Hroth

@ rue_d_etropal: It matters only in the sense that the published layout is going to take up a large amount of space, which is at a premium in modern houses. The only pity is that the publishers are so hide-bound that they stick to ovals of one form or another. In a partwork of this nature, it would be possible to run two layout strands, one for people who have the space, one to introduce the beginner to a similar theme but on a smaller scale, using most, if not all of the buildings, trackwork and rolling stock. @Steamport Southport: A CJ Freezer rabbit layout..... Eeek!

The L shape does disguise the fact that its an ordinary oval, but if you take into consideration that the ruling radius (ie what the G2A can get around) is 2nd Radius, than the boards are going to be approx 4ft wide to accomodate the curves and scenery. Bodging up an equivalent track plan using Hornby set track in Anyrail produced something that looked like it needed two sheets of 8x4... Again, the curve on the left hand side of the layout in the illustration on the website looks a little dodgy, as if a graphic designer has run amok with some flexible track.... It'll be interesting to see the actual dimensions!

That was my original imprtession, then I had second thoughts! But it IS Oakham, its just the paint job that had me flummoxed...... Apollo: Your mill owner isn't a Lanky swine, that's Quarry Bank Mill in Cheshire he's posing against!

Looking at the layout "as illustrated" it seems to be a good take on the oval trainset that actually makes more sense of elements like the level crossing and the positioning of the buildings than the last Hatchette effort, although one of the station platforms (which appears to be an excuse to include the footbridge) appears to be hanging over the edge of the baseboard.... Looks like the platforms, footbridge and fencing are good old Dapol/Airfix items, though I can't identify the signal box. And if I were building the layout, I'd put the track behind the mill into a tunnel! The layout is a bit small for a G2, though the 3F is ok. Perhaps a Peckett might be fun? Stick your pre-order in for the black one now! There's no point in commenting about the economics of partwork magazines, that was done to death last time. I'll have a look in the local newsagents this afternoon... (edits for more mistakes than I'd care to enumerate...)

Yes - Hattons have moved all the Dean Goods estimmates two months forward. However, Oxford Rail seem to adhere to the Mushroom Theory and just load new model announcements into the system, rather than keeping potential purchasers up to date on the ETA for the Dean Goods (for example...) What a way to run a railway! Hmmmm. Wasn't the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton known as the "Old Worse and Worse"?

Looks ok from the pics - I'll have to keep an eye out for it. A few brakevans extra never go amiss! It the chunk of track is similar to that handed out with the Mk1 coach a couple of years ago, all its fit for is under a model in a display cabinet...

As the Real One is under overhaul, this either indicates that the N7 has been an Oxford Rail target for a reasonably long time OR its an indication of how long its going to take them to actually produce the model. I suspect it's the latter! And they really do seem to have a blindness where fireboxes are concerned. Especially Belpaire ones....

It'll be interesting to see how well they'll attempt the N7 and when they intend to deliver it. On that note, I'm disappointed that there wasn't a definite announcement on the delivery dates for the Dean Goods. "Future" on the website isn't good enough for a model displayed as almost completed 11 months ago. I know that there have been adverse comments about various aspects of the model but the lack of information from Oxford has been deafening. As for the snow ploughs, is there a GWR diagram for those?

I call the factory weathering "slurry pit weathering" as it looks like the loco has been driven at speed through a disgustingly dirty farmyard! Amd. of course, at this time of year you can see plenty of small dogs with similar colour schemes after a nice muddy walk......

I had read that Bachmann have to compete for factory space and as their runs are on the small side, they get elbowed out by other profit centres who order product in rather larger quantities, which may explain some of the extended periods between announcement and delivery.

I see that one of the benefits being offered (3rd on the list) is "Access to Hornby Club models – only available to Club members". The only club model currently on offer is the garish red Hornby Hopper wagon for £17. Available for £10 cheaper at Hattons..... Its not much of an incentive to join! Perhaps something nice will be added in the next few months, to tempt jaded palettes. A Sentinel say, with a new livery. Or some decent wagons. We can but dream!

