Allegheny1600

You might have struck lucky on the other hand! A good friend of mine, Jessie has an apartment in my favourite Greek village and one day, his wife sends him to buy a half kilo of chicken (Kotopoulou in Greek). Only he asks for a half kilo of Kolotpous by accident. ” I think you mean chicken “ says the butcher in English, serving him the appropriate meat. Kolotopous would be “ar5*h0les” - somewhat less pleasant!

I know I have been away for a while but I was surprised not to see any mention of this quite important news on here. Anyway, I came across this report about Heljan being “in crisis” over on DSO - which is a well known German forum called Drehscribe online (turntable online). An interview with Mr Kim Nannestad on Danish TV; https://www.tv2fyn.dk/nordfyn/se-videoen-nordfynsk-modeltogs-producent-presset-af-krisen Along with a transcript of the conversation that is translated from German by Google; “A different reality has occurred in a toy world that should breathe peace and tolerance. It is no secret that the crisis hits us everywhere. This is partly due to the war in Ukraine. Heljan develops and distributes model railways that are produced in China. After all, we pay all our things in China in dollars, and the cost increased by about 25% overnight. And we can't just say that our prices have to rise by 25%. Yes, you can, but then we don't sell anything at all. To make matters worse, the absolute best market for model railways, England, is also in crisis. When we say that we were hit, the English were hit even more, and not only because of the war in Ukraine and everything that goes with it, It is also because they have decided to leave the EU. Namely Brexit. They've done it before and they know it well. The company's nine employees are responsible for model railway accessories as well as various railways. In a good year, more than 50,000 model railways will be sold to both children and highly qualified adults. Of course, there are also so-called rivet counters, which, if I have done one or the other, say, ho, ho, that's nice, but normally it would have 20 rivets would have been around the window if, for example, I had only done 19. Says one of the company's designers working on a new model railway. I am in the process of finishing an English locomotive. A row 153. It costs at least DKK 1.8 million (approx. 245,000 euros), to design a new train, and the process from the drawing to the finished product can take up to three years. An expensive job in times of crisis. If it continues like this, I will probably say goodbye from one or maybe two employees, which I will be incredibly sad about because we are a small family here, and we have been the same family for many, many years. Not because Heljan had no experience with crises. Corona was also true, but in a way that helped to strengthen the liquidity of the company. With Corona, as I usually say, it doesn't matter if the shutters close again. And that's said with a smile on my face, of course I don't mean it that way, But Corona did us good. People couldn't travel. They couldn't do what they usually do as a family, so money was spent to model railways and hobbies in general. The yields cannot keep up with this move, but small signs of improvement are also welcome. This morning I met with one of our great importers spoken in England and he watches with confidence. He feels that the market is slowly changing. Not as fast as the rest of us would like, but that's changing. People go back to the model railway shops to shop.” (thanks to Gert1 from DSO) My own opinion of Heljan is not very high! A few years ago, I was very into the Danish railways and bought most of the then available H0 models. It was very noticeable that the Roco Nohab was a far superior model to the Heljan version although their coaches were quite nice. After I went more heavily into German railways, a few years later, I was very excited when Heljan announced their 0-8-0 centre cab diesel loco as it would have been a perfect match for a loco belonging to the OHE company, among others. Firstly, when it came out, the model was very expensive but later, I read so many horror stories on the German fora, I decided not to bother. Their British 00 models are rather hit and miss, there was the infamous class 17, a pretty centre cab diesel where all the motors had to be replaced, the misshaped class 52 Western (my favourite British diesel), arguably worst of all, the “tubby duff”, an over wide class 47 and many others where they got the shape not quite right - even to the present day with the current class 25 and 45 where the cabs are just not quite right! Sorry for the perceived ‘rant’ - I’m just setting the scene as I understand it. To be fair, they have also made some excellent models, the Hymek, the class 128, the smaller Sulzers and so forth. Cheers, John

I once knew a smashing chap called Alistair, whose second name I always forgot, sorry. He was an engineer and I think, a tankie who had taken part in the Normandy landings. He had worked on various projects and claimed to have possibly been responsible for the cancelling of the “Blue Streak” missile project! I had no way of verifying any of this, of course but he told me that he had spotted a way of making the engine more efficient - such that it could hit Moscow. Apparently, London grew very nervous about this as they didn’t want to directly threaten Moscow itself, just parts of the Warsaw Pact. Alistair said that after his improvements, the project was cancelled but - I always thought it was down to costs? Never mind! Alistair had a wonderful skill as a modeller, not in our discipline but in model ships, he had several, all probably post WWII and military, all built by himself and none smaller than about six feet in length. He had also designed and built a motorcycle engine that was very small and powerful but I don’t know if it was ever used. Sadly he died only about six months after I got to know him but I guess you could say he was a hero of mine. I don’t think you get to know too many people like that! I’ve met and much admire Professor Sir Roger Penrose and he’s utterly brilliant so maybe he’s also a hero of mine.

