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Bit late to party on these!! Having lost interest for several years and only getting back into the hobby when forced to stay at home two years ago I missed the announcement of these! My planned layout area and era being around Sheffield in the mid to late 80s - the Hope to Dewsbury cement is a key train. It went over to PCA around 88/89 judging by photos and I’d assembled a rake of Bachmann PCAs during lockdown with the thought I’d have to stretch the realism a bit and use them for the earlier period! A bit of Google searching last week revealed that you’d released the PCV, but then the website was, unsurprisingly, showing them as all sold out. However a bit of searching and I’ve now sourced a complete set of TOPs wagons and now have in my possession my very first Accurascale models, which is very long overdue! Although I thought the Deltic was going to get that honour! They’re cracking models and means that the PCAs will be heading off to eBay shortly! 🙂 I’m hoping at some stage you’ll have another release of these as the Dewsbury seems to have had around 36 wagons so could do with another 6 sets of TOPS era please!! 😉 Looking forward to a steady stream of AS deliveries going forward, although hopefully as you announce more it’ll become a raging river!

Agh I see!

I’m sure there must have been good reason for adding the extra grill originally I would have thought? Improved cooling and therefore reliability I would imagine. I can’t imagine LSL, should they ever have any, wanting to make them less reliable by removing the grill just for a very slightly larger logo? But who knows!

Still a lot of Provincial liveried ones around in mid 90s - although a lot seem to have the door mod by then, there does appear to be some still with 4 piece doors! And depends where you mean by East Coast?! Certainly plenty of pics of chocolate and cream at or going to places like York, Newcastle, Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Morpeth, Scarborough etc!

I think the idea is a good one, my only concern - and I get why they’re doing it - is that Bachmann RRP could, I imagine, put as many people off the hobby as the shop concept attracts! If I was a kid now I think £450 on a PlayStation 5 (Argos online price at moment) or for a Deluxe 47 and a Mk2F coach I know where I’d be going!

Looking at the livery I thought they were for Transport for Wales! 😉

That’s a great call - I’d be happy with a fleet of AS Mk2Ds and would be quite happy using them in lieu of E/Fs from the other lot to be honest! The detail on the Bs is just gorgeous so having them do the Ds too would be amazing! :-)

Excellent!! Thank you! A GM PTE with Sheffield/Manchester would be great too! ;-)

Thanks McC, although I’ve just spotted the front doors look to be split on the artwork - but they all seem to have been plated over by the early 80s - bu**er! Aghh well, maybe a later version could be 31245 with plated front doors which also retained BR Blue and tablet catchers into 1986?!

On the versions with headcode numbers is it possible to change these to dominos using the interchangeable headcodes or is there more to it than that?! Just wondering if I can make 31248 more mid 80s condition as photos on Flickr show it still with the door tablet cut outs in 1986!

Hi Charlie 142027 Sheffield - York will be great but as you haven’t said four leaf doors I’m assuming this one is going to have yellow two leaf doors? Although hoping it’s four leaf doors as well!

My mum would prefer gin! Lol. Although in the extremely unlikely event that she’s been secretly hiding a layout in the loft I think I’d at least have to buy her something decent from the likes of Accurascale rather than some Hornby tat!! It would be like giving her a bunch of dandelions rather than some decent flowers!

Hopefully that’s a reinforced shelf otherwise it won’t be up there for long!!

321 would also be a good all rounder I think - 320/321/322 and a good range of liveries/areas covered over the years!

I guess the biggest delay must be Dapols 59 - if it takes much longer it’ll be due an upgraded version before its even arrived! You’re right though, one of the things where AS really do blow most of the others out of the water is on the coms and interaction - they show everyone what’s happening, explain what’s changing etc. But they’re also on top of it to start with anyway, so they’re pushing for it to be correct in the first place, so there’s very little if anything to find fault with. Unlike Dapol it seems, who it looks like have just produced a batch of Strathclyde 156s all with the BR logo inverted! Major ooops!! Maybe they had been looking at pictures of Sealink ferries beforehand?! Lol.

Cards on the table - I have no need for any EMUs on the potential layout! But I’d think some of the ex BR units would be far better subjects and have wider appeal (and I agree on the market is probably bigger for shorter!) than things like 700s (in any length!). A 313 would I guess form the basis of a 314/315 and 507/508 so covering a much wider geographical area from the South Coast to Merseyside and Scotland - plus many liveries. Then the 317/318/455 family with a similar range of area/liveries to pick from! I may even justify one or two on a delivery run from York! That said if there is a desperate need for AS to do a MU then weren’t the HSTs classed as such at the beginning?! Also solves the length issue as you just buy the coaches you need! Sorted!!

I was thinking the same in a Glasgow - nearly every trader seemed to have them! Although having felt how cheap feeling the coaches were, and all the issues with the motor coach I’d read about on here, mine was promptly returned without even taking it out the box - along with the 4 coach packs delivered last year! Not sure how widespread returns have been but may explain a lot of the stock on sale!

These really do look great! Can’t wait to see the 80s/90s samples, just one problem and that’s they’re really going to show up how basic all the other manufacturers versions are (particularly inside) so you’re going to have to do a full range of Mk1s and 2s to go with them now! :-)

Personally hoping ‘small announcement’ is actually downplaying a ‘HUGE announcement’! ;-) Bounds Green being across the road and the geographical tie for a splendid new HST! (I can but hope!) Alternatively, maybe the tie is Hornsey and a 313?! Not that small either I guess, although smaller than an HST!

Whilst no loco has arrived with AS on the box yet I don’t agree, and think slightly unfair, with saying they're unproven as the IRM model clearly shows the standard and care that AS/IRM are putting into their models, and the standard we can expect from something with AS on the box. I don’t recall hundreds of pages of complaints about the A Class arriving as a kit and I find this thread quite interesting in seeing how different companies deal with issues. Hattons way was clearly to bury head in sand and just keep quiet whilst one dodgy loco after another arrived with customers. And for that reason I don’t think I’d trust them either to deliver or deal with anything going forward - even if they announced something I really wanted I think I’d pass! AS in contrast would, I believe, be all over any issues, in the unlikely event of there being any, and not just hoping the problem goes away.

Was great to meet you and the team on Friday - really approachable, and the knowledge and enthusiasm for the products is infectious! Oh and the products look (and feel!) amazing too! Certainly a contrast to some of the other manufacturers nearby!

Ive long since sold my original dynamic lines but think you maybe correct on the lines, I wonder if the logo part was printed though as don’t recall it being so noticeable with the carrier film before?

I don’t think that would work with the lighting to be honest. And I’m with you on the non headlight version but think I’d be happier waiting than having the front compromised. The batch 446-455 seems to have been fitted with headlights in the offset position under drivers window around 86ish so that would be also be on my wish list! The centre light on 432 seems to have more of a 90s thing!

When I wrote it I was thinking only about the announcements themselves but yes, I agree, it would probably be confused with the product itself!

After doing a bit more searching on 432 (disclaimer : it was on Flickr!) it looks like it got its headlight sometime early 1991 - there is a photo dated Feb 91 where it doesn’t have it but the other pics from 91 do! All pics from 1990 show it without a headlight so would seem to confirm fitting around Winter/Spring 91?