1. Kettering O Gauge Show

We will attend the Kettering O Gauge Show next Saturday 1st March. Due to changing our car to a smaller vehicle we will now bring fewer models to the show. So, for those who have already contacted us we will bring your models. If you want a particular model to be brought to the show and you have not made a request, please let me know by Thursday 27th February at the latest.

LBSCR Atlantic sample, now converted to DCC, will be on show.

2. Second-Hand Models

We have an interesting set of second-hand models currently available including:

• 60XX King 6015 King Richard III lettered GREAT WESTERN livery, electronic chuffing.
• 50XX Castle 5005 Tregenna Castle lettered GREAT WESTERN livery Vauxhall inside cylinders cover unique 1-off locomotive, only example ever made by Masterpiece Models.
• 48XX 4869 0-4-2 tank locomotive, plain green, lettered G W R.
• 4575 sloping tanks 2-6-2T GWR plain green 5505 lettered GREAT WESTERN.
• 40XX Star 4004 'Morning Star' GREAT WESTERN livery early configuration.
• 40XX Star 4071 'Cleeve Abbey' GREAT WESTERN livery later configuration.
• Britannia 70031 'Byron' BR Great Eastern Lion-over-Wheel early emblem.

All O Gauge Finescale. If you are interested, please contact me soon as we plan to take these models to the Kettering O Gauge Show on Saturday March 1st.

3. Last O Gauge (S7) Models:

• 47XX BR lined green 4703 later Totem emblem, otherwise only GWR now left.
• 28XX GWR plain green 2804 lettered GREAT WESTERN.
• 6959 BR Modified Hall 7902 E'aton Mascot Hall.'

All O Gauge Finescale
• 28XX GWR plain green 2882 GWR Shirtbutton in Scale 7.

All other 28XX/38XX are now sold awaiting delivery.

4. Other Locomotives:

• 70XX Castles: 8 locomotives left all BR single chimney. Good choice of names still possible.
• 68XX Grange: no GWR but good choice of BR green and some plain black.
• 49XX/59XX/69XX: very few engines left including some S7.
• 47XX: after 4703 in BR, only GWR engines now left.
• 45XX: only 1 second hand 4575 left.
• 57XX/8750 Panniers: some LT engines now available. GWR now limited especially 57XX. 8750 better availability. Very few S7 left.
• Western Diesel: Good choice of Maroon and Blue, limited numbers of Green still left.

Look forward to seeing you on Saturday at Kettering.

John Borkowski

The Guildford Show
A big thank you to all who braved the bad weather warnings and came to the Guildford Show. It was by far the quietest how we have had since we started. Unlike last year it proved to be comfortably heated. I think many people missed out on a good show.

The Atlantics Project
Due to serious illness at home the builder manager has been off-work for more than two months looking after his family. As a consequence of this situation, he had to lay-off over half of the factory workforce and the full production programme became seriously delayed. Production of components and some sub-assemblies continued, boiler production had to be delayed to incorporate the additional detailed information gathered from the replica H2 Beachy Head on the Bluebell Railway as the relevant CAD work was delayed.

The full workforce returns at the beginning of January and the builder estimates that the overall project has been delayed by about three months. He promises to make a massive effort to recover some of the lost time, but we are more cautious as we want quality accurate models and a few more months of delay are better than a rushed job.

The builders have just sent over some more pictures of the assembly lines. These show detailed component assembly of the GNR/LNER and Brighton H1s and H2s locomotive footplates and chassis, as well as the tender chassis and bodies. So, despite the setbacks substantial progress has still been made. The motors were purchased in the UK and were sent out to Korea in November.

48XX 0-4-2T
We have a plain green GWR locomotive available for sale.

45XX 2-6-2T
We have received a virtually unused pristine 45XX GWR green GREAT WESTERN flat tank locomotive from someone’s estate. Please contact me if you are interested.

28XX/38XX 2-8-0 tender locomotives
Excluding reserved locomotives still to be delivered we are down to our last available locomotive in plain GWR green which is in Scale 7.

