Bernard Lamb

8 hours ago, ColinB said:

I suppose the thing is, can Dapol tell. If they are copies they should be able to tell immediately. Dapol locos aren't that expensive anyway compared to Hornby so why copy them, there is more mileage in doing a copy of a Hornby Dublo Flying Scotsman at £499 a go. 

Of course Dapol can tell these from the kosher stuff.

Just check for the 'cast iron' instead of mazac, or whatever alloy Dapol specify.😀

Bernard

13 hours ago, Phil Parker said:

 

It's all here - https://pages.ebay.co.uk/authenticity-guarantee-seller/

 

 

Get over yourself. If you think the company will splash millions on looking at every listing, then sending the goods to an expert to check authenticity, because some bloke on a forum challenged them, you are living in cloud cuckoo land.  As I've linked above, there is a procedure for high-value goods, but that doesn't include Hornby Dublo or any other toy train. And if it did, we can only imagine the howls of protest as the delivery of said toys was held up, and the buyer landed with a bill for the authentication.

 

 

Welcome to the free market economy. I assume you always vote communist.

 

Returning to the OP, has anyone worked out how much you would save buying a dodgy Dapol loco? A quick look at the prices suggests that by the time your postman has extracted the import duty from you on the doorstep (and you have headed to Facebook to have your tantrum about being taxed, whilst also moaning that your roads have potholes), the saving isn't really worth the effort. Now I know we are in a hobby where people scrabble around to save pennies, uninterested in the "big picture" damage they have already done to model shops etc., but I really don't see it's worth the trouble. It's not like Dapol stuff isn't pretty keenly priced anyway.

What puzzles me is why people buy stuff from China via ebay. If you do want to get involved in that market, then the margins are much better using ali express, or dealing with a company directly. The volume of model trains that could be sold, seems to make it unatractive for people in China to contemplate a punt. At least not in a large way. The Chinese are certainly aware that Hornby, for example, have been known to get quantities very wrong and have had to resort to fire sales. It is actually a brownie point for Dapol that that they are considered worthy of attention. 

Bernard

1 hour ago, 34theletterbetweenB&D said:

Such things happened in dear old Blighty of which I have had direct experience, and doubtless everywhere else in the world with any significant manufacturing. In many ways it is easier in really large operations, more appropriately skilled people among whom  to find the  'recruits' to put in the extra hours, turn a blind eye, and perform other essential roles.

 

Sorry if this sounds cynical, but I have had training in this field.

'Recruits'  I remember the late 1960s, a major supplier to the motor trade. Press operators on piece work and family members coming in to help with the stacking and packing. Some people recorded fantastic output rates and senior management choose not to ask questions.

Probably the best case I came across was a new Sales Director who went out to The Gulf to drum up business. While there he enquired, very discreetly, about a job the firm had quoted for but had not turned into a contract. He was told it was half way built and that they were delighted with how it was coming on. All hell was let loose on his return. However it all went quiet very quckly, as it was hinted that somebody very senior ws involved in what was a massive job to take private.

I don't know what was involved in your training, but mine was to keep your head down and keep quiet.😃

Bernard

5 minutes ago, D9020 Nimbus said:

I am surprised if Murphy Models items are appearing in this way. Weren't they all made by Bachmann/Kader?

Do you think that they are too big to be immune to such goings on?

Bernard

30 minutes ago, H2O said:

Clip of earlier helpful reply.

 

Could these models also be ones that failed QC and go out the back door to be sold rather than in the bin?  If so you are guaranteed a lemon if foolish enough to buy direct from China.

Almost certainly no.

Ironically the 'third shift' production probably has better QC than the real production. 

It has been going on for years with some very big  sums involved and they would want to look after their special clients.

Dapol are right, as I see it, not to name the products. Why give the crooks free publicity?

I remember a time when sports clothing was big business using this type of production method. However that was delivered and marketed in the country that was the target market. 

Bernard

8 hours ago, Johann Marsbar said:

The next day (a Sunday) consisted of a large circuit Wroclaw-Ostrow Wielkopolski-Lodz-Kutno-Torun-Poznan-Wroclaw, which as well as covering a fair amount of "new track", enabled observation of a couple of tram operations which I'd not seen before.

Lodz looked a bit "down at heel" as I walked from Kaliska into the centre and tram operations seemed a bit sparse at that time of a Sunday morning.......

 

 

I did find this preserved late 1920's Lilpop II tram in use as a Cafe in the City centre - though my Atlas Tramwajow book of 2004 seems to list it as an operational preserved car.....

 

 

A big surprise was this N class tram/trailer set which appeared on either a special service or charter working......

 

 

Heading back to Kaliska station, I did see one of the 803N rebuilt cars used on the Lodz Interurban routes......

