Bulleidboy

I think the problem with your local shop Colin and one of mine, is that being on an industrial estate or small business park, is that there is no "passing" as my mother-in-law used to describe itsmiley. You are either going there for a purpose, but you will not be walking past and just pop in for a few bits and pieces. Mine is next door to the Vape Shop and the Tattoo Shop (grin) - so although the units are fairly modern - it's a small gated development - it's not the same as being on the high street, so probably does rely to a large degree on "online" sales - and mine does not open at weekendshushed.

I too have bought countless items on Ebay, and never had a problem. I agree that it is nice to be able to see what you are buying before you actually purchase the item, but many towns no longer have a shop selling model railway items. In my town we are lucky in having two, one in one of the old town streets (not the modern precinct), and one in a small modern industrial unit, which is out of town and rather off the beaten track, but carries a vast amount of stock - I suppose being "out of town" means that rents are cheaper. As Rallymatt says "You pays your money and takes your choice" - at then end of the day you make the decisions.

Reading the job spec. it looks as though you need to be a "jack of all trades".

There will always be someone trying to make money on what they think is a rare collectable loco. I think there is still a purple West Country Class being advertised on ebay for £1495.00 - it's been on there for ages - no surprise. Not in defence of Hornby, but the KC3 Class 66 it's not a bad loco at £129.00 - which if you were to remove the 21pin TXS decoder would make it about £60.00 - not many loco's around for that price. I bought one and have added the Power Bank and it runs very well under HM7000 control (iPhone) and sounds like a Class 66 (they pass the bottom of the road all the time heading for the Southampton Container port). It does not have "flat" sides - it's fluted just like the real thing. The only improvement that needs to be made will be by adding lighting - not a difficult job.

I picked up a Bachmann Bulleid SR Brake 3rd semi-Open – S4377S (in BR SR green) - I have the other Brake which will make up a two-car set (Set 69). When I buy coaches I tend to but those which make up a set that ran prototypically in the day. Sometime ago (years) someone made a list of all of the Hornby Maunsell coaches, and how certain models made up "Sets" that ran all over the south and west country back in the day.

Not sure that Hornby was ever selling "exclusively" to the public. There is a small shop near us that is a picture framing business, but one corner of the shop sells Hornby products - always has the latest releases - at good prices.

A nice loco despite not really being the era that I model. It has now had a Power Bank fitted and will get lights fitted in due course for completeness.

I recall the Hornby Turbomotive was produced from drawings supplied by the NRM - so probably fairly accurate from the drawings produced. I don't doubt there are other drawings that may differ from those produced. I cannot wait for you all to hear the sound - this forum will go into apoplexy about how it does not sound correct. So we need a member on here who remembers seeing it in action and can recall accurately what it sounded likejoy

As my flap is the end of the line, I just ran the bus cables and any others, under the joint, allowing enough play for when the section is raised. It has not raised any problems in almost ten years of operation. I am 75.6yrsthinking_face

Sorry to hijack this thread, but this might be helpful. I fitted a Power Bank to my KC3 Class 66 yesterday. It was easier to remove the TXS Decoder to plug in the power bank. When replacing the decoder it appeared to be a very sloppy fit (loose), the result being I had perfect sound but no movement. I noticed that the decoder was at a slight angle when fitted, so placed a small piece of folded card between the end of the decoder and the chassis under the decoder, there was just enough tension in the card to hold the decoder horizontal and everything worked fine. It might be possible to bend the pins so that there was more tension in the connection when fitting the decoder, but did not want to risk doing any damage so did not do this.

Mine has just arrived and loaded first time onto my iPhone. I did not load the Class 66 sound profile. However all sounds are available when running DCC and using my Elite. I just used Link Device and it went straight on, as said when asked if I wanted to load a profile I hit cancel. A bit more research required.

There is still someone trying to sell the purple West Country Class for £1500!

It was the R2516 Pullman Class 73 – 73101- “The Royal Alex”.

Thanks Going Spare and Colin. I am afraid I gave up in the end, but having read your comments I might give it another go. I was using four "old" credit cards between the body and chassis, but that did not work, so as GS suggested maybe the buffers have to come off. I have to say the instructions that came with the loco are pretty vague "just unclip the body sides and the chassis drops out" - I was expecting something like the Class 66, where the chassis did just fall out.

I have been trying to remove the body from a Hornby Class 73. Instructions say "unclip sides and chassis will drop out" - well it doesn't. There are no screws to be seen or mentioned in the instructions. Any ideas - several parts have come off of the body, but all appear "clipped" so should go back on.

Just received an email, it has arrived and ready to be dispatched.

I have had my Hornby Elite Since January 2009. I have never had a problem with it, and it has been upgraded as and when upgrades became available.

I think I would do as Brew Man suggests and carefully repaint it. The picture is not too clear on showing what you describe and it almost looks like "orange peel" in that the paint has been applied to thickly. This loco has now been around for some time, so was it a stock item from the dealer or had they acquired it from Hornby some years ago? Sorry to be negative, but although you say it was sealed, if you are careful it is quite possible to open a loco box, remove and then replace the contents and then make it look as though it had never been opened.

I agree with ellocoloco - I use Kaydee 17-20. You can also mix them up - you might have a "19" on the tender, but fit an "18" on the end of a coach rake. I have had bufferlock using Kaydees - quickly remedied by changing one coupling.

Not a problemjoy I have thirty four rebuilt Merchant Navy Class loco'sopen_mouth

While I don't doubt your comment about the stall current Colin, when these two loco's were introduced in 2005, Hornby did not have a DCC control system - The Elite/Select and the R8215 decoder were not introduced until 2006 - so I would assume, at the time, you were expected to fit a non-Hornby decoder - it was still very early DCC days. When the Merchant Navy Class Elders Fyffes was introduced in 2003, there was no mention whatsoever of it being DCC Ready, yet it had a decoder socket in the loco. All a little hit and miss, at the time?

That's what it says in the 2005 Hornby Catalogue!! R2457 Anzac is described as having the same drive system. Both loco's were "new" in 2005.

Hi R2484 Boadicea was introduced by Hornby in 2005. Fitted with a 5-Pole Ringfield Motor - Tender Drive and DCC Ready.

This all seems to get terribly complicatedworried. I have LED buffer stop lamps from DCC Concepts, they came with a very small PCB and are wired directly into the DCC bus. They have been working since 2013.

Has anyone ever had problems with their programming track? Mine is permanently wired to my Elite and works every time. I may place my hand on the loco so that there is a good contact between rails and wheels. Like the rest of your layout, make sure the programming track is clean.