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Evening everyone. I always said I would keep the thread updated with news of any published material planned regarding the layout. I'm really excited to say, that I have been asked by BRM to write an article on the layout (all 40+ft of it) which is planned to be published in the autumn.

Some trains at Hathern on the Midland north of Loughborough. Hathern rear view of down ex pass Aug 72 C1042 Hathern Class 120 Nottingham to Birmingham Aug 72 J3013 HathernClass 20s 8013 & 8196 up limestone Aug 72 J3014 Hathern Class 45 84 up Sheffield to St Pancras Aug 72 J3015 Hathern Class 47 1810 down mgr Aug 72 J3016 Hathern Class 45 81 up Aug 72 J3017 David

April 1963 at Corby Glen for this afternoon. Corby Glen Class 31 D5571 down freight April 63 J030 Corby Glen Class 33 up l e April 63 J031 Corby Glen Class 55 up 10.00 Edinburgh to Kings X The Flying Scotsman April 63 J033 Corby Glen Class 55 12.17 Harrogate 12.33 ex Bradford to Kings X April 63 J034 Corby Glen Class 47 down 13.15 Kings X to Leeds Central April 63 J035 Corby Glen Class 40 down freight April 63 J041 David

Some black and white photos taken around Trent on the Midland for this afternoon. Trent 2P 40458 up pass c1950 JVol7309 Trent 4F 43850 down coal photo taken from train c1951 JVol2262 South ofTrent crossing bridge over River Trent LMS Garratt c1949 JVol1028 Trent Fairburn 4MTT 42184 up pass c1950 JVol7311 Trent Lane Junction East Midlands Gas Board shunter c1950 JVol7335 David

Five places beginning with "S" this time, though one is not a real railway. Sandilands Lincs pull along train Aug 52 J1679 I think this was my first train, aged 3 (just)! The photo was taken on my birthday Sandy Class 31 down freight Apr 74 J3646 Sandy Class 46 10.15 Kings X to Leeds Apr 74 J3645 Saxby Class 105 etc Norwich to Birmingham going away Sept 70 J2381 Scarrington Lane crossing Aslockton Class 114 Nottingham to Grantham Sept 75 J4930 Scremerston Class 254 up Aug 81 C5482 David

Talking of back streets here's the back of the engine shed!!

Church Lane crossing on the Great Eastern just to the north east of Ingatestone on the way to Chelmsford. The first 4 photos are Dad's, he and Mum must have been spending a weekend with me. In the 70s when I ived in Essex it was a very pleasant spot to spend part of a Saturday taking photos. Church Lane Crossing 309608 Clacton to Liverpool St Apr 75 J4262 Church Lane Crossing 306019 down Apr 75 J4264 Church Lane Crossing Class 37 down Apr 75 J4265 Church Lane Crossing Class 47 Norwich to Liverpol St Apr 75 J4266 Church Lane crosing Class 309 Clacton to Liverpool St 5th May 80 C5053

This is really just a trial. I'm scanning a batch of Dad's photos from an album I've found of whole plate (8"x6") prints to see how it works. They are quite different in many ways from the postcard prints I've scanned from his main albums and put on here. Many of them are sepia toned and they all have his notes handwritten on the black album pages. David

Morning folks, We'll just leave this here... 🤭 Make sure you pop by, to see our (almost, we have amended the headcode font and fit) final production sample on the stand. A full update will follow in the coming days. 😎 https://www.accurascale.com/collections/brush-type-2-class-30-31 Cheers! Fran

A trip down the road for me to Morpeth, the newest photo is only about 30 years old. Morpeth USP5000 March 81 C5304 Morpeth ex grain wagons for Alcan traffic Nov 83 C6307 Morpeth 37015 up coal to Blyth and Tyne 18th April 85 C6819 This view is now obscured by trees. Morpeth 56133 shunting 9th April 86 C7454 Morpeth LMS Class 5 44767 Santa Special 18th Dec 94 C19895 Coming into Morpeth from the Blyth and Tyne so it can return to Newcastle on the ECML. David

