Phatbob

I've used these within rakes with much success. https://www.fleischmann.de/en/product/15111-0-0-1-4-0-0-003005-0/products.html They're a lot more robust than the ROCO close couplings.

................Hobby is watching 22 so-called grown-ups millionairs kicking a bag of wind around a rough old field. There, I've corrected it for you!

One clear memory of being a customer in 4BEP buffet car is that it was bl00dy expensive! So an expensive model seems somewhat prototypical.

Merseyrail have had recent tradgic incidents of people falling down the gap between the platform edge and side of the train, resulting in loss of life. They are consequently, very sensitive to this particular risk. My understanding is that the "Dado rail" feature has been developed to minimise the possibility of somebody falling down the gap by making said gap as small as they can.

Only if it includes an "ouch!" when you mistime retracting the giraffe and it hits its head!

The giraffe car should be dcc equiped to enable one to pop-up and retract the giraffe's head at will.

Mine would be another vote for 1:00, or, pragmatically 1:101.6 as it already exists. Of the current options, TT is the best compromise between size and level of detail IMHO.

Mike, I googled it for you and Jeremy Suter is GCR427 on ebay. HTH, Bob.

Appledore will be appearing at the Prestatyn show tomorrow. https://www.ukmodelshops.co.uk/other/events_detail.php?eid=20037 Do pop in and say hello.

I'll be there with Appledore Do pop-in and say hello.

My strategy is much the same as the OP (Nick C). I'll have a quick look round everything first. Hopefully, during that quick look round I'll find a friend (exhibitor or trader) where I can leave my coat and bag . Then I'll have a brew and possibly also lunch. During the break I'll have a look through the programme and then decide where I'll concentrate my time on a slow look round after the break. Most likely trade first, then the layouts, with possibly another brew in the afternoon. Last job is usually any really popullar layouts that have had a crowd and those traders I'm likely to have a chat with. I'm sure they don't want long chats when they're busy, so later on when most folk have already left seems more sensible.

I finally got around to fettling my pair of Dapol Brake Tenders today. I have managed to get the hand-brake handles to stop sticking out like Shrek's ears. If you pull hem out and then open-up the mounting holes to 1.8mm (a figure determined by some trial and error) you can glue them back in at a realistic distance of separation from the bodyside. HTH. Bob.

I recently broke one of the coupling bars that join the two coaches together in one of my Hornby 2HALs. I've been unable to find a replacement Hornby item from any of the usual suspects. To cut a long story short, should anybody suffer the same misfortune, Bachmann Intermodal wagon drawbars (Part No. 36-059) are the same length and fit nicely. The 2BIL couplings bars are also the same length BTW. Hope that helps somebody in the same predicament some day.

Hello RMweb! Star Lane will on show at the Beckenham & West Wickham Model Railway Club's exhibition this Saturday, 19th October. Do pop in and say hello. http://www.bwwmrc.co.uk/exhibitions/StJohn19Oct/index.shtml

It's today. Get down here quick if you've not been already, or you'll miss it.

Roundhouse and I will be there helping our mate Mike with his Tri-ang layout. Do pop in and say hello. Always a great show and well worth the trip.

Ballykeale all set-up and ready to go. Do come along and say hello. I had a sneaky peak at the other exhibits and it's going to be a really good show. Don't miss it!

Wouldn't a baby Pendoleano be called a "Pendobambino"?

I have a small fleet of the Bachmann std 3MT tanks that Use on Appledore ( ). I have to say that they have shown no deficiencies in any department. Look right, run beautifully and reliably. I think your money would be well spent on one of these. No connection, just a happy customer!

Support your local model shop! Give them a ring, make sure what you're after is coming and ask them to reserve it for you. Maybe even put down a deposit? Then they'll still be there when you need them.

Somebody should turn one into a micropub called "The Nodding Donkey".

Just because a new Franchisee is abysmal doesn't mean that that the old franchisee was brilliant. It just illustrates that they were not as cr@p. Having had to put up with VTs monopoly of intercity services in my part of the world, I'm not sad to see them go. In fairness, pretty much all the VT staff I've had to deal with over the last twenty-odd years have been at least good, if not superb. Recruitment and training is something they have got very right. Pretty much every other aspect of their operations (rolling stock Specification, service patterns, fares etc.) has left me underwhelmed. So much so that I'm using the M6 more often for journeys South now than I ever did under BR's auspices. As for XC, I actively avoid using them. Even worse under Ariva than under VT without a doubt. But that doesn't mean that XC under VT's auspices was any paragon of virtue. Remember "Operation Princess" and how well that went? Or the initial response of the traveling public to a 4 car Voyager replacing 6 to 8 MkIIs? I gather that MTR are favourites to get the new WCML franchise. They have a proven record for operating Metro services, but can they cope with Intercity, which is a different ball-game? That remains to be seen. No doubt DafT will be unconcerned with any deterioration in comfort and service, given what's happening on the ECML and GWML, so long as the money keeps rolling in. So I would not be surprised to see these decline further. I will not, however, start getting nostalgic for the days of VT (in much the same way that I'm not getting nostalgic for "the good old days of Pacers" ). I may well use the new VT service from LPY to EUS and back if it does come to pass, but only because the MKIVs are more comfortable than Bendyleanos and don't tilt and make me sea-sick. Not because good old Sir Richard has anything to do with them.

So, after nearly a quarter of a century of enjoying a monopoly and doing everything humanly possible to kill off all competition, Virgin wants to run an open access service on the WCML. Will the headboard read "The Sour Grapes Express" I wonder? I am overwhelmed by a tsunami of irony.

Southern Pride kits with Bachmann bogies and Comet brass sides come-up lovely. :-) Well, good enough for me anyway. Far better than the existing Bachmann RTR ones anyway. If the Hornby shorties are as good as their Maunsels, that'll do nicely too.