43055

Hope so. Rails of Sheffield has updated the photos for the Cross Country Mk3's on the website today with the final samples from Hornby.

Thank you very much! Hopefully I will have something to share with you soon. In the meantime here is 43185 waiting to depart on a morning service towards London.

They look lovely. Thank you for sharing. If you look at the real life picture of the TGS with the power car to the left they look a little different as well. Certainly the roof and ends are different shades.

It certainly heading that way. With two more power cars going to XC it looks like the HST operation is increasing soon. It really doesn't a 2+3 does come really close. I tried to put something together on page end 4 using the Hornby website and catalogue for the formations but these don't have the R numbers as such.

Ah ok. I just looked at what I needed to get a full 2+7 set. Hopefully they are not to far behind. Probably still got more seats than a 220.

We will see but it is a nice surprise to see them almost here now if it is this month. Just need to order my XC set now. The latest slam door GWR coaches are showing as in stock at Rails of Sheffield. Edit: When selecting the coaches for my XC set i have just noticed the TGS is not shown for the Cross Country set. It is showing for the GWR set though.

Here is my current (and first) project that i have very slowly been doing over the last year and a half. Currently unnamed it is a modern image 4 platform terminus along with some carriage sidings and a small shed for light maintenance for the local units. The inspiration came from the idea to start fresh from my old small layout and the aim to run longer trains such as HST's and now 2x4 car 800's. Most of the track and station buildings and shed came from the old layout and have been reused for this layout after some minor changes such as the platforms and station building. Eventually I hope to have 3 main TOCs which are: GWR - Long distance London services operated by 800's and the odd 2+6 HST and the sleeper service XC - Extensions to the core service bring Cross Country service up to 3 times a day (220 or 221) EMT - Local services provided by 15x's, 170's and 2+4/5 HST. I have also got a tanker train to bring the fuel which is operated by a GBRF 66 and a pair of 68's for other work like charter trains. The images below show the station area along with the small shed as well as the lines coming into the station. I am currently working on the wall which will run alongside the staff footpath which goes to the carriage sidings before adding more scenery on both sides. This is seen at the bottom of the first picture and the left of the second picture.

I have both the original GWR and the Paddington one and while I had a few problems with the original to begin with I have never had any problems with the Paddington GWR set.

Thank you for your reply and the information. Wabtec have really stepped up now with 3 sets being delivered this year but that is probably helped by GWR and XC sets coming to an end.

In regards to the LNER packs I have noticed the first one shows a full first class coach on the website. Does this mean the pack is based off a 9 car set and not a 5 car? I know the 'Celebrating Scotland' pack is based off a 9 car set and by the vehicles are given in the catalogue (811104, 813104, 815104, 818104 and 819104) are the same as the first pack (no composite or buffet) but on the website it shows a buffet and composite vehicles on the image. Does anyone know what each pack will contain as I would of thought the standard pack would be based off a 5 car set and the 'Celebrating Scotland' have the motor vehicles to save tooling.

There is also talk of all the sets being delivered at 2+4 and then the fifth coach comes later.

Coach B is the TSD. This is not shown in the catalogue for some reason. From looking website the other day were in order of the R numbers. Thank you. I couldn't find much up to date info on the GWR sets and the catalogue only showed the four numbers.

The 2020 Hornby catalogue has vehicle numbers for each model except the Scotrail TSD's: GWR: TGS: 49104 TS: 48110, 48131 TSD: 48111 Formation being: 48110, 48111, 48131, 49104 (TS, TSD, TS, TGS) Set GW04? Scotrail: TS: 42561, 42562 TSL: 42046, 42045, 42343, 42184 TSD: No numbers on website, Not shown in catalogue. TGFB: 40601, 40602 From this you can have two sets and two spare TSL's which could possibly be used to make a 5 car set: TGFB, TSD, TS, TSL, (TSL) HA25: 40602, 42292, 42562, 42045 HA26: 40601, 42004, 42561, 42046 Cross Country: TGS: 44021, 44052 TCC: 45001, 45003 TFD: 41193, 41195 TSD: 42366, 42376, 42380, 42371 TS: 42342, 42097, 42377, 42370, 42378, 42036, 42051, 42369 From this you can make two sets and have a few spare vehicles: TFD, TCC, TS, TS, TS, TSD, TGS XC01: 41193, 45001, 42342, 42097, 42377, 42366, 44021 XC03: 41195, 45003, 42370, 42378, 42036, 42376, 44052

The GWR mk3s that came out about a year ago have the same couplings.

ScotRail do post the upgraded sets diagrams on twitter. It is normally around 3-5 out per day.

Just looked and certainly the XC power cars and coaches now say Summer 2020.

EMT 158773 has joined the club at DEMU showcase this weekend.

Firstly thank you for your explanation and sorry for not getting back sooner. This gives me a lot better understanding of the use of the 66's and will help me in deciding what I would like and suitable wagons that would go with them. Thank you again.

I think it may be just a early representation of the livery on the coach. Looking at the XC and GWR liveries as well they both have full coaches on the TGS and the 'fade' to the gray on the other coaches. Also if you look closely you can see a first class logo and line on the standard scot rail coaches.

I think these 66's have been are really good idea and I am considering in getting one. I would like to make a small rake of waggons with the 66 but I am not sure on what is out there or suitable to go with the 66 and is not to expensive. I am possibly thinking about some tankers or royal mail vehicles. Can anyone point me in the right direction in where I need to look?

I think it is just a very early representation of the designs for the coach. Looking at the catalog the TSD, TSL and TS pictures look the same as the TGFB just with one half without the livery and a very faint first class line on them. The Hattons diagram does look correct from what I can tell.

Yeah. I have done something similar but used the couplings that came with the Hornby GWR MK3's which I replaced and also used a paperclip between the two it does work well but the larger coupling would give you more flexibility on the corners.

Thank you for the very quick delivery of the 156 and for producing them in the first place, definitely worth the wait and cost compared with the Hornby 156. 156405 certainly looks at home alongside 153374 and 153379 on my layout.

There is a coupling under the nose cone but it is fixed which means it could cause problems on corners if they are tight. There is about 4-5 test run diagrams a day at the moment some Have even done some testing between Newcastle and Edinburgh over the last two weeks.

Though 802s are designed for the south west the 800's are no stranger to the area as well but it's up to you. That would probably be the best way to do it if people want to extend there 800s. My layout won't take a full 9 car but a 7 car would be good with a extra first class and standard class coach. (I know the 9 car sets don't have a composite coach).