https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/151573-gaugemaster-collection-n-scale-hsts-and-track-cleaning-vehicle/ (https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/151573-gaugemaster-collection-n-scale-hsts-and-track-cleaning-vehicle/)
To copy what I said on FB...
Shame the NMT only has 2 coaches, and only as part of the book set. They could do far worse than have two TGSs, two RFBs and a TSO painted up, blanking our the appropriate windows on one of the RFBs with some printing.
Assuming they'll be shoved up the infamous Dapol 'pipeline' (and I make no excuses for the expression) where will they go in relation to the class 73's, re-runs of the Westerns and Bulleid light pacifics? Is this another case of announce something and make everyone wait?
I'm still waiting for the prototype HST 41001 + 41002 plus new early Mark 3 coaches.
Now that will be worth waiting for.
These are thankfully out of my era - though I do want some early 73s, Mr Gaugemaster :)
Bob
This looks an interesting development, I had asked after twin pack to celebrate HST changes and about new coaches so for me this is a win especially with further GWR power cars.A good choice as well.
I have asked a friend about doing a 3D print sliding door vehicle that can use the Dapol parts stripped of other s/H coaches the GW colours easy to paint and transfers available. The XC version with its 4 colour coaches will be fun but a labour of love as would a Scotrail one..
Timing well the pipe line is quite big and I suspect has a distribution manifold to each factory !! but given recent issues in China I would look forward to the chance to save pennies.
well done gaugemaster nice to see some special commissioned models in n gauge
tim
Quote from: Bob G on February 11, 2020, 05:24:01 PM
I'm still waiting for the prototype HST 41001 + 41002 plus new early Mark 3 coaches.
Now that will be worth waiting for.
These are thankfully out of my era - though I do want some early 73s, Mr Gaugemaster :)
Bob
@Bob G (https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?action=profile;u=1517)
According to the Rails of Sheffield newsletter the above items are due Sept 2020 so d'you reckon it's safe to assume other stuff announced before these will actually appear, or has someone put those rose tinted spectacles on my face again?
I read this too fast and only saw the 'Castle' part and got all excited, thinking we will have another steam loco... :doh: :doh: :doh: :doh: :doh:
Well the 73's were announced August 2018 for delivery in January 2019 so they're already a year late with no revised date.
I wonder if we'll ever see anyone commission 73001 and/or 73006 in Mersey Rail colours?
Steven B.
Quote from: Steven B on February 12, 2020, 12:08:19 PM
I wonder if we'll ever see anyone commission 73001 and/or 73006 in Mersey Rail colours?
Steven B.
I don't think commissioning them is an issue. As regards when said commission would be delivered........................
While they're at it, can Dapol please make another Mk3 HST GWR green First class coach? We need one more on top of the one released.
Hi Sven.
I take it that Skol is your favourite beer ?
Quote from: Doc Pye on February 12, 2020, 11:44:21 AM
I read this too fast and only saw the 'Castle' part and got all excited, thinking we will have another steam loco... :doh: :doh: :doh: :doh: :doh:
Speaking as a diesel boy I must admit I would be tempted if that had been true....
Interestingly, to make up a full 4 coach set, you need to spend another £58, taking the cost to just shy of £280, some £100 more than another well-known box-shifter is selling Kato's 5 car GWR 800 for. Such a shame that Kato haven't looked at HST and thought about releasing one....
One has to wonder whether the models will arrive before or after the real ones have gone. I was really keen to have one of these but, now the real ones are on the way out, i'm not so keen. Think I will wait for a Dapol cross country voyager......
Quote from: Foxhound on February 03, 2023, 03:49:06 PM
Such a shame that Kato haven't looked at HST and thought about releasing one....
I'd hazard a guess that as much as the HST is iconic in the UK, it would be of limited interest to the Japanese market. I drove and worked with HSTs for years and to say they are my favourite train is an understatement - but attempting to be impartial here, I'd imagine they'd be considered fairly archaic to the Japanese enthusiast / traveller compared to their bullet trains - even when they came out in the 70s. They were after all considered a quick stop gap to our APT project at the time.
I am no fan of the 800s as trains - but I can see exactly why Kato chose the model and why it would appeal to the Japanese market as well as the UK. I suspect the reverse equivalent would be that say Dapol was essentially the UK's Kato and 1) if N gauge was the major scale in the UK and thus production runs for N gauge were a lot bigger and 2) Dapol released a properly tooled Australian XPT, there would be a lot of interest in the UK, just as Kato are confident the 800 models will sell in Japan too. After all if Dapol could sell me a 7 or 8 car (including power cars) XPT for say about £200 I'd be snapping it up.
I cannot see Kato offering an HST happening however. There is of course no competition for 800s in N either, where as Kato would have to battle with Dapol and produce all the variants of HSTs people would want (prototype / early production sets / later production sets / buffered HSTs / new lighting clusters / 2+4s / Blue Pullman / Network Rail) and so on and all the variants of trailer vehicles such as TGS, TRUK, TRFB, TRSB and so on. I would like to be proved wrong however! Would they go for the current scene or the BR era or the post privatisation era with their first HST? If they were going for the "historic trains of the world" market it would be the blue and yellow livery and probably not much else.
I suspect Kato's plan somewhere down the line is to model other variants of 80x units and other Hitachi units, and push Unitrack and other Kato products with them. Since Hitachi essentially have the monopoly now on new "intercity" trains in the UK, I suspect Kato will be going down this route. Their platforms for example look utterly "Un British" with steps to track level rather than ramps - but looking at modern stations and station rebuilds (e.g. Reading) or on HS1 the Kato products do not look that dissimilar to railway modernisation projects in this country. And if the wider Kato range encourages more people into N-Gauge that is good for everyone, since even if people are modelling various 80x traction and modern stations and largely buying Kato, they'll soon want a Dapol 66, Farish wagons and a Revolution 387 too to go along with it.
Quote from: Chris Morris on February 03, 2023, 08:59:05 PM
One has to wonder whether the models will arrive before or after the real ones have gone. I was really keen to have one of these but, now the real ones are on the way out, i'm not so keen. Think I will wait for a Dapol cross country voyager......
There was a 4+2 set which came into platform 4 at Exeter St David's when I was there waiting for a train two weeks ago.
Quote from: devonjames on February 05, 2023, 06:13:22 PM
Quote from: Chris Morris on February 03, 2023, 08:59:05 PM
One has to wonder whether the models will arrive before or after the real ones have gone. I was really keen to have one of these but, now the real ones are on the way out, i'm not so keen. Think I will wait for a Dapol cross country voyager......
There was a 4+2 set which came into platform 4 at Exeter St David's when I was there waiting for a train two weeks ago.
And by the end of the year, all the GWR HSTs will be gone
Jo
They are supposed to come out of service in December, but whether they will is anyone's guess, especially with the 769 programme abandoned. Plus I doubt Cardiff to London punters will be too impressed being crammed into London commuter EMUs (387s) either with no catering, first class and the full on true ironing board seating - so there will be some serious pushback there whilst 800s and 802s are released for essentially regional stopping services. And Laira deal with the Cross Country HSTs anyway which will still remain in service, so the infrastructure and staff remain in place to keep them running.