It is hard to classify this batch so it is probably simplest to say the Ongar branch and the maltings which were once rail served at Snape in Suffolk. Ongar Dec 76 J5576 Ongar LT Epping to Ongar Dec 76 J5577 Ongar LT train Epping to Onger Feb 77 J5635 Snape inner yard of maltings Oct 73 J3432 Snape front of maltings Oct 73 J3433 Snape maltings March 76 C5620 David

I can't be there today unfortunately because of health reasons but I hope everyone has a fantastic day; as usual! Hats off to Rob for his excellent organisation once again and the team.

"Pull up to the bumper baby"

Another look at the Embsay and Bolton Abbey Railway at Embsay with photos from 1972, 1975 and 1984. They are a bit late today as I have just heard that a friend in Canada has died unexpectedly. Embsay Barclay Aug 72 C1059 Embsay Hudswell Clarke Nellie Aug 72 J3028 Embsay Sentinel British Tar Co and Peckett Aug 72 J3030 Embsay Peckett Foleshill and Sentinel Ann and Hudswell Clarke Slugh Estates 5 Mar 75 J4205 Embsay 6th Aug 84 C6596 David

Another scene from Glanfa Fach with 'Merrdin Emrys', 'Elidir' and Standard 4 No. 80098 all awaiting their next duty.

The Ffestiniog Railway for this morning. Tan y Bwlch Earl of Merioneth 22nd Aug 70 C243 Tan y Bwlch Hunslet Linda Dduallt to Porthmadog Aug 72 J3034 Tan y Grisiau Hibberd Upnor Castle 6th Aug 79 C4680 Tan y Grisiau Hunslet Blanche Porthmadog to Tan y Grisiau 6th Aug 79 C4693 Tan y Grisiau Hunslet Blanche Porthmadog to Tan y Grisiau 6th Aug 79 C4694 David

Some photos at Trent for this morning, one from 1975, the rest from 1983. Trent Class 25 vans to heading to Nottingham from Derby Oct 75 C2503 Trent Class 254 HST up Aug 83 C6132 Trent Class 120 Crewe to Lincoln Aug 83 C6133 Trent 47347 up coal Aug 83 C6136 Trent Class 47 up coal Aug 83 C6138 from the Erewash Valley line David

The Beast Of Blacker Lane. Manning Wardle 16-inch Special moves onto the shed road at Blacker Lane D.P.

As anyone who's been to this event before knows, it's of course a no-brainer to make a trip across to deepest Somerset to attend the SWAG do. Genuinely the highlight event of my yearly calendar, what makes it even better for me is the chance to spend 6 hours photographing some top-notch layouts via the honour of being chief photographer for SWAG - plus of course being inspired by them and having really great conversations with like-minded modellers. One thing I should admit before I go any further is that I focused on layouts and not general atmosphere (which may be a positive depending on your thought process!). Though I see others have already posted shots of people and wider views of the event - so thank you! In any case, due to the huge volume of photos, I will be sharing one layout at a time - as and when I complete the batch of photos for each layout. As I'm focus stacking each photo (which takes between 20 - 70 photos per finished photo), I took over 4000 photos yesterday! As you can well imagine, it's going to take me a long time to process the photos so please do bear with me as it will be very piecemeal. There may or may not be more photos of each layout, but I will only pick a few of my favourites for each. Layout owners - please feel free to use my photos as you wish - larger photos are available on request. My thanks to you all for being so accommodating, and also for visitors for being so patient: especially with me and my tripod getting in the way constantly! The layouts will appear in the order that I photographed them to make my life a little easier. So without further ado, let's begin... ...first up, ' Kyle of Lochalsh': A stunningly tiny but impressive Finescale 2mm layout by @bcnPete. Photos really don't convey just how miniscule this layout is, and it really surprised me just how smooth in operation it was. I particularly loved the misty, faded backscene that added a great sense of depth to a very narrow layout. The high quality of the station building and weathering on the rolling stock also stood out for me, as did the general presentation and unique view from the front into the traverser fiddle yard.

