new lad on block

Hi Kevin, may not fit in with your layout but there are collections of dies cast armoured vehicles on the market, produced by deagostini / atlas, scale is 1 to 72 so near 00 gauge.I bought quite a few from toy fairs really cheap, most less than £5.00 each. I collected them as I considered adding a Tank museum diorama to my layout, still not done yet though. Plenty for sale on eBay but tend to be expensive due to postage, much cheaper at toy fairs when they re open.

Hi John, as an alternative to soldering wires to the track,you may like to consider Peco PL-80 prewired fish plates.Perhaps to keep the extension wires tidy Peco PL-37 self adhesive cable clips.Clips may be able to be stuck to sides of track, ends of sleepers. I have no association with Peco but other cheaper products may be available. Hornby have made push fit power connectors, which may be found on eBay.

Hi Kevin, the smaller matchbox 1 to 75 range did vary in scale from about 1 to 64 to approx 1 to 100.I think the main consideration was that they needed to fit into the standard size box. I personally bought cars from the oxford range for my 00 gauge layout. For buses and commercial vehicles I purchased EFE offerings, found quite cheaply on toy fairs. Machbox models of yesteryear series did offer several near 00 gauge examples in their range.The omnibuses and the steam wagons come to mind as well as the Pickford low loader with die cast loco as a load.

Hi Brew Man, excuse me if I am teaching members how to suck eggs, with regard to exspansion of steel rails. The science, most materials expand when heated, also most materials contract when they get cold.There is an exception to this which is water as it increases in volume when cooling down to ice. Different materials expand at a different rates by how much they expand is called coefficient of linear exspansion. Once the coefficient is known a calculation can be made to how much a material will expand. If you google coefficient of steel, and check the formula the result is approx. One kilometre of track at a temperature of -10 degrees centigrade raised to 30 degrees centigrade, 40 degrees increase in temperature.It will increase its length by 480 mm.It is given then that a 20 degree raise in temperature per metre will increase by 0.24 mm. Nickel silver track does not quite expand as much as steel. If you took the piece of track 16.75 cm from a freezer, say -20 and placed in a large pan of boiling water it too would only increase by approx a quarter of a millimetre, almost impossible to measure. I would say that track laid at a temperature of 15 degrees, a 1 mm gap per metre should be fine.

Hi Diane, I would suggest the best way of selling the train set would be via the auction website. As a collector that particular loco is very hard to find,in over 20 years of collecting I have only ever seen 3 examples. I also have the trainset in sealed box, with some paperwork regarding the letter sent out to winners of the completion as well as the used tickets for the special train from Scotland to London, plus the invite to the party in London. Price wise, years ago when I purchased it, I paid around £120.00. Today If selling would sell via auction site, reserve at £200 plus perhaps even £250. If it does not sell at least you will have an idea of what it current market price is. Regards

Hi, Christopher, as I thought the digital loco does have the inscription on the baseplate. It is still possible that the loco may have been fitted with a chip after it left the factory though. Photos to show loco.

Hi Christopher, the digital version of the SDJR loco with ‘24’ running number was originally produced in R1125 Somerset Belle train set. As originally produced the R2882 version was not digital. If I remember correctly, if the loco has a factory fitted chip, the loco normally has DCC on the baseplate. I will find out my example of the trainset to confirm later today. Regards

Hi Anglia998, just to clarify the seven E2s, does that number include R261 running number 104, which came with alternative numbers, 101, 102 & 103. Ramsey state the following E2s produced, R353, R315, R261, & R157. Regards.

Hi Joshua, the Hornby type tray box as per your picture usually came with a cardboard outer sleeve, open at both ends. I have seen examples of sealed locomotives and train sets of that era before, but they were larger locos like Flying Scotsman.The coverings on those were the acetate type, yours looks more like the polythene type. In conclusion as a similar model is relatively cheap, I would keep the sealed one as is, and purchase another to run.

Looking in the Ramsey guide only one Flying Scotsman was made with the 5 pole tender drive arrangement. R number was R2261 produced 2002-3. Flying Scotsman produced after 2005 were loco drive.This May help others to locate your part number. GS beat me to the R number allocation.Was writing up response when GS posted.

GWR 0-6-0 PT, 2732, appeared in Western Master set, R 1173. It was a elink set.

Hi John,I have not personally seen a used gold plated MN. Others I have seen at toy/collectors fairs including, Flying Scotsman, Mallard, and Hogwarts all had the gold plating on the contact area of the wheels, gold plating was missing. I did not take too much notice of the motion, so cannot comment on that. I have some of the other gold plated locos Hornby have produced, and as a collector, they are a nice addition to the display area. Perhaps to get the best of both worlds, it may be an idea, to acquire a MN as a donor swap tender, and loco running gear. Then you could preserve the gold plated components.

