woodenhead

Model shops like the type you describe - having lots of stock of locos for long periods waiting for that rare customer are the types that went out of business. Like it or not, stock has to move otherwise the shop is not making money and a shop which is not generating cashflow is not a shop it is a debt around the owner's neck. Rails and Hattons have stock longer than other shops because they have greater lending power with their banks to buy more and can afford to hold on a little longer to sell things, they also scoop up stuff that hasn't sold elsewhere and then sell it on cheap. It's a model they know well and are clever.

Not sure how the shops come into this, they can only sell what is supplied and when they do get stock they want it gone as quickly as possible - just like Bachmann or Hornby, stock sat on a shelf (or in a warehouse kernow, Rails or Hattons) is burning money and even the shifters have limited storage let alone the little model shops like Arcadia etc. Non selling stock is a burden on everyone because that space cannot be used to sell something else whilst that stock isn't selling. In an ideal modelling world there would be stock of everything available whenever you wanted it but that would mean either massive over production or bespoke production to order, both of which will be a lot more expensive to the manufacturer than the current method of batch production. Like it or not, the current situation with Farish is a combination of low numbers of N gauge modellers versus OO, competition between other parts of Kader and what the market itself can stand at any time.

The girl with all the gifts

Actually, you've got the wrong end of the stick, Zombies are not viral they are from fungi. The truth is that scientists are actually worried by the issue of a fungi taking hold within the human brain and controlling it, rather like other fungi do with insects like ants https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2019/04/cordyceps-zombie-fungus-takes-over-ants/ It's real and therefore a proper threat should a fungi want to get jiggy using a human host. There's been a film about it, but the book was way better, I'd tell you the title but I've rather given away the plot and that's a third of the book gone in a flash.

F29

No - but you saw how he treated the engines on a Deltic - I think he needs to be kept away from these thoroughbreds.

Doing 9000/55022 without buffers - that is niche. I can only think of one image of it without them.....

Interesting - so that puts the 47 presumably now at the back of the queue for a chassis upgrade to Next 18.

Do we need to read more into this, a Class 207?

That's interesting, have they actually said it would be Next 18 or is it just expected? The Bachmann site clearly states still 6 pin though I would agree you'd think a body change would be a good time to also put in a chassis upgrade to N18 and put in the speaker. Gaugemaster intriguingly have this: https://www.gaugemasterretail.com/magento/graham-farish-gf372-262sf.html No one else has this item code listing. Perhaps it is a mistake or Bachmann are waiting to formally announce sound versions because they want to clear out the 6 pin existing stock before unleashing the Next 18 versions?

This article turned up in The Daily Fail - there are a lot of things I ignore about this paper but I do like celeb gossip. I did end up reading this article from an ex MP, I still hold be belief that Covid has come from animals and it is not something more sinister. But it reading this article is interesting because before we demonise a whole continent, we should look at our own selves first in the West as we are not innocents. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9231773/Ex-MP-NORMAN-BAKER-reveals-day-anthrax-released-tunnel-Northern-Line.html

I have a layout I am building but it is going to be in the 1970s - it's the steam stuff that is sitting in boxes, the blue stuff is mostly out. I sold some stuff recently to fund my foray into DCC Sound but I've still a lot of stock sat in boxes and then there is the OO stuff that went into storage when I moved rooms around the house and the N gauge came out to play again. It's all been used on different layouts over the years but as I get older I realise that constant switching between scales and periods is not a good idea. The temptation for the OO diesels I know is my brain wanting to make a purchase, it enjoys the chase but once I have them they can lose the appeal - I built a whole Southern EMU layout on this, getting bargain units was the thrill but I lost interest quickly once I had secured the models. I was able to recoup my costs when I sold it all again which was lucky. Or the 8 coach blue/grey HST - took years for Dapol to release all the elements to make this and once I'd got it all I couldn't run it much because it was too long and dictated a model railway I did not truly have the space for without massive compromises, so I sold it has a job lot.

