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Thanks S.A.C for your excellent reviews in this thread. from what i can see it comes down to what level of detail/accuracy one is willing to live with. The Hornby SE certainly does it for me, only because of the tender bearings. I am sure someone is already conteplating swapping the chassis of the Bachmann and Hornby tenders of possible! It will be interesting to see (if it has not been done already) if a detailing pack(s) will become available, that way one could detail the Hornby offerings to whatever level one wanted.

All a bit fishy to me! (I'm off)

They did have trouble with the tooling for this one, it could be that they are re-doing the tooling, or they are moving on to a different Castle with the same appearance, was Tintagel Castle a ltd. run? I am sure if the tooling is sound Hornby will want to get other similar Castles on the market in the near future.

I think that whatever version one purchases it will be fit for purpose so it is a case of all sections of the market being covered, it is not often we can say that there is an individual model to suit all, I suppose 'Flying Scotsman' in its various guises and 'Mallard' plus a few others. It is true that 'Tornado' is going to become iconic anongst the younger enthusiasts (and older ones), it demonstrates what can be done by a bunch of enthusiasts who set their mind on something, it is something we British do particularly well, look at the other projects in the pipeline, a new Grange, a Saint and many others, Ironically Hornby are in a great position along with those building the new Grange to cash in for both parties, admittedly not as glamorous as the A1 (This is a GWR man writing this through clenched teeth!), but worthy just the same to see another loco brought back from the dead.

Clarification to D605Eagle, I should have said that Hornby will probably have made great inroads into the market for those like me who could not justify the price of the Bachmann model especially with some of its errors (stated in a previous posting) that Hornby have not made. Normally Bachmann locos sell a bit cheaper than Hornby, but in this case Hornby have produced a more accurate model at up to £50 cheaper. On those grounds alone it makes no sense for a new purchaser to buy the Bachmann model.

If they did a Beyer Garratt I wouldn't care if it had no handrails at all!

That is a shame, it would appear that Hornby's description is completely wrong for the special edition then, ho hum I was just getting really excited, now I am still excited but not so much. I wish Hornby would get a decent proof reader in before they build our hopes up only to dash them. Edit..reading through the Hornby info on Special edition Tornado they seem to have lots wrong, even the number (60162) describing the era for a original build A1 not Tornado's era. Very strange.....They're not going to make an original A1 are they? surely not?

Also interesting to see something I had not realised the special, yes it has more general detail but it also has sprung buffers sliding cab roof and decoder socket in tender therefore I assume it has it has the (unpopular) plug between the tender and loco. Looking at the extra detail though the special looks even better value at £92

Thanks S.A.C. I agree with all you have written and appreciate your efforts for us all. It is interesting to see that there is going to be ( I read somewhere) another release of the Bachmann Tornado in September . I suspect Hornby will have cornered the market by then, I am leaning heavily towards the Hornby special edition

It is a shame that there has not been a comparison with the Bachmann offering in the magazines but that may come. It does beg the question...Is it worth paying an extra £20-30 for the Bachmann model? The £92 offering from Hornby looks a very good model as it stands without any extras. I suppose if you buy the Hornby model you can choose to detail it more to whatever you want, but assuming it will cost £20 to purchase the bits and the time spent, would it not be worth buying the Bachamnn model which is already to a high standard, bit of a poser?

Great to see someone else looking after an 82004 I have one (with still working smoke). I have just bought a new motor for it. The attached photo is obviously not a model but it shows what could be achieved on a layout when we photograph locos at events. This was at the 'Thomas' day on the GSWR 12 June 2011, The bus just happened to go over the bridge when I took the photo but it is evocative of some time in the 60s' especially when coverted to B&W and photoshopped a bit. I always look for inspiration when I go to events like this

From the list below No Cab glazing.....................Should be able to be made Solid Buffers........................Bachmann do a set of sprung buffers for the A1 Moulded handrails.................makeable or hopefully available from a small business Electric lamps/lamp irons are included in detail pack...........just need to be fitted Detailed cab interior but unpainted..............fiddly to paint but do-able Moulded coal.............bit of a pain but again a do-able project 3 pole motor........................Nothing apparently wrong with that Bachmann have used them for years and this one has a flywheel. Etched nameplates.......................Probably available from a specialist maker So even with a price of £77 or £92 pounds there is scope for detailing this good value model to a high standard for not a very big outlay say £15-25.