And finally Away with the Prairies - 6

And finally (for today) Away with the Prairies - 3

Northumberland again around Ulgham Lane crossing, north of Morpeth on the ECML. Ulgham Lane crossing 47525 08.55 Aberdeen to Kings X May 74 J3692 no, it is probably 47528 Ulgham Lane crossing Class 40 up oil Nov 80 C5224 Ulgham Lane crossing Class 55 55019 up Sept 81 C5545 Ulgham Lane Crossing 43108 up April 85 C6761 Ulgham Lane crossing 56102 up coal from Widdrington 28th Aug 85 C7152 David

Germany this morning. Most of the photos are at Assmannshausen on the Rhine taken in 1990 and 1991. Assmannshausen is on the right (east) bank of the Rhine. There is also one photo in the Harz of the Harzquerbahn near Allerbach in July 1991. Assmannshausen 140 005 northbound freight 2nd Aug 90 C14668 Assmannshausen140 582 northbound freight 2nd Aug 90 C14676 Assmannshausen 140 130 Wiesbaden to Koblenz 2nd Aug 90 C14672 Assmannshausen view north 19th Aug 91 C16518 Assmannshausen Class 140 20th Aug 91 C16529 Assmannshausen 141 145 Koblenz to Wiesbaden 20th Aug 91 C16531 Allerbach 99 7222 Wernigerode to Nordhausen 27th July 91 C15993 (1) David

Away with the Prairies - 2

Hi folks, One more teaser before I head to the airport and head to Brum. Full update and lots more pics later next week! Cheers! Fran

The start of another day in the back streets of Little Muddle.....

Is a model railway ever finished? I thought so regarding Little Bytham (apart from my continuing building locos and stock). However, there was no road signage, apart from a road sign and signpost. So, Ian Wilson produced these for me yesterday............ Two signs for Station Road. Their position is by 'guesstimation' because the fence has long gone and the wall has been rebuilt. The fence supporting the Witham Road sign has also long gone. Once a common sight by the side of our roads, AA signs were very distinctive. We have no evidence that one was ever fixed to the north wall of the Willoughby, but it's an ideal position. Speaking of the real Willoughby, since the owner's death it has never reopened, and Little Bytham no longer has a pub. Ian Wilson will produce any road/street signs on request. He can be contacted at Pacific Models.

In order to not believe that LM only has Pannier's here is another group of rather nice looking locos Ken Dobetter (local LM photographer) has been engaged to take a series of photographs in and around the station. Here is a limited series from him titled Away with the Prairies - 1

A couple more from the family albums as scanning continues. The steam locos may be at Cambridge, it would have been taken 1948/9. Mum is in the cab of the loco on the left. Jimg355Apr People waiting at a bus stop on Derby Road Nottingham, about 1952. It may be useful for the clothing, also you don't often see people reading newspapers on model railways. Jimg378Apr David

