Covkid

Entirely agree with that

That sounds to me like asking LNER cognoscenti whether they are ever bored of Gresley and Thompson pacifics. Erm

That is the point. A lamp iron is no more than three inches wide and less than an inch thick. A piece of steel bar bolted or welded to the footplating. It is a very tiny detail over which an "interference fit" lamp would be impractical to be made to work even a dozen or more times. If the lamp is expected to receive a light source from under the footplating, who will it be hidden when there is no lamp on the bracket. Apologies for this but it is yet another example of Hornby trying to add "gimmick value " to a model locomotive, and I am convinced the majority of purchasers won't want it, but will be forced to pay extra for. Certainly not me though.

I agree with "Suzy Sulzer" it is quite light weathering, but just enough to make the detail stand out. One of the clues is the translucent fibreglass roof panel over the engine. This should be a translucent creamy very pale yellow colour, but accumulated soot and grime whilst in service. "Reclaiming" the translucent feel is probably the only attention I will give to mine when I purchase it, apart from maybe picking a little of the bogie pipe runs out in white. My 25s will be 1970s era and mostly quite clean.

Another shout out to the good people at Topp Trains for excellent service. On this occasion Steve messaged me on Monday evening to say my Hornby 88DS had arrived, which allowed me a tight window on Tuesday to zoom up and collect it. Mike and Steve and the lovely lady (whose name I don't know !!) delivered the usual briliant service, and is why they are Topp choochoo shop for me !!!! Thanks very much from another satisfied customer

Indeed. My LHS messaged me yesterday evening to tell me mine is now ready for collection.

Also not forgetting the sprung buffers and screwed not clipped base keeper plate bring higher value !!! Seriously though, as has been previously said - yes, European locos had lights but these were gnerally powered by steam turbo generators, controlled from the cab ands sometime had high beam and reduced beam. UK steam locos generally carried paraffin oil lamps, but fundamentally, iot was the position and configuration of the lamps on the various lamp irons which indicated what the train was. The Brits innovated in that respect but it was as important not to place lamps on particular lamp irons for this exact reason. Additionally though, and I don't know the answer to this, say a light locomotive came off Derby Four shed to run light to St Marys to work some empties up to Denby or wherever, what lamp code would the fireman have set prior to leaving the shed ?

Perhaps they got the date wrong ? Perhaps they meant 1000 Sunday rather than 1000 Saturday ? Oh. Hang on !!!

Totally agree. Problem is, now that Hornby have displayed those silly lamps in the showcase at Warley, there is no going back, without eating a huge slab of humble pie. But they could easily say "We listened to our customers, and have decided not to proceed with the lighting arrangements. Hornby could easily place a bit of positive spin and say "we are dropping the plans for the lighting and can announce that the planned RRP will be reduced because of our decision".

Agreed turns a good quality but expensive model into a tacky toy. May as well put speedweelz under it. Wonder what SK thinks of it.

The point surely is (AIUI) that models sold in the UK have to meet certain safety standards. Is it realistic to sell models in the UK with movable therefore detachable "lamps" which are say 5mm high by 2mm wide by 2mm deep ? That interview video with Hornby suggested they were still trying to work out how to make the lighting work on the Black five - suggesting they weren't following an established design. Smacks to me of HM7000 bluetooth control where the marketers were selling something the engineers hadn't signed off.

Lost touch with the conversions Jim but IIRC 56018 is now 69003 and 56009 at Longport is another, so that will be two Romanian examples, but some will have the extra MU gear on the noses, presumably 56009 will be 69015 or 69016 EDIT From this list I have found 69005 is another Romanian as well as 69013 ex 56312 ex 56003 69001 ex 56031 69002 ex 56311 ex 56057 69003 ex 56018 69004 ex 56069 69005 ex 56007 69006 ex 56128 69007 ex 56037 69008 ex 56038 69009 ex 56060 69010 ex 56032 69011 ex 56037 69012 ex 56077 69013 ex 56312 ex 56003 69014 ex 56104 69015 ex 56009 69016 ex 56097

In some small way I am refreshed in my belief that our friends from Ireland would happily produce more accurate black fives at a far more affordable price and would ultimately suit the modeller / collector. The red box company need a root and branch review of their whole model railway ethos, and restructure with the right people. Putting three people in front of a camera to talk about something they clearly know only a modicum about is not great in my view. I am sure they are each great at what they do and what they specialise in, but I want to see someone who knows one end of a black five from the other to "sell" it to me.