 

 

...closely followed by a rebuilt 805Na.....

 

 

On to Torun and a pair of their 805Na cars near to Torun Miasto station......

 

 

Whilst I arrived at the main station in Torun - which is the opposite side of the Vistula to the centre (and no longer served by the tramway), I caught a train at Miasto to travel back to the main station, which turned out to be this SU45 hauled "one coach wonder" - seen at Torun Glowny.......

 

 

Only other photo of the day was this study of the station building at Moglino, taken from the train......

 

Nice to see the old Prussian Ost Bahn style station building in such good condition.

For those igborant of such things, see the Auhagen web site for details of a series of models based on this style.

Bernard 

On 31/03/2024 at 09:12, DY444 said:

 

I would dispute the assertion that the matter in hand is a "serious" safety issue.  A serious safety issue is Wootton Bassett, those unlicensed clowns that spadded at Stafford, NR connecting signal wires back to front at Wingfield, ditto its cowboy, hacked point wiring at Waterloo, Lumo overspeed at Peterborough etc etc.  The low probability of a slam door coming open or being opened on a single set of stock doing a couple of round trips a day in the summer is a safety issue but not a serious one.

 

I am a vehement critic of the ORR because I believe it has done far more harm to the wellbeing of the railways than good.  It has systematically redefined the "Reasonably" from ALARP to something no dictionary would recognise.  I would have much greater sympathy with it in this case if it didn't have such an atrocious record of imposing enormous cost for negligible, and in some cases zero, safety benefit. 

 

Oh and for the avoidance of doubt, the court case did not rule that the ORR was right in insisting that WCRC fit CDL, merely that it had the legal authority to insist that WCRC did.

Others have pointed out chapter and verse as to who writes the rules. These people, I presume, have hard evidence for the need to have these particular regulations in place. If you do not like them the start with your MP to get them changed, rather than slag off the people who are trying to inplement them.

I have workd in several situations that were covered by speciic national regulations. It was not my place to argue about the merits or otherwise of them.

Having twice had the dreaded phone call about a fatality, and going through all the details, it can be a very upsetting experience. In both cases, neither I, or the people I worked with had done anything wrong.

Either you have never been in that situation, or you have the hide of a rhinocerous. Beleive me, regulations exist for a very good reason. The management of any company that wants to go to court and argue about them is, in my book, not fit to run any safety critical business. Having seen and heard of several cases I base that on experience. Obey the rules or clear off. I will not go into details, but just writing this reminds me of one case that was used as an example during a training course. It struck a chord. Nobody on that course was ever likely to break the rules, and would certainly have come down hard on anybody doing so. Even if it was senior management. But then, my manager would have always backed me and upheld the rules rather than starting an argument about them. 

Bernard

Time for the watchdog to bite.

Enough is enough.

You do not expect an exemption. You plead and grovel and promise to comply ASAP.

Bernard

Remember to put the clocks forward an hour tonight.

There will be one less hours rain tomorrow.

Bernard

4 hours ago, Mark Saunders said:

Sorry but ‘I was told’ is just hearsay unless you can prove otherwise!

'I was told.......'

When I started work, by the HR Director, that such an arrangement was in operation. There were several reasons. To protect against redundancy, to allow people to get their hands on quick money to buy a car or get married or similar, without the need to take out an expensive loan. There were also unwritten rules about taking time off in lieu. It suited just about everybody, but it was not the sort of thing to put in a contract of employment. Time off on full pay for personal reasons was another example. I had a close colleague who was off for six months, with a family situation. Alas on the railway and in many other paces all such mutual trust has long gone. 

Bernard

I can't follow this.

If it had been tried where I worked people would have jumped at the chance.

They would then have taken a few sick days to retore their work/life balance.

Bernard

1 hour ago, stewartingram said:

Just fot clarification, about this contract that expires later this year? Can someone actually clarify this.

I assume we are talking about the train path in the timetable, that is issued by NR? WCR would have this path allocated to them (and paid for), for their sole use, so that the Jacobite can become a regular train. Just the same really as the freight operators, who have bought paths for their trains, but often only use them as required. So if GBRF have a path, but next Tuesday their freight doesn't run, Freightliner can't run a train instead,

That opens a can of worms.

I don't see it as the same at all.

WCR are unable to use their path due to not being able to provide a legal train.

I would see that as being in default of the contract.

I see no valid reason why another operator could be allowed to use the path if they so wanted.

WCR could of course sue. But that would make them look rather stupid. As things are that would presumably not bother them.

If other people wanted the service to run, then I see no reason to be nice and coopertaive to WCR.

Bernard

There was a mention upthread of pooled stock in the east.

This is the only picture I can locate showing the OPW markngs.

Very poor quality as it is a blow up from a scan.