49XX/59XX/69XX Collet Halls 4-6-0 tender locomotives
Excluding reserved locomotives still to be delivered, we are down to our last three available locomotives.

47XX 2-8-0 tender locomotives
Very few BR locomotives left, but a reasonable choice of GWR locomotives still available.

70XX Castle 4-6-0 tender locomotives
All now single chimney, mostly early BR condition, very few left.

68XX Grange 4-6-0 tender locomotives
No GWR but good choice of BR.

Class 52 Western Diesel
Good choice of blue and maroon, but few green engines now left.

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR CONTACT AND FRIENDSHIP DURING 2024.
WE WISH YOU ALL A HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND A PROPEOUS NEW YEAR 2025.

John Borkowski 24 December 2024

I am writing this note in Hereford at my daughter’s house in the snow. Winter has arrived with lots of snow covering the lawns and the local fields in rural England. After a brief visit to see the family especially the grandchildren we are off back to Surrey to prepare for the show.

There has been a steady stream of reservations across the board and stocks of many models 28XX, Collett and Modified Halls, Castles are now limited or very low or even zero. We still have a good supply of GWR 47XXs, BR Panniers, BR Granges and Westerns. We also have some pristine examples of earlier Masterpiece production such as Stars and Saints and also the only ‘5000’ series Castle we made with Vauxhall style early inside cylinder covers ‘Tregenna Castle’. It was a one-off production produced at the same time as the later ‘70XX’ run.

Decoders for the 'Atlantic' build, now safely in Korea.

Of the Atlantics, ‘Beachy Head’, is a popular choice both in BR and Southern styles and also in its pre-named LBSCR form. Due to illness at the factory in Korea and delays in supplies (especially motors that were months late and had to be supplied via the UK) there will be a delay in completion of the Atlantics into Q1 2025. There was quite a large amount of redesign required on the Southern Atlantics as a result of studies of the replica H2 on the Bluebell Railway. We would like to thank the Bluebell Railway and the Brighton Atlantic Group for allowing us close access to ‘Beachy Head’.

Detailed design work continues on the LMS locomotives as the builders seek to raise the standard of production.

We look forward to seeing you at Guildford on Saturday.

The builders have made a massive effort and have put all models into production. This means that GNR/LNER locomotives will be made at the same time as the Brighton Atlantics. We have marginally raised the total production programme from 85 to 89 models. There is a small increase in the number of late Brighton H2s available to make up for the loss of slots due to recent reservations. The total production of GNR/LNER models remain unchanged at 25 units, of which 13 are reserved.

GNR and LBSCR Atlantic frames

The builders have just sent over pictures of the GNR/LNER and Brighton H1s and H2s locomotive chassis, the smokebox assemblies as well as the tender chassis and bodies. As you can see from the pictures, production is now well under way. We have ordered the motors and decoders for the engines and these will be sent to South Korea after they have been programmed by our sound engineer Bryan Robertson.

Tender tanks under construction

The locomotives will be powered by a Swiss-manufactured coreless aerospace grade motor with high torque and a very smooth performance. This motor, combined with our helical gearbox modified to fit on the second driving axle, should give a first-class running performance to all engines. Due to the requirement to fit into the small boiler/firebox GNR/LNER locomotives, we will fit a slightly smaller motor that we have used previously on the larger GWR locomotives. This motor gearbox combination should still lead to a better model performance in power terms than that of the real locomotives scaled down to the cube of 1/43.5.

Smokeboxes showing tubeplate and blastpipe detail

We have modified the locomotive design to be able to accommodate the decoder in the engine rather than in the tender. This will greatly simplify the electrical connection between the locomotive and tender.

On liveries, a number of people have expressed interest in Brighton Atlantics painted in Bulleid malachite green, and we have to decide shortly whether to offer this livery. So, if you are interested in reserving an Atlantic in malachite green whether with SOUTHERN or BRITISH RAILWAYS on the tender, please would you let us know as soon as possible.

Tender chassis