tomparryharry

What? In Sainsburys? Sainsburys Local; Territorial; and Intercontinental.

It depended on the seam, Mike. Certain seams produced for different uses. Certain coal 'bloomed' whereas some needed a flat grate. Welsh coal would sometimes need a expansion gap beneath the brick arch, to ensure secondary air could get into the combustion process. If you over fired , the coal would black out until the air could get through. Putting a pricker in without the blower would produce a blowback of severe proportions.

It's those pesky Colonials again; coming here, and altering our words. You can't adjust the cant, or can you? Where's the center rail on the Central Line? can I catch a train to Cockfosters with my co-workers? I did a Marathon once, but nowadays it's Snickers.... I'm awaiting the word middel in Websters.

Yellow snow warning in parts of the IK. Eurgh....

Oh, not me Russ, I don't own an EV. But I did go on the top deck of a bus, all by myself!

Upon seeing an electric vehicle in a traffic queue, try this.. Tap on the drivers window, and say: ' Excuse me, but I think your exhaust is blowing...' You'd be surprised...

'Tis difficult for Bachmann to make steam locomotive models. If you accept the premise that 60% of steam modellers are Great Western, then that's 60% of the market is closed off to Bachmann. If they release a new model with a rivet so much as 5 thou" out, then there will be a rebellion of great magnitude. In fairness, what's left for them? Other manufacturers have interacted with the prospective market, and actually listened. Sure, it's not absolute perfect, but the open dialogue betwixt manufacturers & buyers has paid dividends. Would Bachmann re-enter the market for Western-derived models? It would have to exceptional; truly exceptional. The 56xx is a very good model, as are the small prairies. The pannier model is about to be usurped by the team at Accurascale, who have listened to its prospective clients. Bachmann couldn't or wouldn't release a brand new Western model, to invite negative comment. Dapol went 'off-air' for a while, until the dialogue became a two-way channel. Could you imagine if Bachmann produced an obscure-ish class of GWR models? Oh dear; oh dear... As Mr. York has said,, it's early in the Year. Yet......

Precisely Jason; precisely. By its very nature Kader will look for returns on investment; any investment.

There's nothing for me here:- But! It's not Bachmanns' fault. I'm just a niche modeller, that's all. Some weeks back, we discussed the death of railway modelling. For me, a lot of views expressed here are true to a certain degree. Being a pragmatic business, Bachmann probably feel they are hitting the bottom of the well for new product. Other manufacturers are getting into niche with (it appears) better ability than Bachmann. In order to continue in a consumerist market, they are diversifying into other areas, such as captain Scarlet* and other items. Railways, model or otherwise, might not necessarily figure as much in Kaders bottom line. I can foresee Bachmann jumping out of Branchline in the future. As I've said, it's not Bachmanns' fault; just business pragmatism & reality. I'd suggest we will see more of EFE, and less of those delightful GWR-style brake vans. Regardless of anything, the service people at Bachmann are spot-on. I haven't used them that much, but every time it's been 100% * Captain Scarlet & the Misty-eyed Rons. Captain Black in weathered condition. He was Captain Grey, but he did an oil change on the SPV...

I'm not entirely sure, but I'd suggest the current doctrines will weigh against steel as a prime-source material. The current anti-tank missiles are mainly made from aluminium. Having seen the fate of the (supposedly superior) T90, I'd guess the USA are currently re-fitting the blow-out panels on the Abrams, and other vehicles. Drone warfare is the latest thing on the battlefield, with young people being very capable of building & operating drones to devastating effect. Gender counts for very little here, just a keen eye, and steady fingers.

Lewis Hamilton, changing to Ferrari.... No doubt got a hot deal on a Fiat Panda....

Almost mate, almost....

Well, I've had a headlight bulb fail on my trusty runabout. No problem, off to the motor factors. 30 minutes later, bonnet up, remove headlamp bulb cover. Then... Now, this 'ere bulbs are standard headlamp bulbs, since granny was a boy. But, trying to get ones fingers around said bulb was an (expletive) nightmare. Much grumbling in the hood.... I can only conclude that the bulb enclosures are quite a bit smaller than before; virtually no space to manipulate said bulb & spring catch into the hole. One can only assume that the car (van) is assembled by well-meaning small people from France, where small fingers are pre-requisite to enable assembly of what is a well assembled vehicle. After my interlude in the garage, Mrs Smith asked:- "What do you want for tea? I've just bought some French sticks...." Grrrr.....

Conscription would be certainly on the cards, but the armed forces is a hugely bad idea. Would you trust a child of any age with a weapon? The forces need volunteers, not conscripts. Read up on McNamaras Morons, and change the postcode. However, non-military work parties is-are perfectly feasible, and in the event of war, will become compulsory. No work? No rations.

