Ollie K

Thoughts and prayers with the forum if Hornby ever does some TT scale Thompson Pacifics…

Mine’s also been on an extended adventure courtesy of Royal Mail, who sent my Lincolnshire-bound package to a delivery office in Leeds, then lost all tracking information before delivering it eight days after dispatch. Good ol’ 48-hour recorded delivery… Very strong first impressions on the model. Front bogie and cab correctly seated, no livery issues and crucially no broken parts despite the postal mystery tour, so thumbs up for the packaging. Has been running in happily on the rolling road. Now Sonic Models, if you were to follow this up with an OO GNR C2 / LNER C12 4-4-2 tank (with lamps in the detail bag this time) that would be superb…

Seen a few of these lurking in the bargains section for a while below £150 or even £140 - now Hattons are shifting their stock for under £110 a pop! Interesting how the LNER liveried locos didn't sell. The next LNER release of 'Airborne' is still advertised for pre-order at over twice the price... No affiliation, but under £115 including postage for a 4-6-2 these days...

This was the reason I stopped bothering with the Hornby catalogue. Used to be a beautifully presented item that brought an an air of tradition about adding each year's to the the collection. But alongside the typos and factual errors, far too many of the images are simply photoshopped defunct toolings. Understandable perhaps for brand-new tooling models yet to be signed off like, say, a Black 5 or P2. But the LNER A3? The revised version's been on sale a good while and yet the image supposed to entice you to part with £200+ has the old tender connection and the previous DCC-in-loco chassis. Same numbering error remains in the official website listing too: https://uk.Hornby.com/products/lner-class-a1-4-6-2-4478-hermit-big-four-centenary-collection-era-3-r30270 Attention to detail, detail, detail.

Sets an interesting precedent. Now eagerly looking forward to some 'Accurascaled' Hattons Genesis coaches with slight tooling improvements to make each individual coach accurate to a pre-grouping railway company...

One of the most comprehensive articles I’ve seen on the subject is the ‘Tangle of Tenders’ written by Mel Haigh of the Sir Nigel Gresley loco trust. Initially in the members’ magazine and now generously available free of charge on the SNGLT website: https://www.sirnigelgresley.org.uk/mob-tenders.shtml

I used to be obsessed with Phil Collins lyrics, but take a look at me now.

Did the decorated samples of these ever land, and has that consequently affected the arrival of the finished locos? Hattons have them listed as expected in Q3 2023, Kernow MRC still say Q2. Would be good to have an update from Heljan.

Not sure if this footage is old news to most folks, but I stumbled upon it on YouTube recently and thought it'd be of interest to WW readers. There's no audio, several of the commentary's loco class identities are incorrect, and the quality is grainy but give it a few minutes and your eyes acclimatise to it, and then you've got 20 minutes of late steam ECML to enjoy with a cuppa. Hopefully something of note in the stock diagrams too.

The box artwork would certainly reflect the mood of our times. And hey, they’ve got the perfect diecast-bodied motive power tooled and ready. No pesky on-sale delays!

Well that was a very pleasant surprise this morning, apart from a very confused exchange with the postman, insisting it couldn't be a package for me as I'd adamantly not ordered anything recently! Thanks very much indeed Rapido. Hope the sponge tiling for the lorry unloading bay floor is coming along nicely...

A very good day indeed. Thanks as ever to Tony, Mo and the cats for their hospitality. Today was a good opportunity to ask all the 'stupid questions'. How dry should a brush be during 'dry brush' weathering? Is it better to weather loco body and chassis separately? How best to tone down shiny valve gear without impeding operation? Obvious I'm sure to many WW contributors, but I appreciated the opportunity to start from the ground floor, so to speak. I know there are umpteen guides in magazines, on DVDs and on YouTube but there's no substitute for a bit of teaching in person! I'll carry on with the chassis later this week and then finish off with some weathering powders. Then both locos will join the queue for lamps and crew. The C12 was an impulse eBay buy, which I've a terrible weakness for. The motor was gummed up, the front bogie lifted the front drivers clean off the rails as fitted, and it was a bit tatty all over. It seemed a well-built engine though, so I touched up the chipped paintwork, repainted the (rather grim) bogie wheels, simply gave the mechanism a good clean and a dab of oil, and off it went. Removing a washer and loosening the front bogie screw got everything sitting straight. While I claim no credit for its construction, it is certainly satisfying to recommission an old and neglected model, and put it back into service. Cheers all, and thanks again to Tony.

Thanks for all you’re doing, and the updates. I for one would be happy to wait a little longer - you guys all deserve a break!

Decorated renders of the Coronation observation car and one of the twins have quietly popped up on Hornby’s website. Looking forward to seeing more of how the articulated coach coupling and streamlined shroud have been engineered.

