daftbovine

I have to admit that I am very influenced by appearance and colour when buying locos and generally only buy those that appeal to me in some way.

It is very satisfying to find out that some of them have become collectible.

More votes for a Peak and a rebuilt Merchant Navy.

My SECR class H has made its way to South Africa, it was carried in my daughter's hand lugggage which avoided the anxiety of it travelling by post. Royal Mail is not the problem but our local post office.

First impressions are that the loco is a bit smaller than I thought (it's hard to gauge size from photographs) and absolutely beautifully detailed and painted. I have given it a short test run and it seems to be fine.

I'm very pleased that I pre ordered this lovely loco.

I'm like Mike B and have a lazy eye so I wasn't expecting the 3D images to work. I downloaded the digital issue because it looked good anyway.

I am in Africa and was wondering whether a pair of glasses would be posted to me as well but saved BRM the postage by finding a pair I'd kept just in case the cellophane would be useful for signals.

Using the glasses made the images more 'normal looking' but not quite 3D.

Despite it not really working for me I do think it's a good idea, as long as the whole magazine isn't done in 3D!

The first time Hornby did their advent calendar it was really good with high value prizes, in later years the prizes weren't as good - a sign of the times.

There are some SECR locos on eBay at present, they are from Rails and have started at lower prices due to faults. One has a bent whistle, one has scratches to the paintwork and another a motor whine. They might be worth keeping an eye on if you are still after a loco. 

With the 12":1ft version of 263 going to Warley and being on the same stand as bluebell/Hornby I cant see it being any other livery

I'll be a bit fed up if they do that as I would have liked 263 but there's not much I can do about it. I didn't want to join the club as it is not of much use to me. I thought it best to pre-order 308 as I suspected it would sell out. 

Hornby magazine has done the first magazine review of the H and interestingly not the SECR version but the push pull BR late crest one. I get the digital version of the magazine which includes a short video clip showing the loco. It looks very good in the BR livery. There is also a separate article about the history of the class.

I think it's a great bit of marketing by Hornby despite the fact that the real loco will create a demand for the model in the same livery and they are sold out. Unless they've got a stash hidden somewhere.

The OP spoke to someone at Dapol who said that their N motors were 9v. This is what has caused some of the confusion.

I've not heard about N Gauge locos being 9v but have heard that some of the older Dapol locos run better with a 9v controller apparently Marklin controllers for Z scale are suitable for N as well.

I suppose that if you ran your N Gauge loco at maximum speed on your Gaugemaster controller you might burn the motor out but most modellers are unlikely to do that.

The cheapie Bachmann controllers I use are for both N and 00 gauge, I'm not sure what their maximum output is.

I have both Dapol and Farish locos and use the controllers made by Bachmann that come in their trainsets. I haven't had any problems with these controllers and the locos all run well. Gaugemaster make very good controllers and I'm sure the one you have will be fine.

I would hazard a guess and think that Dapol may be inferring that very old Hornby, Triangle and H&M controllers are not suitable for their locos.

If in doubt you could contact Gaugemaster and Dapol for advice.

I'll only be getting mine in December but if it does turn out to have an overheating motor I'll be less worried as I would hope replacement motors will be available, it's getting a replacement body that will be difficult. 

At one stage I was concerned about getting my loco from Rails because of delivery to South Africa (It is now being delivered to a U.K. address) so I asked Hattons to put me onto a waiting list. They have just sent me an email to say that they have one for £119.00, I followed the link to find it had already been sold! There are a couple on eBay too but at higher prices.

If you haven't already done this, I suggest you contact Hornby or your retailer to register the fact that the loco has a scratched bunker enclosing a photograph, perhaps they do have some spare bodies or complete locos. You never know.

One would hope that despite the model being 'sold out' Hornby would have a few spare in case of damaged or DOA models. It's no good refunding your money (if that is the case) when you really want a model.

Mine still has to get to Africa in one piece and if it is damaged I will have to repair it myself.

Please could someone who actually has their model take a look at the instructions and see whether they have made proper provision for a DCC decoder? I recently bought a secondhand M7 which had been damaged by an badly fitted decoder, I hope there is a bit more room in the H. Thank you.

I paid for mine early this morning and the order is being processed. I ordered from Rails. Thanks to Simon who has been very helpful, he answered a few queries and did a delivery address change. Their online contact is very good.

I'm looking forward to the first review of the loco by a RMwebber. I will have to be patient as I will only see my loco in mid December.

It might be in the UK but it’s a different kettle of fish for overseas parcels.

I have a small collection of Lima UK outline in H0 scale, mainly private owner wagons and one 4F with South African Railways livery! I bought most of the items at swop meets and they are on display in a cabinet.

They are a bit of an oddity and I suspect they were dumped on the less discerning South African market after they failed to sell in the UK due to them being the wrong scale.

They are quite unusual and might even be collectible but there seems very little interest in them.

I ordered my one from Rails of Sheffield and the price has just gone up to £97.50.

I have just found out to my horror that Rails will not be prepared to send a loco that I have ordered to South Africa by courier (DHL) and only use Parcelforce. Does anyone who lives overseas have any experience of Parcelforce? Are they similar to DHL?

Unfortunately due to our dreadful postal service couriers are the only safe option. Even Royal Mail Signed For can't be relied upon.

I had a discussion with Dapol about their locos and suitable track radii, I suggested that they display the suggested radius suitable for the loco on the box like Hornby do. They are going to be doing this with new locos but that doesn't help anyone buying an older model. Farish should do it as well. Both manufacturers should mention suggested radii on their boxes and websites.

I think set track points in any scale should be avoided but sometimes space is an issue. Peco continue to sell a setback starter pack which probably doesn't help matters, I'm not sure whether there is anything in their literature about suitable locos for their set track.

All of this causes confusion for new modellers and no doubt puts a few of them off completely.

I agree. My N gauge layout is about the size of an interior door. It's big enough for running reasonably long trains and I've managed to develop interesting scenery.

You do tend to see a lot of double track oval layouts in N and there's sometimes a tendency to try and cram in as much track as possible with little thought for scenery which is s shame because N lends itself trains in the landscape.

Believe it or not passing a statically charged party balloon over the recently applied grass (using the swatter) gives it an extra lift. Unfortunately the balloon doesn't seem to by itself or we'd all save a bit of money.