus should be on new models first before just rereleasing old ones. As you say it is expensive to replace them with newer ones and I will certainly not be rushing out to replace my old turbostar which I got for less than £100 for a new one upwards of £200.

Electrostar. Runs on Southeastern, Southern, Great Western and Great Northern (plus previously Thameslink). That's a big area. Plus it's the biggest fleet of electric trains ever made.

I sincerely hope you are right. Every year for the past umpteen years I get my hopes up and every year I am let down. Surely it's only a matter of time. And yes I did hope it would be done by the red team. I may be wrong but I have always felt that Hornby's quality was ever so slightly better with modern image.

I see what you mean but if I can get funds together I may be one of the 'plain daft' ones who just runs the pair of driving cars together as my layout is way too short to accommodate an almost 2 metre long train. I do like the IEP so I would see it as a necessary compromise.

I take it nobody at Hornby or on here for that matter will be watching 'Great British railway journeys' tonight considering the contemporary railway is 'boring' and of 'not much interest'?

So they offer you £5 off per £500 spend? Doesn't seem very generous to me. My local model shop offers £5 off per £100 spend.

In my opinion the current lack of an electrostar model just shows the lack of interest those in charge at Hornby and Bachmann have for the present day modeller. There can be no excuse for not announcing, as you say, the most successful and prevelant emu on the network today.

I believe that it is. Most people want to model what they fondly remember travelling on which anyone growing up after the 70s can't remember steam trains on the mainline. So age does come into it. Not many youngsters today will know all the intricacies of steam engines, they will want to model the FGW Hst they travelled on holiday last summer for example. With regards to modern image being 'less interesting than the local bus which carry the same liveries' the same could be said of bland black steam engines. I would actually argue that modern liveries are much more colourful and varied and not bland at all.

Glad it's not just me who wants something modern. Any newly tooled modern dmu/emu and I would be very happy. Not bought the EMT 153 but would bite if it ends up on sale at around £60/70.

Agreed. These announcements (particularly the Bachmann one) don't get me too excited as the models themselves are at best years away and at worst don't even get made. I get much more excited about already announced models due to hit the shelves in a few months, not a few years.

Anyone know a good enamel paint match for EMT blue and red? Perhaps Phoenix paints south-west blue or revell enamel #50? Thanks

That looks terrific. Did you use the humbrol smoke weathering powder to achieve that?

Silly me. Yes you are right. Just inspected my one TS and it is 2x1. Bit annoying. I don't know why the seats are mounded in red either considering in real they are green or blue.

Sounds like a good idea. Do the Hornby TFs have the same 2x2 seating inside as the TSs as I was planning on lighting them up and fitting passengers so want it to look prototypical?

Anybody know anywhere that still has some TSOs?

Hattons still have seven Firsts in stock.

I would have thought it is a combination of the gloss and the price. An RRP of £289.99 is extortionate considering considering last year you could get the Virgin East coast with TTS sound for approximately the same price. I guess there are plenty who, like you, have been put off by the gloss as it won't match the rest of their fleet.

Thankyou. Yes I would appreciate it please. May I ask what technique you are going to use to transition from the darker blue to the lighter blue?

Thankyou but does anyone know of a good colour match for the blues, specifically the lighter blue at the top?