JSpencer

And Hattons were doing new Gaugemaster controlers as part of their clearence, cheap recently. They are as solid as the H&Ms, come with life time gauranttee, made in the UK and take up 1/3 of the space on the layout. And they are a bloody sight safer too. Their D matches a H&M duette on power too, so can run a Wrenn loco if required!

Well if it helps, I'm still waiting for mine as well. No panic from me!

The DCC address can only be determined via a classic DCC controler. You can enter 9017 as your number on the app, but this is purely facultive and is not enregistered as a DCC address. Indeed, they are all 0003 until you change it under DCC control (not blue tooth). I just finished converting three 15 year old Bachmann models (9F, 5MT and 4MT). All the 8 pins plug straight in with the smallest sugar cube sound box supplied fitted. There is no space (except maybe the 5MT) for power pack but all run fine. This was not so straight forwards 10 years ago. Indeed I fitted a TTS to another Bachmann 9F which required surgery to run wires from the loco (where the chip was) to the tender (where the speaker was placed). TXS fitting is far simpler.

They are motor interference surpressor caps. They can be removed for DCC. I forget the power of the replacements but they were mentioned in a post before mine. Edit: choice of capacitors from page 118: Examples of suitable caps at 0.1µF, 100V (a) TDK FG28X7S2A104KRT00 (b) VISHAY K104K15X7RH53H5G (c) TDK FA14X7R2A104KNU00 (d) TDK FA16X8R2A104KNU06 (e) MURATA RDER72A104K1P1H03B

More booster picks. This time with more appropriate "blood & custard" Maunsell stock.

My two orders came quickly and I'm based in France. A new gaugemaster D, 2 TXS decoders and a Skaledale station building. I'll be missing Hattons as well.

Yep payment up front at a time when people's faith in DJ was starting to decrease. (I am eternally grateful to the way Kernow handled it.) The same could be said for the booster, but they seem to be quickly selling out. I still think the issue with the 74 was on who was doing it rather than what. I was overall disappointed by the DJ 71 (Hornby's is a far more practical functional model with better shape even if not better everywhere). I am sooooooo glad that Kernow & EFE got togethor for the Booster and had it been just Kernow, I would have pre-ordered it and paid up front right away. 20003 and a class 74 will easily sell...

I am really happy with my model and feel that a great balance between price and quality has been achieved. This model is not up to the more expensive Bachmann class 47 standard with all its separate parts, gimmicks and features. And this maybe due to the somewhat slab sided simplistic nature of the original compared to a Brush type 4 that plays an influence on that. But I do feel we have the right balance in details, robustness and cost. 20003 and a class 74 would be welcome please. (I know DJM tried the latter, but these are clearly going to sell a lot better under EFE).

The "More than 50% of all Black Friday transactions came from first time purchasers, demonstrating acquisition of new customers to our brands in this key promotional period." is an interesting statement and I wonder how this was calculated. My hunch, this is probably referring to people buying directly from Hornby themselves for the first time as I doubt they could get this kind of black Friday info from retailers themselves. But buying directly from Hornby themselves for the first time is a bit of stretch to then say "demonstrating acquisition of new customers to our brands". Unless they did a survey asking them if they had brought Hornby products before, which would be a surprise. I suspect most were people like us. On the changes to inventory vs changes to debt, this seems to still hint at some difficulties in getting out of debt. So more fine tuning to come.

It is amazing how many newspapers (press) have been exaggerating this. Amazing but not surprising. It has gone from one show not running anymore due to aging demographic of that club, to - what gets implied - the whole hobby being doomed by the same aging demographic. Like as if 99% of model railway enthusiasts are over 75 or something.

I used to suffer the same problem. A coach would suddenly pop off for no apparent reason. If the coaches have a close coupling system (V shaped slot that allows the coupling to move side to side), on larger trains, you need bar like couplings that lock the couplings between coaches into a bar like position between them. Things like these if you never uncouple the vehicles (other makes available): https://www.accurascale.com/en-eu/products/fixed-dellner-coupling-bars-4-couplings?_pos=5&_sid=7301d8a52&_ss=r or magnetic: https://www.accurascale.com/en-eu/products/magnetic-dellner-coupling-pack-8-couplings?_pos=1&_sid=7301d8a52&_ss=r or mechanical: https://www.kernowmodelrailcentre.com/p/28425/40271-Roco-Close-Coupler These systems also work if stock is being pushed by a loco (like a class 73 with a 4-TC set).

I think it is more complex than that. In the past, easily 2/3rds of my yearly spend was on pre-orders of the two big manufacturers meaning Hornby and Bachmann. Today Hornby represents a small percentage of my yearly spend now with only a few pre-orders. Bachmann gets about a 1/4 but most of that will be on items that are reduced rather than brought instantly upon release (last year I only brought the blue sound fitted Linda straight upon release which I panicked over selling out fast!). Today Rapido and Accurascale get the lions share. Accurascale normally direct as they are based in Ireland and I can avoid Brexit paper work. Rapido from a shop as they are discounted slightly. These two are a mix of pre-orders (almost always in Rapidos case) and buying stuff once they are out. What has changed greatly is the shift from buying mostly by pre-orders in the past to mostly buying once they are on the shelves.

