Vespa

I forgot to add that their is a new series of TV shows about Hornby due around Sept/Oct. I cannot remember which channel has comissioned it though. Maybe something will come to light on there regarding this new sales tier system.

I must ad that I dealt with 3 dealers in Devon and their customer approach was absolutely horrendous. One was great at first and on holiday we visited the shop and bought quite a bit. Then he became sarcastic as his bit of wit was as funny as S**T. The other was visited 2 times. In between visits a new owner took over who was related to Basil Fawlty and told me to "shift" my car as he may have loads of other customrs arriving. There was enough room for a Jumbo Jet to park. The third, I spent over £100 with on wagons on the Monday. On the Friday before we were to leave I wanted to get several coaches off him. We went back in the store and he almost accused me of stealing. It later transpired he had a mate who was filtching his stock and it made a TV show. Needless to say that lot would come under Hornby scrutiny for friendliness and knowledge. I think 2 have gone bust now.

Our chip shop is tier4 but doesn't sell Hornby. I think that Hornby have shot themselves in the foot with this new model of trading.

I have 12 display cabinets from Picture Pride Displays. They are not cheap but are well made. https://www.picture-pride-displays.co.uk/ I ordered them and collected rather than have them delivered and spent the day going for them. They are in Sandwell Birmingham. Some time back they took on an order from Hornby for the A4 gathering collection and got a bit overwhelmed with the delivery as they are a small company. I personally never had any problems and they rang me when they were ready. They are made to order.

There are a couple of interesting Train Packs at Hattons with a loco and rolling stock for £100 The loco is £99 and the rolling stock around £50 worth if anyone is interested.https://www.hattons.co.uk/491021/hattons_bundles_h4_b_p_002_branchline_passenger_bundle_with_secr_p_class_0_6_0t_31556_in_br_black_with_sec/stockdetail.aspx https://www.hattons.co.uk/491017/hattons_bundles_h4_b_ab_003_day_at_the_races_bundle_with_andrew_barclay_0_4_0st_1863_in_caledonian_railway_/stockdetail.aspx

I have 3 Trestrol that I bought some time back and changed all the wheels to modern standards. I also started to make up the trestles from plastic angle. Sadly that project went to oneside and never got finished. Perhaps I will start again after seeing this post.

May I recommend having a look at the photos on this website............ http://www.davidheyscollection.com/index.htm Sadly David passed away last year but his website survives due to his daughters' efforts. There are many hundreds of photos from all eras and locations. If you scour the Peco catalogue there are oil Barrels (5067) and other small items. Look also at Preiser model figures etc and there are odds and ends there. I am at present making up a small double engine shed based loosley on Huntley & Palmers factory shed from two Dapol sheds. I intend having steel barrels near to for oil supply a couple of small packing cases, some fire buckets and am still seaching for other items. The shed kits arrived today and I will be getting some Evergreen H and L steel girders to make central supports, as I am losing two walls when they go together. Wills SS22 huts are interesting as they are lamp huts with barrels for parrafin. Station clutter is usually minimal but trollies as in the Dapol passenger pack and Station accessories are useful. Parcels on trollies or just waiting at the side of the platform. Please do have a look at Davids website for real train references. It is a big site so beware it is infectious once you start looking. Also have a look at these items from Knightwing http://www.knightwing.co.uk/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?next=0&cart_id=1566658093.316&product=OO-HO_Lineside_Kits

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Well, I am not an N guage modeller but you really have captured Dallam sidings (shed) very well indeed. I have spent many hours there in my younger days. I also have photos there, now in the National Archive, from steam days. I also live around 2 miles from there.

4/5 of nothing with the reciprocal of 9.3. Gradients are totally useless on model railways and building the base boards to accept up and down hill effects without actually raising or lowering the track and thus not having running problems.

The cottages look like those at the start of the TV prog "A place in the country"

Thank you all for your replies and especially to Campaman for the great link to that layout. So subtle yet so real looking.

Has anyone ever modelled a rainy day layout? We see many sumer, autumn, spring and winter settings but all those will have rainy days at some point. Perhaps just one small section or the whole thing could have the rainy day effect. I would assume that either a glos or semi gloss varnish would suit roofs, platforms etc. So has anyone done it?

