GWR-fan

I have no interest in purchasing Dapol from China so, if not for this thread, I would have been none the wiser as to this practice. A quick check on Australian eBay showed many, many Dapol "O" gauge from China (including postage) for around half the cost of the same item from the United Kingdom. Apart from those aware of this practice the average consumer would be none the wiser and not realise that they were potentially purchasing a counterfeit product with no access to warranty should the need arise. The Chinese prices seems close to what the UK retailers were selling off Dapol "O" gauge in a recent "firesale".

Just a little annecdotal information but for years I have found that my best selling day is Sunday afternoon. I never use auction style bidding as I have always preferred "Buy it Now" so that both the buyer and myself know the selling price.

Perhaps a little selfish reaction on my part with the closing of the site, but for sixty days now I have not touched my wallet to purchase any model railway items. I have been tempted by a couple of new releases, particularly GWR related, however, like several recent new release purchases that have not met expectations, I have resisted the urge to spend. It surprised me how easy it was to break a spending habit that was virtually a daily experience for nearly the last ten years. Another benefit of the store's closure is that my eBay sales have boomed, so there was a silver lining (at least for me).

Perhaps through ignorance of the rules of eBay messaging, I get annoyed with buyers who ask me to remove an item and sell off eBay. EBay monitor messages and I do not wish to lose my ability to sell items on the site due someone trying to get an item a bit cheaper. I would rather sell at my listing price and pay the fees than risk any retaliatory action from eBay.

Like you I also find digital sound irritating. On my largescale railway after several minutes of multiple sound fitted locomotives running I would mute the sound. The effect was like taking a large Valium dose. It was like peace and tranquility had descended on me. That said one of my more prototypical sounding models was a frreelance Garratt type arrangement that I kitbuilt from numerous LGB (mainly Stainz) parts and household items onhand. The boiler is a length of PVC piping and the piping taken from wire coathangers. However, what I did was mount a Massoth 3 watt speaker inside the firebox with the back of the speaker porting forward through the length of the boiler barrell. I actually like the sound produced. The decoder is from Massoth. The model is pure fantasy and was lettered to suit other Rugen models that I had.

When the store was operating I was a prolific customer with large boxes arriving weekly. Oddly with the store's closure I have not purchased a single railway item from any other store in the last two months. Also strangely I have no wish to buy anything new that at one time I was attracted to. The QC issues with some recent releases and long term reliability doubts has also diminished any enthusiasm for a new release purchase. Perhaps the store has done me a big favour.

At one time I had more Lima Mk1 coaches than I have fingers and toes but they were relegated to the eBay bin after my stock of Bachmann and Hornby Mk1 stock improved in quantity. Then I found a rake of three Lima mk1 coaches on the now defunct Hattons pre-owned site and purchased them. Someone had spent a lot of time on this set of three Southern Region coaches, with the installation of flush glazing being the most impressive improvement I have seen. From a distance the coaches could be mistaken for more expensive versions.

When a locomotive with this chassis, is running it is a very smooth, relatively quiet drive. I have repaired numerous Hornby locomotives and apart from the West Country/BofB and Rebuilt Merchant Navy drives, this can drive chassis is up there with my most frustrating to work on, not because of complexity but the issues that seem to plague each of the models that I have. I actually have a supply of CD drive motors purchased mainly for Lima conversions but I have done a couple of Hornby conversions. Before converting all the Lima models I got so peeved off with the poor power pickup, mainly due the crusty seemingly non-conductive wheelsets Lima used and actually sold off all my Lima models before I could complete the conversions.