Thank you very much. No I've never really done any post about the layout itself. Here is a DCC video I posted on Youtube several years back. Since then I've added the overhead wire and 3rd rails (seen in the photos). I've plans to add an upper circuit at some point in the next year or so.

And here is mine pulling 2 trains. The first a rake of Maunsells, the second a fitted freight (cattle wagons and vans). Runs really well.

Interesting online interview between Jenny Kirk and Richard Davies from Hattons yesterday evening: Some good incites. One interesting point is that items appear to be no longer made (or are no longer available) in great quantities anymore which affected their business model that they could not easily replace. I wonder if part of the recent price increases is due to recover of development costs across smaller production runs. And if those runs don't sell, that can only mean even smaller runs and great cost still I suppose.

My one is BR black. The good news is I have managed to fix it. So no e-mails, no trip to the post office, no reclamations etc.... What did I do? Above we saw someone adding a shim, I did the opposite. Removing the chassis is very easy. Pull out the entire buffer assembly (i;e buffer + spring + shank) for all 4 buffers. This is better than some Heljan models whereby only the buffer and spring comes out (which has a risk of loosing the spring). Undo the 4 screws. The body slides off easily. I then looked at the rocking side to side play of each bogie. The good end had about 2mm up and down movement on both sides. The bad end was about 3mm on one side and less than 1 mm on the other. On the top of the bogie, there are 2 plastic wings (support spigots in other parlance) which limit this movement with the chassis above it. One option would be to add a shim and limit the movement on the 3mm side to just 1mm. I felt that would be tight. So I gently bent down the wing on the tight side with a big screw driver. I also filed just the top, which seemed to have a burr. The bogie righted itself. Now all wheels touch the rails and the model runs perfectly fine. Well done Graham, Kernow and EFE. Some picks below of the steps and also a few picks with the Bullied diesel. Edit: I wonder if the diesels and electrics ever met ⁉️

Mine has arrived, perfectly intact but is a derailer. One bogie is perfect sits fine with plenty of room, the other insists on having one side touching constantly the body. Frustrating this really. So: Option A: Kernow have none left, so if I send it back for replacement, there won't be any and equally how do I get a refund for import charges? Option B: is to see if the problem can be addressed like above. I'm a bit worried though, if the chassic block is distorted, which is basically a mazak casting, how did it get distorted? On the funny side, the post office kept telling that I would have a medical delivery soon. "Your medical delivery will arrive today." Someone must have interpreted "Booster" as being a vaccine or something! Doctor: "have you had your booster?" Me: "oh yes a 20002 variant...."

I purposely run them down and the train very fast so no one will notice... 😁

I am not aware of the pickups per-se having changed. Only the oil/grease used. The later ones look exactly the same even if they run better.

🤢🤮 And one of the ajoining videos shows that even battle space range would not give kids this much fun:

Exactly and plenty preserved too. Hornby could have had 10 types out on the first run!

This is one of those models that Hornby would do really well on but are limited to just a handful of choices.

Of course tiktoks with identity influencers saying "I identify as a railway modeler and my pronouns are choo/chuff". Hmmm That would probably work actually....

This is all sort reminding me in the 1990s when W&H closed down and the "big show" disappeared from Westminster Central. Not sure if it was in the same year or not but it is same sort of comments we are seeing now. The 80s really was a tough time on model railways. As a kid you were seen as the sad if you said you did model railways at school while everyone else was into their Commodores and Sinclairs. The 90s saw a new generation of model railway enthusiasts thanks to Thomas and then Bachmann providing decent RTR. This pushed Hornby into greater detail, and the early 2000s were lots of new high detail perfect running models at very low prices. DCC only added extra dimensions to that. The Thomas generation grew into blooming market fine high end models at low cost. People have been saying that the bubble will burst but it seems more like a bubble deflating with the biggest shop and the biggest show pulling out in good order. The demographic has changed. Not enough young and middle age people joining it seems. This despite covid locking people in and giving model making/playing a respite as people looked for something to do indoors. It could be partly due to having kids later (I'm into my 50s and my kids are only just starting to leave the nest). I suspect most people want a hobby that gets them out the house. And I see more larpers and reenactors these days than I did previously. Maybe those hobbies are bringing better value in peoples lives at lower costs whilst giving them new skills. I do medival reenacting and have made sword and shields, plus many other items at a fraction of the cost, which take up less space and can be worn to any fastival I please (I cannot take my model railway to any show I fancy!). I still love and do model railways (because I am lucky to be able to afford both). But I can see why people would choose re-enactment over collecting or making models. The costs of models have doubled or tripled over the past 10 years. The cost of swords and shields have not! But we have been here before with a big shop and a big show closing down yet still model railways rose like the phoenix. So what will bring back this demographic again? Or are more younger people into actual living history by working on preserved lines instead?

Not just Hornby but also preserved lines. The License costs seemed to reach biblical heights. When Hornby first did them in the 80s, it brought new blood (kids) into the hobby. I doubt we can say the same today whereby Thomas can be picked far more cheaply with battery power or wooden push along equivalents.