I was interested in this battery box position and have spent a couple of hours looking at photos of the first batch of 20 locos. It is hard to find photos of Exeter in unrebuilt form but several others I have viewed have battery boxesover the front buffer beam. Some appear as the Hornby model and others seem recessed with the electric lights above practically hiding the battery. Later photos of Exeter in rebuilt form show the battery box on the front buffer beam, with the exception of one photo which has no battery box visible. This sort of thing also happened on the Britannia class where the battery box was usually on the right side near the cab when fitted. On some locos it was fitted on the left side under the cab. I am assuming that Hornby must have got this correct on the latest model of Exeter as many small discrepancies on much of the later models are correctly depicted. One range being the Stanier Class 5. Top feeds were altered for different batches along with fireboxes and on one model I have, the experimental oiler fitting on the front left cylinders, is modelled. I have seen photos of many of the first 10 WC's in unrebuilt form and all seem to have the battery box. Sadly only photos of 34001 that are abundent are of the rebuilt period and as I have said one photo shows no sign of a battery box. Do you have any phot links to show it is modelled incorrectly? https://railway-photography.smugmug.com/SRSteam/Bulleid-Locomotives/Light-Pacific-Class/3400134020-Built-1945/3400134004/i-tZp2TJH/A

I remember going to look at a wedge shaped Austin many years ago, in my work clothes, and the salesman said to me "can you really afford this sir?" I took umbridge and walked out with him following carrying a sarcastic smile and got into my Austin 3 Litre. His faced dropped. On another occasion I was looking at a Volvo and asked how much would they give me for my Rover against the car in the showroom. The salesman there told me to go across the road to the MG Rover dealer and get them to give me a price. I did and bought another Rover. I also wrote to the Volvo sales manager to thank him and his salesman for guiding me to another Rover. Not wishing to rabbit on about cars but I am having trouble trying to get VW to stop bothering me both locally and from head office about buying another VW. I cannot seem to make them understand I now buy Jaguars.

Interesting to see Christine in the shop area quite a lot too. She is Chairperson with now only a 25%(or more) stake in the business.with Richard Davies having 75% (or more) shares. https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/11057887/persons-with-significant-control

Well, I have read all the replies and agree with many. My experience on one holiday in Devon with two shops on the same day was appalling. Shop 1 practically accused me of stealing even though I had bought £60+ of wagons the day before. I was very upset at this and when he found the "stolen" items with his assistant on the counter just slid out to the back of the shop with no apology. Shop 2, which I had dealt with by post, told me to shift my car off the car park to the side in case anyone else needed to park. There was enough room for 3 other cars to park next to me. I made a special journey to that shop of around 30 miles each way. With that I shifted my car and drove off and have never dealt with them since. It is not always nasty customers but two shops on the same day was just too much for me. Maybe I should have just got nasty????

I must say my attempts with acrylic paints was disasterous so I stick with enamels. Just old fashioned I suppose. The acrylics were Tamiya.

This week I got 2 Heljan 02's for £89 each from Hattons and a new Maunsell restaurant car from Jadlam for £42 inc del. THe Restaurant cars are also in stock at £43.25 from Waltons in Altrincham, whereas Hattons and rails want the full list price. These coaches are really nice models.

I bought one a while back and it's fine. Hattons have them on massive discount. I just got an 02/3 and 02/4 for £89 each thats £90 off list.

For those of you who may have used David's website, I was shocked to read that David died on March 17th 2018. As I had lost some interest in railways I haven't visited his site for a while until this week and saw the sad news. http://www.davidheyscollection.com/

This subject appears regularly and I actually contacted a local oil company who would make me 25 ltrs of plastic compatable thin oil for £75. The idea was to put it into small applicator bottles and sell it to the trade and privately. Then I had to source suitable bottles and eventually the cost rose above that of what is already available. So the ones on the market now are relatively good value for money even if they seem expensive. Bachmann Woodland scenics do various oils and greases and a full service pack with all types.

Just to put in my two pennorth here. I have found Modelmaster (Jim and Elspeth) to be one of the best retailers in model railways for my numberplate and transfer needs. I was very upset to get the first email and very pleased to get the second one saying that he is not retiring. I have always had great service from them and am relieved that for the forseeable future they are continuing. Thank you Jim and Elspeth for a great service. Vespa (the Britannia nut. That will give you a clue who I am.)

If you are talking Stanley type blades, Screwfix sell them @ £3.99 /100 https://www.screwfix.com/p/trimming-blades-pack-of-100/35222