Bulleidboy100

I've just been reading some of the later entries on this thread, and thought I would say that bird life in our garden has been very quiet compared to earlier in the year. All the feeders were cleaned during the summer. All now re-stocked with fat slabs, fat balls and other regular seed food, but very few birds are feeding. Every morning at about 9am a Great Spotted Woodpecker attacks the fat balls - usually for about fifteen minutes then it's gone. A group of Magpies (3 or 4) are also regular attenders, one with an out of position wing (?) who has been visiting for about three years - it can fly, but jumps from the ground,to bush,to fence top and then manages to get into the lower branches of the 135ft Lime trees at the end of the garden. However bird life generally has been very quiet - no Blackbirds, starlings, blue tits - but plenty of pigeons and a squirrel. Fresh water provided regularly. Could it be that there is just so much food around? We virtually back onto open countryside.

I really don't see the point in adding "Premium, Gold or Classic" to define the type of Hornby model. I would expect 99.9% of the members of this forum, whether they are physically entering a shop or buying online, to know exactly what they want before buying. The 00.01% will be the uncle or aunt who has been told little Jimmy wants a train for Christmas/birthday - and have no idea what they are buying - little Jimmy probably knows exactly what he wants.

Hi Rob - You mention "Professional competition enterer's". There are a couple of magazines for "Compers" and they list every competition currently running in the UK, and also list past winners. My wife won a car (Rover Cabriolet) many years ago, and we got hooked on entering competitions for a while. I was amazed at the amount of competitions nobody entered - and there were some serious cash prizes. BB

My boards came from Model Railway Solutions of Poole. They came in kit form, but are very easily constructed - a 6x2 finished in one hour. A friend purchased from them and they spent three days at his house constructing the boards - so well worth a call or visit. [/url]100_0371 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr">100_0371 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr

Nobody has mentioned it - but I wonder how well Raikkonen will do in the Sauber? He can be very quick at times despite his laid-back attitude. During the last half of the season Sauber did appear to move up the grid a little?

The halo problem was mentioned during the after race discussions by Martin Brundle. He admitted being against the halo design from the outset, but was fairly open minded during the discussion, but did of course bring up the problem that had occurred during the race, in that the driver could not get out of an upside down car. As you may have seen in the pre-race grid-walk Martin was with Billy Monger, who had been tested on extracting himself out of a car with a halo (which he did successfully), but Billy also said he (they) were looking at introducing the halo into other formula's. The marshal's were on the scene very quickly on Sunday, but having seen some accidents during races around the world, support is not always so quick, in some cases, appallingly slow.

After twenty nine years sitting in my garage, my mini has gone to a new home, and work has already commenced on a £20/£30K rebuild. https://flic.kr/p/NwfeGb

I wonder whether Ferrari would continue if they didn't get their $100m bonus just for attending - other teams don't get this.

It's almost first thing on a Monday morning - probably many will be heading back to work after the Christmas/New Year holidays - seems perfectly reasonable to me.

I didn't consider the H Class as a carrot - of any size - to get me to join. If you really needed the H, then the cost of membership plus the H, was a few pence shy of a non-membership purchase. The magazine is quarterly - any magazine published under this time scale will always have late reviews/information. I have been a member since 2007, the cost is peanuts (less than three packets of cigs. - I don't smoke). I am not interested in the badge, the grandchildren love the free loco, the magazine is a better read than the previous one. If there is a loco that is only available to members, if you want it, it's a bonus. Considering the problems Hornby have had, and continue to have, it amazes me the level of sniping that goes on about late arrivals etc. I pre-order at the beginning of the year when new announcements are made, and whatever I order will arrive when it becomes available. I certainly don't spend anytime moaning because it hasn't arrived on time.

I really can't see what everyone is moaning about - there is a very easy solution - Don't join the Hornby Club. You will not get the model, which it appears none of you want, the H Class is late - so what, it will arrive when it arrives!