'Big T' delivered to the Glentanar Hotel

NEW BR MK1 COACHES BREAK COVER Bachmann today announced three brand new BR Mark 1 Coaches for its Bachmann Branchline OO Scale range. The three models depict the Brake Second Open (BSO), First Open (FO) and Restaurant Buffet (RB) vehicles which have not previously been produced as part of the flagship Branchline Mark 1 Coach range. The Diagram 183 Brake Second Opens were built from 1955, and by 1960 a total of 163 vehicles had been completed. A further 18 BSOs were built in 1963 which had an internal door splitting the seating bays in two to create a non-smoking area. Seats were provided at tables for 31 passengers, along with a toilet, guard’s compartment and an area for luggage. Between 1980 and 1981, BR converted 18 BSOs into BSOT Micro-Buffets – the T standing for Trolley. The conversion saw the toilet turned into a store and the first bay of seating removed to make room for a counter into which a trolley could be slotted, allowing the option for customers to be served at the counter, or at their seats throughout the train from the trolley. This variant is also modelled as part of the new tooling. Diagram 73 First Open coaches were built by Doncaster, York, Birmingham Railway Carriage & Wagon, Wolverton and Swindon, with no fewer than 128 FOs built between 1953 and 1963. Delivered to all regions except the Southern, the first vehicles were painted in BR’s Crimson & Cream colour scheme but later builds went straight into BR Maroon and to a lesser extent, Chocolate & Cream. Each coach provided 42 first class seats with a toilet at both ends of the vehicle. The Diagram 24 Restaurant Buffet was the most numerous of BR’s many catering vehicles, with the RB providing both a kitchen and pantry along with a service bar and seats for 23 passengers. Construction was shared between Pressed Steel and Birmingham RC&W and again, 128 vehicles were built, these being outshopped between 1960 and 1962. Entering traffic in BR Maroon, some RBs were delivered to the Western Region in Chocolate & Cream and others to the Southern in BR (SR) Green. In later years some vehicles would be refurbished, and liveries such as BR Blue & Grey and InterCity were carried. These brand new models feature all the hallmarks of the Branchline Mk1, which capture the distinct shape and profile of the BR Mk1 coach with flush glazing, extensive detail and separately fitted parts including various handrails and pipework, and a full complement of underframe equipment. Era-appropriate details, such as the presence of end steps and, on the BSO, the inclusion of roof periscopes, are all catered for. The new tooling extends to the bogies fitted beneath each vehicle, with new BR1, Commonwealth, B4 and B5 bogies being developed. In addition, the BR2 bogie has been added to the pool of options and all bogies feature integrated metal wheel bearings and electrical pickups to aid those wishing to add features to their models which may require power. Profiled metal wheelsets are fitted, as are standard tension lock couplings, fitted into NEM coupling pockets which are attached to chassis-mounted close-coupling mechanisms. Details of the first batch of models to be made from this new tooling, including livery variants, prices and availability will be included in the Summer 2024 British Railway Announcements on Wednesday 1st May.

Evening all, Well, that seemed to go rather well. My thanks to all who came along today. My impression is that it was busier than last year and I spoke to quite a few people for whom it was their first and hopefully not their last visit to SWAG. Thank you to all our exhibitors who generously brought their layouts along, giving so freely of their time and finances and of our members who demonstrated their dark arts across many modelling activities. And a huge thank you to @Godfrey Glyn, @Graham_Muz and @peter220950 who provided the catering and bring and buy to their usual exemplary standards. Not forgetting Aidan @Culmhead who despite being unable to attend today ( something about being on Portugal !) was fully involved in fine tuning the bring and buy. Special thanks to Nadine, aka Mrs @mozzer models who helped out hugely in the catering department. No mention of the catering department is complete without thanking John Farmer @Re6/6 who, aided and abetted by @Brian Harrap did such a splendid job of ferrying the essential pasties which once again were sourced by our much missed on the day Tim @Captain Kernow So, Can we do this again next year ? Well the sums aren't fully done yet but first impressions are that it's a resounding YES! One reason is the truly astounding amount donated by the visitors today which has provided a rather substantial leg up for next year. THANK YOU.

Got a bit more hedge fixed down, rather pleased how it's gone.

