Bernard Lamb

20 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Good points Phil,

 

Regarding the 'robustness' of RTR models, I was showing Hornby's latest (and very-pretty) 78XXX to Geoff Haynes this morning, and part of the motion fell off! 

 

I've repaired it, but should it be necessary for someone to have to do that sort of thing?

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Good morning Tony,

I bought one of these models. Being described as '78047 based at Hawick' I was expecting that  I could have a Borders machine that would actually be RTR and require little work, other than adding crew and a lamp. How wrong I was. It is still on the work bench and is the most frustrating locomotive that I have purchased in recent times. Yesterday it came out in sympathy with yours and a rod managed to detach itself, just while pottering along my test track. I will not bore readers with what else I have had to do as this has been done to death on the Hornby thread.

Bernard

3 hours ago, melmoth said:

 

I think the Limited Lifetime Warranty is an excellent thing, but I have a slight difficulty reconciling the parts quoted in bold above.

 

I'm sure there might be a subtlety I'm missing, but I Am Not A Lawyer

It looks pretty straight forward to me and looks to be very similar to schemes I know from other fields.

If they have got it wrong, they will put it right. If you muck it up it is down to you.

As a PR exercise I think it is brilliant. The comments already make it a success,

However, wearing my QA hat, Accurascale appear to have very robust quality systems in place. 

They must be fairly sure as to the likely figures to be returned under this scheme.

I would think that figure will be very low. That does give me confidence in their products. At the same time it gives me added confidence that I will never need to take advantage of this scheme.

Bernard

11 hours ago, GMKAT7 said:

Good morning folks,

 

Following up on the use of design drawings for metalwork/fabrication, a number of CAD software packages allow for 3D modelling.

 

Designs produced on such as Solid Edge require the designer to produce a virtual 3D model from which 2D drawings are generated.

However, being a 3D model, it also allows for flat patterns to be generated, so that a fabricator has it laid out.

Bend allowances are generated by the software and then included in the flat patterns.

 

A lot of our metalwork suppliers appreciated this help, as it allowed them to generate the layout of their planning for laser cutting machines, presses, etc.

 

Edit: Once the fabricators had made the first-off/prototype of, say, a radio enclosure, they would feedback any changes/tweaks to the designs and we would amend the 3D models and flat patterns to suit.

 

Cheers, Nigel.

Which is fine when you have the correct tooling available and material that is capable of being formed on that tooling and a press that is up to the job. Stuck in a rather limited workshop in the back of beyond, such facilities would be of little help.

Bernard

If they are different, a few strokes with a file on the end of the rail section on the larger one, will soon make them match.

Bernard

3 hours ago, PMP said:

And your point is?
 

Anyone whom has worked on a shop floor and seen the additional work requirements to make compound curve panels fit, understands just how excellent the Finney components are. Clearly from the amount of variety we see in model products (not just railway) getting shapes right isn’t as easy as you seem to think it is.

Not these days. That is almost certainly true. However going back 50 years I could have shown you a shop with a couple of dozen Sheet Metal Workers who could produce almost any complicated shape from a drawing. The radiator front surround on a RR car being a classic example. All done by eye. The last time I saw these skills in use was on a trip to the Morgan factory.That was a while ago so even an outfit like that might have changed.

Part of ny job was training Apprentices and Undergraduate Engineers in quality procedures. Some were very good and got the hang of things very quickly. But others would try to help by adding blank development and bend allowance figures to drawings. They had to be told not to do that, as the Sheet Metal Workers would take it as an insult. Times have changed and these skills have been lost.

Bernard

4 hours ago, Jeff Smith said:

Putting aside the technicalities of steel production, this sort of industrial realigning is a continuous process that often displaces specialist workforces.  Economics often drives it - in our world we only have to look at model train manufacture.....

