Downer

An ex-LMS 2-6-2T please. Fowler or Stanier, I’m not fussy. Both would be better.

Thus exposing the idiocy of the whole scheme, and perhaps leading to its abandonment.

Since a guaranteed successful pre-order seems to depend on the vendor’s tier status, isn’t there a moral obligation on Hornby to publicly announce which businesses are in which of their tiers?

Will Hornby reps be using damp fingers to check shop shelves for dust?

Does this statement provide any clarity when it comes to the issue of pre-ordering? If we the customers are being told that the security of our pre-orders increases the higher the tier our chosen vendor is in, then surely we need to be told which shops are in which tiers.

Cynical and unconvincing.

One could make a killing selling Tier One tee-shirts to the lucky proprietors. More seriously, the overall lack of transparency at work here is an insult to the consumer.

Sorry, I’m confused. If the above is true, why are eBay sellers quoting import duty costs on sales from the U.K. to the EU?

I’d much prefer your Wonder Locomotive.

Does this mean that those of us living in the EU can purchase our Hornby, Bachmann etc from Modellbahn and thereby bypass all the new problems involved in shipping from the U.K.?

Same here. Living in France, I’ve just been ordering stuff in small batches totalling less than £35, and so far no additional fees. Locos are pre-ordered at my long-time UK local model shop for eventual collection in person. I guess the crunch will come when 18000 is sent across to France by Rails. I’m assuming a big add-on, and trying to convince myself that’s just the price of living where I can afford enough space for a big layout.

Sheds and shed codes are included in some of the volumes but not all. Needs checking.

I bought a Hunslet shunter from them recently and the whole process was very quick, efficient and friendly.

As a cautionary aside, pale grey shows up details up much better than black, and comparing this with a black Bachmann model may well prove misleading. I remember being highly impressed by the pale grey EP of the Rails SECR D class, and somewhat disappointed by the liveried versions when they came along.

???