Legend

Really great to see this and the samples look superb. I had failed to grasp the real things were 26m long. A 5 car train will be lengthy and an impressive sight . However there will be some clearance difficulties. Anyone figured out what radius will be required for two to pass without making contact? A bit puzzled at the limited edition 2 car set. It might appeal to collectors , but wouldn't you first want to know that intermediate cars will be available before taking the plunge here? Have I missed that? A 2 car unit by itself just looks ridiculous , not that I have any notion of what runs between them. What it has done is stimulated an interest back in the current railway scene for me. Must swot up on IEP program. It seems not so long ago that the Class 87 was the look of the modern railway. Euston to Glasgow in 5 hours . 1974 ! Seems things have moved on. I'm getting old!

Agree they were badly treated in the past , but if you are selling model railways you really need to stock Hornby.. Full range from cheepo 0-4-0, starter sets right up to a top of the range a Duchess. If you don't stock them you are really turning a substantial , possibly majority, of your market away. What they going to sell......Bachmann? Not a lot of entry models there, and still pretty expensive.

Damned good prices Dave ( having just seen Hornbys price for 87)

Clearly there are some Deans Goods experts on here. Also agree that manufacturers should get it right. The smokebox issue needs correcting, which I believe Oxford are doing. Can't say there's anything else dramatically putting me off. So I suspect that while there will be a few holding out for the ultimate Deans Goods, lots more of us will be quite happy to buy the model as it is. Do you not think you are in danger of going a wee bit over the top here guys. .

I can't imagine there will be one set of tools for the limited edition and another for the main release. My supposition is they will be identical. It's a reasonable price for a limited edition , but essentially you are paying extra for a wooden box and gloss finish.

Certainly a critical location, but as I understand it it was 2 lines that were blocked, which kind of makes more sense than all 4. I believe the brakes seized on , which prevented the unit being towed away. So total chaos. I'm not sure if this is just luck. I've certainly had disruptions under First Group .

I know I'm being dense, but on reading link ,is this a one off magazine or is it going to be a monthly? This months issue, available at Warley is free . If there are further editions , presumably there will be a charge. Available through model shops and heritage lines only? What about WHS ? Will it be given away free with Railway Mag? Looks like it might be a wee bit different in approach. With "interviews and nostalgia" . Try anything once

They are under pressure because people are complaining about Scotrail under Abellio. The Transport Minister is under pressure, so what better strategy to appeal to public sentiment by saying I'm investigating taking the railways under public control, but it depends on several factors. Lo and behold these factors will prove impossible to solve. So flying a kite to appeal to public sentiment and get themselves off the hook. That's all we are seeing here

They won't , because then they , the Scottish Govt, would be blamed directly for late or bad running, and they only like positive PR . They like to keep anything that could possibly cause embarrassment at arms length.

Its the low wages that drive it. Despite certain manufacturers claims, rates over there are still vastly less than here. Cost of machinery , raw materials etc probably the same. Rates etc tend to be a small overall expenses, but are no doubt negligible over there (they are in my factory overhead, so I don't know precisely how much, but overall the overheads are low). Not sure about the price of Yorkshire Tea though

Very impressive. Shows the complexity of manufacturing people sometimes take for granted eg painting the. VIA Rail loco. You would think quite a simple operation but actually involving significant machinery and several passes. Lots of space for expansion.

Well you get 4 pretty good magazines a year, a very nice Calendar at Christmas, a PO wagon on renewal and you get to go into Collectors booth at exhibitions where you are wined and dined . All this and the option to buy club only specials, which given the price, I've fortunately managed to avoid. Overall I'd say it's not bad

That's funny. sounds like either a Shorts 330 or 360 , which was likened to a shoebox with wings and tail.