I got tempted earlier in the week by the livery sampled Accurascale Deltic, started imagining a loco stabling point - couple of Deltics, a Peak, a Heljan 47, a Heljan 25, an Accurascale 37 - all with sound of course, plus at least 8 foot of space to put the track down. Didn't take long to realise I would have to sell all my other N gauge steam stuff and my OO steam stuff to cover the cost of just 6 lovely OO locos. I do need to think about all this stock though, it's not being used.....

I think you need to buy the house first, move in, get settled and then what you feel like doing. A destination though is a good idea as you can then plan/project manage your way to the destination, if you just begin diddling with unconnected bits you'll end up going nowhere.

Something like a person hunting for hibernating animals as they are easier to catch and then transporting said animals back to the Wuhan market. Clambering around in caves looking for animals also might result in a person touching faeces infected with various illnesses including a coronavirus.

Looks a little LMS derived War Department rather than an 08

I am finding it increasingly difficult to not want to buy one or two of these and do an Eastern fueling point. Plus maybe a 45, a 47 and one of those class 37/0 thingies.

How about a little of this to keep you going, forget the livery, remember the sound.

Is there a hint of sarcasm in there? The diesel programme lasted about 12 years for the main thrust and removal of steam traction after which we got just the 56, 58 and finally the 60 as freight flows developed the need for their power. Electrification has been an ongoing stop start thing since 1950 and there is no real sign of when they will ever complete the Midland Main line, the South West, North Wales in fact I think they want to now use other means to carry the electricity or it's means of production within the unit again but use cleaner means - wires are now so passé.

I've been able to work from home since around 2002 - one way or another I have had the means to remotely connect to the company's data services securely from a laptop and do my job. As my job is software development the only tools I need are a laptop but in reality we add in two extra screens so I can see, an extra keyboard and a mouse (of course). I've supplied my own desk because where I sit is also where I play when not working so even if I did not work from home I would still have a nice big desk to sit at. My present company invested in new technology last year to lift our telephony into the cloud, we're also major resellers of Microsoft technology and we started to make use of Teams last year. When the pandemic hit and we faced the first lockdown we were barely a month into full deployment of the telephony but it proved to be just in time, several hundred staff who had been tied to desks in offices were able to work from anywhere with just a mobile phone and a computer (now just the computer is required as we've made changes to our hardware provision). The rest of the company is pretty much IT based so it was already straightforward to make the shift. We were also able to help other companies also make the same shifts, reselling technology and providing consultancy to allow them too to continue functioning under lockdown. I have a company phone, I use it for two reasons, two factor authentication to our VPN and to contact the Service Centre if I have to ring them as it would cost on a personal appliance - that's it, all other meetings are done via teams, the service is great, we can share content, screens, socialise etc. When the pandemic restrictions get lifted finally we won't go back to how we used to be, we don't need to but it will be beneficial to cycle some people in and out of the office for training, coaching etc and for some it is a choice to come into the office because working from home isn't for them and they will be supported in that wish. Contrast with my wife who works in a national institution currently under a lot of pressure and the difference is stark - despite the fact she has successfully worked from home since April 2020, despite many parents of her patients being happy to do consultations via secure online means and despite the offices not having any fresh air and being unsuitable for safe distancing, the managers want staff back in the office and are doing things to actually make it hard for people to work from home - putting in new artificial barriers as recently as this week that means my wife now has to make 32 mile trips just to print some resources that until this week could be posted to her.

DPD - 'The early years'

Is it the as BR painted scheme not true LSWR?

My videos are classed as unlisted - that way I don't have to make them public and only people with the link or looking at the thread I put them in can see them. Public means anyone who finds your channel can see them, unlisted gives you privacy if you want it whilst still being able to share.

A bit of photo trickery, I am not convinced Il Duce is that tall though all such pictures have him towering over his minions, in person his legs look a very normal length.

The prices on Ebay in some way help us - as long as people are prepared to pay a premium for secondhand - premium being up there with new then the manufacturers know there is latent demand for product, when the secondhand prices dip then availability is greater than demand and the market has shrunk. A healthy secondhand market means a healthy market.