Eastwood Town - A tribute to Gordon's modelling.

[Andrew P]

Well we appear to have settled into our new home, but sadly for me, I can't get my head round blogs, so will resort to a good old fashioned layout topic. For those of you who are relatively new to the forum, I'll give you a quick background to my intentions and you can take it from there. I'm now into my 60's and have retired. Kids are well off my hands and I am fortunate to have a loft conversion available which was above an integral double garage. A new garage has been build in the front of the house and the old one converted to a study and utility room downstairs and my railway room upstairs. This gives me a space of 18' square with central heating and daylight courtesy of three Velux windows. Only downside is that the slope of the roof reduces the usable space to around 14' on two sides once you go above a board height of 3' or so.

 

I grew up in North london in the 50's and my earliest memories of railways came from my Aunt and Uncle who took me to Alexandra Palace when I was probably 2-3 years old. There was a terminus at the Palace and steam hauled trains consisting of N2's and sets of Quad Arts were my first memory. At the bottom of the hill was Wood Green, a suburban station on the ECML out of Kings Cross and once I had seen an A4 thundering through Wood Green with 11 coaches in tow at a fair lick, I was hooked. Those memories will never leave me, hence my love of ECML loco's and stock.

 

The world was a different place then and even at 10 years old, I would go off for the whole day on my own to Kings Cross, St Pancras, Euston, Paddington, Liverpool Street and occasionally over the Thames to see the Malachite Green of the Southern at Victoria and Waterloo. Shed visits were KX, Camden, Old Oak, Willesden, Stratford, Hornsey, Stewarts Lane, Feltham, Nine Elms and even as a kid, you were rarely stopped or told to get out. Heaven!

 

OK, back to the present. Each to their own, but my passion is full length trains and stations with reasonable facilities and I am now lucky enough to have sufficient space to create something to meet that need. In the early days I experimented with Tillig track and whilst it was fine, the restrictions that RTR gave me meant I was unable to create something with flowing curves. For years I have been jealous of those who could make their own track, but felt I would never be able to do it. It was encouragement from this forum that got me over that hurdle a couple of years ago and I was really surprised that I was able to create something that worked. It was though a whole new world opened for me.

 

Once that happened, I had also read about Templot and decided that would be the way to go for me in terms of layout design. Sadly it was a mystery to me and despite several attempts to get started I could not get my head round it, until one day with some help from Martin Wynne, it all clicked into place and I have to say it is the best piece of layout planning software I have ever used and invaluable to anyone who is building their own track.

 

The current layout is my third attempt at building this layout. Two earlier designs ended up in the skip as a combination of issues meant insurmountable problems were encountered. The biggest problem was failure to appreciate gradients and the brief to run steam locos with 7/8 coach trains. The first layout had a 1:50 climb and trains just ground to a halt, with the combination of loco adhesion, weight of the train, curves on the climb and too fierce a gradient. Everything has now been replanned with nothing less than a 1:100 gradient.

 

The layout starts from a 16 track traverser which has been made from ply and heavy duty runners. It does work, although I will be making some changes to the track alignment. There then follows a double circuit climb of about 150' which allows an 18" clearance for access to the traverser and stock storage. The hidden lines have all been constructed on very narrow boards so that access to all hidden areas can be easily undertaken. The layout is dcc and is split into three power districts. Each district is protected by a circuit breaker first and then each individual board has it's own isolation switch for fault finding.

 

Once the lines emerge, they continue around a folded figure of eight which will allow continuous running, should you just want to sit back and watch trains. The final level is a large terminus with engine facilities and a goods relief road which will serve industrial units. I was fortunate enough to purchase the buildings from Great Northern's Peterborough layout. These were built by Alan Downes and are really superb. This will be an urban setting and all scenery will be tunnels, bridges, retaining walls and low relief industrial buildings. It will be set in the transition period which will allow me to run both steam or diesel, although I do adopt a run whatever I like attitude and odd locos will certainly make an appearance from time to time.

