RFS

Their "business model" is that if someone buys one they go out and buy one themselves (cheaper of course). That's why the lead time on delivery is so long. Note that everything they sell like this has "5 available". I'm sure this is against Ebay rules ....

Yes it should - both coaches have an identical mechanism. There's a spring involved so maybe that's come adrift. The coupling mechanism can get itself stuck but it's fairly easy to rectify that.

You don't need to endure the automated call system, you can book a redelivery online here - http://www.royalmail.com/personal/receiving-mail/redelivery I always do it this way - quick and easy and it always works for me.

Not strictly Ebay madness, but Hatton's madness! Surely overpriced by a mile? http://www.ehattons.com/71193/Hornby_Dublo_2050Dublo_LN_Suburban_Electric_Train_Set_SR_EMU_S65326_S77511_Class_501_in_BR_Green_Includ/StockDetail.aspx

Which is this very topic ...

And isn't it missing a crank pin on the rear offside wheel?

My first thought would be that the decoders fitted to these locos do not support read-back of CV values, so when your Powercab tried to do this, and it failed, it then assumed there was a short.

Their phone number is on the web site - 0115 926 6290. I've dealt with them with no problem.

R4536x models are actually the bogie passenger brake vans, not the push-pull sets which are R4534x. You can pre-order R4534A for £60, R4534B for £62 and R4534C for £69.50 at Hatton's. Strange pricing.

The are 4 lugs at each end, plus two in the middle. I have today added a decoder to my new 2-BIL 2142 so I can relate how it's done. Although not suggested in the instructions, the first thing to do is to separate the body in the middle by sliding a credit card between body and underframe on each side. Very easy to do just by pushing the card corner between body and frame. Then using a small screwdriver, as shown in the instructions, push the lugs in at one end and you'll find it separates very easily. At first I couldn't get it to come off - it was only after inserting the credit cards in the centre that it was possible. I've installed a Lenz Standard+ decoder and it works very well. The partitions in the coach only extend to the level of the cantrail so there's a gap between the top of them and the roof. The decoder is just laid on top of the compartments with the wires straight out. It's not visible once the roof is back on. I have 3 2-BILs now, all with Lenz Standard+ decoders and they are the smoothest "locos" in my fleet!

It now says this on the description which wasn't there before: "Very small brass parts missing from piston block." Did a previous buyer return it because the valve gear had an undisclosed problem?

Interesting to run the slide show from your flickr post - not only many shades of green (and blue!) for the 4-SUBs, but also a picture of LMS 10000 on the Bournemouth Belle and a two-tone green 47 with a rake of Bulleid green coaches. So plenty of extra diversity for a Southern modeller ...

Looking through the comments on the Youtube video it seems that a significant part of the 2-BIL footage was that of the 2-BIL farewell tour. This was scheduled to be worked by 3 units, but part way through the tour one of the units failed and was replaced by a 4-SUB. Later on the 4-SUB was replaced by a 2-HAL. The footage appears not to be in chronological order as we see the train with 4-SUB attached entering the station followed immediately by the train with 3 2-BILs. I can only assume the sequence with the ED and a pair of 2-BILs was for working over a section of non-electrified track which might explain why the ED was on diesel power, but not why there was no tail lamp! Perhaps that had been left behind on the failed 2-BIL? Later in the sequence there's a train of 3 4-TCs being propelled by a single ED. Shortly before the end of steam working on the Bournemouth line in July 1967 some workings were taken over by EDs propelling 4-TCs. Sometimes there were a pair of EDs at the rear and there were also instances where the EDs were marshalled in the middle of the train. A contributory factor in the need for these workings was a delay in the delivery of the 4-REP tractor units, which also caused the full switch-over to be delayed from June to July 1967. The ED was on the rear so that at Bournemouth a 33/1 could take the leading TC (or two) on to Weymouth.

According to Brian Haresnape's book "Drummond Locomotives" the origin of the term "Black Motor" is unexplained. Hornby are modelling the loco as superheated by Urie, the first of which was modified in 1921, and the remainder between 1922-9. So most were therefore done by the Southern Railway and made a substantial difference to the loco's appearance. I cannot therefore see Hornby producing one in pre-grouping livery as their current form only goes back to 1921. Pre-WW2 livery was black with fine green lining, but subsequently (from 1941) they were plain black with Sunshine lettering, which was in golden yellow with malachite green shading.

This clip shows evidence of a 4-SUB working with 2-BILs See the train starting at around 1m50s into the clip. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mi3De3HaCaU I initially thought the first train was another example but it appears to be a tin HAL not a 4-SUB!

A number of 700 class locos were allocated to Exmouth Junction, so I would have thought that at some point they might have travelled the North Cornwall line?

A significant amount of detail on the HALs and BILs here, though I'm not sure why on this site! http://www.bloodandcustard.com/BIL001.html (2-BIL) http://www.bloodandcustard.com/HAL001.html (2-HAL) The article on the 2-HALs makes reference to the 10-coach scheme introduced in the 1950s on the South Eastern division, whereby some rush-hour services consisted of 6-HAL/4-SUB configurations, but does not elucidate further. The last of the 2-HALs - the "tin HALs" - were completed in 1948, some 7 years after the first 4-SUBs and I would have thought it unlikely that both types would have had incompatible control systems. The very last 2-HAL (2700) actually had a motor coach from 4-SUB 4590.

I grew up in South London, and as a small boy in the 1950s I did find the fronts of the SUBs quite severe! But not as severe as the 2-HALs, though. Our train was invariably an EPB, which to me has a friendly face compared with the SUBs and 2-HALs. Sometimes while waiting for our train, a 2-HAL formation would pass through the station at speed on its way to Maidstone, which I found unnerving! Perhaps the EPBs look more friendly because they have smaller driver's windows with prominent rain strips - their "eyes" have proper "eyebrows", unlike the bare, somewhat "bulging", eyes of the SUBs.

The green 2-EPB has a headcode on the motor coach end (set to 3) and white panels on the trailer. The blue one has a different headcode in the later font, and the trailer has red blinds, and I believe this applies to blue/grey and NSE versions too but I don't have either of these. The Kernow Thumper is more advanced: it has white panels on the front and red blinds on the rear but these are directional and swap when the unit changes direction.

I have one and it's a very nice model indeed. I bought mine new last year from an authorised Hornby retailer and it didn't cost as much as Rails want for this broken one!

If you check the detail bit the sale is for 25 pairs! Now who wants 25 pairs at once? I suspect most potential buyers see the top line and think that's a lot for one pair of bogies, no doubt just as you did! With all that free space in the title you would have thought ....

A fascinating film from 1940 showing the then new cars replacing the old ex-LSWR stuff and being taken down via the hoist. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhLPiFJROSg

If you look at his completed items he's an "empty box shifter" and judging by the prices realised he's doing quite well out of it! But I suspect that when he comes to sell what was in the boxes, he'll get a lower price due to there being no boxes for them.

Just use an NEM coupling of your choice. I use a pair of Kadee 19s.

Trouble is that there are certain Ebay users who will buy the second item and relist it like the first....