And here's its slightly younger sister 5000 'Launceston Castle' heading west through Stoke Courtenay in early 1939. That fence is getting worse - needs attention. John C.

gosh, Where to begin with this one… If your wanting a box opening video online you better get a cup of tea first…. (Actually my little secret ive had my three since April 11th, ive just been on the road quite a lot so ive not had chance write this up, but the pictures were taken over the last 2 weeks, tonight I’m finally able to sit down at home and do it). The way they are delivered.. 1. wrapped in brown paper 2. in a cardboard box 3. in a white foam layer 4. wrapped in tissue 5. enclosed in a tin 6 inside a layer of black foam 7. inside a plastic display cradle 8. You find your engine…. Well its Brilliant, lets get that out of the way. The detail and paint finish are superb. Both bufferbeams are fully decorated. The model has oodles of separate parts.. starting with the bogies, the wheels holes are picked up, separate pipes, sand boxes, steps on the bogies. Not attention to both the orange and blue separately painted under body pipes.. The grills are much improved on the original class 24. door width and handles are much better than the recent Heljan offering. The roof panels, separate parts are picked out and painted individually Curved roof grills nicely picked out engine room detail visible…with relief, for the walk space. It definitely looks like a 25… It weighs in at 487g… thats not bad for a little type 2. To get inside…. This was quite tough, indeed very tough. First thought, unclip the body, no budge, no give. i noticed the buffers had screws, so I tried this, they come off… (this would be nice if Hattons 66/style there was a second set without the detailing fitted, somI could fit with the coupling, without having to remove the detailing)… Still no movement. Dont unscrew the second pair at your peril, thats the coupling cam box and that spring aint ever going back on. Theres nothing to hold on to.. not the tank its coming off, not the buffers they are coming off, not the bogie that tower you really dont want off. Now in the box is a load of gumpf… but whats not in there is a manual…. Not in any of my three 25’s. theres a nice notepad, but blank pages wont help me get the body off. the URL is here… https://sulzertype2.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Class24manualV1-3.pdf It suggests the body is just clip fit, but its just not having it. After losing 2 buffers, the tank risking looking loose and the underframe detail coming loose I am on the verge of giving up… the last model stuck like this was the Heljan PWM… and a-ha… Although I had 4 hotel keys in the 4 body retainers it simply wasnt having it… so I squeezed the hotel keys and hey presto the body unseated itself and came off. (Now note last time I tried that was Hattons 66’s and the grills would start popping off, but here we are ok)… but it revealed the issue…. The under body detail is a separate piece, on each side, it is glued to the body.. not the chassis and just a bit seeped between body and chassis gluing them together under the cab doors. so now I am in… The chassis is everything you would expect, JSTs holding it together, its laid out like the Heljan style boards with cab lights at the ends, motor wires in the centre. Two sugar cube boxes for speakers. Nice view of the cab interior details. Trying to remove the jsts is at your own risk, I noted they are very tightly fitted, and the female adaptors soldered to the board are not strong, it would be imo quite easy for these to come off causing an additional job (like on the recent 37 nose boards).. however lifting the board reveals a nice surprise on the motor… Never seen a personalized motor label before for a rtr model. looks like a smaller compact motor than used in several other models, but its nice to see the spec on their… How does it perform… 0.05amp start up makes it a little higher than average but its a very smooth start. it maxes out at 0.16amp, pretty average but with a nice turn of speed, this motor is definitely right for the job. Whilst inside a quick look at the cab interior details… Yes the buffer was added back later. So I cannot pose it next to a Heljan 25, as my one and only is lost in the pile, but heres an idea what were dealing with.. what stands out is the drivers cab rivets are much refined, the under frame detail, more refined, greater buffer detail, the engraving out outlines of the grills, vents and panels are more refined. It quite simply looks sharper. The interior detail is more pronouned both cab and engine room. Finally the cab doors again the glass seals look more refined as does the handrails. Old Bachmann and New Heljan… and the SLW 25.. Which leds me to lights… cab lights is nice, but the light bleed around the headcodes is a bit obvious.. The cab lights are unswitched, so engine room, cab and headcode are one LED, and always on going forwards on DC, unless you unplug it. One interesting note is the LED is whiter in the Cab for the blue, and yellower for the green… Overall thrilled with the loco, the packaging. What could be improved: 1. the light bleed around the headcode 2. instruction manual being included 3. separate buffer beam for those wanting to add a coupling. 4. some would want working fans. otherwise this is a top shelf model, Ive not had anything like this for a while and it does deserve the accolades and attention its been getting..