Me too! My iPad is actually getting quite old now, probably around ten years or so. As a matter of interest, @AY Mod - would it be possible to install a down arrow, please? Again, it’s probably due to my Jurassic iPad but when I scroll down through more than the first few minutes of VNC, once I’ve caught up with a topic I’m interested in and I go “back” to VNC - I get taken right to the top of the list of topics, especially if other topics have been added to. A “down” button would save much repeated scrolling. Many thanks in anticipation, sorry to be a bother. John

Those dates should be perfect! I went with my good lady in July once and it was awful! Hot and sticky. Cheaper hotels had no air conditioning so it was a huge relief to pay extra for the aircon in a better hotel. I can’t say about school holidays but I would suspect much the same as ours really.

If you have a week train riding in Germany, I am going green (with envy!) If you’re going to Hamburg, I understand the attraction to MW as it is the main tourist attraction there. Outside MW, the historic harbour itself is of interest if you like ships and shipping etc. However, there are considerable other attractions to be enjoyed in and around Hamburg. A visit to the main station (haupt bahn hof, Hbf) should be an eye opener for any rail enthusiast, similarly for Altona to observe traditional terminus operations. For sheer beauty, visit Dammtor station even if for only half an hour. On any of these main stations, do call in one of the book/magazine shops and see what choice and variety the Germans enjoy. Surely important for a British editor to size up how they do it abroad? Just outside Hamburg but easily accessible via the S-Bahn, is Hamburg Harburg (HH), this is a train watching location par excellence - if you don’t see more trains in one hour than at a typical UK location all day, then I’ll be surprised! You have numerous ‘Metronome’ services, usually loco push-pull, there also DB double deck push-pulls too. There may still be some DB intercity loco hauled trains as well as plenty of ICE traffic of different types. That’s passenger trains, freight is quite stupendous! International trains to and from Scandinavia, often at high speed. Port traffic on the other side of the station from the international stuff, this tends to trip down to the Maschen yard just down the line a few Km. Not for nothing is Maschen second only to Bailey yard on the Union Pacific in the USA. Block trains of coal, stone, iron ore, oil and containers, mixed trains of just about anything! DB, SNCF and just about any private operator going. Light engine movements aplenty. Finally, at weekends, it’s also possible to see preserved ‘specials’ similar to in the UK, steam, diesel or electric hauled. Actually, during the week, you can see privately owned diesels and electrics in classic liveries on various trains. You don’t have to be a German railways enthusiast to enjoy these things, just a railway enthusiast! Cheers, John

Kalimera! During my stay in Greece, we had our British car imported and we had to drive to the port of Piraeus to collect it. This was during one of the strict lockdowns but we had our paperwork so we were okay. It was rather stressful getting around, what a place! The port staff were friendly and even the custom’s people were mostly helpful, we knew to expect delays so it was a long day altogether. It was certainly an eye opener though. What I can say is that I recognise your backscene - it’s very well done and really captures the look and feel of the place, bravo.

Back in Henry VIII’s day*, quite a lot of people could speak both, fluently. Not the peasantry of course, just the educated classes. Et moi, j’parle un peu d’francaise. und, un bischen Deutsche. and, a little Greek too but I can’t spell any! *we did “own” quite a portion of France at that time.

There you go again with your suppositions and half truths. What actually happened was that after the Peco announcement, Heljan jumped on the bandwagon and staked their claim with ONE loco announcement and maybe two others, much later on. When Hornby made their large range announcement, Heljan pulled out - with relief that they didn’t have to continue from the way I read it. While there most likely won’t be another British manufacturer making such a large announcement, the genie is out of the bottle and smaller concerns will continue to enhance the range.

My mate messaged me earlier - he said that his resolution is to stop spending money on all these gorgeous model trains. He gives himself until about 11.30 tomorrow morning! For me, I’m going to get something running again.

Shoot! I should say not. I didn’t even get my first railway modelling magazine until I was around 12 years old (MRC) and although I still have it, I wouldn’t say that there was so much inspiration until May 1980 when the Constructor was full of EM gauge layouts, which I read until I had to buy a replacement copy several years later. Sadly, I never modelled in EM, I tried to be clever and jumped ahead to P4 but my skills and patience were never enough. Anyway, for me, inspiration has come continuously over the years - which is good in one way and a curse in another as I have ripped up projects or abandoned them due to fresh inspiration.

When I used to live in my parents house which was quite large and had a substantial garden, in the south west of France no less, I used to dream of “one day” building two decent sized sheds, one at each end of the garden and connecting the two sheds with a LOT of Peco 00 track! The two sheds would have been approximately 180 metres apart and separated by a vertical drop of about 10 meters, so I worked out that I would need a couple of spirals or loops of some kind. Either shed would probably have been some sort of homage to Paddington and Penzance albeit on a “Sundown and Sprawling” fashion. I was only a teenager! Come the age of 18 and I had returned to England to live on my own and presently my attention turned to American style layouts in H0 rather than 00 with maroon, green and blue diesels. Now, I have inherited the house in France but there is now a slight problem with me going to live over there - in that it’s no longer possible.