The chassis used in this model and the "Legends" "Nunney Castle" (and possibly more) is an upgrade from the old Dapol/Hornby ringfield loco drive version. I purchased several of these drives believing them to be better than the old ringfield drive, but alas, not so. On paper the drives lok great with black can motor and brass (copper) bushes on each axle plus separate power feeds to the DCC 8-pin plate, dispensing with the old live chassis return as on the ringfield drive. Most of my locomotives suffer with slipping drive gear and stripped coupling rod mount bosses in the centre drive wheels (perhaps due initial assembly as unlike many other Hornby models, there is no brass insert in the wheel hub). Also the power pickups are not secured to the lower inner chassis cover plate. At one time perhaps during assembly heat was used to "stick" the strips to the plastic cover. All but one purchased new. Some I stripped for whatever usable parts could be gained but today my tolerance was sorely tested and I decided to get at east one mobile. While a simple drive it is fiddly and frustrating to reassemble. In the abscence of a serviceable axle drive gear I decided that the gear would need to be reattached using the unreliable superglue method. The gear and axle knurling were thoroughly cleaned of oil deposits. The gear was a relatively tight fit on the axle but did rotate under load so perhaps there is some chance of success, but I am not confident of a successful outcome. Another unreliable part is the retention of the coupling rods and connecting rods to the centre drive wheel given that the threads in the drive wheel plastic hub are stripped. I am hoping that friction will hold them in position, however, like the unreliable gluing of the axle gear, long term reliability is not in the future. Perhaps the loco could just be used "light" engine with minimal load on the drive. I now have doubts as to my Legends "Nunney Castle" purchased new and never used plus several other later release Railroad locomotives that use a similar drive. A pity as the design could have been better executed and a can motor drive chassis has to be a step up on the old ringfield drives used in these models (at least that was my thinking at the time, but now not convinced). Edit: the end result was a very smooth running model (but for how long??????).

For me there are positives and negatives of the store closing. A positive is that local eBay sales have increased. The negative is that I will miss the copious metres of bubble wrap and the numerous boxes which means that now after years of never having to source boxes and bubblewrap I am going to have to find a supplier.

I still cannot bring myself to delete the favourites link to the store, hoping it has all been a bad dream. Optimistically, I click on the link with fingers crossed with expectations of a positive finding, but alas, I need to come to terms with reality. Hattons has been a ritual daily part of my life for many years looking for something that I wanted.

As others have commented, my final order arrived this morning courtesy of Royal Mail and was delivered in multiple relatively large boxes. I paid GBP17.00 postage for tracked mail and the package was less than 2kg. In reality the contents of both packages could have easily fitted into a single box as there was more bubble wrap than contents in each box. I am not complaining, but my final order, given that all the items were heavily discounted, could not have been financially lucrative for the company. I still do check the pre-owned listings occasionally hoping this has all been a bad dream, but alas no items listed.

Peter, many thanks, however, the "current" stated postage cost for worldwide is a definite turn off to a potential worldwide customer who may be none the wiser as to the new process being trialled. Hopefully, the possible revised postage cost will make it more attractive to those who wish to use your site in the future. I purchased a lot of spares pre-covid, however, the massive spike in shipping cost during covid made purchasing spare parts uneconomical.

Peter, perhaps true for UK deliveries but this is a direct copy from your store website. "Worldwide £0.00 up to £100.00 £39.99 By Royal Mail tracked Airmail service. Orders between £100.01 - £500.00 by tracked Airmail £39.99"

Good luck with getting this fixed as the "experts" believe it is a minor issue impacting on very few models. My two are similarly affected. Unless one actually places the model on a flat surface and not the railhead, then the torsional distortion will not be readily noticeable. I am sure the problem is more widespread than is being acknowledged. Edit: I am curious if anyone has removed the bogies and placed on a flat surface to see if the standalone bogie is distorted, i.e., the six wheels do not sit flat on the surface, or if the issue is with the way the bogies are suspended in the chassis. There have been several "workarounds" to mask the problem. The apologists will simply state send it back for rectification but as you have found you will possibly just get the same model returned to you with a note, "Unable to fault". I was hoping that the "booster" would lift the EFE Rail "second tier" market image but it would appear not.

For Australian customers eBay will not be the answer for many for new or particularly secondhand goods. Hattons were popular, not just for the economical shipping costs, but also VAT was removed from the selling price, making the deal more attractive. There will be no VAT reduction on eBay and on top of that eBay will automatically add the 10% GST. Add to that the ridiculous Global Shipping Program cost and the deal is dead in the water. The Australian market will not dry up with the closure of the store, but it will take a hit. Edit: as regards shipping costs, Peters Spares want a minimum GBP39.99 to ship a few tiny Hornby spare parts, whereas in the past the same items would ship for GBP7.00. I used to purchase a lot of spares from the store but since covid when the store attracted a few negative feedback responses on their eBay site they increased the cost of postage dramatically and this translated over to their web store as well. Several years ago I wanted to purchase two small decals from an eBay seller who used GSP. The cost to ship two small decals was GBP23.95. When I queeried the seller he relisted the items with "normal" shipping and the cost was GBP1.93. His reponse was he had no idea how much the GSP cost his buyers.

