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We've lost the plot and Mattel are churning out inferior quality, politically correct carp. By the way, are LGB now rueing their acronym?

The absolute best cotton buds for cleaning wheels etc are from Muji. They are thinner than the usual ones you get, have a "paper" shaft and if you buy the refill pack they are in a card container. 200 for £2.95.

So much conjecture, so little fact!

Exciting news just received from the Scottish Railway Preservation Society - "We are delighted to announce that Caledonian Railway 812 Class No. 828 is the guest steam locomotive for our Autumn Steam Gala on 3rd & 4th November 2018. With SRPS mascot Caledonian Railway 439 Class No. 419 due to make her debut at the event, following major overhaul, we will be able to pair the two Caledonian Railway engines together for the first time in preservation. It will also be the first opportunity to pair No. 828 with appropriate Caledonian Railway coaches. We are grateful to 828's owners, the Caledonian Railway 828 Trust and the Strathspey Railway for supporting the event by allowing the loco to visit the SRPS's Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway More details about the gala will follow and you can keep an eye on www.bkrailway.co.uk for updates."

Slightly less in my case Stan!

Maintenance free - no! My experience of current day Mk1 coaches with steam heat is that they leak steam everywhere - they just do! Old pipework, old pipe unions, old shut-off valves and perishing "bags" particularly if not properly secured when not connected, all contribute.

"A brand new, newly tooled model available in a selection of attractive liveries." This to me would probably rule out a steam loco Davy, what about applying Ally McLeod's bunnet livery to the seating in that nice 47/7 of yours - there's just time before it going on display at MRS.

Royal Oak, if you want an AMRSS 47/7, let me know and I'll get one for you and post it to you at the show price. MIke

Glasgow transport museum - if I can summarise the views above which correspond to my own, I'd say it was truly awful, or to use the technical term "crap"! Daddyman, if you need Bo'ness info, let me know

Ah, Bill Hamilton, a former neighbour and friend - nice guy. He was maybe 6 years older than me but as a great football enthusiast, kindly took me as a youngster to alternately Dundee and Dundee United games on a Saturday afternoon (the grounds were within easy walking distance and fixtures were such that two teams were rarely at home on the same day), that is until my maternal grandfather found out and took me to Dundee reserves games on some alternate Saturdays. Bill became the youngest ever football referee in Scotland at the time aged 14.

I admire Laura Kuenssberg - very able, very professional and does not deserve the terrible bad mouthing she gets. Don't share the dislike of poor Tomasz Schafernaker - human with a good twinkle in his eye. A cult hero! Also enjoy Jon Sopel with his very obvious contempt for Trump Dislike very few, but Chris Evans usually has me switching off along with Piers Morgan and Simon Cowell Julia Bradbury doesn't do it for me (but then I'm certain I don't do it for her!)

Isopropyl alcohol is as good as anything else you can buy and is cheap. Get a litre on-line - it'll last forever (slight exaggeration!) and costs little more than the 200ml bottles you buy at exhibitions and about the same as the very small bottles of sophisticated branded stuff. Remember to clean loco and rolling stock wheels at the same time and banish rubber tyres and plastic wheels. Best cotton buds for cleaning wheels are from Muji - better and smaller heads than on Tesco/Boots etc and the shafts are not plastic.

When placing my pre-order for a J36 with Hattons, I noticed my pre-order for a Bachmann 24/1 dated 31 July 2014. If the SLW Scottish head coded version gets enough votes and thus will be produced, I for one will not be taking up the Bachmann version. The SLW 24 is superb and in my view, a bargain. C'mon everyone, vote for the one I want!

I've always enjoyed excellent service from Hattons and on the rare occasion there has been a problem with an item, they dealt with it without any issues. As for varying pricing - that's life. If an item has become rare or rarer it's natural that the seller will wanting a better price for it even though earlier the seller might have taken less. Turning it on its head, don't tell me a buyer would insist on paying the pre-sale price despite the price being reduced in a sale or special promotion. If I don't like the price I don't buy.

Definitely the Gauge O Guild, but also I have three friends who are serious O gauge collectors so PM me, if you wish, with what you want to sell and I'll pass it on. Mike

Davy, there's definitely something going on. I overheard a conversation when frustrations were creeping in over progress on "Larbert" (or rather underneath Larbert.) There was talk about a home delivery service to be tacked on to the vintage shop using a vintage vehicle. I heard they're buying Dave Franks old Land Rover. It still needs a bit of work that's why Dave hasn't been at the club for a couple of weeks and what's more I heard a private plate has been bought - DNF 56 (The Bell St address!). Apparently if the delivery order is over £100 they're talking about throwing in a pizza and an Irn Bru.

Be very careful when assessing "savings" being offered by price comparison sites as the information they are required to provide can be misleading. If you have say 2 months left on a deal of some sort which then automatically reverts to the suppliers "standard tariff", the comparison cost used for your current supplier is 2 months of your deal plus 10 months of the standard tariff, a tariff which your should be unlikely to continue to accept. Your current supplier may actually have a more attractive tariff to which you can switch. In addition the "saving" quoted may actually be an increase as the "saving" is in this case by comparison to the expensive "standard tariff" that can almost always be bettered. Are the energy companies trying to mislead you in this case - not really, they are required to use this method of comparison, but they could make this flawed method of comparison more evident. To me the best way of comparing is to compare the actual available annual costs given to you by the comparison sites based on your actual consumption data (not annual or monthly spend) and not to be misled by a comparison with your existing supplier cost if it is near to coming to an end. The comparison site will likely show the best tariffs for you but they ain't necessarily a cost saving from what you are currently paying.

Absolutely top show, great mix of quality exhibits, good trade stands, well laid out and a wonderful friendly atmosphere. Well done Stan and all from Perth MRC. The help we got in loading our van on Sunday evening very much appreciated by an Alloa team 2 short of our optimum number. Thanks guys.

I came across this old thread when trying to find out why, despite the usual upside down storing and thorough stirring of the "gloop", my recently purchased Humbrol matt Navy Blue still goes on in very streaky fashion and dries to a healthy gloss. I have many other older tins of Humbrol and matt has always been matt. This latest tin is just hopeless and exceedingly frustrating. The item I have been attempting to paint has already been stripped back to bare metal once because of the gloss finish and will need to be stripped back once again - bah! Is it too much to ask to get paint that works?