Stonehinge.......

Following the work on the wheels and couplings I painted the insides of the new Rapido PO wagons with Revell matt black and tested them in the coal empties train. All was well so I toned down the outsides and underframes using Vallejo black wash, applied in downward strokes with a flat brush. In one or two places where the white lettering resisted the wash I added a little Humbrol black weathering powder. Ah, that's better. John C.

A scene in Apple Green. L1 67702 and B12/3 1565 are prepared for their next run out of Liverpool Street.

The formation of the 8.00 Leeds/Bradford. Mk1s to start with.BSO CK. MK1 SK, two compartments reserved for passengers joining at Hitchin, who back then would almost certainly those compartments empty, whereas now they would be full of sullen looking interlopers, who would refuse to move. Then an all door Gresley SK. Another all door SK and a BSK, these two and the previous SK to be secured by KX. FO and RK, the latter one of the few to be seen in 1958. These came off the previous days 1145 Up Leeds. Now the Bradford portion. CK, again one compartment reserved for those joining at Hithchin, and a BG. Finally, MK1 TSO. For some reason on Bradford portions these were often placed outside the brake vehicle. Bonus J6 as well.

Good morning, The absolute minimum radius this big engine will negotiate is 3'. The rear frames are fixed to the main chassis. With a swivelling inner truck carrying the pony wheels (there is precious little side-to-side movement, but enough for 3'). Anything less, then it's a ghastly RTR-style whole-swivelling unit or flangeless pony wheels (the later pair of Ivatt 'Princess Coronations', with the 'Delta' truck beneath the cab is better in this respect). This 'Semi' was travelling so fast on Little Bytham that this was the best I could do to 'freeze' it! The weight of Geoff Haynes' lovely painting obviously slowed it down a bit.............. Regards, Tony.

Enough about pigs, here's a couple of Panniers to start your day off with a smile....?