 

The first board has been made as that had to sit over the stairwell, so this has track laid, wired and ballasted and the first pass scenic work is in place. There is still much to do but the bulk of the work on this first board has been completed. The lower levels are virtually complete and work is now starting on the folded eight. I have printed off a full size plan of about 30% of the layout and you can see how this will take shape.

 

This project is not a five minute job and I suspect it will take 18 months or so to get up to the terminus level. I work on my own and even though I have retired it's amazing where the time goes. I'll happily post updates if people are interested....

 

Complete plan.JPG

Traverser.jpg

Low level.jpg

Stairwell.jpg

Clan1.JPG

Clan2.JPG

Draw1.jpg

Draw2.jpg

Draw3.jpg

Station Building.jpg

Locoshed.jpg

Morning Gordon, out of interest, do you still have that lovely Station Buildings in the post above? I don't want to buy it, just curious that's all.

[Junctionmad]

Hey , leave Gordon alone !!

[gordon s]

Morning Gordon, out of interest, do you still have that lovely Station Buildings in the post above? I don't want to buy it, just curious that's all.

 

 I do indeed.  That has been the cornerstone of ET plans over the years.  It's a beautiful building and was based on Spalding.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spalding_railway_station#/media/File:Spaldingfront.jpg

 

In some respects the new ET station layout will be similar to this version as a through station.  The track spacing is identical with the various pairs of running lines and bay platform.

 

 

 

 

 

[LNER4479]

I'm talking about ballasting, by the way. 

 

Would this be a single flat section, with ballasting right across all the running lines effectively making one complete flat area or would each pair or single line be ballasted separately so having raised ballasted sections with the edges chamfered?

 

 

I will throw my twopence in, just my preference to break up large areas of ballast visually.

 

Where each pair of lines diverge from the 6' way using the ballast shoulders in Templot, at least cesspits in not flat areas. As I said just to break up uniformity of large flat expanses 

Hi Gordon,

 

The look of the trackbed and treatment of ballast is something I like to pay some attention to as I believe that it is quite a distinctive feature to capture the 'look' of a railway.

 

This picture (courtesy of Tony Wright) shows the approach and I have three different grades of treatment, according to the importance of the lines. In the centre are the principal up and down mainlines, maintained to a high standard to support high speed running. I choose to use the foam ballast (suitably treated) in conjunction with the Peco track - I know this isn't your approach but the same effect can be created using usual ballasting techniques. Ballast was usually level with the top of the sleepers - but not on top of them - across the double track formation and the ballast shoulders were usually carefully graded (sometimes to an immaculate state if the gang were out to win a 'prize winning length'!)

 

Either side of the principal lines are relief running lines and these are - deliberately - less neatly ballasted as they would have received less care. In between these lines is the 'ten foot' (this is an example of what Hayfield is talking about where lines are further apart than the 6' way) and this is treated with a fine mix (mainly 'cinders') to represent the ash ballast that has been referred to; Sidings in goods yards have also been treated with this.

(Please note that, when this picture was taken, ballasting was still 'work in progress'; it has now all been treated and some weathering applied)

 

Note that the above applies strictly to the steam age, when track maintenance was largely a manual affair and relied on gangs of men with hand tools. The look of today's trackwork is generally COMPLETELY different (and, in my view and many others, nowhere near as easy on the eye).

 

Other comment is that, in and around station areas, some of the above could break down a little - track often looked dirtier due to constant dripping of oil and other steam locomotive muck whilst locos were standing around.

 

Even if my approach to trackwork is the polar opposite of yours, hope some of that helps. Study of track formations in photographs of the steam era is a worthwhile armchair past-time. I have a large collection of pictures that I have cut out and kept for reference from publications such as Steam World.

Edited January 28, 2017 by LNER4479

[Andrew P]

Hi Gordon,

 

The look of the trackbed and treatment of ballast is something I like to pay some attention to as I believe that it is quite a distinctive feature to capture the 'look' of a railway.

