Andy Hayter

Kieth Lilly No you are not looking in the wrong place, but if you put " Lancashire" into the search box, up comes the model with the out of stock message.

But still showing out of stock on the website.

I wonder if the working of the mechanism is related to the tower being roughly one third the height of the jib (looks like that to me at least), and the haulage line running from the tower to the tip of the jib three times.

I cannot disagree with the sentiments of the last few posts. I do wonder however what will be the future impact of the current models. By this I mean, as the current baby boomers move off this mortal coil, their models will generally appear on the second hand market. So the market will be slowly filled up (perhaps even flooded) with high quality second hand models and I will suggest that prices will fall significantly. What will this do to the prices on new models? Certainly it will make the selling environment more difficult for the likes of Hornby, Bachmann et al. It will also make it more challenging for the manufacturer to find prototypes that the market will want in sufficient numbers to be profitable. The days of re-releasing say the Flying Scotsman as a more accurate version I think are rapidly diminishing as the quality of many recent models is at a level where improvement is hard to envisage. .

Well that's going to make a big(ger) hole in my wallet.

If you are not bothered about a real situation, one of the scenarios I played with (but eventually discarded due to lack of space) was a request from the Admiralty to the SECR to provide a direct connection from Chatham to Portsmouth. Said line would then cross (quite possibly with a joint station) the main LBSCR line to Brighton.

The rose window looks plain wrong Allan. They were set up high on walls so that the sun would shine through and throw the image across the floor of the church/cathedral. Yours is so close to the ground that the only time it would bathe the floor in coloured light would be very late or early in the day.

I understand the antithesis against eras/epochs, but I think those who dismiss them misunderstand their correct use. This is not helped by "standards" that have been set that may be inappropriate (more anon). For me, eras are abroad brush approach to get you close to a suitable time period for a model. They are not a substitute for detailed research. They are a bit like a road atlas. If I want to travel from here to Brussels, I have a road atlas. However if I want to find 25, avenue 11 novembre in Brussels, the atlas is useless once I get to the city. For that I need a street map (or google maps). Likewise eras get me close to where I want to be and I can then do the detailed research of would/could x and y have run alongside one another. Eras stop me wasting time looking at things that would be hardly likely to be seen together. Of course, once I know how to get to Brussels, I may well not need the atlas again for that trip. That does not make the atlas worthless. The eras thing is muddied however by the standards set by (IIRC) Morop for epochs. The epochs are set around key events in the history of German railways (not German history per se). As such it works well. Epoch 1 - Pre 1920 - individual state systems aka Laenderbahnen. Epoch 2 - 1920 - 1949 - Change of administration to National system - Deutsche Reichsbahn Epoch 3 - 1950 - Change of administration to Deutsche Bundesbahn, East West split - etc. The Epochs are even broken down into smaller time periods. Each change of administration, brings with it changes in direction, liveries etc. Naturally these changes do not occur overnight, but they do happen. The problem is that these cut point dates are very specific to German / (Austrian and Swiss) Railway history and are totally arbitrary when used for French, UK or Kazakh railway administrations. In that respect I think Bachmann are to be applauded for introducing eras that are applicable to key dates in UK railway history.

Posted Today, 09:41 Brushman wrote: Andy Hayter, on 12 Oct 2015 - 23:22, said: True, but why would retailers reduce the price if they were still selling at the higher one? ​Unquote Simple answer is cash flow. If you make for example £20 profit on a model today, is that better than making £30 at some uncertain point in the future? Only the shop )or their accountant) can tell you, but generally cash in the bank will win.

Or maybe the embargo period that stops retailers reducing by more than 15% off the rrp has expired.

I am probably going to upset some folk now and for that I apologise, since my intention is not to upset. Having left the UK a large number of years ago, something I have noted is that the British seem to have become obsessed with what things are "worth" - and I have deliberately put worth in inverted commas, because it invariably means "what someone else will pay to buy said things". Conversations seem to be full of what the house is worth, what is the depreciation on their car etc.. It seems that one's paper worth is all important. Over a large number of years I have amassed a large collection of models and a large library of books and magazines. By collection of models, I do not mean models placed in show cases, but rather models for use on previous, current and future layouts. In truth some still do reside in their original boxes in MIB condition. The library is equally there to act as a font of knowledge when I need to construct, upgrade, modify, repaint etc some model. I have kept a record of these items have cost me and roughly what they would cost to be replaced - but purely for insurance purposes. Those numbers are not the value. If I lost the lot tomorrow, the impact on my ability to model what I want to model, to run what I want on a layout I no longer have is infinitely more than some insurance number. If you are a modeller of any sort rather than a pure collector, the value of your models is NOT what someone else will pay. It is the impact on you if those models were not there. When I pass this mortal coil (eventually I hope), someone else will discover the monetary value of it all. It matters not a jot to me. The true value to me will surpass any monetary recompense that someone in the future can gain. It seems to me that too many are focused on the cost of something and not its true value to you as an individual. Edit for typo

Sorry to be a PITA, but that ICI open wagon is out of period. ICI as formed in 1926. Rule 1 can of course apply. PO wagons are a nightmare IMO and you need a library of PO wagon books and liveries to minimise the possibility of getting it wrong. Not helped of course by manufacturers putting pre WW1 liveries on generic 1923 RCH wagons. The Daimler truck however looks very nice.

