• Update: See our hands-on Hornby Elite Review here
• Also, check out the specs of the Hornby Elite compared to other DCC systems here
• Intensive layout testing of the Hornby Elite and Select units here

Darth Vader made a dramatic entrance on Saturday at the London Toy Fair and headed straight for the model railway arena. Refusing to sign autographs, when questioned about his interest in model trains he simply breathed heavily and clenched his fist. I took this as a sign and moved quickly out of his path.
Having left the Bachmann and Hornby stands relatively unscathed, I was able to follow in Darth Vader's tracks and take a few pictures. Dennis Lovett of Bachmann kindly offered to open up their glass cabinets and they pointed me in the direction of locomotives and rolling stock that would be of particular interest to Model Rail Forum members. Bachmann also had several locomotives operating with sound chips and this seemed to draw the interest of every visitor. The sound was superb and anybody who has a chance to listen to Bachmann locomotives with sound chips will almost certainly want to operate locomotives with sound chips fitted.
I was standing by a real Class 20 at the Crewe show when the owner started up and allowed the engine to chug before clearing the cylinders by revving the engine releasing a cloud of black smoke. The sound then was music to the ears and it is amazing that Bachmann have managed to capture an identical sound. Bachmann claim that the Deltic sound will be absolutely as stunning!
Hornby had a full working layout operated by a pre-production version of their new digital system and Simon Kohler was pleased to report that the unit had remained robust and reliable for the entire duration of the show. The same digital unit will be appearing at the European Toy Fair in Nuremburg during February. There were no pre-production models of the M7 or King Arthur on show, or any of the new UK outline Lima models, however Simon assured me that grey pre-production moulds had been produced and the results were very satisfactory.
There are not too many Hornby loco shots in the gallery as Model Rail Forum already has good coverage of the new range so I went around the Hornby stand picking subjects that I considered may be of interest to Model Rail Forum members.
So to visit the Model Rail Forum London Toy Fair 2006 picture gallery click the link below:-
London Toy Fair 2006 Picture Gallery
And for those who have arrived late and missed the Bachmann 2006/07 Range press release there is a link included here for this story also:-
Bachmann 2006/07 Range Press Release
Happy modelling
Gary
• Also, check out the specs of the Hornby Elite compared to other DCC systems here
• Intensive layout testing of the Hornby Elite and Select units here


Darth Vader made a dramatic entrance on Saturday at the London Toy Fair and headed straight for the model railway arena. Refusing to sign autographs, when questioned about his interest in model trains he simply breathed heavily and clenched his fist. I took this as a sign and moved quickly out of his path.
Having left the Bachmann and Hornby stands relatively unscathed, I was able to follow in Darth Vader's tracks and take a few pictures. Dennis Lovett of Bachmann kindly offered to open up their glass cabinets and they pointed me in the direction of locomotives and rolling stock that would be of particular interest to Model Rail Forum members. Bachmann also had several locomotives operating with sound chips and this seemed to draw the interest of every visitor. The sound was superb and anybody who has a chance to listen to Bachmann locomotives with sound chips will almost certainly want to operate locomotives with sound chips fitted.
I was standing by a real Class 20 at the Crewe show when the owner started up and allowed the engine to chug before clearing the cylinders by revving the engine releasing a cloud of black smoke. The sound then was music to the ears and it is amazing that Bachmann have managed to capture an identical sound. Bachmann claim that the Deltic sound will be absolutely as stunning!
Hornby had a full working layout operated by a pre-production version of their new digital system and Simon Kohler was pleased to report that the unit had remained robust and reliable for the entire duration of the show. The same digital unit will be appearing at the European Toy Fair in Nuremburg during February. There were no pre-production models of the M7 or King Arthur on show, or any of the new UK outline Lima models, however Simon assured me that grey pre-production moulds had been produced and the results were very satisfactory.
There are not too many Hornby loco shots in the gallery as Model Rail Forum already has good coverage of the new range so I went around the Hornby stand picking subjects that I considered may be of interest to Model Rail Forum members.
So to visit the Model Rail Forum London Toy Fair 2006 picture gallery click the link below:-
London Toy Fair 2006 Picture Gallery
And for those who have arrived late and missed the Bachmann 2006/07 Range press release there is a link included here for this story also:-
Bachmann 2006/07 Range Press Release
Happy modelling
Gary