There's a lot of Peckett farmers about.......

Just had a peek at that on Wikipedia - looks like a round-firebox Dean Goods! Just a bit of tweaking to the CADs......

An announcement about the arrival time of the Dean Goods would be interesting. Some suitable wagons for it to pull and accompany the six-legged Toad would be helpful! Ummm.... Perhaps they'll cut Heljan off at the pass and announce a Great Bear! (Imagine the froth and arguments over the proportions and details of that.....)

Its not a "buy it now", £113.65 (inc delivery) is the starting price for bids. The seller mainly deals in miscellaneous second hand items, including model railway stuff. The MSC livery was the last to be generally available on preorder, so was probably bought from a genuine retailer on spec to cash in on a perceived shortage. At least the listing didn't declare it to be "RARE!!!" I didn't realise we had to feel sorry for sellers for the charges they have to pay ebay to display and sell their items.

Poor Oliver - he had a tough time at school......

Eh? What an odd question!

Another optimist is asking for bids starting at a "slightly" more reasonable price of £106. Thats for the MSC livery Peckett. Delivery is quoted as £7.65. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hornby-oo-gauge-R342-peckett-W4-0-4-0-locomotive-manchester-ship-canal-654-NEW/332086077273?_trksid=p2047675.c100009.m1982&_trkparms=aid%3D888007%26algo%3DDISC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D40762%26meid%3D06d75d8e215b488ca787bde5c9c03eca%26pid%3D100009%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D2%26sd%3D142239860340

Piecework delivery agents..... One delivery last year ended up in a wheeliebin, that was due to be emptied the next day. The bin was on the other side of a locked gate and the idiot reached through, flipped the lid up and dropped the parcel in. Luckily I put a bag of rubbish in whilst it was still light before putting the bin out for collection that evening and saw it, otherwise the parcel would have gone straight to landfill. No card through the door either.

Nice! I'm just wondering where Chambre Hardman took that shot from......

Sounds perfectly reasonable to me, at least it'll reduce the demand slightly and give those of us who prefer to stick with the original (plus a little industrial weathering, perhaps) a chance to secure the models we require!

The current crop of bog-standard Hornby Railroad 0-4-0 mechanisms are indeed an improvement on the originals. My recently obtained Caly Pug has a maximum speed not much faster than a Peckett and doesn't leave the track on R3 curves at full throttle, unlike a much older "Smokey Joe"! The main problem with the Bagnall is that it seems oversized; its huge compared with an ordinary class 08! Also, the footplate, which it shares with the class 06 shunter is far too wide over the steps. This seems to be because it has (had?) to cover the stubs of the cylinders for the 0-4-0 steam chassis. Its ok in a goods yard, but it fouls platform edges something rotten! Unless you want your passengers to hurdle a 2ft gap!

On current form, they'll only do one if it can be done in a NSE livery....

The problem for Hornby is that they had no way of predicting HOW attractive the Peckett would be in time to secure additional slots for second runs of the first issue, let alone bringing forward production of the "black" Peckett. If they had misjudged the market and ordered more without ensuing sales, then the result would have been a flood of Pecketts ending up unwanted on the Hattons bargain page. Its what happens when you're just a "minor" foreign customer to a Chinese manufacturing facility. (and I'm NOT going to call for repatriation of manufacturing...)

Picked up a copy from my local newsagents last week (copies in local WHS too...) but due to the Christmas/New Year botheration, I'd not had a chance to look through it,apart from admiring the Great Bear centerfold! No wonder the mag was on the top shelf.... Its sad to see that quarterly publication will cease after issue 103 but it has crossed my mind through the last couple of years that they must run out of first hand sources sooner rather than later and I'd rather see the GWRJ come to an orderly halt rather than fade away or lose its voice and crash under new management. I'll miss it.