Retro Train Set Review - Hornby Night Mail (R591) - will the post get delivered?
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- Опубликовано: 23 июл 2020
- Want to know what Hornby train sets were like in the early 90s? Wonder no longer as I review the Night Mail set from 1991 which included the iconic travelling post office.
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I love the tension whilst watching the trains trying to catch the mail bags!
My first proper new train set. I can remember trying for so long to get everything lined up just right for the bag pick up & drop off. Happy days though.
My first train set (71-72) was the inter city mail train, very similar except the mail drop off was on the other side of the coach. That was years ago. over the last few years I have re-entered the 00 layout hobby and managed to get a mail train set again, different set but same red coach with the same mechanism. Earlier today, after noticing the mechanism was a little stiff and applying three in one and wd40, gave the set a run. First half way round the power dial gave the best results, the collection arm base needs to be about a quarter of an inch away from the track and there should be a 2 or 3 sleeper gap between the end of the activator rail and the pick up arm and the same for the collection point. (Do not forget to remove the anti-rattle package pins), I will also get a couple of extra short straights to permanantly fix the operation rails to. The collection and deposit areas may be better on their own sidings, and keep the mail coach away from uncoupler tracks.
I had a look online at what I think was the prototype for this set. I think the roofs were dark grey or blackish.
Still, painting the roofs could have been a project for child of the right age. Sometimes I think that our toys are too ready made and too perfect today. Doing something yourself can be so satisfying, as many of your vids prove.
Hi Rob The R591 Night Mail Set was made for Woolworths in 1989 and sold for £59.95. It was very good value for money, so good I went back the next day and purchased a second one, your assumptions about the cassette are correct. R899 Set with the Princess Coronation class locomotive and sound generator arrived in 1992 replacing the newly introduced R758 set of 1991 which did not have the sound generator. The ramps for the operating Royal Mail coach when correctly positioned as indicated in the instructions work very well and nearly every time. regards, Andrew.
Thanks Andrew. Incredible that you still know the 1989 price! That was a total bargain then.
I found the instructions for the set shortly after filming which tell you where to put the ramps and found, like you said, them to be very reliable.
@@LittleWicketRailway Hi Rob, Thank you for your reply, I happen to still have the price sticker in the box that is how I knew what the price was, Woolworths did not have Bar Code readers in there shops at that time. I have subscribed to your channel and will watch some more of your videos after Wimbledon. Take care, Andrew.
I livw that you do these reviews of old sets. Train set unboxing vids are so deeply nostalgic and those tricks like picking up the post add so much to the feel and wonder of magic in a box.
I used to have this train set. Thanks for the video and the trip down retro lane :).
Love your videos, you have a great sense of humour.
Thanks!
I had the Royal Mail coach as a kid in the 1970s and I it was a lot more realistic than this bright red set - it had the correct BR blue livery and the carriage was nicely detailed, with the bright red opening doors being the only things that were really off. It also had one door on one side for the pick up and one on the other side for the ejection. I remember that mechanism as being more reliable than the one in your video, though I see you've since found the instructions.
Hi Andy! Sounds like the 70s version was a lot more realistic. I saw a video the other day where someone weathered one of these bright red coaches and changed the doors. They compared it to one of the expensive ones and it looked really good. Quite a lot of work to get it there, but saved a few £££.
Works better when you have the instructions...🙄
I have a few of these coaches and everyone loves to see them work. Never had much of a problem with the pick up, but it missed the drop off a few times before I had the trough in exactly the right position. Getting the speed right is the key to success.
A few weeks after recording this I found the instructions and they do say where I should have positioned the hook and collector. So it's probably a bit more reliable if you actually follow the instructions...but where's the fun in that ay? 😂
Still have one of these with the Duchess in maroon, works reliably every time.
How the Bloody hell did Hornby make it worse.??
P I have the Royal mail coach made in the 1980/90's and it works perfectly.
Another Hornby stuff up..!
Cheers kim in Oz. 😎
Well, in Hornby's defence I found the original instructions after filming and if you put the ramps where it tells you to put them then it works a lot better 😂
1. I can't seem to find a prototype for the red roofs, so that does look cheap
2. You're the first reviewer I've seen to have that much trouble with the mailbag aparatus.
I can make anything look difficult 😂 I later found the instructions, and if you put the hook the distance from the ramp as shown, then it works a lot better.
I remember seeing the advert for this. It was like showing a caveman fire for the first time.
Theres a new Night Mail set from hornby but it includes a very basic Blue 0-4-0 a mail coach and a 4 wheel coach. (Available in Aldi)
So there is! Thanks for letting me know 👍 Looks like it's sold out, so must have been popular.
I remember when Woolworths sold their own model railway range - Playcraft - manufactured by Jouef in France.
