The Streamlined Princess Coronation Class has arrived!

5 years ago

Welcome to November’s edition of The Engine Shed – Hornby’s Development blog. Having been slightly delayed last time, we are very pleased to advise that those samples we had been hoping to include in the previous Engine Shed have now arrived and this is the first look at the last new tooling project this year that we will cover here in the blog, including some images of the Streamlined Princess Coronation.

Kindly supplied by our friends over at Hornby Magazine, these images give you the first impression of what you can expect early next year or maybe sooner.

However, we have plenty more besides. In what could be termed a new tooling reunion, we have a video of the latest Lord Nelson sample running on our test layout here at Hornby headquarters.

Rounding out our ‘reunion’ we also have the latest Signed Sample for you of the J36. But that is not all! There's one more exclusive sample for you the Decoration Sample of the West Country Class ‘Bideford’ (R3638).

All in all, we have a packed edition of the blog in store for you, where we bring together several of the most popular projects from 2018.

Let us dive right in…

Latest Samples

We are sure, just like us, many of you have been very keen to see the Streamlined Princess Coronation. It has been a number of months since we last checked in with this project which was when we featured the Engineering Sample for you in March. As we have mentioned before, these Decoration and Signed samples offer the first true reflection of the model you might soon be adding to your collection.

Renders, line drawings and engineering samples are crucial stages in development, but we often find it can be hard for modellers to obtain a true idea of the model at these stages. Fortunately, the Decoration and Signed Samples provide a much better impression of the model for collectors and it is always a real treat when we get to showcase these here in the blog.

We also mentioned at the beginning that these images have been supplied by Hornby Magazine, who will also be covering the Streamlined Princess Coronation in their next instalment. However, Hornby Magazine will be taking a much deeper look into this project early next year in their February edition. If you like what you see here, or you are considering adding this locomotive to your layout, make sure you look out for these upcoming instalments of Hornby Magazine.

Overall, the team are very happy with this sample following some work over the last couple of months. What you can see here is very close to the production version, but as ever, we have to make it clear that what you can see is not the final model. There are always some finer bits of work required just before the production model is considered ready.

Moving from a project with its first update in some time, to one that has received a fair bit more coverage here in The Engine Shed. The Lord Nelson Class has featured in several blogs and to offer you one final look before release, we put the latest sample of ‘Sir Francis Drake’ on our test layout.

If Decoration and Signed Samples can give you that first true impression of a model, seeing a running sample must be the pinnacle of what we can show you through the power of the internet.

We do hope you are happy with what you have seen, as all three Lord Nelson Class locomotives (R3634, R3635 and R3603TTS) are due into stock soon.

The last new tooling sample we have for you this month is the Signed Sample of the R3622 J36 ‘Haig’. Like the Lord Nelson, we have covered this project in a fair amount of detail here in The Engine Shed. Following the Decoration Samples we included in August, this Signed Sample will offer you a final look at what can be expected very soon (early next year).

A little like buses, having been waiting for samples last month we now find we have so many to show you. The R3638 West Country Class Bideford recently arrived, and we have a number of exclusive images for you here too. Just like all these samples, we hope you are pleased with what you see and do let us know if you have any feedback that you would like to share with us (please note a ladder is missing from the tender).

The Warley National Model Railway Exhibition 2018

We are sure many of you are aware that last weekend saw one of the biggest model railway events in the country, with the Warley National Model Railway Exhibition taking place at the NEC in Birmingham.

It was another hugely enjoyable year, with our team attending with a great layout on the stand. The Aberdeen MRC joined us this year, with their episode-winning layout ‘Clucas Bay’. Dedicated to a member of the club that sadly passed away, this layout was picked as the winner of episode five of Channel 5's Great Model Railway Challenge.

Having arrived and set up on Friday afternoon, the team soon greeted modellers on the stand with the doors opening on Saturday at 9.15am (for some very eager advanced ticket holders). Soon after opening the Hornby stand was packed with model railway enthusiasts asking questions and discussing all the latest Hornby news. Unsurprisingly, many were keen to know the latest on the very projects we have covered here today, so we do hope those in attendance are Engine Shed readers!

Sunday, as is often the case, was a slightly quieter day with many families attending. With lots of people still enjoying the Hornby stand, the day, and weekend, soon wound down with the show coming to a close that afternoon.

Warley is always an event we look forward to and 2018 was certainly no exception. With a huge array of samples on show and some great conversations and feedback, we had a fantastic time in Birmingham and we are already looking forward to 2019!

It’s that time of year…

We here at Hornby always try to do our best to take part in some of that festive cheer in the lead up to Christmas. Not only is it a very important time of year for us but it is also a time we try to connect with Hornby Collectors in different ways too.

We have already mentioned that we will soon be back with our Christmas edition of The Engine Shed, something we definitely missed having last year. However, there are also a great number of things we are doing on the Hornby website that we would like to invite you to.

The Advent Calendar returns this year, offering a daily treat for everyone who visits us throughout December. With a selection of competitions, videos, articles and more, we hope you will join us here on the website, counting down the days to Christmas.

Beginning tomorrow, keep a close eye on our Advent Calendar for your chance to win and have fun with the Hornby website.

That just about does it for November’s edition of The Engine Shed. As always, we hope you have enjoyed what we have covered here today, and we will be seeing you again very soon.

Do make sure you take a look at our Advent Calendar as it counts down towards the big day.

Also, please make sure you pass on any and all feedback using either our Facebook page, Twitter or Official Forum.

One last thing before we go, there is one more event coming up before we welcome the New Year and that is the Peterborough National Festival of Railway Modelling taking place next weekend (8th – 9th December).

We are attending at the East of England Arena & Events Centre and if you are able to make it, we will see you there!

Until next time,

Happy Modelling!

The Engine Shed team