I suppose that I am asking for trouble if I say that I have never seen a model in pool livery.

Bernard

10 hours ago, BillB said:

Thanks for your replies. Re the Piko catalogue, I was in fact looking at the current Piko TT catalogue and wondering which of the Ep III ex-Prussian "G" vans lettered for neighbouring countries might legitimately turn up on a Saxony branch line, as the number of DR vans available is small. Piko have five vans for the CSD, which is very close by (two standard brown vans, two green for different breweries, and one blue, maybe insulated?), plus one standard brown van for the MAV. I'll take your comments to mean "any of them, but not all at once". Thanks again, Bill.

The G10 van could turn up almost anywhere. One even got as far as Jerusalem. Is it still there?

The Piko model from circa 1960 can still cut it alongside more modern items. With new wheels and couplings I still run them. Picked up for next to nothing a very long time ago. They were pretty good when compared to what Triang were making in the UK around that time.

I don't know about the 1950s, but Bad Schandau was a busy place in the 1970s. I used to visit the sandstone rock outcrops. You could sit in a restaurant and look down on the freight trains from high up and they looked like models.

Bernard

5 minutes ago, black and decker boy said:

Scratch That. This has appeared on the WCRC website this afternoon. 

 

https://westcoastrailways.co.uk/news/important-announcement-the-jacobite

 

 

They really are deluded but seem unable / unwilling to recognise that and the wording of that release is inflammatory and an exaggeration of the truth & process involved and omits the fact they only applied last week or so for the exemption.

 

 

 

They still think that they should be given an exemption certificate.

If they had apologized for not being able to run the service until they had completed the work on a CDL system, I would have had a little more respect for them.

Exemptions should only be for special cases and for a very limited time. 

At one time I carried out Quality Audits and I can assure every one that if a deviation had been reported on one occassion and not fixed by the next visit, they would have been shut down on the spot. Back then my boss would have backed me. If any company even thought about taking legal action that would have been the end of them.

They seem to still be pushing their luck. Sadly it is setting a bad example to others.

Bernard

1 hour ago, F-UnitMad said:

Was there much left or was it destroyed by the retreating troops?, and more importantly, why on earth would that subject have "a very wide appeal."..???

Destroying anything at the time was a very low priority.  In the context of foreign layouts being attractive to UK audiences then yes.

This discussion started on the UK punters' lack of interest in the railways of other countries. Foreign locations with Uk stock must surely be a help in getting folk to stop and take a look.

The Dean goods must be the best known example of left behind motive power. It ended up in Vienna, via goodness knows where. The German crews loved it. One ex LMS set of coaches got as far as Hamburg. 

Bernard

16 hours ago, whart57 said:

 

Sounds like the cliche of continental modelling which gets aired by the "foreign muck" brigade.

 

Seriously though, there are a lot of possibilities with Dutch railways, some that haven't even been explored by Dutch modellers themselves.

 

How many know for example that the first Dutch railways were broad gauge. The first lines were 2 metres centre rail to centre rail so 1950mm gauge. Regauging took place in the mid 19th century so it would be a bit of a niche affair.

 

Pre-grouping/nationalisation could be colourful, there was the Netherlands Central Railway with its yellow locomotives - later like the LBSCR in Britain changing to brown - or the North Brabant railway with 4-6-0s in blue.

 

There was an extensive local network with small tank engines and four wheel coaches. The preserved Hoorn-Medemblik line is an example of that. Post-war, for about five years, there was a local railway from Amsterdam's Haarlemmermeer station going south. Almost every tank engine type worked on it with Dutch and Swedish four wheel coaches. Freight traffic, primarily coal and chemicals, was hauled by outside framed 4-4-0s with large drivers. Later various diesel classes ranging from mainline types to four wheeled shunters worked the line, which survived for freight until 1986.

 

The main thing though was the Netherlands pioneer status in electrification, the consequence of which is the obsolescent 1500v DC power over nearly all the network (high speed line to Brussels and Paris excepted I think). Streamlined EMUs which were mirrored by streamlined DEMUs on the secondary lines. One interesting idea for a layout I saw many many years ago was based on Roodeschool up near Groningen. Passenger traffic was in the hands of single or twin DEMUs, which could of course be coupled together for rush hour trains, but there was also the gas industry requiring tank wagons and other stuff.

 

For freight traffic offering nearly every sort of wagon there is the small stand-alone network in Dutch Flanders. Run by the Dutch NS it connects with the Belgian railways. However the area served around Terneuzen has chemical works, oil refineries, sugar factories which get wagon loads of sugar beet and more. It's absolutely suitable for an American style wagon despatching layout. Unfortunately without mountains to hide fiddle yards in.

