sub39h

Saw your layout in RM this month. Looks fantastic mate

why don't you go for it? you're called richie rich after all

The quickest I've received an order from Hattons (to central London) was less than 24 hours from placing my order with their regular delivery service. The slowest has been about 3 days. In my opinion Hattons offer excellent customer service. On the rare ocassions I've had a problem it has been sorted efficiently with the outcome that was most acceptable to me as the customer. The fact that they are usually the cheapest is a bonus. I do visit my local model shops (I am going to one this afternoon) but it is difficult to argue with Hattons as a model railway provider (with the exception of their interesting pricing strategy on 2nd hand goods). Do they shift boxes? Yes they do because they are a great company and not just because they are cheap. Does this mean that they are an evil that should be banished as they are destroying the local model shop? Imho definitely not - esepecially as Hattons has been around for a lot longer than most.

I've got 4 but 2 of them are Hattons bargain buys to be used for motoring some Bratchell kits and two are to actually be used. If more in the right livery come along I would definitely buy more of them. I am planning on doing the single bogie conversion to the ones I have and using the spare interiors from the two that are being cut up so they should all match.

I think it's a little more complex than that - the 85 and the 350 are fairly regional and we'd need something that operates in a wider area. Maybe that's why the Class 90 is so often put forward - it operates/operated everything from express passenger trains and sleeper trains to freight trains and even stepped in for the Class 91s under GNER ownership meaning it can reasonably be used on WCML, ECML and GEML layouts. They can also be had in at least a dozen livery variations and operated from the late 80s to the present day. This would make their appeal very widespread.

That IS Lima's steel carrier tarp wagon You can get it in Tiphook livery as well. I have the original Lima red ones and one of these Tiphook ones. http://www.ehattons.com/57653/Golden_Valley_Hobbies_GV6001_Tarpaulin_wagon_in_Tiphook_Steel_Express_livery_weathered_HO_Scale_/StockDetail.aspx

Agreed - I'm in the market for a Class 90 but wouldn't touch Hornby's offering with a bargepole. If Bachmann were to announce they were releasing a Class 90 the laws of mathematics would be bent as the chances of me buying a Hornby Class 90 would go from 0 to somehow less than 0.

I'm another one that would love to see more AC electrics. I have a Heljan Class 86 and would purchase a Class 85 but it is totally the wrong era for me, however good a model it might be. I admire those that purchase models that are not suitable for their needs with the hope that supporting them will lead to models they do require but I do not have that sort of disposable income at present. As I have mentioned in another thread recently I thought the Class 350 was an odd choice of EMU. Don't get me wrong it looks a cracking model but is a relatively new EMU with a relatively limited area of operation. I would have thought other families of DMU/EMU would have been a better choice - Networker based on Bachmanns 166 perhaps? Or the Mk3s based on their excellent Class 150? I also mentioned in that thread that starting with an older family means they can start selling them in old liveries for which they do not need to seek permission, or use the sales of these to subsidise the reduced margins they might see on newer liveries with royalties to be paid. The fact that they have been around for longer means they are more likely to be of use to a greater section of the market as well. What I find even more odd is that Hornby released a brand new and up-to-date Mk3 DVT but doesn't have any locomotives of anything like the same standard to use with it. Surely not even Hornby are this short sighted - they must have had plans for AC electrics when that was approved which perhaps never came to fruition. Similarly they must see that the Class 91 doesn't cut it anymore next to the brilliant HST - and considering they've released ECML HSTs in the form of GNER, East Coast (ex-NatEx) and Swallow livery with ER running numbers they must have expected that the purchasers of those would like a new 225 set to go along with it. I agree with some of the above posters that OHLE may enhance the demand for AC electrics, but as I have mentioned before I think it is far more reasonable to expect those who wish to have AC electrics to run them without catenery, rather than expecting that if catenery was available without locomotives the catenery would somehow spur on the market. Clearly it's absurd both financially and in terms of time to erect catenary on a layout without any AC electric locos, whereas a bit of imagination in the absense of OHLE or a diesel towing an electric loco in an area without knitting is still entirely appropriate (read "easier"). I also agree that it is probable that as the manufacturers run out of new models to make that AC electrics will become the next thing on their list. Let's just hope it's sooner rather than later.

Hi sorry to be demanding, but I just remembered a couple of minor irritations that would be nice to have fixed. The first is when you are selecting a parallel start point, it would be useful if you could hit enter to place the start point. At the moment you just get an error noise. Secondly, when you are using the toolbox, if you select something but then accidentally move your mouse off the toolbox it deselects it, so if you click on a box to write some numbers, and move your mouse off the box the numbers don't get entered. Thanks

Sadly that would be out of my ability so I look forward to seeing your progress

Just for a bit of fun I thought I'd see if I could have a go at the north approach with RTL track - mainly Peco Code 75 with a couple of Shinohara points and their double slip. I don't think it's come out too badly

Can I also add two wishlist features: 1. When a length of flex track is selected it would be useful if at the bottom in the status bar its length was displayed rather than the max length of that sort of flex track,. 2. Custom lists of track pieces. I am using two types of track and switching between them can be a bit of a nuisance sometimes. Thanks again and keep up the good work

Class 60 for me, followed closely by the new tooling HST

I went to the Oxford Street WH Smith today too. It's the one in The Plaza rather than the one in the tube stop. There are still 4 left, all in a rack by the queue for the till. Today the offer was £5 off your next £15 spend and 20% off cards or something. Also - why on earth are you using Norton? I know it's unrelated but please please please don't buy that rubbish. Most nowadays advise AVG or Avast (both free online). Someone mentioned that it says somewhere that an electric locomotive might be on the cards - where is this written and any hints as to what it might be?

hmm only just been alerted to this. for £2.99 it would almost be silly not to buy one. I might use it to spray into Spencer for my nephew.

so what about me who happens to be a petrol head as well and is getting married in August? must be no hope for me then!

pics or it didn't happen

I saw Dorehill St Stevens for the first time at Warley last year. That changed my perception of what "big layout" is. I think a big layout is subjective, as others have mentioned. What is big to an individual could be run of the mill for a club. I think Jim SW's comment that if you can run full length trains then it is probably a big layout. I take this to mean something like a 2+8 HST or a full Pendolino set, or 12 carriage loco hauled train.

I saw a massive rake of cargowagons head through Denmark Hill in 2013

his sig says his current layout is EM. my guess would be that

the photos posted above suggest HST sets as they seem to have a TGS in them.

Found another photo of it at KGX with Mk2Es. Thanks to the contributor: http://www.flickr.com/photos/78608810@N05/11188389336 I never realised that it didn't run with Mk4s during BR days