valeofyork

CJM does various very nice locos - but they come with a very large price tag attached! Not saying that they aren't worth it, but you've really got to want one to pay the amount they cost!

You have to wonder - who would buy their flexible friends from some small-time private seller on ebay?

Most of the earlier FGW liveries don't sell for particularly high amounts. The one exception to this is HSTs in fag-packet livery, which sell on ebay for a fair amount (although not anywhere near as high as the current-livery Hornby models). I understand that these are rare because only Lima ever produced them, and they went bust part-way through the production so not many were actually made. After Hornby had acquired the Lima toolings, they made a TGS (only) in this livery, which they said was due to customer demand. I really cannot see how this can be possible (they were available new for ages, so clearly not high demand!) - it seems much more likely that what people actually wanted was a Merlin livery TGS to go with their Hornby Merlin-livery HSTs (which had the scale-length coaches, but at the time they were made Hornby didn't have tooling for a TGS) and Hornby somehow misunderstood. I did wonder whether Hornby would produce fag-packet livery this year, but they have gone for the original MML livery instead - a rather strange choice as both Lima and Hornby have previously produced it, and the the models of the current EMT livery didn't appear to sell particularly well - they were discounted at a number of sellers for quite a while. I guess this is because the MML is more or less a single route, and a relatively short one, so there was much less demand than for the FGW sets, plus of course the HST fleet is much smaller than that of FGW.

Also worth bearing in mind that FGW has around half of the total number of HSTs, and they cover a pretty wide area (London to the far south west, Bristol, South Wales, Cheltenham and Hereford) so there is bound to be far more demand for them than, say, the Grand Central livery (3 sets, all of which work on one route), or Crosscountry (five sets, which normally work one route, albeit a long one). Therefore an FGW HST (or several of them) is going to be pretty essential for anyone modelling a contemporary mainline location on many of their routes

You have to hope that the same doesn't apply to the condoms he's got advertised!

That seller's featured on here before with his overpriced Lima 60s and 67 (still available - don't all rush at once) - he seems to be trying to sell an unusual combination of (mostly overpriced) model railway items, and various different types of Durex condom. Some of his 'very very rare' wagons are so rare that he has several the same!

Is this (not my photo) going to be Executive or Swallow? Is it possible to tell? http://www.flickr.com/photos/60525183@N06/6890027922/in/photolist-buRcfS-bwwd1p-bvHPQ9-bJCBWg-bxyZip-ejfSC9 It's preserved 10213 at the MNR - only one side had been painted last time I saw it, the other still being in faded Virgin red and black.

What's the betting there will be few or no diesels / electrics?!

Maybe it's not too onerous - but it's still unnecessary. If Dapol don't have anyone who knows about the liveries, why don't they join a group such as this or the BR Coaching Stock Yahoo group and post the livery designs before signing them off? I'm sure there are plenty of people who would be happy to advise them of anything needing correcting - and it would be in the interests of both the buyers, who would have correct models, and Dapol who wouldn't lose sales due to mistakes, or end up having to withdraw most of a batch as appears to have happened with the loco-hauled coaches with 'InterCity 125' branding.

Yes, but there was absolutely no need to use this number - if they wanted to produce a Mk3a RFM in blue and grey they could have chosen a number which matched their model (e.g. 10202 or 10246). With the Pretendolino and WSMR liveries they had no choice as none of the real ones matches their model so it had be incorrect for the reasons you state, but in the case of the blue and grey there is no good reason!

404xx buffets are TRSBs, which have standard-class seating so there shouldn't be a '1' anywhere on them.

Now I know these go for a fair amount, but this is getting silly... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/OO-Hornby-mint-boxed-1st-Great-Western-DCC-fitted-R2812X-class-43-HST-4-coaches-/251454642024?pt=UK_Trains_Railway_Models&hash=item3a8bdd5768

Dapol don't seem to have researched very well again - RFM 10229 is an ex-FO so has full-height windows along the corridor side. Their model doesn't have this adn would have been far more accurate for either ex-HST TRUKs or ex-RFBs. None of the RFMs carried blue and grey followng conversion (too late a date) so in this livery it would need to be one which was repainted by Cargo-D or DB. 10202 or 10246 would have been far better choices.

Hattons have lots of seriously over-priced second-hand stuff on their website, e.g.: http://www.ehattons.com/69273/Lima_L149859_LN_Class_43_43155_The_Red_Arrows_43093_Lady_in_Red_2_x_Mk3_coaches_in_Virgin_Cros/StockDetail.aspx http://www.ehattons.com/69069/Hornby_R2481_LN_Class_47_diesel_47854_in_West_Coast_Railway_livery_Pre_owned_Like_new/StockDetail.aspx http://www.ehattons.com/67970/Lima_L205219HX_Class_47_D1842_in_BR_Green_DCC_fitted_Pre_owned/StockDetail.aspx

You would have hoped that a major seller of model trains would have noticed that the carriages aren't the right ones! http://www.ehattons.com/72588/Hornby_R2612_LN_HST_Inter_city_125_GNER_4_car_pack_Pre_owned_Like_new/StockDetail.aspx

Even by his standards those are expensive!

Still got a way to go to catch up with FGW HSTs, though! (or 67026s)

For anyone looking for N-gauge storage, I've found these to be good: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/N-Gauge-Plastic-Storage-Box-Foam-Tray-BLUE-110-/261257645495?pt=UK_Trains_Railway_Models&hash=item3cd42b4db7 They come with the infill foam pieces, so you can cut these how you wish depending on the size of the rolling stock.

What, you think there are men out there who would like their N-gauge equipment like it's OO gauge?

The 'kit built' seller has a couple of locos in DRS livery which have been on ebay for many months. One of them I'd quite like, but not at the price he's trying to charge!

On certain other train-related forums, the question 'would you?' would have been asked by now, but of course nobody on here is that crude!

Yes, that's why I made sure I quoted the source! Don't usually buy it but this edition had an article on the rebuilding of 73s with new engines which I was interested in.

According to the current Rail magazine, the engines used in 66s, 70s and 68s cannot be used in new builds for the UK (and presumably all of Europe) after the end of this year due to changing emission regulations.

It's a mistake - the loco-hauled stock just said InterCity on it. Rails are selling those Mk3s off cheap, and many other retailers (such as Hattons) pulled them shortly after they were released - presumably they returned them to Dapol.

Nothing to stop them painting another 47 in NB livery though, is there!