Why are the new purchases non original HD?
Because the ones that are left to collect are very expensive and dont look any different to the ones on the layout. Ludlow Castle is the same as Bristol Castle except for the nameplate. The later 2-8-0 is identical except for the number but costs in excess of £350. City of Liverpool costs over £400 (even a restored one went for £250 on ebay) and is similar but not the same as Montrose and Atholl. One of the Mallard’s is affordable and could well be on my purchase list, the later version is silly prices. St Paddy, the Co-Co goes for £250+ and I have a Dorchester which had been superdetailed by the previous owner so was available at a reasonable price.
The City of Glasgow is the same as Liverpool but in BR Blue – more interesting. My St Paddy is a Crepello on a 3 rail chassis. The Lyme Regis adds Southern interest and augments the Dorchester. I think I will skip another 2-8-0 but sometimes the common ones do come up as re-painted in LMS black. There seems to be plenty of reasonably priced Wrenn Castles although these might be difficult to 3rail. The one that is expensive but might have to be added to my purchase list is the Southern Region EMU. This was amongst the very last locos made by HD in both 2 and 3 rail forms. Its a unique train as it is an “electric train” as run by SR. No one else makes anything similar for 3 rail so I might have to dig deep in the pocket to get one. If anyone has an unboxed two or three car set for sale I would love to hear from them.
With the new extension more trains will be able to be accomodated so the next couple of years should be interesting.

[img]https://www.dublorunner.com/uploads/img419a4bd32496d.jpg[/img]

Picture thanks to Paul Thompson’s layout. See his layout

[url=http://www.abchood.com/tomo68@ntlworld.com]Paul’s 3 rail layout[/url]