Stephenson's Rocket Royal Mail coach

[GORDON MARTIN-355516]

What is the possibility of Hornby releasing the Stephenson's Rocket Royal Mail coach to those of us who bought the limited edition Rocket sets in 2020 ?

Any other modellers who would welcome this addition ?

[LTSR_NSE]

I would certainly welcome this too, however I imagine they won’t consider releasing it until the R3956 Rocket Royal Mail train pack has been released & sold (since they will want to maximise sales of that first).

Provided that train pack sells well enough, I imagine Hornby will offer the Mail coach separately, since there will be a lot of people who purchased the original train packs, who only want one Rocket locomotive, but would like that coach to complete their collection.

[Edward-357526]

Agree, I put in a request last year and got a vague reply. It's not going to happen I guess until the mail coach set is sold out

[JJ73]

They now have - Check out my Review :-

Thanks in advance 🚂

[LTSR_NSE]

@jj could you please properly read a thread before simply plugging a review?

If you had, you’d discover that this thread is a request to Hornby to market the Mail coach as a separate item - for those who have already purchased a Rocket train pack and have no desire to purchase another duplicate loco!

(your review of the very train pack that prompted this thread, appears to completely miss the point!)

[JJ73]

Oh I see - oh well - any way I've ended up with 2 Rockets myself - The R3810 & the R3956!!! But in saying that, I suppose it would be nice to buy the Mail Carriage on it's own (or with a few other Carriages) like you can buy 3 x 3rd Class Open Carriage (R40102) & the 3 x Flatbed Wagons (R60014)!!! That's pretty cool - I didn't realise that - that how my review can prompt this thread!!! 🤔🚂

[null_null981707818694]

The mail set as it is now released, is great if you missed out on the first editions.

And it's great that there are still rockets available for those who don't have one.

But it's quite disappointing from Hornby that they didn't release the mail coach separately for those who already had the first editions, fully agree with that remark.

I don't see the point of heaving two Rocket's in my collection, and I won't buy a set just for one missing type of coach.

And just receiving the flatbeds, really disappoint me a lot.

Sinds they are not a realistic image of the real ones, not cheap, they could at least given some freight to go along with them.

It started of great but is becoming a cheap scam, I hope they do better on future releases…

[What About The Bee]

I hear the call for the Royal Mail coach. I understand why enthusiasts would not want to purchase an entire set, just for that one coach. Yet I have the inverse issue. I have R3956 Rocket Royal Mail, R30232 Lion and R796 1980s Rocket. But what of the coaches Hornby have released, that are in sets I do not have? I do not wish to purchase full sets if the only thing I require is a named coach.

Mr. Dawson details a list of 34 'Known first-class coaches 1830 - 1845' in Table 9; "Locomotives of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway", 2021. 

Of the early releases by Hornby, R346, R621 and R796, there were only 3 named first class coaches, to wit: Times, Experience and Despatch.

In R3809 Triang Rocket, there were Times, Experience and Despatch, consistent with it being a memorabilia design.

In R3810 Rocket, Hornby included Globe, Renown and Wellington.

In R3956 Rocket Royal Mail, Hornby included first class coach Treasurer.

In R30232 Lion, Hornby have included Experience and Traveler.

In R40371 Hornby will have Huskinson.

Given that the list of 34 known names is far from complete from a Hornby perspective, there is room to release 3 coach packs of first class coaches with new names. The tooling is done, one need only update the artwork. One of those new 3 coach packs could easily include the Royal Mail coach, satisfying those who require it.

The LMR contracted with more than 1 builder of first class coaches and further, they were improved over the years. A genuine mix of design is presented in contemporary prints. For me, this permits both old and new Hornby coaches simultaneously on the layout, reflecting true LMR consists. Cross coupling them merely means jettisoning the tension locks on the old stock and adding a few pegs. So I have no need of Times, Experience or Despatch.

Mr. Dawson's research of the LMR also reveals that Hornby have released names that simply weren't documented! That is, certain Hornby releases have no correlation with the known names. This can easily be waived away with creative license and that Mr. Dawson's list can never truly be exhaustive. Hornby is well within their rights here, yet it means there is plenty of opportunity to release multiple sets of first class coaches, using known names that have not been released.

And then enthusiasts can also get the Royal Mail coach! Which, I might add, is spectacular!

[Mark McKendrick]

Agreed. Seperate and/or individual L&MR coach types would be a boon for those of us who don't want more than one Rocket loco.

[LTSR_NSE]

Thanks Hornby (Santa/Fairy/Bunny etc.) Preorder duly placed with chosen retailer.