Richard If you don't mind me asking, where do you get your GCR wagon transfers? I have looked at so many suppliers but with no success. And the serifs on the letters are so distinctive. Thanks in advance.

Kevinlms Indeed. Liquid chemicals (and petrol would be considered as a chemical) would be transported in small metal containers and maybe as small as 1 pint - often rectangular - or glass carboys for volumes up to maybe 5 gallons or glass jars/bottles for smaller volumes. Edited to add that some water based solutions might be held in wooden barrels, but most would be too aggressive or volatile to be held in wood

The important thing to recognise when we talk of goods being transported in barrels at that time is that these were wooden barrels rather than steel drums. Pre-pallets and hydraulic pallet trucks, items had to be manhandled and a barrel is much more easily moved than a rectangular crate or a sack. Whatever could not be manhandled would have to be lifted with a crane - no half way house. Of course at that time it was expected that an individual would be able to lift much more than now - no HSE kinetic handling rules in 1922 limiting a manual lift to 25kg. (I still don't know how they get away with selling cement, sand and ballast in 33kg sacks).

I agree with the last comment. A neighbouring club in the 1990's* decided to use real NER ash ballast to ballast their NER branch. It turned out to be slightly conductive with all the problems you might expect. * They know who they are and I will not embarrass them.

Now the roof is on, there seems to be an echo. Seriously though, it's looking good.

ER, well, yes, and at the same time no. The MOROP era definitions are all based around German railways and their history. If taken as is they mean rather little to the French and even less to Poland. Bachmann have tried introducing epochs - which are era by another name - but these seem to be universally ignored.

But surely if you pre-ordered 18 months ago, you have had 18 months to put a little aside each month to pay for the item. Without wishing to sound unkind, it does sound as if you have ordered beyond your financial means. That is hardly the fault of the manufacturer.

Oxexpatriate I think we do fundamentally agree. Clearly you cannot have a Bachmann xyz when it does not exist, and pre-ordering might indeed be part of delayed gratification, but once it becomes available everyone expects theirs to be delivered next day (well maybe not you and I because of postage delays). Look what happens when someone posts: I got my xyz from supplier a - followed by description of all the good and bad points. This will be immediately followed by posts along the lines of: I have had mine on order from supplier b/c/d etc and they don't even show it in stock yet.

Derekstuart I think it is the way things are, but I also think that it is a lot more complex than 21st century detail versus late 20th century availability. The world has changed so much in those 20 or so years. 20 years ago the prices were around 1/5th of todays. Inflation has at most pushed up general prices by perhaps a factor of 2.5. Therefore the traders risk today is doubled. (In part at least this is due to the improvements in quality.) Then add on the squeeze of traders' margins and we see the traders' risk has increased considerably. It will make him much less likely to over-order a model in the hope it will sell. Twenty years ago there was no internet (or hardly at least). Customers went to their local model shop and maybe pre-ordered a model (and probably paid a deposit for the privilege). Most would wait until the model arrived and then go a buy the model from said shop, or maybe by mail order when advertised in the mags. If a shop had 5 pre-orders in 1995, they could probably afford to order 20 plus models with reasonable certainty that they would sell (eventually). Today if a shop has 5 pre-orders it probably orders at most 10. There is no charge to the customer until the model is dispatched. Despite ordering fewer models, the traders' cash flow is potentially squeezed compared with 20 years ago - no pre-order deposits plus more expensive models sat on the shelf if they do not sell immediately. Production slot issues in China have meant that manufacturers have had to be cautious in using these slots and will want to be sure that what they produce is sold. Their runs are now tailored to the pre-orders they get from the trade. In the past they would produce more in the knowledge that they would probably sell eventually, but also knowing that the more they sold the less the overheads costs per model would be. The internet, plus a "I want it and I want it now attitude" has led to a situation where pre-ordering has become the norm. This has also been driven by shortages in supply and together we have a vicious circle to the point where some are suggesting that in the future models will only be available by pre-order. In other words the only stock you will ever see on a shop shelf is that that the trader has personally put there as a risk purchase in the knowledge that the vast majority of customers have pre-ordered.

I have more than a little sympathy with your post Bob, but Hornby is a publicly listed company. What they or their employees can say publicly is therefore limited and will often have to go through legal checking. Anything that might influence the share price (which could include information about delays in supply, which could in turn influence cash flow) would be forbidden until the stock market has been officially informed. I suspect Bachmann as a wholly owned subsidiary would be under similar strictures. A silence that may be seen as uncaring may in fact be demanded for legal reasons.

Just found a article on the CF du Tarn which has a B&W photo of the Crochat loco. Based on that picture and the greyscale, I don't think it can have been red at that time, (Loco Revue April 1979). They didn't mention the gauge.

50cm gauge seems very strange. The WW1 front line railways were 60cm and the standardised gauges for use in France were defined as 60cm, 75cm (although hardly used if at all), metre and standard gauge.

Well you may well be right, but if so then I suggest Bachmann have made a serious error in their cost savings initiative. A 1000 loco run would have an incremental extra labour element of under 2 hours. This would cost less than $8US or less than 1c per loco. The springs themselves would cost what in bulk? perhaps 2c each (probably much less). So a total extra cost of 5c or less. If Kader have a 40% mark up to Bachmann, Bachmann have a 40% mark up to the retailer and the retailer has a very generous 40% to the customer at rrp, the cost saving on the rrp is less than 20p. Hardly the great strides in keeping costs down that we are told are being done.