Porfuera

That rings a bell but I was just going by my online statement - the first entry was "Extra points for active pre-order" +200pts and the second entry was "Opt In" +200pts. I joined the Rewards scheme on 22nd of November but my orders prior to the 22nd (Class 08 and the three TTAs) aren't showing up on the statement so I don't know whether those have been retrospectively included or not. To find that out I'd need to go through all the orders and pre-orders and add up the points from each individual order and then check this against the pending total to confirm whether they are in there or not.

I have less time than I thought - DPD have already sent me a mail with a tracking reference and saying they're awaiting receipt. No delivery date yet but I can see me spending a day looking out of the window, waiting for the van to pull up to intercept the knock on the door...

It looks like I wasn't 100% correct with my answers to this. It looks like a DC controller may have to stay on full power in order to power the chipped loco so you wouldn't be able to run a DC loco from the same DC controller. There is a useful post here with some answers directly from SK if anyone is interested, plus a whole thread on it:

It came after the TT:120 club (this year maybe?) and I'm pretty sure it is a separate sign-up. A quick check on the Hornby web site should confirm. 200 bonus points (a whole £2!) were awarded for joining and another 200 because I had an active pre-order. You only get the points after the goods are despatched I think so presumably pre-orders still qualify but that's a guess.

You don't get the 15% off the HM7000 stuff either - I ordered a N18TXS Bluetooth and DCC Sound Decoder last night and it was full price. It makes sense I suppose because these aren't specifically TT:120. A quick google has just shown that this would have been slightly cheaper from model shops / box shifters instead of direct from Hornby, although from those there will be postage to pay which might negate the cheaper price (or some of it) and I guess Hornby will have them in stock first. And a further check shows that you get the reward points with these as well - 700 points for the decoder equals £7 so that pretty much makes up for the price difference between Hornby and model shops. I wonder what model shops are thinking about the Hornby Rewards scheme...

I was feeling somewhat left out because my Class 08 and wagons won't be arriving until March/April and my digital Easterner even later in May so I ordered one yesterday night and the payment was taken immediately - presumably that means that they have them in hand rather than them being in transit. I'd imagine I'm towards the back of the queue when it comes to dispatching them so I guess I still have a few days to work out how to deal with the wrath of the Domestic Authorities before it arrives.

The online shop has the details if you scroll down to the Tech Specs section for either the individual locos or for the sets - it is under "Minimum curve (mm)" and it is Radius 2 for both

I don't know whether the Vosslohs run in the UK but In my case I'd be quite tempted and I think Rule 1 may well apply, especially as they are also available with sound. They can be seen in the catalogue here: https://uk.arnoldmodel.com/new-2023 (link posted previously by @irishmail) Apologies because I've posted the following before but Arnold's new TT releases are shown here (amongst the other releases by Hornby's other European companies): https://www.world-of-railways.co.uk/news/Hornby-2023-continental-range/ It includes two very interesting-looking sets not shown in the catalogue AFAIAA, one containing a Class 66 and the other a Vossloh, although details for the Class 66 set are a bit thin plus I'd imagine it is the 66 that is Colas Rail rather than the Vossloh but interesting to see that Arnold may well be doing sets in the future: (Arnold) Train Sets • HN9900 Train Set "Colas Rail", 4-axle diesel locomotive Vossloh DE 18 with 2 x 4-axle silowagons "Transcéréales", ep. VI HINT • HN9901 Train Set Class 66 + 3 Container Wagons EDIT: Does anyone know whether these sets were confirmed at Nuremberg? I'm pretty sure they're not in the catalogue.

That is not my understanding - I believe the digital sets contain a 15V power supply but no controller. The controller is an app that you download to a smart device to control the DCC chip via bluetooth. However I also believe that the locos will run on DC (but in DCC mode - I don't know if a CV change is required for this) and the loco is still controlled via the bluetooth app. You need to crank up the DC voltage to maximum initially to 'wake up' the chip but after that I assume that the DC voltage can be turned down to control DC locos. If I've got that wrong feel free to correct me!

And therein lies a bit of a problem with people new to model railways. People are buying all the track packs for their Scotman sets and making the full layout as shown by Hornby with the two loops and not understanding why the train won't run on the inner loop. Obviously it is because there is only one controller and only one power connector which is connected to the outer loop but they're new and they don't realise that the points are isolating the inner loop. As you say some are asking for help on the socials (and I think I saw you answering at least one of them on FB) but maybe there are others that aren't and I hope that these buyers aren't going to give up in frustration. It is difficult to know what Hornby could have done but maybe more information could have been provided in the sets. I would hope there is information on the website although I haven't checked.

Cheers for that. IIRC SK had said that they were not going to sell track (or Track Packs maybe) to people without trains to run on them and I wondered how they were going to get around that! It still seems a little short-sighted to me but then it is early days so maybe they still don't have huge stocks of them so they're 'reserving' them for people with Scotsman sets (and then Easterners when those arrive), which would be sensible.

I'm rather hoping that Track Packs will be available to order (as opposed to pre-order) on the shipment that's supposed to be arriving shortly. I foolishly cancelled my analogue Easterner order in favour of a digital one so I'll need some track on which to run in my Class 08 when it arrives and I was thinking that Packs 2 and 3 will do the job nicely. Plus I'd order a couple of extra points and more straights but there's no use in having the order turn up in more than one shipment if I don't have anytthing to run until March/April. EDIT: having said that I feel sure I've seen pictures of people with Track Packs on Facebook, yet they're only shown as pre-order in the shop

Again you missed my point - I also said that I felt that their enthusiasm was hard to fake. I don't think they can just switch it on when the camera rolls, they aren't professional actors. Quite the opposite in some cases.