I found this topic so interesting I ended up registering so I can comment. Warning: You can tell this is written by an accountant. If you have a problem with beancounting you may want to skip this one... TL:DR version - main points are the sentences in bold. Looking at both the recent stock market update and the previous financial statements, there are some pretty clear problems at Hornby, but comments such as those by Simon Kohler in Railway Modeller actually don't touch them, they focus on the wrong problem. In fact the final Outlook section of the trading update Hornby issued does a much better job at actually telling us what the issues are - high stock and high overhead costs. It's not about the competition or the innovation from smaller entrants or any of that. It's not about firebox lighting or headlamps or detailed underframes. Sure those drive up the cost of the product and the sales price, but they do that for all manufacturers equally. They're not why Hornby is in trouble. Yes, there are newer, smaller, entrants to the market. Normally smaller entrants are more agile, but the larger incumbent players have a massive advantage, which is simply size. Being larger simply allows Hornby to do everything more efficiently and therefore more profitably. To blame new entrants into the market for changing the focus of the market, whether it's quality features, wider liveries or larger rakes of wagons, whatever, none of that is really the point. Hornby can make the exact same moves and do it more cheaply due to their ability to scale up. Ultimately all of the companies are playing the same game, there's no secret advantage, no technology that can't be copied, no significant exclusive product that makes them unique, no monopoly on the market. They're not Microsoft or Apple with a product you can't live without. Whether large or small, the products and the processes are pretty much identical. Research -> Design -> Engineering Models -> Tooling -> Production -> Sales (and repeat). With few exceptions (Dapol and PECO) that production is largely happening in India and China, so costs should be expected to be broadly similar regardless of which company is making the model. The only advantage the smaller companies have that the market has different expectations, they can rely more heavily on a pre-order funding model that reduces their need for costly stock holdings. That's their agility in play, and it's much needed as they simply don't have the cash that Hornby has to invest in production runs that clear the shelves more slowly. Of course recently Hornby don't have they money either which is why they're struggling (it is happening somewhat though and I think the TT120 market is probably a good example of this shift happening with Hornby simply not having the excess stock on hand, though whether that's by design or by mistake is a matter of opinion). So if all the players in the game are broadly selling the same goods for the same prices with the same underlying costs, how is it Hornby are struggling so much? Hornby should have the advantage, they can make larger batches, more product, have more efficient distribution, wider marketing and other theoretically more efficient overheads, so they should be making more profit than the smaller competitors, not less. Fundamentally Hornby are left with two problems then, which are exactly as Hornby have disclosed in their statement. 1. Their higher stock position is costing them money. This one is all about cashflow. When you have spent all your money buying stock that's sat in a warehouse, that money isn't doing anything useful, like buying more tooling or paying more designers. Instead Hornby are borrowing more money to pay for that, and borrowing costs interest, so it's a double whammy, your own money is doing nothing and it's costing you to use someone else's. In fact Hornby have a huge and persistent stock problem caused by what I can only assume are bad decisions in their past (railways or other brands, I don't know for sure). The latest statement indicates their stock level is around £20m (down £3m from previous disclosure which was £23m). Based on their 2023 account they had £21.3m of stock and turnover of £55.1m that means they have a stock ratio of about 39%. That means they have effectively about 4 months worth of sales value held in stock doing nothing for the business, not generating a penny. This is a level so bad that they have removed the Inventory graph from the 2023 annual accounts. If you look back over past accounts this used to be reported with a pretty graph every year. In fact between 2004 and 2018 the average stock level was closer to 22% of sales. And this was with a business model that Hornby acknowledged was on the princple of selling things more slowly over time (the opposite of the current market trend). So you'd expect Hornby to be reducing stock in line with market trends, not increasing it. In fact Hornby have doubled their stock level since 2019. To even get back to their previously levels of efficiency in stock, Hornby need to offload about £9m of stock. It's no coincidence that the level of bank debt has increased by £14m in the same time period and it's clear that the naysayers can't just blame that on tooling up for TT120. It's caused by stock not selling. We've all seen the fly on the wall documentary with Simon K and Montana at a fete trying desperately to offload unwanted garbage steampunk sets and the like. Think of this as at kind of problem but on a massive scale. It's simply stuff no one wants. Whether it's bad or just expensive I don't know. But it's costing Hornby money in bank interest (nearly £700k in bank and loan interest in 2023 when that debt was less than half what it is now). 2. Their overheads are out of control. Hornby should be making the most profit out of the players in the market because they can do things more cheaply when they do them on a larger scale. Partly this seems to be driven by the obession with online direct sales. We know from the announcement that around 18% of all sales are online direct sales. These should be making the most profit out of all sales because they're selling direct at RRP and not having to sell them at wholesale prices to retailers. Even the points discount is barely a dent in their profitability here as it's only the same as Retailers discount at and those retailers must still make something out of the deal or they wouldn't buy the products. On average Hornby have around a 48-49% profit margin on the actual cost of the product that covers these overheads. In the 2023 accounts digital sales were £8.5m, which was 15% of total sales. So those digital sales contributed about £4.3m of profit margin towards the overhead costs of the company. At the same time the cost of winning those digital sales in overheads went up by £1.9m, so actually those digital sales only contributed £2.4m toward the rest of the overheads - a little over half what they would have done if those sales had simply come from retailers instead. Yes, this is longer term investment for the future, but between 2023 and 2024 the digital sales share of the total has only moved from 15% to 18% of total sales. That 3% is around £1.6m of extra sales. Yet total sales are pretty flat at only 2% growth (around £1.1m), so quite a lot of those new digital sales have come from taking market share off of retailers, not from growing new sales/new customers. And because of this massive investment in digital, they are actually making Hornby less money, not more. Ignoring the one off exceptional costs (writing off bad investments and refurbishing the visitor centre) then these two things alone would have been the difference between turning a profit and the loss they actually made. Also, for what it's worth, last year when Hornby lost all that money, their departing CEO's pay went up from £241k to £617k. So that's a £375k pay off to someone they wanted out. Who says you need to make a profit to get rewarded eh?