Is it just me, or in the images posted does the tender seem no more closely coupled than either of the previous two drawbar arrangements? I’m all for a tidier connection (so long as it’s not as clumsy as Bachmann’s latest effort) but the supposedly kinematic Hornby one doesn’t seem like much of an improvement in terms of the long jump between footplate and tender.

Looks splendid. What was your technique for safely removing and then altering the smokebox door?

Given Paperchase's miraculous recovery was not the rosy story it seemed, I wouldn't count on it. Several reports out there about how the rescue deal saved jobs on the retail side of the business, but Paperchase wriggled out of paying creators and artists who'd provided work for its greetings cards before it went bust. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/may/07/paperchase-has-been-rescued-but-greetings-card-artists-are-losing-thousands https://www.forbes.com/sites/catherineerdly/2022/05/05/small-businesses-speak-out-over-ruinous-impact-of-paperchases-administration/

I pre-ordered a pack of the GNR and the LNER Genesis coaches and a full brake for each. In August I got the email saying Hattons was unable to fulfil my order so it would be cancelled. Disappointing, but hardly serious in the way of the world right now. Thanks to this thread, I saw that LNER coaches had become available again last week, and ordered the same pack I’d missed out on before. The box set of four arrived today, promptly and well packaged. I’m very satisfied with the product, but it would’ve been even better if Hattons had perhaps notified those of us who lost our original orders that the items were healthily back in stock again… Anyway, well done Hattons on some very impressive rolling stock, thanks RMweb for the heads up that they were in stock, and fingers crossed some of the GNR ones become available again in due course.

I thought it might be being done personally rather than an automated response. Another case of Rapido showing up the rest with customer service the way it should be. Thanks again, all the best with the recall process.

Anyone who’s done the Rapido return form online, how long did your response / return label take to arrive in your inbox? Been a couple of days since I submitted mine and not heard everything, it hasn’t gone into spam or anything like that. I don’t want to inundate the poor Rapido admin with another load of repeated requests though, as I’ve only one model to return. Thanks.

The record run set is often referred to as the ‘spare’ set of streamlined stock kept in reserve if the regular Coronation, West Riding Limited or Silver Jubilee stock had a mechanical problem. However, in Max Hoather’s invaluable and incredibly evocative photos from 03-07-1938, the shots taken from the train on the northbound run (as Mallard hauls the brake test special from the down slow to the down fast at Everton box) clearly show the Coronation lettering affixed to the sides of the carriages, indicating it was a Coronation set proper and not in fact the unlettered spare. https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co8052664/hoather-collection-photographs I’ve not seen definitive proof of the car numbers involved but it’s generally agreed the usual nine-car summer Coronation set was reduced to six cars: A-B, C-D, G-H and no ‘beavertail’ observation car. If anyone has more information on the above, it’d be great to hear it!

(At last) - there's a an update in the latest TES blog. https://uk.Hornby.com/community/blog-and-news/engine-shed/coronation-sensation

Well played Rapido for the honest update and the thorough measures being undertaken to ensure faulty models don't end up with customers. If only all manufacturers were as transparent.. Very much looking forward to my 1938 lined LNER example, whenever it, um, lands.

The 90mph+ 9F (92184) of 16th August 1958 is one of my favourite little vignette stories from the days of ECML steam. According to the complete timing log in Speed On The ECML by Peter Semmens the New England 9F - drafted in at Grantham to replace a failed Pacific - managed to knock a full minute off the Grantham-Kings Cross schedule despite four severe speed restrictions en route. The train topped Stoke Summit at 45mph, passed Corby Glen at 73mph, Little Bytham at 85mph and Essendine at 90mph with 14 coaches (461 tons) ! It was back up to 79mph by Huntingdon and didn't drop below 70 until after Sandy. Most recollections of the tale seem to agree the bigwig on board proceeded down to the engine to congratulate the crew on such a fine run at KGX, only to be horrified to find a mucky 2-10-0 at the buffers and berate the driver he was "only supposed to keep time, not break the bloody sound barrier". The story goes the crew argued their loco had no speedo, but rode smoothly enough not to cause alarm. Allegedly this sparked the idea of a policy that a locomotive's speed was not to exceed the diameter of its driving wheels in inches (60in for a 9f) but this was quickly discarded when someone realised this would've limited Pacifics to eighty-odd.

Odd choice to model the loco as 103, but not 4472's arguably most iconic guise, in 1928 non-stop London-Edinburgh A1 with corridor tender form. Any indication of how many of each 'limited edition' Hornby is to produce? Or are they keeping their options open to add another thousand or so to the production run, as per the Elizabeth II Jubilee West Country?