ellocoloco

Looks so good but sounds so wrong..........................watching successfully on Win8 and Chrome. 👍

Hi Alan, Are you usingthe Z21 with the app or Multimaus? I use the Multimaus with plenty of Hornby's Electrotren models with no issues. As RAF suggests, let us know what you need.

@GMD I waited for the vintage bus at George Sq - the advertised 11:40 on Friday - to go to the SECC. I was there at 11:30 and at 12:00 the four of us now waiting gave up and jumped on the #100 service bus, which was also free. One of the guys I met at the bus stop said it never ran last year either. On the way back I didn't even bother looking for the bus and just went straight to take the low level back to Central and walked to Queen St. Still a pretty good day out.

Andy, One other suggestion would be to look at Hornby stockists near you - not all will trade online - and give them a call. From my experience not all will stock Hornby trains, some might just be Airfix or Humbrol, but you might find a controller in a more general toy shop. https://uk.hornby.com/community/stockists There must be one out there with your name on it!

Just back after stopping off for curry on the way home. Sorry I missed everyone. I was kicking around the Hornby stand around one but didn't see anyone I suspected from the forum. It was nice to actually see TT models - my first time in the plastic and mazak so to speak. I also noticed that Peco had the Hornby 08 pulling their wagons around a test/demo track and Gaugemaster also had both the Scotsman and a continental loco chugging around so plenty of TT exposure over a number of stands. The preproduction samples on display all looked good. @GMD I waited for the 'classic' bus from George St down to the SECC - along with a few other enthusiasts - but nothing turned up. We eventually all took the #100 sevice to the centre which turned out to be free. I got the low level back to Central on the way back. All in all a pretty good day and I got away with only buying one wagon!

I've a quick conf call to discover what's planned at work this year and then jump on a South bound train to Q.St. Should be at the show around midday.

With a bit of luck I'll be through at the SECC on Friday. I'll try and be at the Hornby stand at 13:00. I'll probably be the only one looking at Electrotren models (if any get brought). I'll keep an eye out for an unfeasibly tall guy, someone confused, and someone in a green shirt, though that only rules out half of Glasgow!

I've also looked at deleting images after they have been posted in a thread. When I look at 'images' from my profile I can also see other photos from the members album including Bee's pictures. It seems all images are uploaded into the same members album.

You might be out of luck Andy. It was reported at the start of the year that Playtrains was being discontinued, though something else may well replace it. I have attached a link that was on RMWeb. https://www.world-of-railways.co.uk/News/hornby-announces-the-end-of-playtrains?utm_campaign=1006770_WoR Hornby Announcement 9th Jan 24&utm_medium=email&utm_source=dotdigital&dm_i=73DL,LKTU,2ELF6P,2T239,1 If you keep an eye on Ebay you may find one, but it might be quicker to pick up another starter if you see one.

OK, these aren't new but they are great models and I really wanted to play around with the new forum layout and work out how to post images before I actually 'wanted' to posted one. The 594 DMU is a fantastic model from around 2010 with a 21pin socket, cabin and cab lights (one end) and the normal head and tail lights. They do have a reputation for splitting their gears but this one hasn't gone yet but I have spares ready. The 303 is a club model from 2010 I managed to find on Ebay and had shipped from Spain. It was already chipped with what I think is a 6pin Lokpilot. It is very smooth. 321.054 was a retailer exclusive which I picked up in Spain. It is one of the ALCo units operated by Spain's equivalent to Network Rail in infrastructure support roles. They have been withdrawn from mainline service but a number still are still operated by open access contractors. Again this is from around 2010 and has the rotating fan powered by a micro motor - the similar 316 and 318 models used band driven fans. It pulls pretty much anything I need. These are great models and I now have collected four of them. I have another couple of Electrotren models on order, so if this posts correctly, I'll have no problem showing them off when the arrive at some point this year. Well, the website says spring 24, but who knows. 😎 (Edit: Photos didn't appear to require approval.)

There's some top moaning on this thread. Time to introduce a 'moan' symbol to react with - and lock the thread.

Fully agree here. I joined just over 7 years ago and there has definitely been a marked decrease in posts and posters, but I don't think in the quality. There used to be plenty of posters who seemed to feel it was their duty to make some sort of comment on every thread regardless of how necessary it was. Fortunately most of these have gone somewhere else. Another thing that may be responsible for a decreasing number of posts is the huge selection of model railway related groups on other forms of social media. This forum was the first social media I engaged with. I have since joined three other forums, Facebook - where I have followed countless model rail groups - and I also follow a number of MR related YouTube channels. Absolutely. I do appreciate the firmer control exercised here.

Sounds exactly what you get in the as reviewed by Sam himself! I fully agree that the play value should be maximised as a way to further engagement. Card pop up kits can't be too difficult to add and everyone loves tunnels. Most of my scenery was made from lego and books could be used to make tunnels.

