Harlequin

This from 1907 is directly relevant to the 517: The photo illustration shows a 517, which we have to assume to be "brown", hauling a chocolate and cream coach. Not sure if this link will work but: https://didcotrailwaycentre.cook.websds.net/PDFViewer/web/viewer.html?file=%2fFilename.ashx%3ftableName%3dta_journals%26columnName%3dfilename%26recordId%3d296%26page%3d15%26end%3d16&searchText=brown

What about this: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/296381247388?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=Y4wOs05CRfa&sssrc=2047675&ssuid=v9f6SNKMRWe&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY Correct livery for your chosen era, said to be a good runner, DCC ready. And the seller is none other than "G J Churchward" - the man who designed it! 😆

There's something funny going on at the rear end where the body doesn't sit flush on the running plate. The seller doesn't explicitly say that it's a runner (I think) - so it might be a non-runner. The livery isn't correct for your chosen era but maybe that doesn't matter if it's just a test loco.

It's a very old model. The motor/chassis intrudes into the cab so that there is no backhead detail, as you'd expect to find on all current models. It's probably a "split chassis" design (someone will now for sure) which means that it will be more difficult to adapt for DCC because one electrical connection to the motor will be through the chassis. For DCC you need to send the track feed to the decoder only and then the decoder motor control wires to the motor. IMO worth about £10 tops. One other thing to watch out for when looking at old models on eBay, is the size of the wheel flanges. Big wheel flanges don't like to run on modern Code 75 track. That can be fixed by replacing the wheels on simple rolling stock but it's more difficult on locos.

Agree but remember some of us model the times before BR so you don't need all those "ex"s in your request! 🙂 Rapido have revolutionised the humble open wagon by moving on from generic, chunky underframes, generic brakes, wrong wheelbases, etc., and they could do the same for milk tankers, which were a huge part of the railway scene both pre and post war.

Wolverhampton livery would be lovely on a 517 but it's difficult to work out whether it could legitimately be applied to the early variants Dapol will make. It seems that the first extended wheelbase 517s (1483-1488) were constructed in the second half of 1885 and nine more were converted between 1891 and 1895, some at Swindon, some at Wolverhampton. So most of that happened before the livery change in 1894. The cab style, the tank size would have to be similarly checked and the lack of a Wolverhampton style bunker on these models might be a problem. Sadly, I don't think it's possible to make Fair Rosamund from the Dapol model because she was never converted to the extended wheelbase with external axle box.

He does indeed! I’ll PM you some stuff.

Not worth it. The track is horrible Hornby Setrack, the loco and rolling stock are all from decades old moulds ("tooling") and you'll throw the controller away as soon as you know what you're doing. (I think the CD is part of the licensing system for downloading the software.) Much better to buy some Peco track and turnouts, a small loco that you really want for your chosen region/era and a simple controller - things that you could re-use in your layout. There are various DCC starter systems. Have a look at the DCC questions forum and search for "starter" or similar keywords to see what people think of them. BTW: The radii for straight Peco Streamline OO/HO turnouts are small = 24", medium = 36" and large = nominal 48" (but in reality is about 45"), not what the Johnster said. Curved and Y turnouts have different radii again. Edit: P.S. Don't feel you have to buy "DCC Fitted" locos because very often a decoder you fit yourself will be better than those fitted by the manufacturer. A Design Technology Teacher such as yourself will have no trouble in fitting a decoder into a loco.

The thing about "Railroad" is that it represents the core of what Hornby are/should be selling: basic affordable models for beginners. Hornby is Railroad and so it's very confusing for everyone to find Railroad as a separate brand within the Hornby offering. So maybe they should get rid of that sub-brand and add a new premium brand to sell their "premium" products (although their track record has not been good on that front recently). That would clarify the price points, clarify the toy vs. serious model identity crisis, allow the marketing to be targeted more accurately and make it clearer which products are really meant to stand up against those of the newcomers.

I say, that's a bit strong, sir! Everyone loves a Pannier tank but sadly, for peak inter-war Ashburtonism we don't really have a suitable RTR candidate (if we're interested in doing it properly). One of the smaller (pre)grouping saddle/pannier tank classes would be ideal, even though they too are riddled with variations. Dapol are showing the way to do it...

Sounds good. Is that at floor level or at layout level? I'm throwing these questions at you to establish the basic parameters. 🙂

Hi Tim, Is your loft insulated, draught-proofed and boarded? Do you have open space or is it full of roof trusses? Are the ceiling joists strong enough to support the extra weight that you might put up there?

Weight restrictions prevented the 57xx's being used on many branchlines until BR times when they were reclassified from Blue to Yellow Route availability. Edit: I think the 4400's were always in the Yellow RA group.

Now you're putting me on the spot! Here's one of the images from @AY Mod's post: I suppose some of what I like about these renders is down to the general "feel" of them but I can list some specifics: You can see that different materials have different levels of sheen - somebody has taken a lot of trouble with them (and the brass of the steam dome isn't too shiny!). You can see a bit of internal reflection in the porthole glass. The shadows are soft and realistic. There's a horizon reflected in the boiler and that means there is an "environment map" surrounding the engine, which makes the lighting more subtle and more realistic.

I think it's quite difficult to get colours looking right in CAD renders, so I think we should take them as "indicative" at the moment and wait to see the first samples.

By the way, the CAD renders of these locos are really good! Some of the best I've ever seen.

I'm hoping that they paint the black parts BLACK, not grey like the second batch of Moguls. 😞

Hi Neil, Was this ever resolved? If so, it would be interesting to know what the problem was.

Wonderful but very surprising after the recent turmoil with the Hattons/DJM version. I thought it would take a few more years before any manufacturer thought the market was ready for a new 48xx A 517 has got to be a winner. I hope they can do them right without any gotchas. The number one area of scrutiny will be how it rides/balances on the tricky wheelbase.

Hi Colin, Making fiddly architectural details like roof ridge ventilators, with parts that need to repeated and accurately spaced, is where 3D printing come into its own. For instance, I made a vent for @Schooner in the past: with pinnacle!

Hmmm, it’s difficult isn’t it. Maybe in the railmotor era and for some time afterwards there was a coal bin and a coaling platform alongside each other? And by the 60s the timber platform was gone, leaving only the bin? Or the bin could be an ash bin and the coaling process was all done form the lost platform?

Hi Andy, Do you think that a coal bin in that position is the correct interpretation? Most coaling installations used a raised platform and I suspect that’s more likely what you’re seeing in the photos. And specifically with the railmotors, we know that coaling platforms were used in other locations.

That sounds like rubbish to me unless it’s a very special type of speaker.

That must be a record! The very first post after the announcement was a request for a different model in different scale… 😃

For what it's worth here are the images from Everything Great Western, copied with permission: They seem to be photographs of prints and digging around a bit, I find that some of them have been seen before so apologies if these are nothing new to you. One of them is credited to Peter Gray elsewhere so do you think they are all his?