Revolution offers WIA car carriers in 00 and N Revolution Trains is offering the imposing WIA 5-piece articulated car carriers (UIC code: Sefoorss) as its next wagon model in both OO and N. CAD work is complete and once sufficient orders are reached tooling will begin. 60 five-piece sets were ordered by Railfreight Distribution from Arbel-Fauvet of France ahead of the opening of the Channel Tunnel in 1994. The full covering not only offered protection from stones and theft, but also saved time and money because new vehicles did not require wax protection. Although impossible to see from the outside, the units are double-decked and the pale blue covers are raised in unison on self-contained jacks to allow easy loading and unloading. The characteristic angled roof profile is designed to maximise use of the British loading gauge. The WIAs were initially under-utilised, however they operated on various flows to Belgium, Italy and France, and also on domestic traffic between manufacturing plants and domestic terminals or docks for export. Current flows include Minis from Cowley and Jaguars from Castle Bromwich to Southampton Docks. The Revolution model features articulation units designed to enable the wagons to negotiate Radius 2 curves and the customer-fit detailing pack includes a representation of the outer control box if the tension-lock coupler is removed. Revolution’s Ben Ando says: “Transporting motor vehicles has long been an important traffic for the railway, and since we’ve already produced the Cartic-4s and IPAs in both OO and N, it makes sense for us to ‘complete the set’ car carriers.” Revolution’s Mike Hale said: “We’d like to thank DB Cargo for their assistance with this model, and it should be noted that these wagons allow modellers to depict fully-loaded car trains without the need to buy any model cars!”

Low and behold..... A pannier crossing the viaduct!

Seagull now arrives with the 6.40 KX-Grantham slow. As always, the next part of the diagram will be something more challenging.

Hi Renbow, That sounds excellent, and indeed the Hornby Class 60 cab is also excellent and will be difficult to beat. As we go for lit cab dials we cannot print onto GPPS that small in such great detail required for cab dials , so we leave them clear. The handles are measured and to scale as per a real 31 (no stone left unturned etc). Perhaps this angle is a tad more sympathetic, but with the latest models we are really pushing the possibilities of injection moulding for parts size, assembly and finesse. Appreciate the feedback and glad you like it. Cheers! Fran

To be frank if you are going to suggest anyone is telling lies you may find the engagement and willingness to provide ‘best efforts’ honest answers withdrawn.

Earlier you were talking about Fairburn tanks Tony. The DJH O gauge Fairburn is a nice kit, but riddled with errors I'm afraid. Principally, the cyclinder in the kit are too small and the slide bar bracket is too far back making the slidebars ridiculously long. I built mine with modified 80000 tank cylinders and valve gear and added extra castings ( principally for the Ivatt ) from the Laurie Griffin range to improve it, including a cast rear bogie to replace the 'tea tray' as well as a cast front pony truck.

Good moaning from a still rather cool Charente, where the dawn chorus is in full swing. Our friends came for lunch yesterday. We haven't seen them for several years but Mathew's sister now lives near Cognac, so they came up from there to see us. In the evening a good friend made us dinner. As we ate we watched a bright orange moon rise, it looked great. Today is hospital admission day for Beth. We are setting off later this morning to have lunch in Angouleme then will head for the hospital. I will probably stay and watch trains for a few hours before heading home. Her op is some time Thursday. Regards to all. Jamie