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Gummy-Joe

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Posts posted by Gummy-Joe

    Where Are We All?

    in Down-Under Railway Modellers

    Posted

    Did Brittania Models survive the quake in Chch?

     

    Their shop is about half a km away from my home. Yes, they survived the earthquakes- this area has come off very lightly- but they are shutting up shop for good at the end of the month. So I guess that might have happened last weekend. Talking to the owners Mike and Henry, they said that it was just not financially viable to keep the shop going. As well as wanting to properly retire they had had three(?) increases in their insurance after the September 2010 earthquake, a rent hike, and had to vacate one of the two shops that they had occupied (their store room). Also, they said that trade had almost completely died since the earthquakes, with people having more money worries... Very sad to see them go - they had been in that shop for a very long time :(

    Why do you model BR Blue?

    in Modelling BR Blue

    Posted

    Unlike many others here, BR blue was not a feature of my childhood; the locos I grew up with were 3/4 scale versions of EMD and GE products. So that kind of nostalgia is not a factor.

     

    Price and availability means most people over here model either the UK or US scene. When I was 12 I got a Hornby Flying Scotsman train set, and for years after, I was only interested in things LNER. As I got older, I gravitated more towards diesels. I like the Blue period because, colour aside (and I think the colour is actually a really spiffy bit of design), it was a really diverse era: I'm mainly interested in the 1970s period, and so much was happening in this time. TOPs, headcodes, no headcodes, three different marks of standard coaching stock by the latter 70s, a fair bit of pre-nationalisation NPCCS and the odd buffet knocking around in blue/grey, heaps of different classes of loco and unit, each with their own geographical sphere...

     

    The Blue railway, for all its problems, was still a real railway. Locos hauled passenger trains, and range of freight still travelled by rail. Loose-coupled unfitted freights and revenue earning HSTs coexisted for a while. Blue provided the impression of a cohesive railway network with a bit of permanence. There is a lot of scope for things in the Blue era!

    • Like 6

    Where Are We All?

    in Down-Under Railway Modellers

    Posted

    And how is Christchurch doing these days? I sincerely hope it stays stable enough for long enough to actually get something up and running.

     

    I must confess to being one of the lucky inhabitants of the city's north-west - we've come through the whole thing pretty much untouched. The central city is stuffed, and there are a lot of people still waiting to hear what will happen to their homes, but I think most of us here are just trying to get on with things. The baby is probably more of a threat to the modelling than the earthquakes at this stage ;)

    • Like 1

    Where Are We All?

    in Down-Under Railway Modellers

    Posted

    I also reside in beautiful Christchurch, NZ. Although I'm interested in a variety of NZ, UK & US railway subjects, I am trying very hard (and rather unsuccessfully...) to concentrate on Blue era BR in N scale. Hoping to get something small up and running in the near future.

    Antics Online Store

    in Model Shop Guide

    Posted

    Just a quick note to say that I am very impressed with the service I have received from Antics via their online shop. I have placed two orders with them so far and have had no problems.

     

    I too was very impressed with the speed with which Antics online dispatched the order that I purchased from them. There was a package in my mailbox within 4 days of placing my order; it was probably the fastest delivery I'd ever had from the UK, and at only £5 for shipping, I thought it was great value too. Limited disposable income for model railways means that I usually buy heavily discounted items from a Liverpudlian retailer, but I regularly check out the Antics site as a result of my experience with them.

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