Hroth

Isn't that the gradient profile of the Somerset and Dorset?

Now, a DCC Sound model of John Betjeman reciting selected quotes from "Metroland" would be ideal for a layout featuring Heljans "Sarah Siddons" and Bachmanns London Transport Pannier Tanks. A pity that 4mm scale is a bit too small for effective animation..... Looking forward to the Big Reveal!

There's ANOTHER line!!! Where will it all end? (Ok I know, mid-day Saturday, but its too, too much.......) Still the same image, fog3.jpg Froth, froth, froth away Gently down the stream Oxfordrail has done it again Isn't it a scream! *sigh* now they've got ME doing it.....

Then it would be an O something. Built just before or early in WW2, it might have been an O6, bumping the 8Fs and Austerities up one. But an interesting proposition in what-might-have-been-land! (Especially if Gresley had lived long enough to hand over to Peppercorn....) As for the colours, a P2, even with a streamlined nose, would look wrong, a monstrous carbuncle, in blue. Light greens, Darlington or Doncaster, are appropriate to the North East, dispelling the dour appearance of the locality, as GWR/BR green is offset by the brighter greens of the Western countryside. Thats where Bulleid went wrong, he painted his engines in the wrong colours for the South West....... *tip-toes away* (edit for rubbish spelling)

There's so much froth, oops, I mean "fog" in the picture that all I can clearly see is a smokebox, a tall chimney and some fairly heavy framing extending forward below the smokebox. It mainly reminds me of a GWR class 3031. We definitely need a smiley of a small dog barking at a tree'd cat........

So you're the chap ghosting as E J Thribb in the "Eye"?

Its all relative I suppose. Mind you, "loco works" doesn't specify the scale of the loco, GEM locos used to be made in Rhos on Sea, between Colwyn Bay and Llandudno, and that's definitely North Wales, and even closer to seaside resorts with features.... Piers, Trams, take your pick! But the foggy loco currently looks like a mid-19th Century loco, and given the dire rhyme, the name Abergele comes to mind, does it look like an LNWR "Problem class loco? What are all these herrings doing here?

There's also the Llangollen Railway Engineering Works, with three "new-build" projects (Patriot, Bretton Grange and 4709) in progress, so we've got Conwy, Colwyn Bay, Abergele, Rhyl, Prestatyn and Talacre in striking distance. Great Orme Trams????? And there's Kidderminster, which in "railway geography" terms is associated with the SVR... Bah. I never liked riddles and crossword clues anyway. I'll wait until the fuss is all over!

But you know what they say about Big Green Engines! Perhaps we're missing a hint era-wise? The ads in the mags have Blood'n'Custard backgrounds.... As for the teaser web page and doggerel verse, we've got a tad over 9 days left. Its going to be a long and frothy 9 days! (added) Just a thought. The reveal is mid-day on Saturday 8th November, the mags are out on the 13th. So the ad departments will have the release copy already - has anyone any contacts there???

Regarding this "batch" thing. it could be as simple as Hornbys freight handlers in China get stock from the various factories as they come off the production lines and stuff a container until its full. Then they send it off. So depending on speed of production, Hornby gets variable quantities of models with each shipping. It also has the side effect of not putting ALL of a run of one model in one shipping; containers have been knowen to wash off ships... But then again. What do I know?

Apropos of nothing much, I was looking at the Wikipedia entry for the P2 locos and noticed a link to an article in "The Engineer" (June 1934). Its a freely downloadable PDF. Its got rather nice B/W images of CoTN, key dimensions (feet and inches...), some good general arrangement drawings and more detailed drawings of internals. Well worth having a look at! btw, as the pdf contains part of a bound volume of the journal, there's lots of other articles about engineering technology of the era. One that caught my eye was a description of a "Large Butt Welding Machine", possibly of current interest to our American cousins??? Oops! Forgot the direct link so you don't have to dive into WIkipedia: http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/The_Engineer_1934/06/01

Reminds me of the enthusiasts who instantly spotted the detail differences between Bristol Castle and Windsor Castle on 15th February, 1952.... Most people spot the leading bogie and say, "oh yes, a King".

Just had a look at their Amazon information page ( http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aag/main?ie=UTF8&asin=&isAmazonFulfilled=&isCBA=&marketplaceID=A1F83G8C2ARO7P&orderID=&seller=A29EXOITOOI5M ) Lots of kiddy toys and a ragbag selection of Hornby trainsets and individual items. Their address in Bicester is clearly displayed.... You never know, a few boxes of the TTS version might have got mixed in with the Main version!

