Hornby R2757 Northern Rail Class 153 DMU
April 15th, 2009
A late post - The April Hornby competition this month gives you the chance to win a new Class 153 DMU in the Northern Rail Livery.
Win a Hornby BR Blue R2761 Class 20 Locomotive
March 9th, 2009
Hornby’s monthly competitions continue with one of their new Class 20 locomotives in BR Blue. Hornby R2761 is one of four liveries available for this model, BR Blue, Railfreight with large logo, BR Green and BR Technical Services.
Hornby Class 20 Diesel
London Festival of Railway Modelling
February 16th, 2009
Or friends at Hornby are running two competitions this month. The first of which can be found here. The second comp gives you the chance to win a Family ticket for the London Festival of Railway Modelling being held at Alexandra Palace, London, on the 28th and 29th of March 2009.
Hornby Railroad R2785 ‘Evening Star’
February 16th, 2009
I am a bit late posting this due to a bout of flu, however here it is. Hornby have two competitions running this month and the first is to win a 9F Class steam locomotive from its Railroad Range, this comes in the form of the R2785 ‘Evening Star’.
Hornby Railroad BR Green 9F 'Evening Star' R2785
Baseboards completed - Time to build a railway!
January 15th, 2009
Well I woke up this morning feeling a bit under the weather, I have been feeling a bit rough recently and have put it down to my friend and yours - Man Flu. I call it man flu but really its just a head cold and a sore throat. Despite my illness I decided that for once I was going to pull rank as the boss and take the day off to work on the layout, namely finish the baseboard.
Win a Helmsman Limited Edition Controller
January 14th, 2009
Model Rail Magazine have been supplied with a limited edition Helmsman Controller worth £75 for you to win. The 2M1/2LE has a 2Amp output and is suitable for ‘00/H0′ and ‘0′ gauge railways. You can see more info on the Helmsman Range at http://www.helmsmanuk.co.uk/
Helmsman Limited Edition Controller
Details on entering the competition including the question and all the rules can be found on page 80 on their January 2009 edition. Closing date for entries is the 28 Feb 2009, answers on a postcard!
Hornby Magazine’s Layout of the Year 2008
January 13th, 2009
For the second year in a row Hornby Magazine are running their ‘Layout of the Year’ competition for 2008. Readers are invited to vote online or in writing via the address listed on Hornby Magazines website.
This year the entries have been split into two categories, club layouts and individual layouts. All of the layouts have featured in the magazine over the last 12 months.
My personal votes have go to the club layout of Grimsby Town Modellers Group. Their layout ‘Yarborough’ in 00 gauge which is a modern era, post modernisation layout set in 2000-2008. My favourite individual layout has to be Pete Harvey’s ‘00′ ‘Dudley Road’. Set in 1980’s British Railway Blue era, the layout and Pete are both great inspirations to me as a ‘beginner’. Pete is a thoroughly nice chap and has time for anyone.
Baseboard framework completed
January 12th, 2009
With milder weather arriving over the weekend I was able get about 7 hours of building time in the garage. I also had a couple of trips to B&Q for timber, ply, screws and bolts. For reference I used the following ingredients:
- Smooth Planed Timber which comes in packs of 6. (L)2100 x (W)44 x (T)18mm
- 4 x 40mm wood screws - I bought a 500 pack from B&Q, very reasonable
- 4 x 40mm nuts with bolts to bolt framework sections together.
- 6mm Brazil Ply. This stuff comes in huge sheets, so I get B&Q to cut it down to 2′x4′ strips for me.
That’s all the ingredients I used, I couldn’t tell you how much of each I used as I lost track. The most expensive part is the timber, it came in at about £9 per pack and I used a lot as I was also using it to make the legs, which I did by screwining 2 lengths together into a kind of L shape. The first image below explains this better.
Win a Hornby R2743X Schools Class Locomotive ‘Brighton’
January 8th, 2009
Its that time again and the lovely people at Hornby have released details of their January 2009 monthly competition. This months prizes is a R2742X BR Green 4-4-0 Schools Class ‘Brighton’ Locomotive. The ‘x’ at the end of the product code denotes that this model is DCC fitted.
R2743X BR Green Schools Class 4-4-0 'Brighton'
As previously, to enter you are required to sign up as a member - free and easy - and then answer the following question:
How many stations does First Great Western operate? a) 196 b) 227 c) 210. Once you have signed up, you can enter the competition on this page. Closing date for entries is the 1st Feb 2009.
Hornby DCC Digital Sound 2009 New Releases
January 7th, 2009
Hornby have four locos with DCC digital sound listed for release this year, and I have to say I am a little excited. One of them is a Class 50! The first commercially available sound fitted class 50 diesel locomotive on the market. It is also Hornby’s first ‘Dutch’ Civil Engineers livery Class 50 that I am aware of, there may have been a Lima release however my interest is only with the Hornby releases. Running number is 50 015 and the loco is named ‘Valient’. Now the bad news, its not due for release until the 4th quarter of 2009. At least I know what to ask Santa for next Christmas though. 
The Hornby part number for this class 50 is R2802XS.
R2802XS Hornby Dutch Civil Engineers Class 50 'Valient' 50 015