andyman7

Your right re DCC but for Zero 1 the official advice was to disconnect the smoke generator - Zero 1 didn't have proper function control so the generator would have been live all the time - great until it melted the boiler! The first releases of the four 1981 4-4-0s all came with fitted smoke generators; subsequent releases omitted them but it was available as an accessory to fit. A number of other early 1980s models were tooled to allow it to be fitted without modification.

Ah, the dreaded Smoke Tube. I have a couple of working early Seuthe/Triang smoke generators and am careful not to turn the locos over. They are more for demonstration purposes as the 'smoke' effect is indeed both rather pathetic and requires ludicrously fast running. I would suggest though that where you find a smoke generator you don't need, remove the whole thing and sell it as there is market for them!

It was described as ex-shop stock so maybe more than 1? In any case no problem if that's two people happy!

I have relieved him of the Heljan Railbus, thanks for the heads up!

I think it's fantastic that this model has sold so well. The small minority that appear upset that 'their' limited edition has been opened up to all have completely missed the point that this is a chance to own a model that contributes to a good cause. It is not premium priced and in these days of batch production and so often disappointed customers how fantastic that they are basically saying 'if you order them we will make them and each one is another £40 for the cause'.

So in asnwer to the OP, the livery is accurate, it's just on the wrong wagon.......

Given that its for a charitable cause I don't really think the issue of how limited it is is relevant. If they can sell 1000 good, and it reduces the scope for scalpers....!

The South African TC coaches are the 'short' versions too - I am lucky enough to have a pair In a number of cases yes, but they also had their own tooling for some models - not just the TC coaches but subjects such as the R152 Diesel Shunter, which for some reason had a slightly higher roofline making it even more ungainly than its UK counterpart. The R159 double ended diesel also has minor differences. These days of course CAD would ensure that duplicate tools were identical but back then there was ample opportunity for variation.

The last year of production for the R157 DMU was 1977 by which time the tooling would have been very worn, and from that year the old worm drive mechanisms were deleted so any reintroductions required new chassis to take Ringfield motors. Therefore the likely scrapping of the tooling in the last few years is realistically no great loss - Hornby have the ex-Lima calss 101 tools which are suited to a Railroad model to a much higher standard. The blue one you have looks to be an original (and relatively rare) factory made blue example but with the yellow ends repainted to correctly extend the yellow to roof height. I do have a couple of projects on the go based on R157 models, I am finding myself increasingly attracted to superdetail and modification efforts on vintage models (well used/damaged models are invariably the donors) - the time and effort cannot be justified on any conventional measure but they take me back to the dawn of my modelling days in the late 70s when any half decent model railway required extensive use of what these days are considered hopelessly crude models, subject to all sorts of work to create a scale(ish) model. In the case of the R157 projects, one is a correct four coach formation with centre trailer guards van which involves extensive hacking around with the bodyshells, whilst another is a restoration of an example which someone managed to flush glaze to really good effect.

These are all excellent books and have been a staple on my shelves for the past 25 years. The late Tony Matthewman's Trix book pictured above is a labour of love in knitting together a complex and obscure story. My copy of the Triang Hornby book is signed by Pat, in an extremely small way I was fortunate enough to contribute to some of the wagon details included.

I'm not amazed - it's an unusual prototype and there still seems a ready market for people who are willing to have a go with the relatively few kits that some up for sale, however challenging they will be to build!

Re the class 91 check the roof switch is set for track pickup.......! Otherwise, for this (or indeed any Ringfield fitted loco) if it is dead on the track my first port of call will be to try applying power directly to the brush retaining strips. If the motor works then the fault will be somewhere between there and the wheels; if not, then you know the problem is right there in the armature. First thing to check is that both brushes and springs are there and bearing down on the commutator - I've very often found that a dead motor is simply because a brush spring has gone astray. If the motor runs and the problem is between there and the wheels you need to check all the tag joints, that wheels are clean (and installed the right way round); basically keep going until you find out where the power is not getting through. Whilst you are at it, unless everything is clean and in good order a through clean up and relubrication always helps.

