Covkid

"HExpressD" obviously doesn't agree. We seem to have arrived at a plateau where good accurate ascale looking models are no longer enough, and manufacturers think their consumers wanted the "added value" trinkets. Example A is horrible gaudy overscale bright representations of paraffin lamps. And exhibit B is autouncouplers with a copper solenoid on display. Hopefully the production models will have the copper painted black, but it clearly is the age of the value added gizmo in toy trains

Well you can be sure that no other manufacturer has the Stanier and Fowler 2-6-2t s in their crosshairs - else they would have been announced and produced by now. OK I'll add my hobbyhorse Fowler Austin Seven 0-8-0 and GWR Aberdare and maybe the delightful MSWJ 2-6-0 and the LBSC "K". Surely a GWR Aberdare would sell as many units, if not many more, than an obscure 1950s era type 1 diesel ? By the way, that is not a criticism of your company "McC"

The problem with that thought (which I had considered) is the saloon which was painted Mainline blue then EWS red was a BR built vehicle and not the LMS designed vehicle which Bachmann have produced. Of course Bachmann could adopt the "nearly" which some other manufacturers seem to offer these days, and release their LMS design saloon in Mainline blue, but how much criticism would they get as opposed to sales ? Thinks back to Lima class 33s painted in CIE livery as just one example 🙂

The problem with waiting would be that when Hornby do release the new 8F it will have ridiculously unprototypical LED lamps and smoke and everything else the modeller doesn't want.

I am guessing a number of older Andrew Barclay 0-4-0s were fitted with dumb buffers Just joining up a few dots

To be fair to Bachmann 31407 was a unique liveried loco when it was repainted Mainline Freight blue, and the silver embellishments really made it an attractive loco. Why would any manufacturer pass up the opportunity especially as IIRC Mainline Freight also repainted an engineers saloon to match.

The "economy green" peak looks rather nice I am guessing the sound is as per the modified Sulzers with the amended phasing gear. D4 currentrly fitted wit hthe Wonder if the

Pretty sure the centre wheelsets are 4 inches smaller in diameter on the 1:1 models So at 4mm scale the centre wheelsets would be slightly over 1mm less in diameter, so viewing from three feet away it would be imperceptible. And that is good enough for me

I don't agree. If that were the case then Accurascale wouldn't have advertised half of what they have. My personal view is that Hornby most definitely have rested on their laurels, but that was a culmination of several issues - mazak rot being one of them. I haven't dared look at my Hornby 31111 for maybe ten years and that is the worry I have with Hornby class 31s, and which is whyI have an Accurascale 31 on order. The big issue is that Accurascale have set a very high bar for competitors, and I really cannot see another company offering a like for like product for a matching price. IIRC my D5544 is £267:00 and an equivalent Bachmann SX can never achieve a price of under £300.

True but neither have any other Bachy models go DCC controlled tension lock uncoupling.

Fantastic news Accurafamily. The only real interest to me was the Andrew Barclay and what a gorgeous little loco that is. Very glad is it and the other Hattons projects are safe in the hands.

Talking of decoders, no mention of a lift off roof panel for easy access to the decoder socket

The class 30 had different shaped exhaust ports and no grille in the bodyside central door. When reengined the roof got the rectangular slotted exhausts similar to class 37, 40 and 50. The bodyside door grille was introduced for ventilation I believe

I think they said the project has been running for "several years" and the chap in charge of the project was assigned to it a couple of years ago. Sounds to me like Bachmann were working up the project before Accurascale made their official class 31 launch, and Bachmann have stuck to their guns and announced it today The point is Accurascale have a policy of reasonable prices which they tend to stick with. My order for a single Accuracale 31 ~ i think is £267 for a DCC sound version which I assume includes an Accurathrash speaker. If the SFX version of a Bachmann 37 is £351 witnessed yesterday, then the Bachmann SFX 31 will NOT be cheaper, maybe more. I wonder how many modellers will be buying the SFX for the auto uncoupler function. Good luck Bachmann, but I think you may have backed the wrong horse. There is no doubt you will be expected to produce a "modern image" loco so I wonder whether you perhaps ought to have tooled a class 81, using much of the content of the existing class 85, or better still gone for the Class 120 Swindon Cross Country - using a lot of content from the existing class 117. Interesting times

YEs. Heard that yesterday from a chat in my LHS - Topp Trains of Stafford (same county).