Doesn't need to be fancy, but better thought out than last years, which it think was a bit of an after thought. I know it's a childhood thing , but I think back to the catalogues of 71/72/73/74 . Something like that that would appeal to the nostalgia market while showing state of the art models would be very good

Also use M6 toll . Unfortunately it just gets you to the traffic mess between Junctions 15 and 27 faster. Wonder if that area around Manchester will go into gridlock as people drive to join their new HS2 service from Manchester Airport. Need new roads I'm afraid

Yes likewise. I was introduced to this brand a few months ago through a thread in RMWeb . Didn't know of it's existence until then. Contemplating a DBSO and possibly a 303 Glasgow Blue a Train , if still available

Well the company I work for manages pretty well with qualified engineers and good project management. They bring in projects on budget, on time and have to account for any overspend ( which is not usual) . I don't think my company is any different from many other commercial companies . And I am talking about building factories across the world . And compared to several other infrastructure projects around the world this is a relatively modest infrastructure project. But it's not what I think, it's what international investors think. Years of indecision over Heathrow. Even now runway decided, it's 10 years away if it ever gets built. Now we have patchy electrification to Bristol. Brunel must be spinning in his grave. We really are a laughing stock.

The obvious place for wires to end is Bristol Temple Meads ! Frankly anything else is a shambles. No matter how well the government ( surely now truly deserving the title DafT) dresses it up it's still a pig! Really looking outside this country , trying to encourage people to invest, and we can't even manage a relatively modest infrastructure project. Laughing Stock. Yes no doubt Notwork Rail's project management is bad, they are not exactly covering themselves with glory on EGIP either, but ultimately it reports to government, so they should be running it/monitoring it better. Really dreadful

Isn't it friction that's the key here , not weight?

I'm also missing my MREmag fix. I think when Pat started it it was to continue on from the original mag which had just stopped publishing. I don't know why he did it but I got the impression it was his own enthusiasm that drove it on a hobby basis . As it got bigger it got more demanding on his time , so he reduced it to thrice weekly and then handed it over to the current organisation with Simon Kohler etc. this is run on a commercial basis and where it's gone wrong . Apparently there is not enough advertising income to sustain paying Phil a decent salary for his time and support running expenses. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that the only way MREmag could have survived, in the way we know and love, is for someone, or a group, to take it on on a hobby basis. Certainly if I were retired I think I would quite enjoy it, although admit to having no clue about electronic publishing or hosting services. Still I'm sure something could have been possible on the occasional donation basis, just as RMWeb did before the BRM investment. However I do think the existing Board are not quite in touch. It looks like MREmag will morph into a new emagazine published every two months initially. Sorry but that's not the MREmag! Apparently this is better for advertisers. I struggle with this. I wonder if the Board has just done a Beeching and not considered the extent to which the branches ( a regular having your say) feed into the main network ( the emagazine). Surely they should maintain the edited and managed forum thrice weekly with links into the new emagazine . In that way the new emagazine would be better supported and more attractive to advertisers. Without that, well it's just another emagazine published at less frequency than the mainstream mags. I just can't see that working or being sustainable. As an aside how many of us actually looked at any of the adverts? I was aware of the Hattons header but that was about it. Again I come back to the only way this can be maintained is on a hobby/ volunteer basis. Commercially I just can't see it

Well the latest Engine Shed notes the need to present a full range so that something appeals to everyone, so I think the omens look good for an 86 or an 87 this year. Add to this DJM saying he wasn't progressing an 86 or 87 because there were two manufacturers working on both, then I think the announcement of the 2017 range could be pretty interesting

Oh well ! A wee bit of a disappointment to be honest, but then they did say it was a retool. I think this does show the confusion of Hornby. Why do you want a B17 in the Railroad range? If dedicated enthusiast wouldn't you go for the main range one. Why do you need , and go the the expense ,of retooling a B17 for the Railroad Range while you already have a main range one? Is it that there are lots of people thinking the main range one is just too expensive and that they can only go for Railroad one? I get Flying Scotsman, Mallard and Tornado all in Railroad range , but how many kids will say I really need a B17? Really confused at the strategy here

Oh but they do. They announce it to everyone simultaneously on "The Engine Shed" . Good move. Looking forward to tomorrow's announcement

Once again completely disheartened at the lack of showing of anything Scottish. I think the Caley3F makes it in Steam top 50 with 185 votes but is beaten by the Bullied Leader!!!!!!!! Could it be that now most mainstream items have been picked off that we are left with a significant number of also rans none of which are really that sought after? Thanks to Brian and team for the poll and all the hard work that goes on around it but if you were a manufacturer would you place your release program around it...... Dreadnought coaches really ?

Which year of Warley? Could it be we are finally close to an announcement. You just know I'll miss it. Still think it's a 126 Swindon Ayrshire unit. White circle or dot coupling code. Obvious !