High street retail has been in trouble for years, with high fixed costs and loss of footfall to online. I suspect that the longer term effects of the current crisis will in many cases be where an already present trend is accelerated - e.g. pubs losing business, people working from home etc. However, quite frankly, for many areas the high street model shop as a local facility has already long ceased to be. Where I live in South London there is not a single model shop or department store with a model section left, nor has there been for some years. The nearest shops are Jane's Trains in Tooting, Kent Garden Railways in Orpington or Ian Allan at Waterloo - every single one is the best part of an hour away. Therefore, whilst I would in no way underestimate the difficulties of the situation, I consider any functional retail model shop these days to be an exception (and yes, I do my best to support them!)

I completely agree, I bought a Blue Grey one in Coventry in 1982 and remember sitting on the platform at the station with the real thing in front of me on a WCML service standing in platform 3, marvelling at the fidelity to detail

I would definitely speak to Hornby Customer Services, obviously right now there might be a delay in being able to deal with it but they are pretty good and I'm sure would be willing to take a look at it.

Network SouthEast ceased to exist as a business unit of British Rail on 1 May 1994 when the shadow privatsiation structure came into being. The TOUs were required to retain the relevant BR branding until they were sold off and not to indulge in any rebranding whilst they were for sale. The only allowed exception was Thameslink which had some 319s coming up for C6 repaints - they were allowed to have these painted in light grey with the Thameslink diamond logo on the side. My masters at the South Central division of NSE decided however to be a little rebellious which is why the Network SouthEast logos were changed to Network SouthCentral. You could hardly call it branding, it was a minor gesture and to hear it being argued over 25 years later as a copyright issue is quite frankly hilarious. Incidentally, when CGEA of France acquired South Central, they planned a rebrand (the notorious 'Connex') which was a few months away. However, their new MD was not amused to see a CIG unit emerge from C6 repaint in full NSC toothpaste colours, but of course no-one had actually given the works any alternative instructions on what to paint the trains. A hasty set of calls saw all subsequent repaints appear in pale grey until the Connex livery was launched.

The DInky Toys name was a trademark of Meccano Ltd, which passed to Triang in 1964 when they acquired Meccano. When the Triang group was broken up in 1971, the French part went to CPG Products Corp, a subsidiary of US conglomerate General Mills; whilst the British part was bought by the Airfix group. Between 1971 and 1981 both parties entered intop terriotorial licensing agreements to allow for the relevant export and sale of products. Airfix closed Meccano down in 1979 but retained use of the Dinky name until they themselves went into recievership in 1981, to be bought by CPG thus reuniting both parts of the old Meccano empire. However, with massive changed in the toy business, CPG ceased to manufacture Dinky Toys and as a result in 1986 the trademark was essentially appropriated by Universal Toys Ltd who were the then owners of Matchbox. CPG settled out of court effectively having weakened any claim to the name through non-use. Universal sold Matchbox (and the Dinky brand) to Tyco in 1992. In 1997 Mattel acquired Tyco and deleted the Matchbox Dinky range, but having learned the lesson of the CPG experience, they have been very careful to make periodic use of the Dinky trademark, most recently by licensing Atlas Editions/DeAgostini to issue the various Dinky collection resissues since around 2013. It is therefore not available to Hornby Hobbies. Hornby's reuse of the Triang name for a couple of this year's anniversary models has no doubt been helped due to the complete lapse of any other use of the trademark by other parties. Atamco Pty Ltd Calcutta purchased a number of redundant dies from Meccano but they did not license the name. The very first reissues were branded Dinky Toys but Meccano required them to change the name hence 'Nicky Toys'. They were never licensed by Meccano, it was a purchase of redundant assets.

Great Western didn't register the InterCity brand, it was retained as a licensed marque available to all the former InterCity TOCs by ATOC but most TOCs wanted to have nothing to do with any of the ex British Rail brands. Only Great Western chose to use it. Pullman is another reserved marque, and GWR are the only ones to currently use it for their scheduled Pullman dining services. The use in relation to scheduled services does not impinge on charter and private operators - rather it is to stop one of them preventing a National Rail operator from using it.

