Of all the super-detailed coaches introduced by Hornby since 2002, the Stanier range are the least impressive. This is no failure on the part of Hornby but due to the appearance of the prototype coaches themselves. They were neat, but not characterful. Since Meccano Ltd introduced their Hornby Dublo Stanier coaches in 1948, the changes in appearance of successive models of the type have been far less obvious than with the Pullmans, Gresleys and Maunsells - all of which are strikingly different from the ones they replaced .

The current Hornby Staniers therefore deserve a closer look. With a magnifying glass you can see that the door handles and grab rails are individually attached, the lighting cables that run along the roof are separate attachments (in the past they were always moulded in), the corridor connectors have removable end boards, the buffers are sprung, the couplings are for close coupling and are designed to extend on bends to prevent buffer-locking, there is under-floor detail missing from earlier attempts at modelling this type, the glazing is semi-flush without the bottle effect, there are 'no smoking' stickers on windows and the interior units are nicely detailed.

The latest releases seen here are in post nationalisation maroon and consist of an all 3rd numbered M1883M (R4235B) and a brake 3rd numbered M5629M (R4236B). Alternative couplings for close coupling coach sets and corridor connectors are supplied in a separate bag within the box.