Hornby Railroad Grand Central HST

[Masbroughlad]

In your opinions, is the Hornby Railroad Grand Central HST a good standard of model? I know its fictitious in that their power cars had buffers and this model does not.

Is the level of detail reasonable? (Not bothered about super detail). Is it a good runner?

Seen a great price bundle and wonder whether to invest!

Thanks in advance, as ever.

 

[sprinterguy]

The ex-Lima tooling used for this model demonstrates a good level of detail in my opinion - captures the shape of the streamlined front end well. The printed detail appears precisely applied based on photos I've seen.

The mechanisms have been greatly upgraded since Lima days and I've heard that they are reliable runners.

 

[Masbroughlad]

£160 for 5 coaches and the two power cars seem very competitive?

 

[Ted633]

£160 for 5 coaches and the two power cars seem very competitive?

That's brilliant value. Ok, it's not the most up to date tooling, but they're still reasonable power cars and coaches.
To put it into perspective, my GNER HST pack from the late 90's cost £80 brand new (£156 adjusted for inflation), and you only got 2 short coaches with that.

I do have half an eye on the current GNER bargain bundle (latest tool power cars & 8 coaches) for £530. Fortunately, I already have the 2010s era power cars and a selection of Lima and older Hornby scale-length Mk3s, so I've not yet managed to justify it!

 

[Masbroughlad]

Thank you for this! I decided I would go ahead - £151.53, including p&p. Too good to miss, as the power cars alone were £135 I think, when first on the market. Looking forward to getting it. Add it to my collection of HSTs!

I got an 8 car GNER set from Bure Valley Railway model shop at a great price.

I need to stop! Lol.

Having said that, I have Intercity Swallow HST power cars but need matching stock. Any idea of the best products to make up an authentic 7 or 8 car set please?

 

[sprinterguy]

Hornby's most recent Intercity Swallow mark 3 release, in 2020/21, recreated a correctly numbered 8-car set as follows:
Trailer Firsts (TF)
R40002 TF (41085)
R40002A TF (41086)

Trailer Standards (TS)
R40003 TS (42169)
R40003A TS (42168)
R40003B TS (42167)
R40003C TS (42103)

Trailer Restaurant Buffet First (TRFB)
R40004 TRFB (40703)

Trailer Guards Standard (TGS)
R40005 TGS (44055)

Previously in 2018 they had taken the same approach as Lima did in the late-eighties, and released one of each of the four vehicle types (R4851 - TRFB (40711), R4852 - TGS (44063), R4853 - TF (41099), R4854 - TS (42199)), and in 2008 two IC Swallow liveried TGS were released when the ex-Lima TGS was added to the Hornby range (R4314 (44057) and R4314A (44024)).

 

[Masbroughlad]

That's helpful - thank you very much.

Any idea where I might still get those? Probably pre-owned. I'll have a look around too.

 

[sprinterguy]

Ebay is my usually go-to. Although unfortunately the limited number of releases of scale length mark 3s in IC Swallow livery does tend to mean they command a comparatively high price when they do pop up. Though it has been more of a buyers' market on Ebay over the past couple of months.

Clark Railworks have been known to sell complete mark 3 rakes on their pre-owned site from time to time, and are generally very sensibly priced when they do, so it's a site worth keeping an eye on:

OO Gauge

clarkrailworks.com

 

[Islineclear3_1]

The Railroad GC HST captures the look of the real thing very well IMHO. Just enjoy the model and don't look too deep into the detail (or lack of). Very good value