andyman7

The final SYP Class 21 of this first batch appears to have landed. Class 21s are really a bit early for my core modelling period but I have such a soft spot for the NBL D6100s that an unrebuilt one was a must. The other SYP version in the first batch was D6116 which became a Class 29 in 1966 so I've held out for this other one. From photos it appears that they have modelled D6111 rather than D6122 which was the announced version (at least as far as I had seen), but as D6111 was a late survivor (withdrawn May 1968) that's fine. As for Class 29s, I'm waiting for the late Blue and Green FYE ones so will hold out on the two just arrived.

The class 4MT has been sorted, thanks to PJT for the advice on how to go about this. I managed to avoid losing the little circlips on this one, the centre crankpin does have to be eased out to get the connecting rods off and the plastic wheel inserts out. A little boiling water and they were all flat, in the end I used fine scissors and a scalpel blade to reduce the circumference so that they lay flat in the wheel, secured with a little Loctite. The next project is a B1, this is a Bachmann one but the chassis has been swapped for a Replica one with the old Ringfield motor and traction tyres. The axles are fine but it again has swollen wheel inserts. However, the connecting rods do not have hex nuts, it looks like they are force fitted pins but any confirmation would help. I have got the rest of the motion off but this time both circlips pinged off into the ether so it looks like I will need to try and get some from Bachmann.

GSP is an exorbitant way to send and receove things but I would stop short of 'never' buying anything shipped with GSP - as long as the total is acceptable. I recently bought a Scalecraft kit that would cost around £50 here, it was listed as a Buy-It-Now at $12.99 (around a tenner) - so even £25 shipping made it worthwhile.

Thanks very much for the heads up!

Just a quick query - can anyone confirm the correct size nut spinner needed to undo the valve gear nuts on older Bachmann loco valve gear such as the 4MT? I think it needs a 3mm but would like to check. Also a reccommended brand or supplier if that will help. Thank you!

I would endorse this as the straightforward simple way to get it all working. Additional feeds (whether for scale track or otherwise) and de-isolating points can all be used to improve reliability but are not essential to get it to work. I have a hybrid DC/DCC set up so all my points are isolating ones, the track has seperate feeds for each circuit for DC; when used on DCC I have simply arranged for all the feeds to be connected simultaneously to the DCC output and it all works perfectly well for my needs.

It's in the pile to deal with but at least I have the guidance in this thread from people who have been there before

Thanks, ditto, just bought one 'needing attention' (cheap and sold-as-seen) and first thing I noticed was that the wheel centres were swollen/distorted.....

My nursery school backed on to the Metropolitan and Piccadilly lines at Rayners Lane, I was there between 1971 and 1973 and I remember that during the day the Met line trains would be 4 coaches but at the beginning and by the end of the day they would be 8 coaches.

It's swings and roundabouts - I don't have any spare 21 pin decoders but do have quite a few 8 pin ones so from a purely selfish viewpoint the cost is not negligible.

I'm glad this point has been made. The model railway market covers a wide base, and the desire for ultra-DCC capability with full polyphonic sounds and dozens of switchable options meets one part of that market but can alienate others. I have a dual DCC/DC set-up because I have far too many vintage engines that are never going to get chipped. I have a handful of sound locos but for me personally the fundamental benefit of DCC is being able to control trains individually rather than circuits, and have lights stay on when the train stops. Beyond that the law of diminishing returns kicks in. Clearly my preferences don't represent everyone, but frankly if the Hornby 91 has the right shape and livery, I can live with an 8 pin interface.

Gunge?

Hopefully they are not all like that, and you can exchange for a better one.

That's not bad, these sell for around £90-£100 on ebay which is always a good barometer (this is prices actually achieved so a good barometer)

Weren't they always that?

None of the centenary releases are slavish copies of the originals but instead seek to capture the 'spirit', so I don't see much point in quibbling over whether it's a red or blue striped box, or two boxes, or a plastic tender. In the nicest possible way it's a pastiche, but a lovely one. Given how strongly it appears to have (pre-)sold, I wonder if Hornby might consider some more limited run diecast bodied locos in future under the Hornby Dublo name, one limited edition a year maybe? The one that intrigues me is the 'Rovex' train set. I have an original with it's cellulose plastic components warped , the new set gives you a modern Princess (not sure if it's the immminent or current model but either way light years from the 1950s shorty) and two modern super detail Staniers, but all numbered and liveried as per the original items, albeit with lining and decoration that the originals most certainly did not have. It's probably an ornament too far for me but it would be nice to see the 'old' and 'new' side by side

The other factor is that if retail prices are to be maintained, Hornby needs to try and avoid excess stock. We've all got very used to deep discounting in years past but it is toxic to the long term health of the business. There will always be the odd item that gets over ordered and marked down but in general once people know that stuff will only be available for a limited time and will sell out they are more inclined to buy straight away than hold back - and smaller retailers benefit too becuase their margins aren't eroded by the box shifters. If you want an item and haven't (or don't want to) preorder, the key is to be on the ball when it actually comes out - the bush telegraph that is RMWeb will do that for you - and then get on the phone to track one down. Don't just leave it at Rails, Hattons, Kernow - make the calls to the smaller or less high profile retailers and in most cases you will get one. Maybe not at a discount, but at least at the list price. Yes, one or two items will always prove elusive but I have found that with most in demand releases this can work as long as you don't hang about.

20 bottles? Are they drinking the stuff???!!!

On a practical note, as well as Alexandra Palace station itself, the venue is an easy trip from Finsbury Park station via bus W3 which will take you right to the door. The buses run every few minutes, and Finsbury Park is served nowadays by Thameslink as well as Victoria & Piccadilly Line trains. It is a really easy trip by public transport if you have a train service into London.

It will be one powered + one dummy vehicle as before

That picture is off an eby listing. Look at the other items too, the whole site has scam written all over it......

Yup, that's the one!

Treating model railways as an investment is risky and unsatisfying. What is more useful is to learn from your experiences to try and help fund your hobby - as numerous posts have shown here, there is quite a volatility to models, with prices shooting up and then dropping back. Beacuse of the batch nature of production, if I like the look of something I will tend to buy it. If the price rockets, I tend to take the view that I'll take the money on offer at that point to sell it. More than once I have then subsequently bought another example when prices fall back, therefore effectively subsidising the purchase. If I see a model is easily fetching x on ebay and find it for sale for less, I will buy and sell it on - the money all gets recycled in the hobby and lets me buy other models that I would otherwise find it hard to justify. By the way, the current record holder for financial appeciation is by my reckoning, the Hornby R9684 Thomas version of 'Murdoch', basically a 9F in sand with a face. I bought one in around 2012 for £80. Subsequently Model Railways Direct were flogging them off for £58 and they had dozens in stock. I'd thought about giving it to my son when he was old enough but by that time they were selling for over £200 which I though was bonkers so sold it to fund other things he would like. They are currently fetching over £500 each.......

I'm not a master expert on these things, but is the turntable plugged into a phono (record player) terminal on the amplifier or a regular line in socket? Turntable outputs need to be run through a pre-amp before the regular amplification stage, and depending on the set up this needs be be enabled either on the turntable (if it has one) or disabled on the turntable and enabled via the amplifier input. The old turntable will have been confugured to work with the amplifier if it was all bought as one set-up, but this won't neccessarily be the case with the new one.

Hamleys used to charge a premium but when they became a Hornby concession that stopped. For a while to they had some great sale prices, although these days the markdowns are far fewer. But prices are genetrally at list.