 

The oft cited need to keep a particular industry or skill set in country is patriotic but sometimes misplaced.  Privatisation puts the decisions into a purely economic field with decisions made regardless of 'national' interests.  The government theoretically has control over nationalized industries but government ideas change and again 'national' interests can be ignored.  I was an apprentice at Rolls-Royce when the RB211/Tristar situation almost led R-R into bankruptcy in 1971.  The Tory government which had a beef about nationalizing anything nevertheless stepped in for 'national necessity'.

 

 

 

Just how much of this thread have you read?

Model train manufacture might well have moved to other countries, but the material and methods are basically the same. What is proposed for the steel industry, is for  the UK to be the only country in the G20 to no longer hase a manufacturing capacity.  I put that on the same level as a threat to national security as giving up nuclear weapons. Do we seriously want to have less capabiity of making steel, and the products that are made from it, than Iran? That will be the situation in a few years time if this goes through.

Bernard

Meanwhile, on the other side of the pond, the government has put a block on the Japanese getting their hands on a US steel company.

Bernard 

28 minutes ago, Neil said:

 

Moving to cleaner, greener ways of manufacturing isn't the same as advocating outsourcing all our industrial capabilities. Likewise smelting ore or for that matter coal mining, drilling for oil and their like are not the sum total of UK industrial activity.

 

Not building HS2 is a political choice rather than an economic one.

 

 

Well yes, I can see why you would be fed up with the rest of the world doing nothing to tackle climate change however that's not the case. For example the USA is now far more enthusiastic about getting to net zero than it was under Trump, China too is gearing up for green energy. Just because some other countries lag behind is that a good enough reason to not try ourselves. If we give up then we will be part of the global problem.

 

 

Very true. But in this case we are outsourcing all our production capability in respect of making steel.

The proposal is to stop making steel from iron ore and just to recycle the steel that we have. This obviously is not sustainable. We will have to import more scrap steel to melt down and import types of steel that we need but cannot produce. We simply export the pollution, probably to countries that have lower standards than we have.

One long term answer would be to build a massive steel works in Vietnam to take advantage of the local high grade ore. That would be capable of supplying much of the world's capacity and be greener than anything that exists today. But the Americans and the Chinese would never agree to let that happen.

Bernard

2 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

Ah, now, that’s definitely the colour I remember; thank you!

 

And, Bernard, is this the one? https://www.jwmodelrailways.com/product-page/wardie-master-models-no-14-bookstall-unboxed
 

 

That looks very like it.

Bernard

1 hour ago, Jeremy Cumberland said:

We don't mine iron ore in this country, and barely mine coal any more. Wouldn't it be better for iron ore smelters (whatever method is used) to be closer to where the raw materials are found?

 

I feel for the workers at the steelworks and in related industries who risk losing their jobs, and the whole commumity which will suffer as a result, but I think the argument that we will be unable to refine iron ore domestically is a spurious one.

......and that is how this problem started. Some time ago, a decision was made to close one of the two South Wales steel works. LLanwern had the best rolling  mill, but Port Talbot had access to a deep water dock, where, raw material could be unloaded. A lot of people thought that the decision was the wrong one. Me included, but I am biased, as my work involved material made at both works and Llanwern steel was usually better suited for what the company I worked for required. Not to mention that they provided a fair chunk of my income at one time. The UK will be the only G20 country that cannott produce new steel. If you see that as an issue of national security or not,  should have an influence on how you view this closure.

Actually it all goes back much further, usually involving politicians making some very odd decisions. These decisions nearly always come back to bite them on the bum. Then there is the question of how we manage critical industries post Brexit. Do you want to give steel making to the  EU and rely on imports?

Bernard

22 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

I was trying to find a picture of that, but the answer to your question is “yes, and no”. 
 

That one is very obviously painted in SR “livery”, what I think was “Green No. 3A”, or more generally Middle Chrome Green, which isn’t the shade that I suspect the WHS house colour was. If I’m right, theirs was darker, heading towards bottle green, but I’m far from sure I am right.

