woodenhead

You can never remove all risk from an investment. For the amounts involved at an individual level the financial impact of model railways is pretty low. If the money you are spending cannot afford to be lost then you shouldn't be investing.

Drove to my polling station as usually (I say that now because of the sheer volume of elections we've had of late) the car park is empty - tonight full, and lots of people inside chatting - never seen it so busy and our's is probably a shoe in constituency.

You can never have too many toilets in a home.

China

With the latest step being a proposal that all users of mobile phones must register their face to be able to us it so that they always know who uses which phone - as most internet use is done via phones.

It's also funny because this particular picture didn't even start out as a 'Where is it?' question.

It does and when we find out where it was we'll all be kicking ourselves

And British Steel is a key industry - having a home grown capability that cannot be manipulated by foreign owners to their own agenda.

To be fair, many of the UK cities could be described in a similar vein once you step outside of the (shopping) centres

"It seemed odd, seeing the big names absent - all second and third-tier operators working small fields and decommissioning works, now. Definite feeling of the good times having left town for the last time. " Which is not how the Scottish Parliament would have you see it, they would have you believe the best times are still to come. Did the UK really waste all the oil and gas?

Nor my MI6 ultra top secret stuff pass.

You can sell off the family silver or you can put it at arms length in a safe place but still retain control over it. Now railways are a little more complicated because of the franchising which isn't really privatisation at all but you you're paying people to provide a level of service for a profit some of which has to be paid back to the government. But did the government need to sell off the trains to Roscos or the freight side to EWS (and only EWS creating a monopoly that EWS exploited until EMD began selling it's locos to other companies, the exact opposite of what was supposed to be a competitive industry). Could the government have just separated itself from BR and let BR continue to develop itself as it was doing. Did all of BT have to be sold off, did British Steel have to be sold off, then there is the power grid - is there really competition on price or just an illusion of one?

This thread describes well the situation and the position of people such as yourself. I've just been on the site and whilst it does look like you can order a class 22, if you click add to basket nothing happens - perhaps the site has been partially disabled so no new orders can be taken. It may be that the owner is still trying to find a buyer so taking out the website isn't necessary but i can appreciate and sympathise with your ire about the situation.

Would it or is that just another story peddled by our governments as a way to avoid difficult conversations. Privatisation was a Tory policy that happened to address some requirements of the EU - but if you look at Germany, a rather important member of the EU you will find that DB, whilst an independent company, only has one shareholder - The Federal Republic of Germany. If that isn't a form of Nationalisation I don't know what is.

Kielder viaduct looks beautiful.

It forced Dapol & rails to revisit their own model (the face was simply wrong so at the very least that had to be fixed). The Hornby model is good but built to a price point and I really don't like how they did the buffers - enough that I wouldn't likely buy one when Rails would have their own superior version. However, it's all moot to me at present as I won't be buying either.

There are no wrong presents either - try telling that to the person who buys a 2mm finescale modeller a Hornby Junior or a Smoking Joe as a present.

"A common argument amongst rail enthusiasts is" I thought he was going to open the OO/EM/P4 debate but apparently it is steam versus diesel.

The last time I saw brake fluid Wham were the latest band. I'll bear it in mind, don't suppose the wife will mind if I borrow some from her car

So following on from earlier I’ve got my boxes of N gauge out to consolidate the stock into one large Ikea cardboard package box. Its now I realise how much I have again and usefully I’ve matched some empty boxes with some stock wrapped in bubble wrap. Think Farish and Dapol have done very well from me, you’re right I need a layout (for some of it)

I remember when ID in a pub was the ability to grow a moustache. That was just the ladies too It was so much easier for me to learn the skills of drinking when I were a lad, then I forgot it all when I got a car....

And for ID at a bank a provisional driving licence or a passport that had expired in that same month weren't acceptable.

I reckon he could wing it on a 24 just

What about a 24?

That was November, December is frothfest But not until Andy says go.