ukpetey Posted July 13 Share Posted July 13 18 minutes ago, Trevor-1284476 said: I do find it annoying that models are getting discontinued already when those of us in Australia are still waiting for literally anything else to come out down here. The current offerings seen in stores here are the A1/A3/A4, some of the 08s (that it seems noone wants because they are not HM7000 fitted and are modern liveries), a handful of goods stock and some coaches. With DCC Mallard being discontinued and the BR brake van possibly as well (and the blue 08 gone) that restricts our already restricted offerings even further. General predictions among model shop owners I have talked to is that we likely won't see the Class 50 or Class 66 before Christmas and the stuff that was just released will likely be 15+ months out. On the plus side, you have generally great weather whereas here today where I am it’s just 13°C, a temp we sometimes achieve in the depths of winter! So there’s that! 😉 Seriously though, I hope that stock availability improves for you very soon, it sounds dire. I do wonder if TT120’s success has taken Hornby by surprise and therefore means that they literally struggle to supply overseas markets. I’m a complete newbie to this hobby (aside from spells as a child and with my son) but this is my first serious attempt at having a model, rather than just track to speed around. It was my discovery of TT120 and HM7000 digital that drew me in and has already cost me over £1000 in purchases in just a few weeks. I would hope that Hornby are doing everything they can to increase production to satisfy demand, and I’m sure the situation for overseas owners will improve in time, preferably sooner rather than later But, what a time to be alive! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dBerriff Posted July 13 Share Posted July 13 (edited) Models are commissioned in batches so, usually, it is not that a type is discontinued so much as a batch has sold out. If or when it is a viable commercial proposition and the funds are available then another batch will be ordered. I would have thought that Mallard is a safe bet on this score. Edited July 13 by dBerriff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trevor-1284476 Posted July 13 Share Posted July 13 18 minutes ago, ukpetey said: On the plus side, you have generally great weather whereas here today where I am it’s just 13°C, a temp we sometimes achieve in the depths of winter! So there’s that! 😉 Seriously though, I hope that stock availability improves for you very soon, it sounds dire. I do wonder if TT120’s success has taken Hornby by surprise and therefore means that they literally struggle to supply overseas markets. I’m a complete newbie to this hobby (aside from spells as a child and with my son) but this is my first serious attempt at having a model, rather than just track to speed around. It was my discovery of TT120 and HM7000 digital that drew me in and has already cost me over £1000 in purchases in just a few weeks. I would hope that Hornby are doing everything they can to increase production to satisfy demand, and I’m sure the situation for overseas owners will improve in time, preferably sooner rather than later But, what a time to be alive! We down here hope that availability improves too but there seems to be one distributor in this country and they have an exclusive distribution deal. Apparently that is why if you are looking on the Hornby store you will see that the only country in the 'does not ship to' list is Australia. It also means that being part of the collector club and every single one of Hornby's sales and events on their website is totally useless to us. I have been a fan of Hornby for a long time but honestly this state of affairs makes me question if it is worth my continued support. Currently the only option for getting any of the stuff post-A1/A3s being added is to purchase directly from Rails of Sheffield and then pay shipping. It is either that or wait and hope that we see the new stuff sometime before the end of 2025 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobby11 Posted July 13 Share Posted July 13 2 hours ago, Rallymatt said: Understanding of Fluid Dynamics has come on a long way and although the Coronation looks like it’s the better shape in working as a complete system the A4 is more efficient. Do you have reference for that, RM and does it include the same analysis of the 05 as well? I'm intrigued as all published stuff I've seen seems to indicate the Coronations were better. I do feel that the Coronation was a much stronger engine and I doubt it would have failed like the A4 did on the same run. However I still feel that the German 05 was the best of the three, 125mph on the flat far exceeds either of the British locos even with a slightly lighter load Sorry for the thread drift, chaps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobby11 Posted July 13 Share Posted July 13 (edited) Duplicate post. Edited July 13 by Hobby11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ukpetey Posted July 13 Share Posted July 13 44 minutes ago, Trevor-1284476 said: We down here hope that availability improves too but there seems to be one distributor in this country and they have an exclusive distribution deal. Apparently that is why if you are looking on the Hornby store you will see that the only country in the 'does not ship to' list is Australia. It also means that being part of the collector club and every single one of Hornby's sales and events on their website is totally useless to us. I have been a fan of Hornby for a long time but honestly this state of affairs makes me question if it is worth my continued support. Currently the only option for getting any of the stuff post-A1/A3s being added is to purchase directly from Rails of Sheffield and then pay shipping. It is either that or wait and hope that we see the new stuff sometime before the end of 2025 I do feel your pain. At least you do have the option of worldwide shipping from other retailers, even if Hornby cannot, because of their distribution deal in Australia. I absolutely would email Hornby’s CEO and tell them of your issues and frustrations in sourcing stock. Maybe they can get more stock to the distributor, or perhaps it would lead them to investigate the issues you face. They’ll want to maximise sales for their product. Shout loudly at them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rallymatt Posted July 13 Share Posted July 13 @Hobby11, not that can be published as it was part of a wider project that is covered by NDAs and completely unrelated to railways. It was useful to demonstrate effects of certain shapes to reduce particular forms of drag. If you were to look at some sporting applications of aerodynamics you may see adoption of an increasing amount of longitudinal flat curving surfaces 😉 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Generic Hornby Username Posted July 13 Share Posted July 13 7 hours ago, Trevor-1284476 said: I do find it annoying that models are getting discontinued already when those of us