 

Grantham 7 14.jpg

This picture (courtesy of Tony Wright) shows the approach and I have three different grades of treatment, according to the importance of the lines. In the centre are the principal up and down mainlines, maintained to a high standard to support high speed running. I choose to use the foam ballast (suitably treated) in conjunction with the Peco track - I know this isn't your approach but the same effect can be created using usual ballasting techniques. Ballast was usually level with the top of the sleepers - but not on top of them - across the double track formation and the ballast shoulders were usually carefully graded (sometimes to an immaculate state if the gang were out to win a 'prize winning length'!)

 

Either side of the principal lines are relief running lines and these are - deliberately - less neatly ballasted as they would have received less care. In between these lines is the 'ten foot' (this is an example of what Hayfield is talking about where lines are further apart than the 6' way) and this is treated with a fine mix (mainly 'cinders') to represent the ash ballast that has been referred to; Sidings in goods yards have also been treated with this.

(Please note that, when this picture was taken, ballasting was still 'work in progress'; it has now all been treated and some weathering applied)

 

Note that the above applies strictly to the steam age, when track maintenance was largely a manual affair and relied on gangs of men with hand tools. The look of today's trackwork is generally COMPLETELY different (and, in my view and many others, nowhere near as easy on the eye).

 

Other comment is that, in and around station areas, some of the above could break down a little - track often looked dirtier due to constant dripping of oil and other steam locomotive muck whilst locos were standing around.

 

Even if my approach to trackwork is the polar opposite of yours, hope some of that helps. Study of track formations in photographs of the steam era is a worthwhile armchair past-time. I have a large collection of pictures that I have cut out and kept for reference from publications such as Steam World.

I've gone down the same route with Peco underlay for the Main running lines on Bristol Victoria and will ballast the secondary lines as you have done.

[gordon s]

Thanks for your input, guys, much appreciated.  I thought separate lines of ballast would be the right way to go and the pic of Peterborough North convinced me.

 

Just had a happy few hours cutting and glueing cork strip to get the running lines underway. 

 

 

 

Hoping to continue round the room with all the trackbed.  Most of the turnouts have been built on the first loop (plus a few) with just the dozen or so over the stairwell that connect to the other end of ET to complete.  This version of ET has just one gradient and that goes down to the loco shed.  It is probably about 1:80, but I don't envisage any issues at all as it will only be light loco's or a shunter and a few coal wagons for the coaling stage.

 

I really must have a clear up.  The state of the room/benchwork is embarrassing and I'm continually tripping over stuff or 'losing' various items when I'm working.  I know I should take a day out to tidy up and that will make work easier, but somehow you just keep going.....

 

Still have a stack of turnouts to paint and finish for one of my track buyers, but it's really been too cold to spray primer outside and I'm banned from doing it inside, particularly after the smell hung around for days last time.  

 

Had a similar situation two days ago.  My hi fi speaker cabinets had dried out as my wife insists on being 'warm' in our backroom and the log burner is cranked up most nights.  I spend all winter in shorts and a tee shirt in our place as her idea of 'warm' and mine are poles apart.

 

I contacted the manufacturer in the US who recommended a liberal application of lemon oil.  The blurb talked of a 'pleasant lemon aroma'.  It didn't mention a rich smell of oil that has been with us for two days and shows no sign of reducing.......and no sign of the 'pleasant lemon aroma' they promised.....

 

Another night in the dog house.

 

http://www.google.co.uk/shopping/product/16581063702130192076?lsf=seller:146817,store:3370005960245242707&prds=oid:11034956350199774054&q=chestnut+lemon+oil&hl=en&ei=HBCOWMfFL-qVgAb507aIBA&lsft=gclid:Cj0KEQiAwrbEBRDqxqzMsrTGmogBEiQAeSE6ZdStFRuPgI8hQtWbFd851BP-Qjp2OFA3AdFMIS7rfxwaAmdf8P8HAQ

Edited January 29, 2017 by gordon s

[mullie]

f

 

Thanks for your input, guys, much appreciated.  I thought separate lines of ballast would be the right way to go and the pic of Peterborough North convinced me.