 

Or for a shelf layout there is the Distelweg freight terminus in Amsterdam. On the wrong side of the river Ij this collection of sidings - some running through the street - was served by a small ferry which could carry a four wheel shunter and a couple of wagons per trip. That expired in the late 80s or early 90s but there are local history websites that describe it.

 

And of course there was the temporary line that only ran during low tide that we modelled in the Great Model Railway Challenge.

 

So those Austerities are probably the least interesting subjects.

What is that supposed to mean?

I would have thought that a  model of a locomotive doing the job that it was built to do, would be anything but a cliche. With a choice of LMS. LNER and GWR coaches to haul, not to mention various pre grouping SR constituent companies, there would be a lot of interest. The modifications to RTR stock to replicate the actual conversions would be very interesting.  An inspection saloon comes to mind.

As for Austerities not being of much interest. Bachmann seem to have sold a few and the preserved machines seem to attract quite a bit of attention.

Of even more interest would be a layout using UK stock that was left behind at Dunkirk. That should have a very wide appeal.

Bernard

12 hours ago, 009 micro modeller said:

That does sound genuinely interesting. But will you also have to mix British and international scales (e.g. 00/H0), thus annoying other people as well?

The problem would be making a decision as to which scale to choose. Austerities are available in either scale. If you concentrate on the passenger workings, then 00 is easier but there is very little freight stock available. If you go for freight as the main theme then H0 would be better.

One day I will get round to scratch building a German flat wagon with side stakes in 00 to run on my Scottish Borders lyout. They were used for transporting weaving equipment.

Bernard

I quite like the idea of a Dutch layout. Set around 1945 with Austerities hauling rakes of coaches from various UK companies. That would cause a problem with those who don't like foreign layouts. Through in an international mix of freight stock, including some of US origin and we satisfy or upset just about everybody.

Bernard

The end of an era. At one time various organizations provided these facilities.

There was one in Gilsland near Carlisle that was run by the Co-op.

Around 1944, when I was very young and so don't remember anything about it, I was sent there with my mother to be away from the London area.

There was also a Hetfordshire home on the south coast. If you paid a small subscription you were entitled to a stay there. I think that scheme closed in the 1980s.

Bernard

8 hours ago, APOLLO said:

The bridge over the River Kwai would make a good model - Nothing like in the film though.

 

 

 

 

You had better not do that at Wigan North Western !!!!!

 

 

The nearby museum is well worth a visit.

 

 

The military cemetery across the road is very well kept.

 

 

Brit15

That last photo is a  familiar scene.

I was searching for graves of men from the Beds and Herts a few years ago. Over to the front left I think.

While the railway would make a good model would you want to include scenes like the first two photos. Sadly Germany can be discussed openly these days but much about Japan and Asia in general is still taboo.

Bernard

A coloured print from a linocut, after an original drawing by John Mennie. Thailand May 1943.

A photograph by me, November 2018. Not far from the location of the original drawing . It was difficult to find the exact spot.

Colour certainly can vary.

Bernard

9 hours ago, Craigw said:

 

 

While I admire the scenic work on the layout, as one who is also a military modeller , the actual military stuff does not gell for me. 

You and me seem to have very similar views regarding this layout. We both appear to be trying hard to be polite.😃

I think it is a shame that such an amount of effort is let down by the lack of knowledge.

There was a GDR period layout at a local show some time ago. I was collared by a very well known expert modeller of matters UK andd German and taken to meet the people behind the layout. I was asked to be open with any comments as they were willing to learn. They were very happy when I could only point out that there was too great a variety of stock and that things were a little bit too clean.

Bernard

About 15 years ago the late Jacq Damen brought his layout Dreimuhlentalbahn to Warley. It won an award and also received a lot of favouable comments. There might be some footage of it on line. Jacq died  a few years ago so I cannot contact him for details. The layout was, is I shoud say as the last thing I heard it had found a new home, around 50' long from memory and represents a valley with three mills. Industrial grot at its finest.

The funny thing is that the viewing public admired the scenery and the running. Proof that foreign stuff can hold the attention of a UK audience.Little did they know that for the first hour at Warley I was under the basebord holding a lamp while Jacq wielded a soldering iron trying to get power to more than just one circuit of track, while the operators worked hard to keep at least some trains running.

Bernard

11 minutes ago, TEAMYAKIMA said:

This is the only photo I can find of the Bridge at Remagen N gauge layout set in late 1944. It features some very high quality modelling (the bridge is scratchbuilt from brass strip) and the layout is packed with cameos referencing various big-screen war films.

 

 

 

That is one layout that does not do anything for me. Yes, the bridge is a super model. But I find the general impression rather sanitized, in respect of both scenery and stock for the period. I have probbly spent far too long in some of the more grotty parts of Germany.😃

Bernard