Chris M

My knowledge of Chinese manufacturing is now about 15 years old and relates to automotive but back then the factory would claim to be the owner of the tooling you paid for even though they accept that you paid for it. This is very different from the EU where tooling you had paid for could be removed from any factory at any time subject to any contracted notice.

Signal box fixed. There is just a chance that you might see a Western running through Little Aller Junction

Dave has designed some great N gauge models in the past while at Dapol. I don't think he is great at web site management. The facts relating to the king as I understand things:- 1. Dave announced he wanted to crowdfund a king 2. After quite a while there were sufficient people who had committed by their actions on the DJM website to pay 50% of the price of the proposed king up front in order to fund the tooling cost. 3. When this point was reached Dave invested his time in designing what looks like a brilliant model. 4. After many months of work on the design Dave was happy for tooling to start and so asked those who had promised to fund the tooling to fulfil their side of the deal. 5. A significant number of people have backed out when it came to parting with cash. It would have been much better for all of us if these people hadn't bothered to say they would support this project in the first place. I still hope sufficient people will be found to fund this but I am not confident. I don't know Dave at all but it does seem that there have been a number of timewasters committing to things they weren't really committed to. DJ Models have a stand booked at the Stafford Exhibition on 2nd & 3rd February so maybe more information will become available then.

It's a shame that nothing much appears to be happening. I am very disappointed with all those who placed an order but dropped out when it came to paying out cash . Those who did this may well have wasted all our time.

Ed has created something a bit special in N with Todmorden Midland. I hear rumours of an extension, but not yet.

What, and miss out on normal working?https://youtu.be/bUK0hwukn7k"]

There has been a bit of a catastrophe at Little Aller Junction. I was putting it up last night and managed to hit the signal box with the other half of the layout. I've got until 2nd February to get it fixed so plenty of time....

Bump. I hope we will get some visitors as I have enough bacon to make 200 baps and 100 hot dogs! I may have gone over the top on this....

The question is what do you mean by QC? You can't inspect quality into a product, you have to design quality into a product. When you are producing hundreds of cars a day that sell at many thousands of pounds you can afford to invest huge amounts up front to ensure that build is 100% correct every time. Car manufacturers get the current quality by designing every part so it can only be assembled correctly. If you are building batches of say 1,000 at a time which have a factory piece price of less that £50 you just haven't got that luxury. Also, getting all the bits together for a small batch run is a complete pain in the posterior and so shortages of one little component are much more likely to happen than on mass produced products. I've been involved in both mass production and small batch production and I know how difficult small batches are to get 100% right. Not only getting all the components together but getting operatives to assemble something correctly that they are not familiar with.

It seems to me that the UK model railway industry has a few insurmountable problems which come together to cause this situation. 1. Our models are made using small batch production. Lots of short runs which are not great for ensuring consistent quality. Cars are made in hundreds of thousand whereas our models are made in batches which I understand are often around 1,000 units. 2. Manufacturing is usually carried out by a factory in China. In all honesty the value of the business of manufacturing UK model railway equipment is too small to be very important to these factories. This means that, even if they are all part of the same overall company, the UK companies just don’t have sufficient clout to force the factories to do exactly what is wanted. 3. The margins on model railways aren’t great and even locos at today’s prices are relatively small value items. All of this means UK model railway equipment won’t be perfect. I think we either need to be able to accept that or alternatively accept higher prices caused by production located closer to home. At the same time the companies involved do need to continue to try to improve quality. It is always going to be frustrating when we have spent our hard earned cash on something that isn’t perfect. I can understand the Views of the OP and would feel the same. In the case of missing parts it would seem sensible to ask Hornby direct to supply them free of charge even though the purchasers contract was not with Hornby. There could be a problem in that when it comes to Chinese made items it is quite possible that there will be no spares available, yet another problem with Chinese supply. I think we are in as good a position as possible regarding consistency and quality. It will sometimes be frustrating but what is the realistic alternative? European or UK manufactured but more expensive models seems to be the most likely way of improving both quality and development time. This would shrink the size of the hobby. A huge increase in volume giving companies such as Hornby and a Dapol more clout isn’t going to happen. I hope Rob will find a way to forgive Hornby in due course.

If the expected improvements to battery technology actually happen it is possible that all trains will be battery powered at some point in the future and thus remove the need for overhead wires. In the meantime hydrogen fuel cells are worth investigating.

These trains will go like a bomb! In reality hydrogen isn't so bad. It is volatile but it tends to just ignite upwards. This probably makes it safer than petrol (ok not used in trains) which tends to spread along the ground and ignite.

I thought the answer was going to be all day Saturday and also all day Sunday if it’s a two day exhibition. Oh I do hope those with TMD exhibition layouts aren’t reading this.

Please note that the Christ Church, Quinton, Birmingham model railway exhibition is on 12th January 2019. It is stated as being on the 5th January in Hornby magazine which is incorrect. To be fair to Hornby magazine they were sent incorrect information in the first place but they seem to have missed the second email correctign the date.

Just want to publicise this little show. Layouts list:- PenyboPenybontfawr - new OO layout Dunnage - minimum space O gauge Hortus Halt - G scale Little Aller Junction - N gauge mainline junction Todmorden Midland- N gauge terminus Burford - HO terminus The Ridgacre Branch - N gauge complete branch line in 44" by 27" T gauge layout Lego layout Awdry St Nicholas - Thomas layout operated by visitors Admission is £3 for adults and £1 for little ones

I used them for the first time last week and everything was good. I used eBay because I only wanted one item and the postage is cheaper. I’m impressed with the huge range of spares they have. I think it is reasonable that the buyer has to find the correct part and often part by number. First the owner has the model in his possession so is the only person who can see exactly what it is. It’s surprising how often things are incorrectly described on such places as eBay which suggests people sometimes don’t know exactly what model they have. Secondly it takes time to find the exact correct part. You can’t expect a business to spend much time asking the owner for details of the model and then searching through the parts list for a sale that is often worth less than £10.

Just to reassure folks - He won't actually be allowed to run the layout at a show.

He's pretty good for a two year old even if he does insist on holding the controller upside down.

My assistant operator is currently being trained up.

Just a couple of photos of Little Aller Junction

Looking forward to being part of it. The size quoted for mine is the layout size not the space required and so is correctly shown on the list above. As it doesn't seem to have been mentioned - the date is 2nd & 3rd February 2019.

Resurecting an old thread. This is shows my old and new warning devices.

I think signal boxes almost invariably had some windows open during the summer.