Black Marlin

I have bitten the bullet and pre-ordered an octet. Putting aside £50 per month for the next year and then paying another £50 come dispatch day should make it feasible without a wince-inducing credit-card bill...

My LNER lined black example - my 2021 Christmas present - arrived today. Virtually perfect in every respect. My only niggles are the express code headlamps - personally, I'd have preferred a Class B headcode with a single lamp above the smokebox door - and the seeming difficulty of replacing the moulded coal with real stuff. But other than that, it's really quite something.

If other manufacturers were as open and transparent in their coms as Rapido, RMWeb - and this hobby as a whole - would be a happier place. Bravo.

Not knowing much about coach history, can I ask a very basic question? Did the Portholes ever appear in LMS Crimson Lake? I ask because having essentially given up hope of Hornby ever providing a Stanier composite, a crimson lake/silver-roofed Porthole would certainly find a home on my layout. In fact, several would - assuming such a thing existed in real life. Did they?

Although there is little to report, this layout isn't dead; I am slowly trying to scrape together the money necessary for the barn conversion. The plans have, if anything, grown; a new and additional branchline will run to a narrow gauge loop, at least some of which will run on Tillig dual-gauge track! And yes, there has been some buying of stock and buildings to make the whole thing come together...

it's a good model, but for me its light weight badly lets it down. In real life it was built to be more powerful than the N15s/King Arthurs, but in model form the latter will comfortably out-haul it. Frustratingly, it really struggles on a prototypical Golden Arrow service! Anyway, that's getting off-topic. Dragging it back, though, and remaining with themes of weight and haulage, it doesn't take too many metal-chassied bogie wagons before a scale-length rake becomes too heavy for most locomotives to pull (see Hattons' Warwells - although admittedly I added to my woes by putting a platoon of diecast 105mm Shermans on mine). As a result, it makes sense to see these Macaws as the natural province of Hornby's new 9F.

But Bachmann certainly are vulnerable to competitors targeting the heritage Mainline tooling, or more modern but inaccurate models: see Dapol and Accurascale going for the Manor. Personally, while there has been much (and I think accurate) commentary on the vulnerability of Hornby's 8F, I think another model at least as vulnerable if not more so is Bachmann's as-built Royal Scot. Hornby themselves, after all, grabbed the Lord Nelson...

I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but will these be the first full-fat, non-Railroad B17s to appear in LNER livery with the group standard tender?

A year in which there is not too much to tempt me - given that my disposable income is being relentlessly squeezed by the mere fact of my continuing to exist in this benighted economy - is no bad thing. So the B17/5 for me (as an aside: if this uses the full-fat chassis from the main range version, will it be the first time there has been a main range LNER-liveried one with the group standard tender?) and probably some of the teak coaches... and that's it. I have other stuff pre-ordered - notably the Coronation rake - so these limited additions are probably about as much as I can afford. While it would have been nice to see new things tooled (please, Hornby, give us an LMS Stanier composite: I'd buy several, in a variety of liveries) or things issued in popular but missing liveries (the J36 in late BR Black has been mentioned, to which I would add a J36 in standard LNER black as opposed to the one in the very early L & NER black that was first released), a limited range presenting limited manufacturing costs may accord well with modellers whose budgets and hence purchasing power have become similarly limited.

My six LNER 6-wheelers arrived today (the pack of four, plus two additional all-thirds; all lit) and they're gorgeous models. And so free-running! They look excellent behind my Oxford Rail N7 but I'm now very, very sorely tempted by the TMC G5...

Text on the sold-out LNER coaches currently reads as follows: "Is this item actually in stock? No, but we intend to reorder ASAP & make available for preorder. Add it to your wishlist and we will email you if a pre-owned one becomes available."

Really looking forward to the arrival of this, my Christmas present... is there any clarification yet of when that's likely to be, now that we're into Q2?