I didn't know this, just had to look it up 👍
Absolutely! I had the Playcraft Mk1 Operational Royal Mail coach which was fully operational and worked well at all speeds. They had operational ones and dummy ones as well. They were very nice models for their time.
joeuf/Playcraft also made an operating mail coach
I had a HornbyDublo TPO in three rail days back around 1960. On that the lever made electrical contact to a rail beside the track and the mechanism was operated electrically by an electromagnet. It was very reliable always picking up the (metal) mailbag but occasionally ejecting it outside the reception bin when running at full speed. Oh and that had a grey roof and slightly toned down red so looked better and worked
better than the model produced 30 years later.
Only problem was the whole thing, post, collection bin, energising rail were built into a single unit incorporating a length of tinplate track. My dad had built the layout using Wren flexible track so every time the train went by the male unit there was a threefold increase in running noise.
Sounds like a more complex, but reliable system. Toned down red sounds better too. They couldn't have made this one much brighter!
I've just inherited a load of Wrenn flexi track that used to be on my granddad's layout. No in the best condition, but I think it looks really nice so I might use it in a diarama or small shunting layout.
If I could travel back in time to 1991 and I had the money for that set I would buy the other Hornby Night Mail Express Set with the City of Nottingham Engine.
Great review Rob.
Cheers steve 👍
Sadly a friend of my Stepmoms parents has passed away and had a few model railway bits, one just happened to be this train set (-box), it's okay condition and hopefully this weekend I will crack it open and get the old girl running hopefully
Sad circumstances, but nice of them to pass it onto you.
@@LittleWicketRailway yes indeed, I didn't know him but apparently he collected old model cars
Also, Noel Edmund's likes trains! You learn something new everyday.
Loved this set as a kid
Hope you had more luck with your mail bags than I did 😂😂
@@LittleWicketRailway I was 10 when I had it. Never got them set up
That is a nice set
The ancillary coaches aren’t prototypical. They are Repainted StanierLMS coaches. Full brake vans would have been more prototypical.
Hornby Dublo were the first to do the Royal Mail set with the opening door on their tin plate coaches. The set you have might have retailed around £20 mark or slightly more Woolworths was not an high end store more middle of the road prices.
Thinking about it, my dad might have an older royal mail coach with the doors. Not tin plate, but 50s/60s.
I had the Night Mail Express with the 8P and maroon coaches. My memory is, while the mail bag system was a bit speed sensitive, it was much more reliable than your experience, I suspect age and wear and tear on the mechanism may have affected it, perhaps if you open the coach up and lubricated the mechanism it might be possible to make it work better. Perhaps not a hugely worthwhile thing to do, but maybe if you have children in the family of the right sort of age bracket, it might be entertaining for them for a while.
After making this video I found the original instructions and they show where you need to put the bag holder and the catcher. I suspect I'd have been more successful if I'd have followed the manual, but where's the fun in that...😄 Definitely entertaining for kids, I remember playing with this all the time.
It's quite odd that the class 47 is in the intercity livery, considering its a mail train. Perhaps they could've done it in a royal mail livery?
i would go back and buy both sets plus u have more track and mail wagons and locs to build a bigger layout
Look at the Hornby DUBLO TPO set from the 50s.Absolutely beautifully made of tinplate and tin printed.Worked straight out of the box.It picked up the mailbag and deposited another at the same time when you pressed a button.Dublo was expensive and far ahead of its time.Triang bought it then killed it off.There is still a lot of Dublo still around and it's still expensive.Most Dublo freaks want the 3 rail rather than 2 rail.
Woolies still open here in 🇩🇪
Shame no Hornsby box train sets
😩
If I could go back to woolworths in 1991, I would tell them not to sell their properties then lease them back. Thats why they went bust.
I would also buy all the 12" singles available and buy some gelatine snakes from the pick n mix
Wise words! The sign of a company desperate for cash maybe.
Pick n mix every time!
Haha 😂 That's a lot of pick 'n' mix!
hornby did a grey and white mail set which was really awesome but you had to have a long straight
I think I know the one you mean. They've also got a GWR one I think that looks quite nice.
@@LittleWicketRailway thats right and i think it was about 1984 but its a good on to get for the layout fits nicely into a presectorisation rake
My grandfather bought this set for 129 pounds.
Can you review a steam locomotive train set please?
You got it! Next one will be steam. Thanks for the request.
Hope you like the latest video and that I said your name right 👍
Rob
Hi Rob, it looks like a golden opportunity for DCC controlled Arduino automation. An Arduino in the mail car instructed by a DCC decoder controlling a well engineered mechanism. Might want add automation to the ground side too, by having the mail bag delivered to the post, and automated pick up from the bin.
While you're at it, some *wet weathering of the coaches would tone them down a great deal.
* washes of acrylic paint diluted 20:1 or more with distilled water, applied over the model which has been pre-wetted with distilled water; different colors applied without allowing the previous one to dry.
paint the roof gray
Its a bit late
Woolies still open here in 🇩🇪
Shame no Hornsby box train sets
😩
Good to know they're still going strong somewhere! But do they still sell Pick 'n' Mix???