Helmdon

There have been a couple more recent than that!

I think we need to be a bit careful about reading out what's going on from one line being open about things. Without casting aspersions at any line in particular, anecdotally in the volunteer world it's not just the SVR in trouble. The difference (at the moment) is that the SVR is being open about it and others (naming no names) are trying to trade out of it or keep very quiet and hope for the best. High stakes times all round really. One or two lines did very well last year, so there are genuine good news stories. I think as a movement though, the defining characteristic at the moment is one of 'heads in sand'. Time will tell. I reckon the SVR is doing the right thing (now), and will be fine. On the other hand I am sadly expecting casualties somewhere in the movement from what's going on.

this is currently being done to death on the SVR thread on NatPres. General consensus is that the SVR's galas are profitable, and that's why they're unaffected. Also that it's difficult to see how you extract cost from them without hitting value, and given that they are profitable, best leave well alone and focus on the bits that are bleeding money.

Fair enough - I’ll be heading in the opposite direction.

thanks - it's just we've got a massive model of Woodford Halse in the 1940s and 50s and I fancy it making a guest appearance for one night only if I can be sure that I'm not going to kill it!

Quick question - anyone know if the motor is likely to have a violent disagreement with old school (duette era) controllers? At home I use Gaugemaster, and have a couple of coreless motored engines so keep my controllers up to date. The club, on the other hand, is 1970s tech (and mostly 1970s kit - it's an extensive 50 year old permanent display layout) - but there's a running night tonight and an A5 is perfect....

And also, they got used on the Woodford Halse -Banbury ‘Motor’ more often than you’d think (given they were never allocated to Woodford) from the start right through to the 50s. Overhauls in the north meant they had to pass through Woodford on their trips to and from overhaul. They were frequently held over (what with Woodford being a good combination of big and busy/congested, and would be used on local trip working while lurking about there.

I’m about 800 yards from the Midland (in SMJ guise) crossing over the GC heading east…

I've been thinking about this - how Lucknow sold out so quickly and the others didn't. I wonder if it was a combination of serious modellers not wanting the white roof, people really wanting Hardwicke but not twigging it was available elsewhere (ie seeing that a Precedent was being made and ordering the first LNWR black one they saw in the Rails advert...) or what? It just seems very odd that Lucknow could apparently have sold a few more, and all the others are/were hanging around a bit more. Obviously, as a Lucknow owner, it doesn't really affect me!

I want a B16. I suspect a Coffee Pot

Pretty obvious which Bamford that came from

B16 ideally

I've certainly seen one working a service train of 2, in the last dying days of the GC extension

arguably they currently use Dublo for the sort of things they could have been using the Bassett-Lowke brand for... Not that I'm against them using Dublo the way they are, but it's a straight nostalgia play, and they're having to build the premium associations (which is fair enough but they still have to do it); whereas IMO with B-L they could have had nostalgia and premium straight out of the box (so to speak). The bizarre excavation of the B-L brand the other year, and the purpose it was put to, remains where it came from - left field.

Exactly - they have what look like bargains, what look like fair prices, and what look 'ambitious' - but I buy what I want from them and have never felt that I've over paid - if I want something and I think they've priced it too high, I don't buy it or buy it elsewhere. And they remain, for me (and only IMO) my default for used locomotives. I've put a lot of money their way over the years, and still trust their descriptions more than some bloke I've never met on ebay. At worst, as someone else noted upthread, I've got something better than described - never (yet) worse. Fundamentally, they're a retailer - I don't want them to be my best friend, and I accept they're out to make money. I want them to be, and genuinely find them to be, quick, courteous, and *overall*, across multiple purchases, basically fair. Like I say, when I don't think an individual price is fair (or more accurately what I want to pay) I don't buy.

you might get lucky - mine is faultless, so pristine ones are out there!

Exactly, Sonic didn’t just make it up for one locomotive. Gorton did.

It’s got to look like the interior of Rugby. Obviously. lots of guard rails, extractor equipment, and men in brown coats smoking.

Read that earlier on (I’ve got a two year old and a newborn, what’s sleep?) - completely agree with it and reflects my own philosophy/abilities!

Perhaps I’m mad, but I genuinely consider my rolling road (DCC Concepts fwiw) as my smallest layout. I can sit mesmerised watching connecting rods doing their thing for ages. in fact, I don’t just use it for running in - sometimes I have it on my desk while working, with a favourite or not used for a while loco underway. Magic.

you say that - I was once left unattended with my 18 month old nephew. We were doing the 'hold up the toy and teach the sound it makes' game. As any good uncle would I spent several hours dutifully running through - cow/moo; pig/oink; sheep/baa etc etc. But I really confused his parents for several weeks afterward, and amused myself, by also throwing in goat/motorbike as a bit of curve ball....

I'm actually in the market for a FS. I hate the thing but it's actually right for my location and period. I just can't bring myself to buy one, and make do with Doncaster and Prince Palatine instead.

82045 should be within 24 months. Conceivably at least a warming fire this year.

Got a Nu-cast C13 - it's beautiful.

Primarily why I want one - York to Woodford Halse parcels was a regular B16 turn in the 1950s (and a variety of subclasses of B16 too). I've got a DJH B16, but modern RTR would be a straight purchase!