"Kevin" wrote
I've said this here before and I'll repeat it for your benefit. Although certain items appeared in the Hornby 2004 catalogue and are now allegedly pushed back into next year because of the death of their designer. Hornby were never willing to take orders on these items - something they've never done in the past in my long experience.
My guess is that the class 31 and the Grange were never intended for release in 2004 and that's the reason why they wouldn't accept orders. That was the situation right from the start (before Christmas 2003 when the 2004 Trade Order Forms were initially released) long before the tragic health problem with their chief designer became known.
John.