Slightly off topic, but I do know (from "live chat" with Hattons a couple of weeks ago) that the "Railroad Class 40 with TTS" is not currently expected until early December, and they're still listing it as "September 5th or after". You'd think they'd take steps to update their listing after a direct query, though I suppose that they consider "or after" a good catch-all fallback. I thnk there's still a lot of backsliding delivery dates to cope with, not just for Hornby, and that it may be a low priority task to hunt 'em out and update them! Back on topic, the TTS CoTN was supposed to be following the main range release fairly closely, but perhaps fulfilling orders for the non-sound versions is taking precedence at the moment.

Do we hide it under the patio? Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

I really do wonder what gets into folk. Personally I enjoy the WIDE range of points of view that are on display in the forum. Some people are founts of all knowledge (sometimes verging on the Robbo Ormiston Chant, if you get my drift), some are expert modellers and can whip up an unusual prototype from the most unpromising source material and some can take a photo of a model and tweak it into something that is a source of inspiration in itself. Others delight in speculation, "what if" and fanciful supposition, and there's nothing wrong with that either. I quite like looking at robmcg's latest flights of photoshop fancy; to have a snit about them is petty and silly. This would be a very DULL place if we were all alike and toed a party line.

I've a set of Rotringalikes (Faber-Castell), 0.25, 0.35 and 0.5 I never thought of using them! Time to dig 'em out and give them a cleanup..... As for the chimney height thing, unless you're working from drawings its easy to be misled. Most photos of the engine will be taken at oblique angles and at varying heights above rail level, so the position of the top of the chimney with relation to the deflectors/boiler casing may be difficult to evaluate correctly. The broadside-on picture some posts above may also be misleading as it was probably taken some distance away from the loco at no more than rail level on a plate camera fitted with a lens equivalent to a 50mm lens on a 35mm camera. At that angle the height of the chimney will be difficult to judge. To get the same effect with the model, look at it from about 300mm distance with your eye at rail level... Perspective is everything!

Very nice! Sort of "in use and cared for", rather like the pic I posted of 2001 crossing the Forth Bridge (#1224). Just a teensyweensy query. Isn't the tender bulkhead a tad clean? (grabs tinhat and starts running...)

Thats bad news. Mine will hurtle around 3rd and 4th rad curves without a blink of an eye, in fact the one time the leading drivers derailed (a dodgy transition between boards on a straight!), the other three sets hopped it back onto the track! I can't try it on a 2nd rad curve, the only one on the layout is a Hornby l/h point that leads from the goods yard to the brewery system. And that's got curves that only 0-4-0s will tolerate... Not a natural hunting ground for a Mikardo with all drivers flanged! As mentioned above, see if the back to back measurements of ALL the flanged wheels (inc the pony truck) are correct A bad back to back on the pony truck is enough to throw the loco off the track on its own..If you don't have a back to back gauge then they're cheap to buy and useful for checking ALL Hornby locos. As a temporary measure, a piece of card or styrene sheet cut to 14.5mm wide will give you an idea of where problems might lie. I'd also put it on its back in a foam cradle and apply power, to see if there is any wobble on any of the drivers as that can throw a loco off the tracks too. Another check would be to put it on a piece of plain level track and shine a strong light on the wheels to make sure that all are resting on the rails. Apart from the flangeless pair at the back! Hope you find the problem and that its rectifiable without having to send it back. (edit for spelling, etc)

Wirrals Aspinall (WR 6, then 6762) ended its days as the Preston station pilot 46762 and Coal Tank 7841 was photographed on a Park to West Kirby train in 1934. A bit of imaginative thinking would have both working in the changeover period with the 503s! (Not to mention Fowler 2-6-2 tanks, a "Midland" 2P and a Stanier 2-6-0 at Birkenhead North!) Oh well, 2 years to go at least.....

With the current Aspinall 2-4-2 and now the promised Coal Tank, I'm thinking of modelling the Wirral Railway in the early 30's, before electrification.... The G2a would also fit in with the scene around Birkenhead North shed. Then I think about the coaching stock. Or perhaps someone could be persuaded to produce a Class 503 EMU? Oh well......

Here's a photo of 2001 thundering over the Forth Bridge (from the frontispiece of Odhams "The Worlds Railways and How they Work") Good, eh?

It may be just a trick of perspective, the on-shed photo of 2001 is at a slightly oblique angle to the photographer; you can see inside the l/h smoke deflector and the front of the cylinder casing, buffer beam, etc is also visible. If the model were rotated to a similar angle, the apparent proportional differences would probably disappear. As I look at the two pics, I'm more and more impressed at what Hornby have achieved!

Wheeee!!!! Just decanted P2 onto the layout - a smooth runner, handles the curves with aplomb, hauls like a hero and looks terrific. A BIG thumbs up to Hornby!

Pleased to report that I've had the Hattons emails for picking and dispatch. I'm looking forward to meeting the P2 in the flesh at last!