Hi John, I take it that you have already bought the Clan Line.If this s correct, I am with GS, I think it is a display item.I know some may say why do Hornby produce a locomotive with full running potential but Is not usually intended to run.Yes it could be produced a lot cheaper without the electrics.Thats a question for Hornby to answer. As GS has said, one lap of your layout and the gold plating has worn off, massive mistake, massive price loss.Also I would think a gold plated loco would not look quite right.Your layout though, your money, run what you like. A better choice to buy second hand may have been R1073 VSOE premier set, or R1162 VSOE set.Both have Clan Line in. Early Clan Line R2169, I think you may have problems fitting a chip in, so I would avoid. Another choice may be to buy a newer MN and change the name to Clan Line. What ever you decide, enjoy.

More photos to show different greys.

Hi Brian, Photos of APT, the grey is in fact a lot lighter. My train set dates from 1980.The colour may have changed again by the time HST were having the new livery applied. The colours of the grey in the open train set are not an exact match also.

I read somewhere that a gold lined set went to the World Fair, with maroon ‘Coronation’. Hornby produced Trainpack R2199 as an example of that particular train.The coaches in real life did not look like the Hornby offering. As a LMS Coronation fan, as a display piece, they doing in my opinion complement the maroon locos.Others May prefer R2907 Days of Red and Gold, with 3 LMS Stanier coaches.

Hi Brian, your locos do indeed look like the picture on the train set lid. As can be seen your loco has 43125 in black on nose of loco, normal run has 253 028 in white. Even though blurred on lid, the Intercity logo does appear to be solid white as per yours not white outlined as normal, cannot make out cab side number on the train set lid loco. It may be possible that a small preproduction run was made and then decided to alter loco design after artwork went in for the train set lid. It could have been a small sample run for a specific customer, but not released. The last possibility it could be a code 3 model made by a specialist company, similar to what TMC have done in the past. Still a interesting model.

Hi CO, Hornby have produced mk2d tourist Open, mk2d 1st open and mk2d brake 2nd Open. Moulds date from 1998 and are available in several liveries.As to if they have nem couplings, unsure if fitted, but you may be able to adapt.

Hi DA, Hornby have in the past produced Coronation Scot coaches in maroon. The moulds date to 1977 and maroon coronation Scot coaches were first produced in 2001. Recently two Railroad packs with three coaches in have been produced as R4588 & R4873. Others May be able to help and say if the new detailed coaches will be available in maroon.

Hi Brian, very interesting, as I said never heard of that livery before.Another one to note in my book and keep an eye out for one at toy/ collectors fairs, when they reopen. It looks like the grey upper half is also a shade different.I will find out my APT set and compare the grey colour of that to the HST. It could be possible that Hornby had left over grey from the APT sets/packs and thought to use it on the HST. APTs were produced from 1980 as sets and packs were available till 1984. Possible that APT & HST were on the same production line.If you are not a collector, would think they would be a great deal of interest on the auction site.

Hi GS, I looked at pictures online of the train pack, I noticed the extra detail and thought that as Tornado had been produced twice in train sets And twice in train packs, all with railroad coaches the latest offering would be the same.My thought was that Hornby used the cheaper coaches and added extra detail hence the price of the pack. Checked on eBay today and someone is selling the train pack.This time the contents are out of the box, not a stock photo, and now with the benefit of these new photos I am now in the opinion that the coaches are in fact the more detailed ones.The way to tell would be if they have nem couplings. This would now lead me to conclude that if the coaches are the detailed versions their retail price is £40 plus per coach, so makes the pack a good buy at the £180 mark.

To help others who may be able to advise you of spares etc. I think only two versions of a Railroad black 5 have been produced, R2881 & R3494. This may be why spares could be a problem. As the model dates back to 1987 some second hand spares may be available, but note the railroad versions are loco drive, unlike earlier versions which are tender drive.It may be possible to acquire Henry from the Thomas range as a donor but only the latest version which was also loco drive.

Hi Adam, no R number for the specific loco, but the set is R1126, so that could be taken as a reference number. Livery should be BR green, D4174 running number, produced 2009 to 2010. I note it is the non super detailed version, dating from 1976, railroad versions are available so replacement parts should be readily available second hand.

Hi John, Tornado, according to Ramsey guide ‘is principally a Railroad model’. Since 2011 when first introduced, there have been quite a few versions, all come from the same design clever moulds, all are either DCC ready or fitted. Hence all can be deemed as railroad models. R30086 is same loco, as the one in R3828, but different livery. I note that train pack R3828 has Tornado in BRa livery. It has been produced before in that livery as R3060 & R3070, those locos also had detailed boiler bands. It has been produced twice before in train packs R3059, with Mk1 coaches. Another outing as R3093 this time with Pullman coaches. Both Mk1 & Pullman coaches were from the railroad range. The new train pack also appears to have railroad Mk1 coaches but have ‘railtour’ printed on them. The £200 price tag, by shopping around could be reduced to £180. Buying a secondhand R3060 plus 3 Railroad Mk1 coaches would be considerably cheaper, but items are not new, perhaps without a guarantee.

Bought one from Lidl a while back, not used it for spraying yet but very good for pumping up car tyres.Very small compact unit with plenty of accessories, for air beds etc.Not expensive for what It was. A guy on youtube has done a video of it, sorry do not know how to do links.