 

 

I would go along with you and  a darker shade of green. Something near to what is often called British Racing Green. I had a die cast model back around the mid 1950s, so it is a pretty distant memory. We are either both right or both wrong.

Bernard 

36 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Just a thought, if a rock fell and killed a horse that would mean that the rider becomes a pedestrian and barred from the route. 

But the air ambulance can come and pick up the rider.  That would seem the only way out. Otherwise you sttay there and starve to death.

Bernard

23 minutes ago, BachelorBoy said:

 

Precisely. But it has led to the end of many camera shops. 

But has the percentage decline in numbers been greater than in other sectors of retail trade?

Bernard 

5 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

Or putting it another way - 'We are doing what some faceless (un)Civil Servant has told us to do but I'm not allowed to say that.'

 

Interestingly the National Rail timetable inquiry site - among its other recent descents into near impossobility to provide information - will now only gve you return leg times after you have selcted an outward train when you ask for times for a return journey as well as an outward one.   This then allows separate pricing in each direction as fares are shown oer single journey only.   Yet more imposed stupidity from dumbo-land DafT 

The irony being that around 10 years ago, when I was a regular traveller on the route, tickets were always sold as singles. I would find a cheap outward trip and then search for someting near the price for the return leg. Being flexible I would sometimes stay another night if this was a cheaper option. Or even come home on the WCML when there was a cheap ticket available. Not often, but it did happen.

I do find the 70 minite choice rather odd.

bernard

Meanwhile in Germany.

Piko are looking forward to a good increase in sales for the coming year, with less reluctance among customers to spend money.

Bernard

17 hours ago, JustinDean said:

While it is good practice to have someone designated to have a DBS check it is not mandatory. A club could have a policy of accepting under 16’s with an accompanying adult for instance and then that adult is responsible for the child. That’s a real shame if clubs are turning away juniors because of this. I joined a club at 14 and that definitely put me on a solid path of learning. 
 

Jay

While not mandatory, there can be financial benefits in having comprehensive safeguarding measures in place.

I am the auditor of the local cycling club. The model raiway club use another bulding on the same, former indudtrial, site. We receive various grants and concessions, due to having various procedures in place. AFAIK neither the model railway club nor the motorcyle club, who also use the site, have as good a deal as we do.

It is certainly worth-while checking what money is available, both locally and nationally, to help and encourage young people to take part.

Bernard

1 hour ago, 5944 said:

Indeed, Britain's railways have always been quite backwards. Vacuum brakes, unfitted freights, tiny wagons, restricted loading gauge, lack of electrification. 

 

With regards people saying why is CDL needed on charter trains, the only other use of slam doors on the network now is the Night Riviera. People aren't used to hinged doors on trains any more - 20 years ago there were thousands of vehicles, now it's a few sleepers and a charter sets. Chances are the vast majority of passengers on the Jacobite won't have seen a train door that doesn't open by pressing a button.

 

As others have said, it's a struggle to feel any sympathy for WCRC in this situation. They've had decades to come up with a solution. Railway Touring Company however have potentially seen their whole programme for the year wiped out. Riviera have a set of Mk2 air cons available, but there's a lack of air braked steam locos available at the moment that aren't tied to LSL.

Iwould think that quite a number of passengers on The jacobite have never seen any type of train door from the inside.

A far cry from 1960 when I was introduced to the morning rush hour arrival at Euston. The doors would open at the start of the platform and half the people would be out of the train before it had come to a halt. It might sound mad these days, but  the circumstances and expectations were very different back then.

Bernard

7 hours ago, fezza said:

Very sad to hear this news. The staff have always been great and I hope their expertise finds work elsewhere. I am sure it will.

 

We've seen a lot of model shops close in the north west despite the fact there is a vibrant model railway scene in the region and that retail real estate costs are often lower than elsewhere in the country.  It is a puzzle.  It seems even those that offer an excellent online offer like Hattons are not immune.

