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At last....... After missing out on the original batch that were released towards the end 2016 I thought I would get in early for the newly announced Lillesshall Co. example that was to be ready for August/September 2017, finally it has arrived. The model is lovely now I have handled one, I agree with others that the whistle is not going to last long and is already very wobbly (will probably get replaced with a brass turned one), the lubricator on the chimney is at a bit of a jaunty angle, but overall well worth the price. Which BTW was £92.99 including Hornby decoder and postage from Rails, who did hold the order price of £74.50, result. I have run it in this afternoon and fitted the said Hornby X9659 decoder, most impressed with the body removal and decoder fitting. Sadly running on the layout with the decoder is not wonderful so I will have to do some investigation to see if it is the pick-ups or the decoder itself.

Tony I believe that Halls made it as far as Bournemouth West in BR years, this was gleaned from the chap who used to do the MIC classes at Swanage and there is a photo of a Hall on Sway Bank in Stan Symes book "55 years on the footplate". LNER V2's were brought in to help when the Merchants had a crank axle flaw that required their temporary withdrawal (circa 1953). I am afraid I don't have anything for the war years, but I would suspect quite a lot of "cross contamination" would have happened during that time for the war effort.

I am still waiting for Rails to progress the 18 month old order of mine, messaged them last night and got a reply this morning saying: - I am guessing that they are being a victim of their own success. At least the payment is showing on the order and it is "In Progess".

Still haven't received my Peckett from Rails, ordered on 6th Feb 2017 to ensure I got one; they took the money on Friday but haven't despatched yet! EDIT: Just called them, the PayPal payment had not automatically updated the order, they have sorted it now and it will be despatched in the next couple of days; watch this space.

Still nothing from Rails about mine, I am a bit worried as I ordered it 18 months ago! When did others order theirs?

Absolutely stunning!

I called them Saturday and they said they were expecting the Hornby delivery today, not seen any more!

Another month! At this rate I will have the Rapido J70 running on my layout before I get a Hornby Peckett!

Because I was so disappointed that I had missed getting a Huntley and Palmers one I thought I had better order the next one due to be produced, I ordered the Lilleshall one on 06/02/2018 when it was due in October 2017. So far I have received a P class, a Barclay and a B4, all were produced within weeks of the promised date, this Pecket is now 9 months late!

I didn't notice that when mine arrived, but yes, there is no sign of a centre bottom bracket ever existing and the right hand one has a socket but no lamp bracket. I am hoping a DCC23 will fit as I couldn't find a supplier for the Dapol one.

Dave Do not worry about too many pictures, the more the merrier, more chance to look at the detail of the excellent modelling and get more ideas.

That is a shame Jason, I always looked forward to your updates on progress on Bacup.

Gents I have done a wee bit of what could loosely be called detective work this morning and I have found an undated photo of 31551 carrying a 70A shed plate without auto gear (here), the BRDatabase tells me that she was allocated to Nine Elms on and off from Jan 1948 to May 1954 (with a couple of moves to Redhill and back), she then went to Stewarts Lane until Oct 1960 when she moved to Tonbridge. I suspect that the auto gear would have been fitted around this time although I cannot find any documentation to support this. She then moved between Tonbridge, Three Bridges and Tunbridge Wells West until withdrawn in 1964, which is during the time Chuffed 1 saw her at Gravesend. Hope this is helpfully.

OK, I have run the loco in now and attempted to fit a decoder, but you really need one that is around 10mm long; a Gaugemaster DCC28 has absolutely no chance. I am probably going to go for a Gaugemaster DCC23 which is shown as being 10.6mm. I have done a search for a Dapol Imperium 6P decoder and cannot find anybody who stocks them, even Dapol do not have them on their site, so I am guessing they no longer exist or are new? During the body removal a couple of things tripped me up: - First, as the instructions note, once the base plate is off the wheels can drop out, I found it a lot easier to handle the model by loosely putting the base plate back on with a couple of screws to secure it after removing the two body screws (marked 4 on the instructions). Second, watch out for the top connection to the motor, mine got caught in the body and was stopping the chassis coming out, you need a fine screw driver or tweezers to just push it back towards the side of the motor. Lastly, once the chassis is out, the cylinders are not held in, if they shift forward too far the slide bar and the piston rod will disconnect and it is fiddly to get it all back together.