 

Just had a happy few hours cutting and glueing cork strip to get the running lines underway. 

 

DSCF8393.jpg

 

DSCF8395.jpg

 

Hoping to continue round the room with all the trackbed.  Most of the turnouts have been built on the first loop (plus a few) with just the dozen or so over the stairwell that connect to the other end of ET to complete.  This version of ET has just one gradient and that goes down to the loco shed.  It is probably about 1:80, but I don't envisage any issues at all as it will only be light loco's or a shunter and a few coal wagons for the coaling stage.

 

I really must have a clear up.  The state of the room/benchwork is embarrassing and I'm continually tripping over stuff or 'losing' various items when I'm working.  I know I should take a day out to tidy up and that will make work easier, but somehow you just keep going.....

 

Still have a stack of turnouts to paint and finish for one of my track buyers, but it's really been too cold to spray primer outside and I'm banned from doing it inside, particularly after the smell hung around for days last time.  

 

Had a similar situation two days ago.  My hi fi speaker cabinets had dried out as my wife insists on being 'warm' in our backroom and the log burner is cranked up most nights.  I spend all winter in shorts and a tee shirt in our place as her idea of 'warm' and mine are poles apart.

 

I contacted the manufacturer in the US who recommended a liberal application of lemon oil.  The blurb talked of a 'pleasant lemon aroma'.  It didn't mention a rich smell of oil that has been with us for two days and shows no sign of reducing.......and no sign of the 'pleasant lemon aroma' they promised.....

 

Another night in the dog house.

 

http://www.google.co.uk/shopping/product/16581063702130192076?lsf=seller:146817,store:3370005960245242707&prds=oid:11034956350199774054&q=chestnut+lemon+oil&hl=en&ei=HBCOWMfFL-qVgAb507aIBA&lsft=gclid:Cj0KEQiAwrbEBRDqxqzMsrTGmogBEiQAeSE6ZdStFRuPgI8hQtWbFd851BP-Qjp2OFA3AdFMIS7rfxwaAmdf8P8HAQ

For hi fi speakers it's worth it!

 

Like most married men I'm usually in the dog house. Luckily we don't have a dog so it is always vacant.

[Junctionmad]

 

Still have a stack of turnouts to paint and finish for one of my track buyers, but it's really been too cold to spray primer outside and I'm banned from doing it inside, particularly after the smell hung around for days last time.  

 

I just finished fibreglassing some baseboards  ( modular glue and tape design ) , styrene monomer isnt supposed to be released indoors !!!.  I find it best in these things to beg for forgiveness then ask for permission !!!!

Edited January 29, 2017 by Junctionmad

[trisonic]

Gordon,

Don’t forget there’s some nice shots of ballast on multiple lines in London within the pages of “London’s East End Railways” by D. Brennand - I’m sure that you own this - if not it’s a good book with s couple of  particularly detailed photos of the multi-track layout around Bethnal Green viaduct.

 

I was rather hoping that you might include a Cooks Siding into Eastwood!

 

Best, Pete.

[gordon s]

Hi Pete, I do have Part 1 of that excellent book which has some wonderful photographs.  Just flicking through it this morning brought memories flooding back of Liverpool Street and Stratford. We really were lucky to have been there when steam was still king. I used to come in from Silver Street behind an N7, which for a KX boy was always a special occasion.  

 

What's a Cooks Siding?  You've got me there....

 

Edit:  Googled without success until I found Cooke's Pie and Eel shops, maybe that's what you are referring to.

Edited January 30, 2017 by gordon s

[trisonic]

It was at Bow (or thereabouts) working Cook’s Soap Works - worked from the Down Through (no connection with the Up). See p. 79-80 of Brennan’s Part 1.

 

Just an interesting part of the history for amusement.... I don’t remember seeing it all! 

 

Do you recall seeing close by Bryant and May a collection of multicolored plates set on a framework facing south (same side as B&M facing across the tracks)? It took me ages to work out that they were testing paint fade in the Sun.... I did find out which paint company leased the space but my memory is not what it was.