HMS Queen Elizabeth - Live in New York. http://www.nyharborwebcam.com/

Perhaps not up to the standard of many of the cars mentioned in this thread, but back in 1975 this was my "supercar". Purchased new on the 1st August 1975 from Hyde Abbey Motors in Winchester, it was a standard Ford 2000E Mk3 Cortina Estate - it soon became my station hack (my wife had her own car). I decided it needed a bit more grunt, and approached Jeff Uren who had produced the 3-litre Cortina Savage - originally in Mk2 form, but there were a few Mk3's. He said he no longer had the parts, and didn't seem too interested. So I contacted Mike & John Young in Ilford,Essex (they used to race 1650 105E Anglia's under the "Superspeed" banner). They just said yes we can do it. I wanted a 3-litre V6 Essex engine, and not the newer 2.8 V6. They asked if I wanted four or five speed gearbox - they confirmed the 5-speed could be fitted, which was not what many of the motoring mags. said (Triple C) - so I went with the 5-speed box, Bilstein gas shockers, up-rated springs all round, and up-rated brakes. Prior to the conversion the car under went a bare metal respray (same colour as original - Arizona Gold). It also had a modified exhaust, but only a single tail-pipe. All the badges was discretely replaced - a red 3000E tailgate badge from a Ford Capri, and front wing 3000 V6 shields from a Ford Granada. With the modified exhaust the engine produced about 150bhp - up from the standard 138bhp - I had the car set up on a rolling road. It surprised "many" at the traffic light GP. I had intended to fit the Rallysport triple Weber kit (200bhp), but was told(!) I'd spent enough on the car. Some years later it was stolen from Basingstoke Station car park - "don't worry Sir, we lose a Ford every Wednesday - it will be in Reading on Friday afternoon - and it was - someone had removed the wheels and lit a fire on the front passenger seat. We got it home, and managed to replace all the damaged parts from "Cortinaland" in Woolwich. It was never the same so I sold it. It appeared in Autotrader a couple of years later - it was still local, and needed some TLC, they wanted £150 for it, but the wife said "don't even think about it". About a year later someone from Blandford Forum rang to say they had the car and were restoring it. It really was a "Wolf in sheeps clothing". IMG_0307 by Barry Clayton, on Flickr

Queen Mary 2 due into NYC on 25th October. http://www.portnywebcam.com/

R4612 and R4612A - possibly R4594

I know my place! "General Public - ordinary people in society, rather than people who are considered to be important or who belong to a particular group"

It will be the Club 0-4-0. Someone on the Hornby forum enquired as they had not received theirs. Answer was, we have 3000 to send out, so it's taking a bit of time. I got mine a week ago, preceded by an email.

Looks more like the 1300GT.

This question is not really about the coach pack, but it didn't seem worth starting a new thread. Does this set have directional lighting for the headcodes? It has been mentioned on another forum that it does not - although Hornby says it does. Does it require a second decoder?

According to it's website Bittern is quite away down a long list of other loco's awaiting major overhaul. It seems sensible to house it undercover in Margate, rather than sitting somewhere out in the open with a tarpaulin over it.

I agree.

Whilst I agree with you on what we were hoping for since the revamped club suggestions were made public, Hornby has been on the brink of collapse several times, so changes had to be made - whether there was any capital savings in these changes it's hard to see. I too buy considerably more Hornby than Bachmann, but that is only because Hornby have produced what I want and Bachman hasn't. Being a club member may bring additional benefits during the year - I just hope there is a club to be a member of next year.

I can't see what all the fuss is about - the membership is £28 which is peanuts, you get a free loco, which can be given to the grandchildren, and the opportunity to buy a decent loco for about £30 less than non-club members have to pay.

I renewed my membership and ordered 263. All emailed confirmations were received within ten minutes - including membership number.

Butler Henderson is correct - limited to 1500 and only one per member.