 

I do sometimes worry higher prices have produced a smaller market that might ultimately cause problems for retailers. Having said that there is still a lot of choice out there across the hobby. I recently picked up a sweet running Mainline Peak for £35.  I could have spent £150 on a DCC ready Bachmann version or £220 on a DCC sound Bachmann version. There is still stuff out there in shops for every pocket if you look.

 

 

That is part of the irony, If you offer an excellent service, it has an impact on the bottom line. With four impacts on sustainability all hitting Hattons in a short space of time, thay have been forced into making a decision. One option would have been to lower standards and they clearly seem not to want to  go down that road. All praise and honour to them for making that decision. Others would have reacted differently. To me it does not bode well for the future of the hobby.

My own dealings this year show the small imact I have had on the situation. One order cancelled by Hattons as the supplier cut their delivery. One order that I had forgotten about did not appear when other suppliers and customers had received the items. I oredered from the manufacturer three weeks after release of the prosduct. A week later I heard  from Hattons that they now had the items in stock. That was two orders they lost, through no fault of theirs. If a large number of customers had similar problems then it would soon be affecting Hattons.

Bernard 

1 hour ago, Hal Nail said:

You are required to register.

 

You pay weekly class 2 NI from the date you start, as well as class 9 on the profits. After the first year they ask for payments on account for income tax as well rather than at the year end.

 

edit. agree with you on the end bit. whenever I've spoken to them they've generally been knowledgeable and even helpful but actually getting hold of them is pot luck. In fact the last two times I managed, 6 months apart, it was the same person. When I asked if she was their only helpline employee, I merely got a dry laugh...

 

Oh dear. I did say if you are working in a proper job and are also receiving income from self employment.

Which is what I understand will be the case for most of the people posting in this thread.

In over forty years I have never had to pay on account. I have always sent in the details for the last tax year around August and then had  a bill to pay in January.

Bernard

Very sad to read their email.

They have always provided me with a first class service at a fair price.

When, very infrequently, I had a query I would receive by return  personal message eitther with the answer or with a suggestion as to how I should follow things up.

Best wishes to all of the staff. Any company wanting first class peope should jump at the chance to recruit them.

Bernard

13 hours ago, lmsforever said:

When I worked for BT in the sixties  I had to sign the Secrets Act because we went onto all the local military bases and the local rocket testing facility which everybody locally knew what they did and the noise when they did testing echoed all round the locality.  Later in life  in catering wholesale I had to go into many military bases all over the south  and they knew I was covered  by the act even though I signed it a long while before, I enjoyed my visits especialy when went onto an active  RAF base and saw Lightnings takeing off. 

Wetcott was very strict in controlling access. Two to three weeks notice just for a delivery driver, with some interesting background checks. I never did get a chance to see a rocket test. At one time I believe that they had the only surviving German V2 engine in working order.

Bernard 

19 hours ago, DCB said:

I wonder if it might be worth registering as self employed if HMRC come a hassling and then piling on the expenses of running a car to get my stuff 10 miles to the post office, Business use insurance and everything so I make a substantial loss every year which presumably i can offset against other tax liabilities?   My eBay sales go into a separate Bank account and purchases and expenses such as postage come from the same account,.  After about 4 years it has about £200 in it so I'm not exactly making a fortune, even if my spare stock shelf is groaning under the weight of the bargains and non runners I have acquired.  If I bought my glue and paint on the same account I wouldn't even have that much.

AFAIK you do not have to 'register'.

If you are working as self employed as well as having a proper job, then you just need to send in a tax return with the relevant figures for your self employed income. They will probably accept these without question, providing that you claim a reasonable level of expenses. Depending on the amount of tax due they will either adjust your tax code or ask you to pay a lump sum. You can actually have several seperate self employed  accounts, providing you send in the figures for each HMRC will sort it out for you. They even manage to deal ith overseas income that is not brought into the UK.😀 I have had problems, but in general HMRC do a good job. It is the governemt who frequently change the rules and cut back on staff, in my experience, who cause most of the problems.

Bernard