nicholas_rothon

It will be recalled that Hornby issued a Titfield Thunderbolt train pack in 2013 - R3186 - this included a DVD and film poster - with a 1400 class loco rather than Lion. It seems obvious that Hornby would have received rights from Studio Canal for this and presumably the rights are still in force. I am sure that Hornby's lawyers will be looking carefully at the 2013 agreement. Rapido are fed up but their claim should be against Studio Canal and its lawyers for lack of due diligence in selling them a copyright but possibly not advising them that rights had already been issued previously to Hornby. NR

The arrival of the Tinplate 0 gauge reproductions was an agreeable surprise and they have sold out rapidly. May I suggest that this theme might be developed with some further models. In the past the model magazines used to be full of articles on how to super-detail your Hornby models. Things have changed and value comes from an unaltered product in its original form. A good model would be the no1 Special locomotive introduced in 1929 in a clockwork version. Some say this was the finest clockwork engine that Hornby ever produced. It would be expensive - die cast wheels, tin plate engine and tender, metal mechanism chassis and brass gears but is a superb model and performs well. It would be expensive - my estimate is of a figure of about £800 - but it could be very popular. Nicholas Rothon

In 1959 some of the Bulleid coaches were moved to the S and D. With the completion of the first stage of the Kent Electrification, there were surplus Mark 1 coaches for the West of England and Bournemouth line so some of the shorter Bulleids were surplus. Generally they were used for the local services. The majority of Ivo Peter's photos show the longer inter regional trains, frequently double headed, but there are some photos of local trains and the short Bulleid sets are in evidence. A service which used the sets was the Up Mail which left Bournemouth at 3.40 - frequently a Bulleid set plus a van. From 1963, when the main line services had been transferred away, the use of the Bulleids was more frequent. In the summer of 1963 there was a motive power shortage as several engines were under repair. The S and D asked for two class fives but instead received two 9Fs, including Evening Star. There are several photos of Evening Star with a three coach Bulleid set. In recenrt days I have been pleased to reproduce this on my layout. Nicholas Rothon