 

Best, Pete.

[Trevellan]

Morning Gordon, out of interest, do you still have that lovely Station Buildings in the post above? I don't want to buy it, just curious that's all.

 

It's a lovely building, but I still salivate over the picture of the traverser. Sad, I know, but to me that's proper train storage.

[gordon s]

It was at Bow (or thereabouts) working Cook’s Soap Works - worked from the Down Through (no connection with the Up). See p. 79-80 of Brennan’s Part 1.

 

Just an interesting part of the history for amusement.... I don’t remember seeing it all! 

 

Do you recall seeing close by Bryant and May a collection of multicolored plates set on a framework facing south (same side as B&M facing across the tracks)? It took me ages to work out that they were testing paint fade in the Sun.... I did find out which paint company leased the space but my memory is not what it was.

 

Best, Pete.

 

 

Now you're talking!  What a wonderful feature to include with a 1:40 gradient.  The pics on P79 and P80 are stuff to die for....

 

I'll see if I can find a space somewhere as that's just too good to leave out......and how about the viaduct into Spitalfields Goods depot on P62?....Brilliant.

 

Sorry I can show others the pics because of copyright, but if you love urban grot in London, then this is a great book.

 

Thanks for reminding me of the traverser.  I was pleased with it as a scratch build and still have the HD runners, but track alignment was really critical in both planes and wood was a borderline material to hold the various tolerances to ensure smooth operation.

[trisonic]

Yes, that photo on p62 is really very good! Apart from the incredible viaduct - look at the lower right hand side for the two backyards filled with odd sheds and general detritus like the planks and stepladder. The whole photo having three levels of railways (one not finished between the ELR and GER).

 

Btw I must assume that the “Cook’s Siding” included a zig zag even with the 1:40 gradient. It would be fun working this in a model for that odd ten minutes when you can’t be bothered in getting the Mainline trains out....

 

Cheers, Gordon. Pete.

 

PS As you say, great book; one of my favorites.

[trisonic]

Sorry but I found another I had not noticed before, actually two on p71. 

 

Entwined three way points and (yet) another viaduct - this time a wooden trestle...

 

 

What a shame this area (Devonshire Street Goods Depot) was destroyed by direct hits courtesy of the bloody Luftwaffe!

 

Best, Pete.

Edited January 30, 2017 by trisonic

[gordon s]

Evening all....

 

Had a couple of productive days with some baseboard preparation and the rest of the time sticking down cork underlay. Originally I simply cut out the boards and laid them flat on the sub base to see how things hung together. The last thing I wanted to do was to go to the time and expense of finishing each board in turn, only to find the plan had some short comings and everything went to the tip or fuelled our wood burner. So far so good.....

 

Leaving ET through station, the double track main line curves around the top end of the room. Everything has been cut to a minimum with the only objective to get something running and then seeing where it takes us.

 

 

The space on the left was originally planned to take a diesel depot and that may still happen, but from the previous postings, Pete and I were discussing Cooke's Soap Work sidings on P79 and P80 of London's East End Railways. Unfortunately I cannot scan the pics for copyright reasons, but it's wonderful shot from years gone by. This space could be ideal and accessed via a trailing turnout or adding a headshunt further round.

 

The idea would be to drop down from the RH turnout and descend a steep gradient to urban grot. These two turnouts proved to be a real pain. They were originally back to back but try as hard as I could, I couldn't guarantee perfect running from one curve to the other. Running straight through was fine as was running through one curve in isolation, but running from one curve to the other proved a step too far for a rigid chassis and it always tried to carry straight on. The solution was to redesign the junction and separate the two turnouts by a couple of inches. That meant cutting new boards, but rather that than having a derailment which I knew could be avoided through better planning.

