FluffyFeathers

Thanks, I'll try. I have my doubts, now, about the whole thing to be honest. For me, as a single parent it's a risk. Looks like my son could only have a straight board 4'-5' long. I'm still thinking it through. Thanks everyone for your input.

Thanks everyone, I'm grateful for the advice. I've taken everything onboard. I try and get someone to figure out the track curves, not sure my boy has fully considered that. Do I take it that most of these models are okay, work well and last then?

Hi thanks for the advice and information. My son has his heart set on O gauge and tells me that Dapol is almost as cheap as OO. I'm not taking his word for that! But he just wants a L shaped board, a few wagons and buildings. I'll also have a look on eBay then. Thanks again.

Hi, Thanks for the heads up, I think that I understand the situation here now. My son is 12, he has his heart set on O scale, like his granddad had, but more modern, if that makes sense. Thanks for the advice on your own experience with these too.

I came here as single parent as my son had asked for a Dapol 08 loco as joint birthday and Christmas present. He's a fan of the great model railway challenge and would like a small O gauge shunting layout. As it would be a purchase that required some thought, I did a Google search, that led me here. So I joined up (my father used to have model railway too, in O scale). I hoped to find out about all of the in's and outs of the model, whether it was any good or not. Or if there were other options. I had thought that model trains were a gentlemanly pursuit - how wrong I was, lol.I can't understand the controversy as my needs are to be able to read all opinions. As a potential purchaser I want to know the warts and all views on this engine, and if it's reliable, other peoples experiences and reviews are all welcome. I'm now not sure if this is the place for me to get to the bottom of whether or not to buy this model engine or not. The general gist that I'm getting from some posters is that this site isn't truly independent? Have I missed something, is the site owned by a manufacturer? Sorry if I've missed something, I'm a novice. Am I correct in thinking that? If it is not, where can I go to get that sort of information? And there was me thinking that twitter was where all the action is! Ha ha!

Depends on the issue in hand. Eg swearing, abuse, hate crimes etc, or commentary on a model and customer services, a customers' experiences etc. Depends if the fellow accused has the right to reply or not I guess. What did he write/do?

I've started reading this thread from page one. I wondered why there were gaps. I would rather see honest appraisals and long term user reviews.