Hi Tim, Thanks for the extra information, I will keep an eye on your blog with pleasure but I’m afraid fb is no longer my cup of tea! In fact, I very recently asked for my account to be closed - I despise the whole thing. In fact, I detest the whole “social media” thing altogether - this forum is as close as I can go*. Cheers, John * I have my moments on here. Too many “know all’s” only too keen to show off how much they (don’t) know!

Thank you Tim, Only recently, I was lamenting that there are so few of this kind of topic on here! British fora seem to largely focus on “new” products and what’s wrong with them, if there are articles on improving older models, I seem to have missed them, perhaps they are buried within other topics? Whereas other countries fora do seem to make such articles/topics stand alone and possibly therefore much easier to find. Having several of these models, I will make an effort in the new year to emulate this. Cheers, John

Yes! 1Gb that rolls over every month and roaming but I won’t be going abroad for some time. I just don’t spend all that much time on the phone.

You do spout some spurious information! I have a smartphone and my monthly bill is £6.77

Clive, What was great about your layout is that it was innovative and full of at the time, unusual locos. Now, anyone can buy all those models but you had skill and vision to be able to put on such a show. More power to you, I say. Cheers, John

Hi David, All, I don’t know how I’ve missed the rest of this fascinating topic up until now, sorry it’s late! In answer to your query, all I can say is that I’ve only ever heard (read) the phrase “booster equipped” to describe locos fitted so and never seen any description or notation of the amount of axles so driven. Obviously, it’s much harder to prove something by its absence but in my fairly substantial library, I’ve never noticed anything other than the above. A description might be as follows - “the Chesapeake and Ohio’s 3000 class 2-10-4s were equipped with boosters on the trailing trunk to help them with heavy coal trains” - I’m paraphrasing something that Huddleston, Dixon etc might have written! Cheers, John

My spotting days were primarily based around the Derby area in the late 70s to late 80s with occasional trips to the ER, SR and WR. Some of the nicknames I remember are; 08 Jockos, 350s. 20 Choppers. 25 Rats. 31/0s Toffee Apple, 31/1, 31/4 Peds. 37 I can’t remember anything, maybe I ignored any disparaging names because I really liked them? 40 Whistlers. 44, 45 Peaks. 46 Cromptons - this was due to their traction motors/electrical equipment. 47 Duffs, they were everywhere and quite disliked. 50 Hoover. 55 Deltics. 56 Grids. I’m sure the Romanian ones had a less flattering name though. 58 Bone. 59 Yank. Electric locos were just “Sparkies” or “Sparklers”. 120 Bog Unit! HST - I have heard “flying bananas” in the original livery. A couple of modern ones - “Rape Alarm” for the emu’s running through Acton Bridge, I don’t know what class. This due to the bleeping from the door alarms. 68 Cats for the Caterpillar engine, I guess. 70 fuglie because they are!

When I lived in a tiny apartment in Greece, the best I could do was an oval of track on the carpet! At least, being Roco Line, it has an underlay. Peanut was very interested but didn’t dab at anything although I kept very close watch. Had any of my locos been made of food, that would have been a different story.

Hello Tim, A rose by any other name etc, etc. I actually like the new name, it sounds unmistakably German. Congratulations on the exhibition invite too. Cheers, John

What a gorgeous model, you have done a great job there, bravo. The E18 is one of my favourite locos too and I simply had to have one, being a H0 modeller, it was easy for me* as Roco do/did that exact number! But, iirc, there were only three left in East Germany? Cheers, John * I say it was easy, I did have to do some work to make mine run properly but at least it was an RTR model!

Indeed! I have a Roco Bavarian 0-4-0T with sound and it will drive over my friends Fleischmann Profi track at normal to slow running speeds with no problem. I haven’t tried it at a crawl though but then, it’s not the sort of engine to do any crawling. Unlike this model; Roco BR335 picture. I’m sorry, I can’t insert the picture exactly where I want it. This is a Roco BR335 diesel shunter of a B (0-4-0) wheel arrangement in H0 scale and comes ready fitted with sound, digital couplings and stay alive. You can see clearly how long it is, you can’t tell but it is quite heavy and still fits in all these electronics so I have had it pulling a dozen modern wagons along level track with no problem. The stay alive is so effective that with the sound and all lights running, I can lift it off the track and box it up and as the lid goes on, sound is still going! Oh, and it sounds like the real thing too.

Well, I did get my lift into Manchester and thank goodness I did! It was the best show I have been to in a long while. The selection and quality of layouts was fantastic, the venue and arrangement of the exhibits was very well done - yes, the catering left something to be desired but hopefully, whoever does it next year will be better prepared for us hungry and thirsty droves. I cannot show any better pictures than those already shown but I haven’t seen this layout pictured yet; Stromboli picture. This was the final showing of Teign House sidings, I really like this one as well as so many others. Scenery picture. Actually, just look at the undergrowth on Sherton Abbas - simply superb. Cheers, John

Bentonite is another mineral that is transported in these lovely little shorty hoppers. I know that because that’s one of the loads “my” road, the C&NW hauled out in the prairies. Later, they cut the rooves (roofs?) off some of these hoppers and used them in ballast traffic. What is bentonite? It’s the mineral used to make cat litter and is very absorbent! Hence the need for weather protection.