I do wonder with the closing of Hattons if other stores will be anticipating a "windfall" of new customers. Seemingly, unlike many others, I basically stuck with the store for almost all my purchases. I did make the occasional purchase from Rails and Kernow and while the service was excellent at both of these stores, I preferred Hattons. With Rails what turned me off was not knowing the cost of postage until after I had been charged for it (twice I was slugged a very expensive courier shipping cost when each time the items ordered could have easily been sent in packages less than 2kg by Royal Mail at roughly half the cost. With Kernow I was aware of how much postage would be but then I had to estimate the actual weight of a package as the store broke down postage cost as either 1kg or 2kg. So when adding items to a cart I had to be extremely conservative lest I exceeded the weight range. As far as I was aware only Hattons actually displayed the weight of each item, so maximising the amount I could fit within a given weight range was very simple and accurate. I am reasonably confident that I will not be patronising these other stores with the volume that I have had with Hattons in the past. Most likely any further purchases will be only an occasional special interest item, if at all. The closure of the store has highlighted the confidence that I felt buying from the site in the past and while I have the confidence that the other stores will provide a friendly efficient and professional service, in my mind, they are not Hattons.

For several years now I have been receiving regular shipments in the 6 - 8 kg range via DHL Express and trunk packages were never separated. Possibly the store has run out of larger packing boxes and is using what is onhand. However, not very cost effective. Normally I opted for DHL Express for shipments to Australia, but seemingly coinciding with the imminent closure of the store, a new Royal Mail selection appeared, which, for packages less than 2kg, was several British pounds less expensive than previously for the same weight and was tracked.

The pre-owned listings would appear around 3am local time. It aseemed that my night time trip to the loo coincided with this time in the morning. I would make a cup of tea and then sit back and enjoy the newest pre-owned lisitings, hoping each day to get that elusive bargain or two or three. I found that if you simply added to the cart then by the time you had perused the listings half of the items picked were no longer available. Basically if I wanted the item it had to go to my trunk immediately, thus numerous single payments were needed. You snooze, you lose. I had assumed that I would be addicted for sometime into the future hoping to get a bargain that no longer existed, but after seeing my bank statement this past month being the lowest expenditure ever, it seems that I am cured.

I roll the wheelsets individually along a flat surface to ensure that the sets run true. If a wheel is drilled off centre or the insulating bush is misaligned then a wheel will wobble as it moves along the surface. When I had largescale trains I would replace the stock plastic wheels on LGB coaches/wagons with either LGB metal wheels (which always ran true) or the less expensive Bachmann metal wheels. However, I had to factor in that in a pack of four axles that the wheels would not run true on at least one axle per pack. I would mix and match known good wheels on an axle to get a true running axle. At $12.50 an axle there was considerable wastage to get a wobble free piece of rolling stock.

Many years ago, around thirty or so, when I was into N scale American prototype, LifeLike made a beautiful E8 diesel locomotive in multiple roadnames. I was so impressed that I purchased around thirty of them at $23.95 each. One day in my then local model shop I overheard a conversation between the shopowner and the brand distributor. The shopowner was complimenting the distributor on the quality of the models. The distributor responded that he had visited the production facility in China where the locomotives were made, which was little more than a tin shed with a leaky roof. As the saying goes, do not judge a book by its cover.

While my future bank balance will be pleased, with regrets I cleared my final trunk with the store. Initially, I resisted purchasing from the store as it required a credit card payment without a PayPal option. I watched as Bachmann 4-CEP sets sold new for GBP62.00, Hornby illuminated Pullmans just over GBP20.00, new Bachmann Mk1 coaches around GBP12.00 and Collett coaches around GBP15.00. Once the store offered PayPal as a payment option I was like a kid in a candy shop. Then came along the many firesales which in hindsight and a little forethought I could have cleaned up. Heljan prototypes like "Lion" were selling for GBP70.00 and class 26 and class 27 GBP60.00 each. Bachmann Windoff tractor units were GBP60.00 each. If only I had a crystal ball back then. Only a few years later these items were marked up 300% plus. Those were the days to make hay, but alas I was a little hesitant not realising that the cost of new items would quickly spiral upwards tagging the used item prices along with them. All distant memories now.

Is that not what RapidoAndy seemingly sarcastically asked several posts back?

I converted four lima GWR railcars with the Peters Spares replacement wheels and the performance improved dramatically even with just the stock power pickup.

Well if that is the production standard then no more EFE Rail or associated affiliates on my future radar. I did actually read your original post where you stated that not all wheels need to be in contact with a flat surface. Nice edit.