You seem to have missed my point entirely - I was talking about their enthusiasm for the job and for the models.

I guess it is easy to get a cheap laugh but from watching H:AMW it is interesting to see what an enthusiast SK is. You can debate whether or not some of the scenes are re-created for the cameras (like the one IIRC where he 'announced' TT:120 to a couple of his senior staff members) but his enthusiasm for the job and for the models is difficult to fake in my opinion. And that goes for the other staff members (designers, researchers, the sounds guy, marketing, and so on) as well. I with I'd had half that amount of enthusiasm for my job!

No worship from me - TT:120 will be the first thing I've bought from Hornby in over a decade, I imagine. I prefer N and 0. But that said I am looking forward to receiving my first TT:120 items - a refreshing change. It is just that I and some others here find your constant repetition and negativity to be draining and boring in equal measure.

Well for you the answer is to do what you said you were going to do previously. It will have the added advantage that you can deal with your cognitive dissonance at the same time. Sadly those of us that want to discuss TT:120 in a positive way don't have the same option. Of course if you're not going to leave then maybe you could share with us what you have ordered in TT:120 and what your layout plans are?

Maybe if you stop saying it I'll stop pointing out how ridiculous it is. Hornby will have decided how much they can invest safely in TT:120 without it affecting them as a company should TT:120 not take off. It is a simple as that. There is no way they will allow any failure of TT:120 to cause the company to fold. As to the rest of your post, it is the same old drivel you were trotting out months ago. Have you read @ixionmodels excellent post on the previous page? Someone who actually knows what they're talking about rather than all the same old conjecture that you keep spouting ad infinitum. Maybe you should go and stand in front of that mirror that he mentioned. Remind me, was this you? Page 88 in case you need to check it for yourself. The page where you were accused of being negative and 'haunting the thread' - and not by me - and that was your response. So what has changed? Have you actually ordered anything TT:120, from Hornby or anywhere else? Are you going to do any modelling in TT:120? If not then why are you back once again?

Really? Again? Why do you keep going on about this? Can't you just leave it? It is getting very boring.

Not the impression I got from watching SK on one of the TT Talk videos when he was talking about sharing plans with other manufacturers, especially Peco IIRC And as has been said many times before, it is very doubtful that TT:120 is all-or-bust for Hornby. That would be very bad business practice.

I think these were all pre-production samples / livery samples because at the time many people were complaining about the ladders so they were unlikely to be actual production-ready examples.

The latest TT Talk Q&A has a lot of answers - start at 43 minutes where they hold up samples of the plank wagon, Toad E and the Fisons(?) early green tank wagon and they says they're past the decoration stage and in production now and should be here 'very shortly'. Possibly their definition of 'very shortly' is a bit longer than mine because I think it will be March/April (see below). They're expecting decoration samples of the HST 'in two weeks time' (from the date of the video, which was a week ago I think). The Class 66 has just started tooling after some delays because they had missed some details of European examples. They then hold up various Class 08s and Carl says the Class 08 is already in production and will be received 'very shortly' - then SK says 'I think that's March... March/April'. Presumably the plank wagon(s?), Toad E and the early tank wagon(s?) will arrive at the same time. Then they talk a little about various coaches (Mark 1s, lit Pullmans, which are in boxes although these might just be pre-production examples of the coaches plus the packaging) and a boxed Flying Scotsman. As I mentioned previously, I believe the latest shipment (arriving end Jan) only contains the Scotsman and Easterner sets that should have arrived before Christmas but were delayed while they sorted out the wheels and so are only arriving now. I think those are already pre-sold (because I think the website went from 'order now' to 'pre-order' at some point earlier this month) and the next shipment of analogue sets will presumably arrive with the Class 08s and the wagons in March/April (but that's a guess). In fact I've just checked and The Scotman sets are now marked as 'unavailable' and you can only create a stock alert for them so possibly the following shipment has also pre-sold all its allocation of Scotsman sets. The Easterner sets are still available for pre-order. I believe that earlier in the video SK said that the digital sets are due at the end of May. I'm a bit miffed (with myself!) because I cancelled my analogue Easterner and re-ordered as a digital set without realising how far away they are - I'd already waited three(?) months for the analogue Easterner and it looks like I'll have to wait another four months before the digital sets arrive. I think the sound chips will be available before the digital sets arrive so it would have been quicker to stick with my analogue version and chip it myself.

Nice to see that Moorbach is coming on and the station building is nearly finished. It is looking very good indeed. And that's a very nice little layout. Plus the construction of your other baseboard is very interesting - kind of a half-way house between a fully open-frame baseboard and the traditional-type flat baseboard with reinforcing cross-members. I'm not sure I've seen that before - it certainly gets the old grey cells working, thinking of ideas...!

For anyone not on the Hornby mailing list, the latest TT:120 email: "Not long to wait now - the next Hornby TT:120 set, 'The Easterner' is due in stock at the end of January. The Easterner Electric Train Set features the iconic Class A4, ‘William Whitelaw’ locomotive and is accompanied by three BR Maroon Mk.I coaches – two Composite Coaches and a Brake Coach. Included in the pack is a 3rd radius starter oval plus siding, buffer stop, controller, wall plug transformer, power connecting track and railer – everything needed to get up and running." Plus a link to what is coming in the next three months (the same 7 pages as before, I guess) - but it still doesn't include the Class 08s!

It looks like you have a lot of potential with those photos. Good luck with the build - I look forward to seeing future progress.