2018 announcements, planning

*sigh*

No love for the GWR this year from Bachmann or Hornby, and Dapol are releasing their own versions of things that already exist and I already have (61xx, Churchward Mogul).

Ah well, still got some catching up to do on LMS stock - the Webb coal tank from Bachmann is lovely, new since I took a break and ubiquitous on the area I like. Now if someone would make a Cauliflower....

Picked up an online PDF of the GWR 1936 working timetable for the Shrewsbury/Hereford area, which is fascinating reading (very distracting from what I'm supposed to be doing!).

I have drawn up the Five Year Plan (aka what happens when the tenant in the workshop gets to the point where they need more space and moves out), and the short term part of it is to go back to my original plan of building Longville on the Wenlock Branch, only on an 8'x2' (so plenty of room for scenery). I've been reading John de Frayssinet's "Scenic Modelling: A Guide for Railway Modellers", which is very inspiring, as it talks about the Pendon-esque approach of making the railway a part of the landscape. Recommended reading.

A few achievements today...

...helped by having no broadband, and having to be in home for the solar heating engineers.

I’ve removed the original Bachmann “G W R” lettering from the tank sides of my 56xx, with a cotton bud, some enamel thinners and the end of a cocktail stick, and replaced it with HRMS Pressfix “GREAT WESTERN” lettering. For a moment or two it looked as if one side was going to read “GREA|- WESTERN” due to not pressing down on ALL the letters!

I also took delivery of a MicroScale ‘Truck Tuner’ from wizardmodels.co.uk, which is a very handy little widget (pointed out to me by the folks on RMWeb) for opening out wheel bearings on (in my case) Lima wagons, which tend to have horribly out of scale (and in at least one case out of round) wheels.

Also did a lot of thinking and planning, and I think the current aim is to:

• settle on a track plan for James’ 8’x4’ board, and use that as practice for track laying, ballast and scenery. I suspect this is going to wind up as a derivative of one of CJF’s ‘double track junction plus high level branch’ plans from 60 Plans For Small Locations, and will make James’ happy ‘cause it’ll have a tunnel! This will, I think be ‘Onnybrook Junction’ and I might try and squeeze Longville’s track plan in as the upper level station. What I do hope to do, though, is try and avoid CJF’s penchant for retaining walls, perhaps by adopting the approach from the Peco Settrack plans book of having a double sided scenic break.


• slowly start building baseboards for Much Wenlock. It looks like this is 3 4’x2’ board plus a 4’x1’ fiddle yard either end. The interesting gotchas are that the whole thing isn’t flat, and there’s at least one road that has to go from over to under the railway in about 7’. I think I understand how, though.

On 00 R-T-R pre-nationalisation releases generally

An interesting few contrasts this year between the Bachmann and Hornby new releases, at least from my point of view.

Hornby are ‘celebrating’ the GWR 175: one reworking of the 28xx, ditto for 61xx (in shirtbutton livery only), and a set of Hawkesworth coaches that actually (as far as I can tell) never actually ran on the GWR qua GWR. To be fair, I will be buying the 28xx, but... by contrast, let’s look at Bachmann...

Brand-new S&DJR 7F 2-8-0. Brand-new Johnson 3F 0-6-0 (if you’re being really uncharitable, there was a R-T-R 3F back in the 60s by Triang, but short of a complete rebuild below the footplate, I don’t think it counts). City of Truro. No coaches. Now, the latter is a shame, but given that Hornby’s Hawkesworth’s are pre-nationalisation in name only (and they’re only producing them in maroon and blood-and-custard), that’s pretty much a draw on the coach front. (Some Toplights next year, maybe?)

To me? Bachman win hands down by daring to produce new stuff, and moreover they are (as I commented on RMWeb) very much actively encouraging pre-nationalisation modelling: in fact, they seem intent on turning modelling the S&DJR into this decade’s GWR branch terminus. And they’re not afraid to produce unglamorous workhorses like the 3F, the kind of thing that’s as common as muck and usually covered in it. More power to them.

It is, as I’m sure I’ve said before in this blog, perfectly possible to produce R-T-R Big Four (or even pre-grouping) stock that’ll attract the BR Steam Era modeller - in fact, if I were one, I’m sure I’d be delighted at the chance for something unusual to offset the dreary procession of Standard Class engines and Mark I coaches. Custom paint jobs aren’t THAT pricey - witness the number of custom finished modern era locals and MUs that are produced for various model shops. Putting out a shortish run of something in a GWR or LMS livery isn’t going to break the bank. I don’t believe that the cries of ‘there’s no demand’ are true. There’s no demand because you aren’t making the stock!

So, I say more power to Bachmann for daring to produce genuinely new Big Four locos and actively trying to create a demand, even if it’s for the S&DJR! Keep it up.

Bachmann's new announcements?

• Johnson 3F 0-60? Yes please, I'll probably take 2. Now if Hornby would re-tool the 4F....
• S&DJR 7F 2-8-0? Tempting, but I shall probably resist.

Some of the new scenery items look cool. A little disappointed there are no new non-BR coaches.

A brief aside on eBay

To James' great delight, we managed to score a Bachman 4575 Prairie in Great Western livery yesterday morning. For £15 or so less than the average eBay price.

Why? I strongly suspect because no-one's up and actively using eBay at 11am on a Sunday. Sunday evening is generally held to be the best time to sell stuff, as most folks are active. Sunday morning? Bit daft if you ask me.

And as to how I won that auction while sat behind a sound desk in church? AuctionSniper.com :D Well recommended, and your first three snipes are free* - after that it's 1% of the final value with a minimum of $0.25. Well worth it in my book for nabbing things you'd otherwise miss.

Me? I have a couple of old computers to eBay - I foresee more stock in the near future.

* in the interests of full disclosure: I get three free snipes if you sign up from that link.