I read it all the way through, I thought it's a suspense thriller, with a bit of a revelation at the end....

I see some sellers are listing models as 'refurbished' What is refurbished, exactly?

'Tis funny, I can't ever remember snow ploughs on a Q1....

Damn! I was going to get the money back!

Having mulled over my earlier post, we come to the 'nothing there for me' post' . Although it's slightly infuriating, we're back to the niche element of modelling. If we take our average modeller. He's done his research; he knows his timeframe, etc. He may limit his timeframe to a decade or two. If the modeller sets his parameters strictly, that means about 5-10% of what's available falls inside the parameters. The consequence is that 90-95% of what's available falls outside of our modellers parameters. Hence , the term 'nothing for me here' has an element of reality about it. I can think of at least one modeller on here who has set his parameters to 'about' 15 years. The simple reason being you can go topsy-turvy in the blink of an eye. I can't really blame them either. I'd dearly love to own a Heljan 47xx, but they never made it to my area, regardless of time frame. And as for a Beyer Garratt? Ooooh, nurse, the screens, the screens! But! I also adhere to my geographical area. It's the same with wagons. Welsh wagons were corralled into their respective areas in the main, being used turn & about with 'pit to port' traffic. You would rarely see an wagon from Alloa in south Wales, unless it's escaped from a Jellicoe Special. It's exactly why I can't use too many Swansea valley wagons, despite manufacturers making some really nice examples. One problem model manufacturers will face is a certain degree of blandness, or conformity. The rise of ISO standards in the big world drives out items of nonconformity. When was the last time you used a 15 amp plug in everyday use? And, everyday, commonplace availability? Coming to present day, the personal requirements & perception drive the niche. Less generic, and more specific. Better facilities to research better models, and, for the modeller here, better personal fulfilment. Are we getting older? Sure! What about it? In fact, this 'older modeller' scenario only falls down if said modeller fails to educate a following generation. Quality sells: It has done, and will continue to do so. Ask yourself this:- Why do Peco make Bullhead Code 75? If things like this fail, then we've failed to educate people with a simple lesson:- "This is a quality product, the other product is less so. And... This is the reason why" if a manufacturer is majoring his production in class 66 & 70 diesels, he's going run out of examples in the future. Little wonder that Hornby, Bachmann et al have diversified into different scales & gauges. And, different product lines as well, and different markets, and diversification....

I do like that coaling stage. Scratchbuilt? Very nice.....

Having viewed the last 30-odd pictures on this; and on another thread Mr York is concerned about negativity? Really? They all look rather good to me; really rather good. Calendar quality photos. I'd suggest things like this would salve Mr Yorks' concerns. Positive publicity beckons! Yours, F. Stopp.

Your post rather underscores mine. There might come a time when a company decides to chase higher profits elsewhere, and model railways are edged out. The rise of bespoke, high quality models of the last 20 years will keep going as long as there is a good return on the investments. Personally, I don't see a problem with the hobby at all. Gaps will appear, to be filled by similar, or better opportunities.

There is an ongoing age-related demographic shift, and it's always been so. It's just that we're the first generation to publicly discuss it. The choice for railway modelling has never been better, or so diverse. Modellers have put CJ Freezers books aside in favour of researching actual locations, proper time frames, and period rolling stock. With limited outlets, people only had Triang-Hornby as providers. Little wonder, therefore, that batch runs in 1,000+ were commonplace. Nowadays Bachmann batch runs are (what ?) 512? Add to that, 3D printing takes it down to singular items. I don't need to bang on about a TVR 04, when a 3D printer stands ready... As the niche element grows, so the capacity to fill that gap will keep pace. What will happen on balance, is the take up on individual items, which will go up, whilst the generic items will go down. Company X might notice that take-up of a product is 'slow' whilst Company Z has sold all of it's production run. The difference is the scale of the run, and a profit break-even point. Hattons is a company that has run its natural course; there's no shame in that. Their commercial exit is highly regarded, and rightly so. The principal people have decided to cease trading, for any umber of reasons. Model shows have enormous overheads. Hall rental, insurance, etc, etc. Personally, I'm not in favour of the massive shows. The smaller shows are much more personal, and if you want to stop & natter, then do so. What a public event does, is selling time. The smaller show wins outright by having the right balance of social interaction, entertainment, & a bit of specialist retail. No, I don't see a problem with the supposed death of railway modelling. At least, not yet. As long as it retains enough of relevance, then it's safe enough. What I do foresee, is a major manufacturer withdrawing from railway modelling in the next 10 years. Are they making 'some' profit from toy trains, or 'more' profit from My Little Pony?

In corporate news, Boeing have applied to remove the letter 'E' from their trademark. Apparently, it's something to do with landing capabilities...

Such a position must have been a feather in his cap... Hat, coat, OUCH! Forgot my shoes...