Yes they do. Part of my work with ATOC was to help the legal team review and understand which terms were active terms to stop them becoming restricted in use by another party trademarking them. At one time there was an attempt by Rover Group to assert the right of that name for transport purposes that we had to respond to to avoid the Rail Rover product names accidentally being restricted. The Network SouthEast issue is interesting because of course many models in existence pre-date the NSE Society's assertion of rights over the trademark.

The transfers were factory items, unlike the 1970s / 80s buildings. To me the main station buildings are much more reflective of SER practice rather than LB&SCR. Stations like Clock House and Woodside are very local to me and bear a distinct resemblance (albeit in yellow London stock brick rather than red cellulose acetate...)

From a tooling point of view that is correct, but from an ownership point of view Triang (Lines Brothers) acquired the entire share capital of Meccano Ltd in 1964 and then made changes as a going concern. For example, the 2245 E3002 loco, a pure Hornby-Dublo model made at Binns Road was released after Meccano had been bought by Triang. The subsequent development of the Triang range was also influenced by the lessons learned from the Hornby Dublo 2-rail range, particularly the development of a finer scale track range and finer scale wheels.

I've had the opportunity to do some work on my MTK/Triang Class 25/3. The main steps were to dull the finish down and correct the rather peculiar shade of yellow used on the ends. I've also done some light weathering on the roof. It has come up rather well!

The Trix/Liliput E3001 history is bound up with that of Ernest Rosza who pretty much single handedly kept Trix going after its disposal by the Courtaulds group. In fact the model did not start out as a Trix model but was tooled up by Mr Rosza's firm Miniature Construction Ltd who issued the very first version. When Mr Rosza took on British Trix it was incorporated into the Trix range - this was when Trix were still making models to 3.8mm scale but because the E3001 had originated elsewhere it was true 4mm scale, albeit with a slightly overlength bogie wheelbase. The British operation worked at arm's length from the German company and it was when the latter stopped being able to supply motors and mechanical parts that an alternative supply was sourced from Liliput, hence the change in name for the British range. When Ernest finally retired and wound up the British range, Dapol acquired parts and tooling but never produced the E3001. They sold of lots of spare bodies though. The only former Trix model Dapol ever made was the Transpennine Class 124 model available for a very short time. The Triang model was derived from the body of the Hornby Dublo E3002 (2245), the very last loco produced at Binns Road and in fact only made after Triang had bought Meccano Ltd, but before the May 1965 announcement of the amalgamation of the Hornby Dublo and Triang ranges that in reality meant the end of pretty much all Hornby Dublo production (and eventual acquisition most of the Dublo tooling by G & R Wrenn). However, Triang had previously announced their own overhead AC electric loco - in the 1964 catalogue as R753, a model of E3046, a class AL2/82. What they actually did was to mate the Hornby Dublo body to the chassis for the E3046 model, which is why the Triang E3001 has Class 82 pattern bogies. The original Hornby-Dublo E3002 has correct pattern bogies although the overall model is cosmetically crude in comparison to the Trix/Miniature Construction model. As note above, the Triang version can be used to make a class 82, there is one in my projects box at the moment. For a class 81, I would concur that the Trix version is the model to look out for.

I've got Triang No 1 all the way through the the 2005 50th edition (the slipcase hardback version). I kept buying them up to about 2015 but the recent ones are huge, heavy and with such a large turnover of products that I decided to draw a line under them, so I sold all the post 2005 ones. I've also got the Triang - the first ten years book, and the 1966 and 1979 Book of Trains too, all fascinating pubications.

I'm lucky enough not to be in a vulnerable category, not do I live with anyone who is. Apart from (necessary) shopping I have no contact with anyone else, so whilst I am following all the public advice (20 sec handwashing, don't touch face before washing etc) I will admit that I am not going to the further extremes with the infrequent parcels etc because I am taking the view that trying to prevent getting the virus at any cost is not nearly as important for me as not infecting other people should I acquire it, and that it why I am avoiding unecessary contact, keeping 2m away etc.