Bill, When I moved last year I reluctantly recycled almost all my magazines. I kept most of my catalogues and although mostly Roco and Electrotren, I do have some odd others including a couple from Frateschi - I did think about dabbling in S. American RRs at one point but the gauge compromise was even worse than OO. Bill, Have you been on forotrenes recently? I did try and message you a short time back. Rana, I was aware of some of Lima's plans for UK conquest and as they say in my house - well, in my corner of the attic at least - if you put an Accurascale, a Bachmann and a Hornby Deltic side by side, the only accurate parts are the Hornby bogies. sunglasses

Your right, Rana. I do enjoy a flick through an old catalogue and wish I'd kept some of the ones I had when younger. I picked up most Roco catalogues over a ten year period but its only Electrotren that I have actually gone back and searched out the ones I was missing - to 2000. Why 2000? That was when Electrotren announced the type 269 which was produced to the standard of other European manufacturers at the time and Spanish rtr models took a huge step forward. Hornby bought Electrotren in 2004 but nothing appears of the catalogues until 2007. Things seemed to peak around 2011/12 and come 2017 I was really concerned about the future of all Hornby's International brands. Things seem to have stabilised since then, but still no sign of the MZA Pacific announced in 2012! Just for you Rana. My wife picked up this old Lima Spanish Language catalogue in a s/h bookshop a few years back. A Big Boy on the opposite page to a HO (I think) King Class. But of course Roco have some of the best catalogues out there!

Just had a look myself on both the Hornby website and Amazon and certainly the image on Hornby's website looks nothing like a croft but does look very close dimensionally to a standard Scottish cottage. Very much like the one I had. All across Scotland there are buildings like this, often in terraces or with multiple levels. The length and width dictated by the timber available. If accurate to mine - built 1793 - it should be 144mm x 79mm, give or take. (Excluding side building and porch, I didn't have those but did have free standing coal sheds.)

Bachmann Branchline, ETE and GF are bit players. Bachmann is the big player in the US market providing entry level sets and 'Railroad' standard models as well as high end models such as the SC44 Charger - much in the way Hornby do here. Kader also act as a contract manufacturers so their failure may cause serious disruption to other UK brands. Lets hope they manage to keep things together.

I do like the T12. Very neat little locos. This is my Roco version from around 30yrs ago.

As I continue my homage to the Electrotren RENFE MMC container flats I have now added two HE6044 models to my fleet. I originally had these on order in 2022 but cancelled them due to budget restraints at the time and my dislike for the 45' container load. Two years later and seeing there is nothing much of interest for me in Electrotren's 2024 announcements, I decided to go back and extend the train I have. By this time Hornby had sold out on line and a quick search on Ebay found Gaugemaster selling two at around 30% less than RRP so I ordered both and got them two days later. A result! The wagons are as good as HE6069 and HE6064 and with these makes a fairly impressive train. I have been using both Roco 319s and Mehano 333.3s in TC Taxi livery to pull them around the attic floor until I bother to actually start a layout. I have now noticed a slight variance in the blue used on these three wagons. Both HE6069 and HE 6044 look the same shade. These were announced at the the same time. HE6064 (top) looks slightly darker. I think this could have been better and I hope that any further releases match the lighter blue of HE6069&44 which are closer to the blue used on the Electrotren 4-wheel container flats and Roco's MMP wagons. Prototype pictures show both the yellow and red brake wheels so I'm fine with those. My only disappointment as mentioned is the choice of loads. I would much prefer these to have come with a mix of 20' and 40' containers rather than the 45' one included. Today I spent a good couple of hours adding the containers mounts to three of my wagons - a fairly frustrating tasks and one that makes me realise I need glasses! I have set out two to carry both 20' and 40' containers and the other to take 3 x 20'. My next job will be to butcher that packaging as it is one designed to surround the supplied load. Fortunately I'm not one of the people who worries about boxes! During the course of the year I will add the mounts to the remaining wagons, sort out different loads and modify the boxes. Hopefully 2025 will bring some more of these in Era V blue. As mentioned I reckon 10 is the minimum number for a realistic train - and I'm still a couple short!

I used to be an avid collector of catalogues and still have a decent amount of Roco and others in the attic. I also have plenty of Roco's new items and International Release brochures. That was up until around 2017. After the skinny offering that was the Electrotren 2017 catalogue and disaster that was the combined 2017/18 catalogue that followed, I completely lost interest. I don't have any of the combined Hornby Int'l catalogues since in paper form though I have plenty of .pdf copies saved. I do like a (paper) catalogue and my old Roco ones are still a decent read, but time moves on.

The only scale I can think of that might have actually died out is US OO on 19mm track. Lionel pre-war. But no doubt someone will pop up and show what they did in that scale last week!

The item description puts the penguin as 45mm from stubbu wing to other stubby wing which is what made me think the track was 16.5mm rather than 12mm. It should be OK on corners - I've seen the film. sunglasses

Interesting thought, Threelink. I would take it as stock on hand at cost and potential sale price would be based on what margin Hornby will ask for or be prepared to accept.

I've just noticed the new Corgi Wallace and Gromit train race. It looks very much like it is sitting on regular OO track. This looks like an interesting motorisation project....................maybe!

I noticed recently one of the US model manufacturers, Scaletrains, has posted an 'Inventory reduction sale' on its FB page. Up to 50% off selected locomotives. This isn't just an issue affecting Hornby, and its good that it is recognised and being tackled. It may, however, lead to more accurate forecasting of production numbers and a shorter ordering window. But if it means Hornby outlasts me I'll be happy.