Excellent review, I presume that a detailing kit is available for the loco which would make the Railroad version an excellent choice. It will be interesting to see what the differences are on the finer detailed version, which is almost £50 cheaper than Bachmanns version. Hornby could be on a winner here.

Tried opening your link Bobwyer but my computer is not happy with it and will not let it open, is there a web link?

It needs to go back to Hornby GWcatman, I hope these are 'one offs' because your Castle looks as if it has just been pulled out of Barry rather than delivered new! Looks like it needs a new body as that safety valve problem looks terminal.

I agree with much of what has been said about my posting, of course the scenario I painted was not exclusive to the GWR, however I was trying to amke the point that many GWR branchline layouts (and there were many) did have a bit more going for them than just a country station with trains passing through. If one is going to have a branch station from an observers point of view it is nice to see a bit of activity on a regular basis. Yes I did as stated grow up on the GWR/BR but I would gladly travel to other areas outside GWR influence to see different trains. Where I live we were fortunate in being able to see all four 'big four' locos in any given day (Banbury-Oxford), so unsurprisingly my latest layout will feature a facility that allows locos from all four regions to 'visit' If it is a cliche so be it, but its good fun.

Photographs would be useful to show the error, but have you checked your smokebox door (see Castle thread) Perhaps this thread needs to be moved to the 'Castle arriving' thread to bring it all together

Interesting, enlarging GWRrob and Prometheus' pictures do not show any sign of a BR smoke box number plate, this must be a factory error whereby a batch of BR smoke box doors (are they a separate moulding?) have been used. After waiting so long for this loco it is very disappointing that such a basic error should be allowed. Hornby are doing their reputation no good at all with this kind of mistake, what a shame, lets hope it is rectified quickly and efficiently.

What constitutes a Cliche? The oft quoted GWR branch with its shed, freight depot and livestock pen, one may wish to add a coal yard too. Why are they cliches? I have a book with diagrams of many GWR branch stations with such a set up. So they were quite common and therefore part of my growing up experience. It is only natural then that it is a popular subject. Perhaps because modelling some stations on other regions requires just two platforms, thus most of its traffic is through (either stopping, freight or express). The GWR branch has a lot going for it as a model in that it has all the afore mentioned but frequently acted as a feed to the mainline form various factories/industries in the area, as well as an important hub for farming and the rural community. Take branches like Hook Norton it had a feed from a local Steel works and saw lots of Iron ore traffic. Chipping Norton saw a feed from the local woolen mills, the list goes on as there were numerous feeds from local iron ore quarries. Cliche? It is only a cliche if you do not make it interesting for others to view and understand the history of these branch lines.

The Hornby site does have a fairly comprehensive conversion diagram for the Hornby turntable, Also if you look at Brian Lamberts site he has a very comprehensive section on wiring a Peco turntable.

Saying we have in the medical profession TFBndy ( Totally f***ed but not dead yet) Body is only good for spares by the looks of it, goodness knows how much internal damage there is with all that weight crashing down.

Thanks for the photos Wilks, a very simple and effective way of stiffening up the front pony truck.

Having read what Simon Kohler has written On MREmag I humbly withdraw any concerns/complaints I had over the L1. I would buy one without any hesitation when my particular modelling era appears.

Just for the record, is there any chance of posting a photo of the mod. you carried out 34theletterbetweenB&D? It sounds a fairly simple modification but a picture spares a thousand words.

I accept what people say about the loco looking beautiful and running well aside from the 'issue' shall we say about the pony truck, and I will hopefully end up with one on my layout at some time in the future, but i do stand by my original assertion that it is not acceptable to purchase models that nedd the toolbox taken to them; perhaps i have been a bit over eagre calling the pony truck a problem, but by the same token it cannot be simply swept under the carpet. Anyway I have made my point and I love the L1. I seem to remember that many raised an eyebrow saying an L1? why? but in the end it has turned out to be a very popular choice. Perhaps because it could be seen in a wide variety of places, my chosen area of modelling (North Oxfordshire) saw L1s alongside GWR and LMS locos at Banbury.