Hi all Can anyone suggest a ready-to-plant, wired (for DC), motorized turntable of sufficient size to handle a Hornby Princess Royal? The Hornby turntable will do it, but it looks a bit toylike (and doesn't suit my needs anyway). The Heljan option is, I believe, somewhat too small (though I would be happy to be corrected on this!). Are there other options out there that people could comment on? Fleischmann, Roco, Walthers...? What is your best bet for a big, ready-to-operate turntable that can accommodate large British locos?

Some little modelling work has been done. First of all, I've taken a file to the bogie mounting points on my two Hornby LMS 12-wheel dining cars and shaved off 1.5mm from each. The ride height is now much better but I'm struggling to get the cars to sit level - they want to lean to the left or right. Clearly it's because my filing efforts have not been perfectly perpendicular. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to get a better result? Other modelling: crewing, coaling and head-lamping a Bachmann 1F half-cab 0-6-0 (for the quayside line when I'm running it in BR(M) late crest mode) and preparing the next baseboard for work to start (though it's been so cold and stormy - I've had a couple of power cuts that have left me without electricity for days on end - that I haven't been able to start work, as there's nowhere warm enough to do so!)

I have just treated myself to one of Hornby's new (at least to me) Princess Royals - R3854 Duchess of Kent. One slight flaw notwithstanding (it arrived without a speedometer cable - not broken, just never fitted) it's deeply impressive: it strolled off up-grade with fourteen Hornby Stanier coaches and a 12-wheel dining car in tow. (This was a test track set up for the purposes of experimentation. Sadly, Girtby Sea has not grown much. Much more 9mm plywood is required!)

Hi all. Hornby has given us the lovely Peckett; Oxford Rail & Golden Valley Hobbies have given us the Janus and some 7-plank PLA wagons; but no one has yet provided a brake van to finish off the train. Happily, I was able to find a photo on Flickr that shows what appears to be an ex-LNER Toad B in service as a PLA brake van (you can see it here immediately behind the locomotive). Hornby makes one RTR; Parkside makes (or possibly made, as I'm not sure if it's still in production) one as a kit. But in what livery should it be (re)painted? Any help gratefully received! Many thanks, Gavin

Hello folks. I'm looking for a Hornby 8F, factory weathered and in early BR livery. I am not looking for DCC (though if someone should have one, they're welcome to remove the chip and hang on to it, as it's of no use to me!). It need not be boxed but I am looking for one in good condition. Does anyone have such a locomotive they'd be willing to part with for a reasonable offer? Regards, Gavin

On my layout there shall be two stations. The main one is, of course, Girtby Sea; but I'd welcome your thoughts on the name for the other. It shall be small - a branchline station with a single platform, a single engine shed and a couple of goods sidings - and I have narrowed down the name options to two. Of these, which would you choose? Sodding Chipbury or Tether's End

Hi all I'm on the hunt for a cheap 21-pin blanking plug. Can anyone help me out? Cheers, Gavin

Finally completed my version of the Silver Jubilee. Obviously it's a pastiche rather than an accurate model, and is lacking the restaurant triplet set, but for all its many outstanding flaws I'm still very pleased with it.

I decided in the end that the ambulance train justified getting one of Hornby's extremely smart-looking D16s in LNER lined black. It fulfils the brief admirably, and it was on offer at a much-reduced price; what's not to love? Apologies for the poor quality of the pic. This is the train on the test track in my conservatory.

Thanks, @bigherb. Your advice was spot on. The chains are pinned down at either end but the pins are friction-fit: there's no glue involved. It's the work of a moment to prise them out with a scalpel blade. Unchaining the wagon, gluing down the load and affixing the chains more appropriately was, all told, a five-minute job, and a very satisfying one too.

It does, thanks. Appreciated!

I'm considering getting one of these to carry a boiler load, which would entail removing the chain attachments at least on the well part of the wagon. Has anybody done this? How straightforward is it?