in Australia are still waiting for literally anything else to come out down here. The current offerings seen in stores here are the A1/A3/A4, some of the 08s (that it seems noone wants because they are not HM7000 fitted and are modern liveries), a handful of goods stock and some coaches. With DCC Mallard being discontinued and the BR brake van possibly as well (and the blue 08 gone) that restricts our already restricted offerings even further. General predictions among model shop owners I have talked to is that we likely won't see the Class 50 or Class 66 before Christmas and the stuff that was just released will likely be 15+ months out. The longtime poster @Fishmanoz is also from Australia. If memory serves, he's actually managed to order from the British retailer Rails of Sheffield. He will need to confirm this, but I seem to remember him saying that it proved vastly cheaper to order through Rails than the domestic Australian retailers. You can take a look at the Rails webpage here: https://railsofsheffield.com But again, you might want to check with Fishy first. Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Generic Hornby Username Posted July 13 Share Posted July 13 5 hours ago, Rallymatt said: @Hobby11, not that can be published as it was part of a wider project that is covered by NDAs and completely unrelated to railways. It was useful to demonstrate effects of certain shapes to reduce particular forms of drag. If you were to look at some sporting applications of aerodynamics you may see adoption of an increasing amount of longitudinal flat curving surfaces 😉 You need to write a paper on this, RM. You can title it: "The Duck and the Duchesses: The Battle for British Railway Dominance!" There's something wonderful in the fact that the locomotive named after the humble mallard proved victorious! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rallymatt Posted July 13 Share Posted July 13 There has been a huge argument from the grandchildren of SNG over the relevance of the duck, so much so that they had the planned duck removed from the statue of SNG at Kings Cross. I’m not so sure that they were right. There was a reason why out of all the A4s available for the record attempt, Gresley chose Mallard. In many ways it didn’t make pure engineering sense. Joe and Tommy were hand picked as the crew, from the outset the record attempt was 100% a SNG project. He wanted his favourite bird to fly although sadly he was too ill by then to attend. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LTSR_NSE Posted July 13 Share Posted July 13 (edited) It must have helped, the A4 being designed with aerodynamics from the outset (like certain sporting vehicles) - whereas the Coronation was just given a (very heavy) shiny hat almost as an afterthought. Also I must (politely) disagree with @dBerriff - the A4 is a good looking loco, but the streamlined Coronation is beautiful (especially in Crimson Lake & Gold.) Edited July 13 by LTSR_NSE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dBerriff Posted July 14 Share Posted July 14 (edited) Please do disagree - it is all subjective. 😃 P.S. No one has mentioned the 1933 GWR Railcar which I also think is a good-looking design, at least in its original, rounded form. Edited July 14 by dBerriff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silver Fox 17 Posted July 14 Share Posted July 14 9 hours ago, LTSR_NSE said: but the streamlined Coronation is beautiful (especially in Crimson Lake & Gold.) Just a pity it did not have matching coaching stock like the blue and silver ones. The only maroon and gold coaches were used in America, not in the UK. The locos were to just haul standard LMS maroon coaches, but, it has been mentioned that on a couple of occasions a maroon and gold loco did pull a blue and silver set of coaches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDS Posted July 16 Share Posted July 16 On 13/07/2024 at 07:21, Skelton Junction said: We’d got our very first colour tv that week especially for the occasion and then the footage was in black and white. Some great memories from when Colour Television started to appear. I think my favourite was a Snooker Match. The commentator said "I think he is going for the Blue. For those of you watching in Black and White, the Blue is next to the Brown" (That was the principle of what he said, I may have got the colours wrong) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dBerriff Posted July 16 Share Posted July 16 We visited the National Railway Museum today and I concede that the Duchess of Hamilton looks magnificent in the flesh. The detail makes it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Allen Posted July 16 Author Share Posted July 16 11 minutes ago, dBerriff said: We visited the National Railway Museum today and I concede that the Duchess of Hamilton looks magnificent in the flesh. The detail makes it. I thought same in April, need a bit bigger board than 6x4 for this one though. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rallymatt Posted July 16 Share Posted July 16 (edited) Did you ask if it can manage Radius 2 curves? Edited July 16 by Rallymatt 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dBerriff Posted July 16 Share Posted July 16 36 minutes ago, Rallymatt said: Did you ask if it can manage Radius 2 curves? It is funny you should mention that. We are travelling light so I only had my iPhone but there is precious little clearance for that rear pony truck. So no second radius curves for this magnificent locomotive. 🥲 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dBerriff Posted July 16 Share Posted July 16 As for the GWR Railcar I was surprised to see this. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silver Fox 17 Posted July 18 Share Posted July 18 Talking about the LMS and LNER streamlining here is a comparison of both together which is not often seen. Due to some stairs I could not get a decent side view of both at the same time, we have allnseen individual sidenl shots so did not need to take any. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david_watts1 Posted July 18 Share Posted July 18 Funny how the real things are so shiny and yet if you have a shiny model it looks wrong, like a plastic toy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dBerriff Posted July 18 Share Posted July 18 (edited) It probably to do with texture and our ability to evaluate the nature of a surface. That disappears when we shrink the material down to our model scale. Whatever the reason it still surprises me how emotional I feel in the presence of these magnificent machines. Thank goodness they have been preserved. Edited July 18 by dBerriff 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gc4946 Posted July 19 Share Posted July 19 It'll be great if Hornby retools its Gresley pacifics to the same standard as their newly released Duchesses. Diecast body, 5-pole motor, provision for coupling on front bogie. Hoping it'll happen. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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