 

I've made a start on the flyover where the three running lines crossover the shed access route. Having only messed around with bridges in the past, I couldn't get my head round the construction so that it could be dismantled if required, but was also rock solid. This is one area where 12mm trackbed is not a help. A typical girder moulding is designed for a thinner track bed, so somehow I had to engineer the transition from 12mm trackbed to 4mm girder trackbed and still retain access/simplicity and the ability to be built away from the layout and fixed later. Ultimately I decided to cut the 12mm back to allow a 4mm trackbed standing on 25mm thick pillars. The side girders can be fixed to the 4mm trackbed and the pillars attached to wide flanges either side of the shed access track. These will be eventually fixed in place or indeed the whole module may be assembled as a bespoke unit and slid into place once completed. The downside of this would be the track alignment and power supply, but I'm still kicking some ideas around.

 

If anyone has any ideas, I'll be pleased to listen. A separate module is preferable as access under the sloping eaves is not brilliant, even though the running tracks are inset by 2' from the side walls.

 

 

 

 

 

The final pic shows the mess I'm currently working in. Guilty as charged....

 

To get easy access underneath the boards, everything has had to be moved from under the boards into the centre of the room, so I spend the whole day stepping over and knocking over piles of stuff. I can't find anything easily and God help me if my ultra tidy/organised wife steps into my domain.......

Edited February 1, 2017 by gordon s

[skipepsi]

Evening all....

 

Had a couple of productive days with some baseboard preparation and the rest of the time sticking down cork underlay. Originally I simply cut out the boards and laid them flat on the sub base to see how things hung together. The last thing I wanted to do was to go to the time and expense of finishing each board in turn, only to find the plan had some short comings and everything went to the tip or fuelled our wood burner. So far so good.....

 

Leaving ET through station, the double track main line curves around the top end of the room. Everything has been cut to a minimum with the only objective to get something running and then seeing where it takes us.

 

DSCF8407.jpg

 

The space on the left was originally planned to take a diesel depot and that may still happen, but from the previous postings, Pete and I were discussing Cooke's Soap Work sidings on P79 and P80 of London's East End Railways. Unfortunately I cannot scan the pics for copyright reasons, but it's wonderful shot from years gone by. This space could be ideal and accessed via a trailing turnout or adding a headshunt further round.

 

The idea would be to drop down from the RH turnout and descend a steep gradient to urban grot. These two turnouts proved to be a real pain. They were originally back to back but try as hard as I could, I couldn't guarantee perfect running from one curve to the other. Running straight through was fine as was running through one curve in isolation, but running from one curve to the other proved a step too far for a rigid chassis and it always tried to carry straight on. The solution was to redesign the junction and separate the two turnouts by a couple of inches. That meant cutting new boards, but rather that than having a derailment which I knew could be avoided through better planning.

 

DSCF8406.jpg

I've made a start on the flyover where the three running lines crossover the shed access route. Having only messed around with bridges in the past, I couldn't get my head round the construction so that it could be dismantled if required, but was also rock solid. This is one area where 12mm trackbed is not a help. A typical girder moulding is designed for a thinner track bed, so somehow I had to engineer the transition from 12mm trackbed to 4mm girder trackbed and still retain access/simplicity and the ability to be built away from the layout and fixed later. Ultimately I decided to cut the 12mm back to allow a 4mm trackbed standing on 25mm thick pillars. The side girders can be fixed to the 4mm trackbed and the pillars attached to wide flanges either side of the shed access track. These will be eventually fixed in place or indeed the whole module may be assembled as a bespoke unit and slid into place once completed. The downside of this would be the track alignment and power supply, but I'm still kicking some ideas around.

 

If anyone has any ideas, I'll be pleased to listen. A separate module is preferable as access under the sloping eaves is not brilliant, even though the running tracks are inset by 2' from the side walls.

 

DSCF8400.jpg

 

DSCF8402.jpg

 

DSCF8401.jpg

 

DSCF8403.jpg

 

The final pic shows the mess I'm currently working in. Guilty as charged....

 

To get easy access underneath the boards, everything has had to be moved from under the boards into the centre of the room, so I spend the whole day stepping over and knocking over piles of stuff. I can't find anything easily and God help me if my ultra tidy/organised wife steps into my domain.......