Ahh fair play. Mine was an NCB one.

So what is wrong with the current Bachmann 03 ? The Next18 mechanism runs like a dream with a decoder in it

No. I imagine 99.5% of Mk1s were blue & grey in 1978 when the book was published. Additionally, I have no idea whether coaches were swapped between regions at all. Perhaps "Robert CWP" can help ? My input was just helping with CK and BCK numbers from the 1978 book

The 170s have flitted around so much during the time the Bachmann turbostar has been out of the catalogue. The small Anglia fleet were transferred to TfW then migrated to EMR at Etches Park. The London Midland 170s became WMR 170s with a change of livery, Some were repainted in EMR purple whilst still operating for WMR. Six of the 3 car WMR class 170s lost their centre cars to XC, so those 1706xx became 1705xx, whilst the XC 170/5 were renumbered as 170/6s with their "new" cars. The XC Turbostars are about to enter a refurb programme with another livery of red and white or red and silver I believe. The nthere is the Northern livery and the Scotrail Saltire livery as well as the various transitional badging of the EMR fleet as they were gathered from WMR, TfW, Scotrail and SOU. certainly more liveries than Bachmann can shake a stick at !!!!!

Cannot disagree with any of that. The hobby is very discretionary, and it is up to the purchaser what they think they can afford or not afford. There is nop need to bleat about i on railway fora because we all know "the price of fish" . 2023 saw me invest a sum of money in a model I wanted, and which had not been available to modellers even as a kit. No grizzling about costs, it's what I was happy with - one man's meat etc. My issue would be paying £57 for a basic kid's football shirt, but having to pay more to have the relevant club logos ironed on.

I thought the 04 was retooled prior to the 03, but obviously wrong. The Next 18 version of the Bachmann 03 runs like a sewing machine and the Deigitrains soundfile on the Zimo decoder is sublime. You can barely detect movement of the loco on speed step 1 EDIT Just looked back to 2015 on RMWeb and it seems the rechassisied 04 was cancelled by Bachmann. Two versions were planned but exited from the catalogue.

If it is any relevance to the OP, the 1978 RCTS book lists the following CKs with "W" prefixes 15647 15811 15820 15862-868 15870 15880 15886 15887 15897 15905 15910-912 15934 15944 15973 15996 16076 16113 16199 16206-219 16223-225 16245 Ditto BCKs 21072 21129 21152 21173-75 21183 21185 21187-88 21190 21192-94

Strictly speaking Bachmann have already retooled the class 20, the "skinhead" 24, newly tooled the headcode version, and are currently on the class 25s. But they may be a little out of your timeline. As a transition era LMR man those are my bases covered. I have to be patient that once the two class 25s already announced are released then further 25s will be announced in 2025. Really, the only diesel I would like to see from Bachmann is the LMS jackshaft design 7080-7119 which became 12003-12032. The vast majority were withdrawn in 1967 and at least one got BR blue, but they didn't receive a TOPS classification.

That is a good shout for a variety of reasons Both of the ex Corris locos carried several liveries over time, and are Talyllyn and Corris - but would need different mouldings to suit th different cabs / doors etc, The No 4 was quite a popular industrial narrow gauge design so imagine would be popular for "fictionising". The Corris coaches in both clerestory, and "normal" roof shapes are very "light railway" and would easily stand plenty of "fictionalising".

I agree. I also wish Richard would hand the announcing job over to someone else. He is a really nice bloke but does not have great oratory skills..