5735guy

I believe the blame laid at Simon Kohler's feet. Towards the end of his tenure at Hornby the man became increasingly arrogant. Alienating and clashing with retailers. Major players such as Rail's Of Sheffield and Hatton's took a step back and rightfully so as Hornby had become a money grabbing, ruthless shambles. Only now that Simon Kolher has 'retired'? has some sort of normality returned. Standards have also improved since his departure. Packaging of the most recent releases such as the excellent new 9F and Turbomotive falling in to line with Accurascale, Rapido, Heljan and Bachmann. Those improvements should have happened years ago.

Absolutely cracking job with the Sprung Buffers. It's one of the annoyances with the model. I have the Railroad Duke of Gloucester and would love to do the same but alas is beyond my skills with shaky hands.

Highlights nicely the bulk of the Joeuf Class 40. Sure they are not up to the standard of the Bachmann or even the Hornby (Lima) 40's but nevertheless they have a charm of their own.

Late to the show here. The Jouef Class 40. Yes they are fat and don't stand up against the Bachmann release but the Jouef Class 40 has a certain amount of character because of it's obvious inaccuracies. I have two and see them for what they are warts and all. If correctly maintained they can run forever. I've had my two for around 12 years now and they get serviced once a year. The secret with the Jouef Class 40 is not to get the tape measure out and all will be fine. A decent example can easily be picked up on eBay for around £30 which is a bargain if there ever was one.