Thanks for those piccies. Looks like my pair of Mk2 Black fives are safe in my collection then. Dear Mr Hornby. Please just sell me a nice black five which is better and more realistic than those I already have is a fair price is one where you are not trying to reinvent the wheel In my view trying to provide a robust recreation of paraffin lamps which are only 4mm high and 1.5mm wide and deep is a step too far, is unlikely to be robust for the average modeller, and likely to push the cost too far out of reach. The only improvements you really need to make to the Mk2 black five are sorting the recess under the smokebox and removing the valance from under the tender body.

But where do you stand on D444 in two tone green ? I would definitely have one if it were released as a special, but I haven't seen any interest in it. Best heritage livery created in my view

I guess you mean "aren't" ? AFAIK Dapol have listed every livery they carried apart from a couple of one-off advertising specials in the West Mids. I wonder if the "mood lighting" fitted to one of them possibly 323204 ? was ever extended to the rest of the prototype fleet.

Well yes. Time for a look at the Mighty Midland and the Premier line. Masses and masses of BR nee LMS nee Midlasnd / LNWR targets to pick off.

Great news for the 7 millers but........... Can we please break this misnomer. The first fifty locos (D5000-D5049) built were designated class 24/0, and were too heavy. They were technically banned from the Cambrian coast because of their weight / axleload. The fifty first loco (D5050) onwards were lighter and were designated class 24/1 - incorporating a number of weight saving features in an effort to reduce the axle load. From loco D5114 onwards the locos were fitted with headcode boxes and tidied up lighting - two tail lamps only, until the "car headlight" versions were created There were numerous differences between batches as well as Athermos axleboxes, boiler water tank differences / removals, boiler room roof panels, Tyne dock high level air pipes etc, as well as later cab roof swaps. Highly recommend you research your intended models if you wish to renumber. and David Hills excellent site Derby Sulzers is a great place to start

Interesting stuff "Flood" thanks. I guess that with the Mk2C CAD Accurascale have the basic Mk2DEF bodyshell with the wide swing doors. I imagine the placement of windows, toilet windows and the louvres is a simple CAD matter, as are the underframe A/c units. I guess it is purely the economics and batch runs.

Great choice of loco and a great announcement video - especially those "looks" at 8F 48305 !!!

Great. Thanks Stephen. Presume I cannot place an order until you place it in stock on your webpage

YEs. Can't see much of a call for "flatirons" myself, althoufgh I would be near the front of the queue if one were released in non prototypical BR early crest black !!

Rather foolishly, i realise i didnt order the Accurathrash speaker to go in this so just gone onto the website and discovered they are out of stock with no indication of waiting time for fresh stock. Fingers crossed that the factory is hard at work to sate the forthcoming demand for the class 37 class 31 and class 50 orders. Can i assume the loco will still emit some sound from the sound decoder output even if the accurathrash speaker is not plugged in ? Thanks

In a moment of weakness i was hooked by an Accurascale email flyer and have ordered D6702 and an Accurathrash decoder to go in it

That surely is the huge selling point for TT:120. You can run full length passenger trains and realistic freights (bank balance permitting). I imagine a typical East Midlands / South Yorks train of a class 56 and 35 or 36 MGRs would look really impressive in the scale - particularly as each MGR wagon could be very subtly slight different in tones and colour to it's neighbours in the rake. Similarly a rake of hooded steel coil carriers could present a very impressive "modern image" freight to run.