Alternatively you could invite her in to stash as much as possible out of your way, mine excels at Tetris in the freezer I would have a pile of frozen stuff outside the freezer and she just makes it all fit.....

[Stanley Melrose]

God help me if my ultra tidy/organised wife steps into my domain.......

You should be so lucky!  My (second) wife (the first died tagically young) was a librarian at some stage in her former life and the first thing she did on moving in with me was to re-order all the books on the bookshelves in alphabetical order.  She' "tidied" the garage and I can't find anything.  Fortunately, she refuses to go anywhere near my railway room and my "study" where my computer resides and my models get massaged towards achieving that mystical state of "completion".

 

Stan

[PhilH]

Please explain ultra tidy/ organised...is that even English...

[BoD]

Please explain ultra tidy/ organised...is that even English...

It's in the same dictionary as Eastwood Town finished.

[mullie]

Please explain ultra tidy/ organised...is that even English...

Like much involved with marriage....... file under inexplicable! 

[Ian_H]

It's in the same dictionary as Eastwood Town finished.

Doesn't Simon Mayo have the three word Thursday tomorrow? ......... Go on, I dare you!

[gordon s]

Please explain ultra tidy/ organised...is that even English...

 

 

A perfect example today.  

 

We had a Miele vacuum cleaner that suddenly refused to rewind a couple of days ago.  Out came all the Torx drivers and within 15 minutes it was in pieces.  Turns out the spring on the rewind mechanism had broken and there's was nothing that could be done.  Trawled the web etc and a new one was quoted at over £100.  Daft, as a new machine was only £180, so a new one was ordered and the old one left outside for the next dump run.  New one arrives and a new file was set up detailing the date purchased, price etc.  The old file was pulled out and there was a chuckle.  How long have we had the vacuum?  I guessed around 4-5 years.  She then goes onto tell me it was 7 years old and more to the point there was a 10 year guarantee certificate, bought as a special offer at the time.

 

Of course I had no idea we had that warranty, so on the phone to Miele expecting all the excuses under the sun, but no, they're collecting it on Tuesday and it will be repaired and given a full service with all worn parts replaced free of charge.  The turbo head is knackered and they're £40 plus the rewind at £100, so I won't be surprised that they just give us a new one....:-)

 

None of that would have happened if my dear wife hadn't been so organised and kept all the relevant paperwork....and there's more.

 

We have a calendar on the wall with the 'birthdays' of all our domestic appliances updated every year, so she knows whether or not we've had good value when one breaks down and goes to the tip.....

 

Don't you just love 'em.....

Edited February 1, 2017 by gordon s

[Andrew P]

A perfect example today.  

 

We had a Miele vacuum cleaner that suddenly refused to rewind a couple of days ago.  Out came all the Torx drivers and within 15 minutes it was in pieces.  Turns out the spring on the rewind mechanism had broken and there's was nothing that could be done.  Trawled the web etc and a new one was quoted at over £100.  Daft, as a new machine was only £180, so a new one was ordered and the old one left outside for the next dump one.  New one arrives and a new file was set up detailing the date purchased, price etc.  The old file was pulled out and there was a chuckle.  How long have we had the vacuum?  I guessed around 4-5 years.  She then goes onto tell me it was 7 years old and more to the point there was a 10 year guarantee certificate, bought as a special offer at the time.

 

Of course I had no idea we had that warranty, so on the phone to Miele expecting all the excuses under the sun, but no, they're collecting it on Tuesday and it will be repaired and given a full service with all worn parts replaced free of charge.  The turbo head is knackered and they're £40 plus the rewind at £100, so I won't be surprised that they just give us a new one....:-)

 

None of that would have happened if my dear wife hadn't been so organised and kept all the relevant paperwork....and there's more.

 

We have a calendar on the wall with the 'birthdays' of all our domestic appliances updated every year, so she knows whether or not we've had good value when one breaks down and goes to the tip.....

 

Don't you just love 'em.....

Has she got a Sister that's free? hahha

[gordon s]

Don't go there, Andy.....