Tin Turtle

Hi, does anyone know what is happening with the NER kits? Was in touch regarding acquiring some and David said he’d get back to me but nothing since March. If nothing else hoping to get hold of a couple of NER round door coal hoppers

Bit late on this one, but for anyone interested, you can still see the repair (in darker brick) at Hartlepool station, formerly West Hartlepool station, where a German naval shell smacked through the wall leaving a rather large hole. As well as the two NER men initially killed, with a third later dying of injuries, Private Leslie Dobson Turner killed whilst on coastal defence duty had just a few months earlier been an NER clerk

On a recent visit it appears a number have been brought inside to dry out before being restored, such as the GWR Mink and 'Birdcage' brake van, also the two NER box vans including the Tranship van are currently being repainted. The Duke of Sutherland saloon has just been outshopped by them and looks superb

Glad I'm not the only who doesn't do 'speaking LNER' - when I give talks on the NER I catch myself talking about A's, O's and T2's and realise the crowd mainly don't have a clue what I'm on about!

12 inch Mk V railway howitzers, most if not all were built at the Armstrong Whitworth Elswick Ordnance Company on Tyneside. Served in both world wars, would make a very nice prototype for a model

That's a real shame, I've often thought OO gauge locomotive static kits such as this would be useful, not only for those who want a model but not the expense of an RTR model for something that will sit on a shelf or be part of a static display, but also as shed/siding fillers.

To be Devil's advocate for a moment, whilst as mentioned the J25 is very similar, the boiler sits quite noticeably lower on the J25 and additionally the cab is noticeably different owing to the splasher protruding from the front of the J21 whereas on the J25 (such as my avatar) it is much more flat-fronted

As an NER fanatic I'd certainly be interested in anything available - as long as available in NER condition. I was disappointed with the Hornby Q6 as it's not available in NER livery or condition , it's only with the new tool Bachmann J72 something is appearing in NER condition. Can't be many railways that have had their infrastructure produced in ready-made condition so prevalently (the excellent Hornby NER station buildings range in OO and N) compared to the locomotive and rolling stock side

Really hope the First World War version is correct - some source state it is an '18 inch railway howitzer' which is incorrect for the First World War, as 'Boche Buster' in the WW1 sense was a 14 inch railway gun

Is there much difference between the Toad B's with the thick wooden end stanchions and the NER V4 brake vans, or are they basically continued production into the LNER era?

Very glad the J72 will be available in NER livery, as the Dapol announced version was going to be and lack of this originally announced was a bit of a disappointment. Will pre order one imminently!

Haven’t heard of a Parrot in the First World War, when were these introduced?

J25's also worked on GWR metals during the Second World War when the Dean Goods went off to France and the Middle East, a useful chassis to have as it would also fit the J26 and J27 - without checking, potentially same as the J72?

From what I saw, all the Cambrian kits were 1919 or later variants, and as mentioned I'm wary of off the shelf RTR wagons that are just printed a certain livery which isn't suitable. I'll certainly be acquiring the new Bachmann Ministry of Munitions tankers though and using kits of Edwardian or earlier era wagons from other lines, would be nice to have some Edwardian or earlier SECR/SER/LCDR to run though

Really looking forward to these. I don't model in OO gauge at all, but these little models look so superb (and actually in pre-grouping livery! Huzzah!) have really swayed me. A shame I can't find any pre-1919 SECR wagons available even in plastic kit form to run with them