MattA

I suppose that different people have different opinions of 'sensible price', but I reckon that a half price Patriot is decent value... https://www.kernowmodelrailcentre.com/p/58734/R3614-WSL-Hornby-Patriot-Class-Steam-Locomotive-number-5521 *not much in stock at the time of posting, so sorry if it's out of stock by the time you read this And it's gone. It was worth a shot I suppose...

I've updated this list from early last year, in case it's of any interest to @Firecrackeror anyone else modelling a preserved railway Preserved might have beens Upd 10-22.pdf

As if the Begian GP hadn't already disproved that

I've got my Calbourne now and I'm pleased with it. The running plate is straight and true, and it runs smoothly and quietly. It can haul quite a lot on level track, but very little on an uphill gradient - but haulage is no great concern to me as my layout is not very large and thus demands small trains.

The principle is fine, if they kept it as subdued as the Pirelli award for most fastest laps during the course of a season - which is another meaningless little trophy but quite harmless

It's neither difficult nor expensive to clean wheels, so dirty wheels have yet to really bother me. Such thinking was how I picked up a limited edition Bachmann 47, in a unique livery and in fine fettle, off a secondhand shelf for less than £80 - it had no box, so people didn't see the value in it!

Unfortunately the shop I'd ordered Chale from didn't have any left to send - sold out on pre-order! To their credit they didn't mess about and refunded in full. Fortunately for my malachite cravings, the IOW seem to have some Calbournes still in stock, so I've ordered one of those. It's not every day when the regular production run vanishes from stock before the Limited Edition!

aka "run of models that aren't Hornby" - I can't take Sam seriously when he keeps dunking on pretty much any manufacturer except Hornby and Hattons

All this talk about an engine being painted in two different shades of green reminds me of a certain large prairie (I say with apologies to Didcot!)... As the saying goes, "there's a prototype for everything"!

I get the impression that it won't be long until nobody has any Malachite ones left in stock, with the mainland ones not far behind... I've placed an order for a Chale, looking forward to it

Yeah I hadn't seen the prices on the Kernow site. That's pretty reasonable. Hopefully they run as good as they look because I feel that I'm going to be getting one!

That's a big price for a small tank engine. Then again, everything is getting expensive these days... Hopefully these will run nicely, because an O2 would be very appropriate for my layout.

Mercedes are clearly not putting Silverstone behind them if having Hamilton hold up the Red Bulls is anything to go by. Rather against the spirit of the rules, but legal by the word of the rules. This championship hunt is getting Carolina Reaper-spicy!

Yuki seems to be the latest in a long line of victims of Red Bull's apparrent "promote early and pile the pressure on" approach... I wonder if he could have done well with another season in F2, and he probably would be trouncing the opposition there.

That is properly embarassing for Red Bull. The short version of the stewards document is that "Red Bull didn't discover any new evidence at all, they just created new evidence using PowerPoint - case dismissed" Ferrari using Sky Sports analysis a couple of years ago was one thing, but imo Red Bull have managed to trump that by having clearly not learned from Ferrari's mistake, which showed that any 'new evidence' in such a case has to be proper.

To the surprise of absolutely nobody except a few people at Red Bull

If I was in charge I'd keep Perez/Albon/Gasly where they are

From what I've seen, it appears that Hamilton is willing to at least try and bury the hatchet, but Max is having none of it. Part of me says 'good grief Max/RB, just give it up', but another part of me's intrigued as to what kind of fireworks we might get on-track (hopefully no more hospital visits though!)

Now I'm having a debate in my head as to how many/which liveries to order - they all look fab!

At first glance, it's not a bad looking thing - although I approach with caution, having been a bit disappointed with the mogul. If I was to nitpick, then a few small details stand out to me... * The BR-era smokebox numberplates just look wrong - the numbers appear to be much too small. * The Dapol green, as on the mogul, can't hold a candle to Bachmann's efforts. * I'm curious as to the plate behind the crosshead - it's not a dealbreaker for me, but I wonder how that's come about?

I've seen the "Russell's signed for Mercedes" and/or "Bottas knows it's his last season at Mercedes" thing come up so often in the past couple of months that I think it's a done deal and a very badly-kept secret.

Personally I think Russell's penalty was fair - Carlos left him a car park's worth of space yet George still understeered into him. Anyway, I agree with what the BBC radio commentators said yesterday - very much not sold on the sprint format, and the only reason there was any entertainment yesterday was because there were 2 or 3 cars out of position. On the other hand, it does make me excited for next year as the Q3 tyre rule will be gone in 2022.

I was reading a Nat Pres thread on the BR 3MT tanks recently. It appears that 82006 was sold to Barry, along with 3 Nine Elms shedmates (35009, 35027 and 35029). The Merchant Navies did of course end up at Barry, subsequently being saved for preservation, however 82006 somehow ended up at Buttigiegs, Newport, and was scrapped. In a similar vein, one contributor claims to have come into possesion of number of consignment labels detached from steam locos arriving in South Wales for scrap. Among these was a label for 82010, marked “Woodham Bros. Barry”. Alas, the engine ended up at Bird's...

Thomas had never seen such bull**** before: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-Thomas-Mavis-Quarry-Diesel-Tram-Engine-OO-HO-Brand-New-Bachmann-Like-Hornby/124510233483

Surely it would be cheaper to grab a Hornby/Airfix 14xx and have it repainted? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hornby-Railway-Thomas-Train-OLIVER-Engine-HO-OO-Scale-BARELY-USED-HTF-USA-SELLER/143967157634