Thanks Martin, that explains the conundrum; in that case I have a choice of shed plates I could use, quite like the idea of the loco being in the Eastern Division.

Well mine arrived from Sheffield this afternoon, I am really impressed by the detail of the cab, etc. sadly as noticed earlier on the thread, the transfer smokebox number plate and shed plate does let the front down; but for the price (£93.50 with free postage from Rails) I think it is very good value. I am planning to order an etched set of plates from Narrow Planet to add to the front. I also questioned the shed location of 30089 carrying the early BR livery, Dapol have given her the 70C (Guildford) shed code, but looking at the BRDatabase the loco didn't go to Guildford until March 1959, having spent 6 months at Eastleigh just before. In my mind she should carry 72D (Plymouth Friary) as I expect the loco would have received the late BR emblem before going to Guildford. Does anybody have any other information?

Hi Dave I have taken a look at some photos via Google and it doesn't look like they are, even on the LSWR liveried ones, but it is only my opinion from looking at B&W photos. The safety valves on the other hand do look like they were not painted in many of the photos, so would be brass coloured, but they tend to tarnish due to the heat.

Thanks for that Oliver, I saw that my payment was taken on Friday afternoon, when do you think you will start getting the orders in the post?

Just called Rails and they aren't expecting their shipment until Monday, did wonder about cancelling my pre-order and changing to Hattons, but the order has been in since last November so may as well wait the extra few days.

I missed this earlier in the month and I was just thinking "end of May, not been asked for payment yet"! Any odds on the Lilleshall Pecket arriving next month?

Hi Nconsistent, I have in the past had this sort of behaviour from a new chip fitted in a loco and I have reset the decoder to factory defaults. If this possible for the decoder type and how to do this may be listed in the decoders full instruction sheet, the NMRA have a document on the subject here. Hope this is helpful.

It is accentuated by the camera, but it can be seen in the flesh, I wasn't too worried about it until I saw the photographs on my computer. I fitted a DCC23, it pops in a treat.

Carrying on from my post #961. In the first picture the motion bracket (circled red) has a small tab that has to locate in the slot in the running plate. What I think is the injector is circled in green which needs to be very carefully pulled down and out of the way on both sides to allow the chassis to be removed/replaced. The second picture shows the clack behind the steps, it is quite difficult to make sure these are out of the way on Katie because of the step. Last picture is a question, in taking the photographs I noticed that the cab back sheet seems to have a bend in it, is this correct or should it be straight from footplate to roof?

Received and unpacked Katie today, what a lovely little locomotive. Couple of things I noted whilst fitting the decoder, be careful with the injector feed clacks on the sides of the boiler, make sure they are well clear as you remove the chassis. On Katie the additional footsteps from the running plate to the tank are in front of the clacks and make it more difficult. Secondly the motion bracket tops (free end of the slide bars) locate in little slots in the running plate, when rebuilding make sure these are located correctly. One of mine didn't resulting in poor running in reverse when tested (clicking with erratic running). Lastly (again this may be unique to Katie), underneath the cab and running down under the running plate to the motion bracket are the injectors and pipes (I think), these foul on the back of the chassis as it is removed, like the clack valves, the read end of the piece will come out of its location hole, just make sure they are clear when replacing the chassis. I will take some pictures later if I can and put them on here at a later date.

The only thing I would reiterate, be careful removing the brake gear, you have to prize the brake hangers apart and lift out the cross stretchers, be especially careful around the front sand pipes. I used two pairs of tweezers to do the job, but I am afraid I don't have any pictures.