Andy Hayter

Grease not greese. FWIW I use a Teflon impregnated grease very sparingly. A good quality light oil is all that is usually needed.

Don't worry Guys, having worked with rescue organisations, I am used to people who shout "help" and then throw it back in your face. Ezza, at least you got a suggestion from me. From your answer, I doubt you will get any more. Please learn from that. Personally I do hope you can find someone who can do the job for you despite your unpleasant response.

If so that points even more to 2.2m gauge. His father was French

Sadly international shipping is very expensive for heavy items like books and magazines. I only live next door to the UK and am hit with heavy shipping charges - which on checking the postage stamp are entirely reasonable from the sellers' perspective.

Remember that IKB was of French parentage. He therefore designed his system to 2.2metres - 7 ft +1/4 inch

Perhaps if you gave some idea of your location rather than "home mainly" some of us could give some sort of realistic answer. TMC offer a service but I have not used them - too far away (hence the question about location) https://www.themodelcentre.com/customisation-at-tmc/ They do seem to have a good reputation.

Possibly a bit far north for your Southern activities but this one is truly spectacular http://www.funiculaire.fr/

Station Buildings also would have a very regional/company design. If you have non-railway buildings (and there is not so much room for that) then these also show many major regional differences. A red stone Glasgow tenement building would look as out of place in an East Anglian environment as a thatched cottage would in in Glasgow.

In terms of quality I would agree wholeheartedly based on todays offerings from 3D printing. But surely the point is that if a modeller wants/needs an XYZ which is not available as rtr. His choices are scratch build, kit or 3D print and if as is suggested the modeller does not believe he has the skills to kit/scratch-build then his choices are 3D or get a professional builder to build him one. So while on quality it is not a like for like comparison, it is on the basis of availability.

The most likely reason that stock was not returned quickly to Hornby for onward sale to the trade was that the receivers were not 100% convinced of the ownership of the materials - stock held in odd locations, lack of covering paperwork, poor record keeping etc..

Rs? I thought we were discussing REE products which are the former PLM 141s not those American imports.

What can happen is that some people can cancel their orders at the last minute when they see the actual sales price, or because funds simply don't permit at that time. Then add in those who ordered on a card that has now expired and have not updated their order* with the new card details. * and it is specifically the order and not just the details you have registered with them - as I found to my cost with the Wainwright C Class. Taken together this can lead to quite a number of available units when they arrive.

I have to agree with Clive M above. Having layouts that can be operated from a seated position is very beneficial for the operator. Our layouts are all around 110cm from the ground. It is inclusive in that allows easy access for children and those in wheel chairs. And for those who are more able and would prefer to view a layout at eye level (which includes me from my seated position), then I must remind you of the articulated ankles, knees and hips you are endowed with that allow you to bend so that the eyes can be lowered to layout level.

There are a set of drawings in Feb 1987 Loco Revue - beyond that I can find no immediate record of a kit

Looks like they will be getting one of the peak time morning Eurostar services (so a higher price) which is probably a necessity to reach the destination in one day. Your trip will cost £16.67 per person hour, their trip will cost £19.69 per person hour - which is another way of looking at the costs.

Polystyrene is made from styrene monomer. It contains no chlorine, so the comment some 10 posts earlier suggesting that it does is completely wrong. On heating, polystyrene will depolymerise (it reverts back to its original feedstock) and will (most likely) release some styrene into the atmosphere. In an unventilated workspace this is likely to be hazardous to health. From the MSDS for styrene monomer Section 3: Hazards Identification Potential Acute Health Effects: Very hazardous in case of eye contact (irritant). Hazardous in case of skin contact (irritant, permeator), of ingestion, of inhalation. Inflammation of the eye is characterized by redness, watering, and itching. Potential Chronic Health Effects: CARCINOGENIC EFFECTS: Classified + (PROVEN) by OSHA. Classified 2B (Possible for human.) by IARC. A4 (Not classifiable for human or animal.) by ACGIH. MUTAGENIC EFFECTS: Not available. TERATOGENIC EFFECTS: Not available. DEVELOPMENTAL TOXICITY: Not available. The substance is toxic to the nervous system, upper respiratory tract. Repeated or prolonged exposure to the substance can produce target organs damage. This, in a professional and well set up workspace, will make the hazards sound much worse than they are in that environment, but in an amateur workshop you would be wise to take notice. Edit to add: it is quite likely that the laser power ranges quoted above are indeed part of that well set up professional workshop. If yours is outside of that range expect more than just warped pieces.

They are a bit if you filter by era. You will get both Branchlines and Farrish items turn up. The one search I did had B first and F second but I guess other searches might mix them up more.

I think you are kidding yourself - at least in respect of deliveries to France. Delivery is made by La Poste (the equivalent of Royal Mail). No signature is required and there is no tracking bar code for La Poste to scan to confirm delivery back to PB and Ebay. If I were not honest I could easily claim no delivery. The only comfort you have is that you have confirmation of receipt from Ebay and it is their problem. But you do impose higher costs on the buyer and that means that I will bid less as a maximum for the item. That has no impact if I win, but how many times have I missed by £2 because my maximum bid was reduced because of the high shipping costs, and even if I still did not win, I could have pushed another bidder up.

I stand corrected Clive. I do accept that the first point can be a positive if your time is not an issue.

Disadvantages Can take a lot of time Is often very addictive

Someone needs to explain to Bachmann, that for many of us "availability" does not mean rrp, it means when the model is likely to be available

Well as an international customer of ebay.co.uk, I can at least say that most of you are protected form the ebay "International shipping Service" - aka Pitney Bowles - and known in our household as Pitts and Bowels . I expect high shipping charges, but P&B ensure double the cost, double the transit time and both are ultimately delivered by the local postal service. Any UK based international sellers out there, I suggest ditching this ebay moneymaker for conventional postal services - for France at least.

Wow soldering She is now at your standards James - I see a collaborative project coming on. Good on her and good on you for the encouragement.

Mike Forget the company registration address. Sometime it can help - often it is a confusion, I worked 15 years for a company registered in Luxembourg. Did we have any production units there? No Did we employ a massive staff there to administer the business? No Just a tax advantage with perhaps 2 people who regularly visited the office - a secretary and a lawyer - out of more than 10.000 employees. OK, back then the factors were different but the factors you need to consider: Coal merchants - would receive coal from a number of locations and disperse them from their facility/facilities. They probably need to local to your model location, or potentially en route from a colliery to another location if you have a through station. Colliery wagons would delivery wherever there was a market - but you need to consider that the likelyhood of say a Yorkshire colliery wagon delivering to say a town in the Welsh valleys would be very small - local coal would be cheaper and in the minds of local folk better. However despite that remember that coal is not just coal. It came in many different grades and different grades were used for different purposes. Household coal was different to steam coal (used in boilers and locomotives) was different to anthracite used where the highest grade coal was needed - with many grades between.

and that is exactly the point. Whilethe unwashed masses complain about prices, they also complain about lack of documentation.