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Bulldog clips, two pieces of straight metal. wash it in warm to hot water, it will start to be a bit more pliable. then clamp the plastic inbetween the two pieces of metal to get the flat back in it. leave overnight and see how it goes. you may need to repeat more than once.

Interested in a garden office myself, though that website is dog slow. How are you getting it installed, base etc ?

That letter cost a few quid to write.

Relations between the ORR and wcrc arent good unless youve noticed, The easy one to resolve this would be in the renegotiation of the Jacobite access contract to indicate all the requirements expected in order to approve it… ie 1. Cdl fitting 2. Sealed windows 3. cet 4. internal door handles no compliance no approval to run. (The contract today does specifiy mk1/mk2, 37, B1, K1, 8f and 5MT, and CET requirement), so other clauses could be added… tbh what maybe worthwhile is the ORR to publish its overall intentions inrelation to mk1’s for the next few years, so an operator could opt to do full compliance now, rather than piece meal upgrades every year. Then wcrc puts its pitchforks away and goes ahead with certainty in knowing what it needs to do, beyond cdl and hence invest/plan accordingly. if the ORR insist on sliding doors in 4 years.. we’ll be here all over again. If the contract is up in 6 months, common sense suggests they should be discussing this in parallel to this current dispute, waiting until October would seem a bit late in the day, especially as LSL look to be interested, it does feel that money talks and LSL and ORR are becoming quite cosy…

That would make sense to me, some clarity on whats the future for mk1’s 5 years out would make sense too. spending a fortune now and finding mk1’s banned in a few years makes no sense either.

Photos can help.. no7 1960’s Oswestry (b4 1966). https://flic.kr/p/6ii1qf no7 in 1977 swindon https://flic.kr/p/dPW3F3 Oil conversion here ? No8 in 1961 swindon https://flic.kr/p/2ofkaMC no 9 Swindon in 1954 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Swindon_12_Works_Vale_of_Rheidol_narrow-gauge_2-6-2T_in_'A'_Shop_geograph-2578842-by-Ben-Brooksbank.jpg no9 again in 1976 and 1977 swindon (looks to have been several months). http://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/latest-input--news--old-pictures-etc/6th-july-2020 https://flic.kr/p/2nXTMo1 Unknown, 1962 https://flic.kr/p/2ngd6HF

I’m still a little puzzled… Neither loco has been made after 4 years, 7 years after announcement. Why pick these two off the shelf to copy, when far more exciting ones exist ? say Running off some extra 68’s on the end of the current batch due soon would be much easier to hide and shuffle out the back door, whilst the rest went out of the front.. and anyone on the inside would know a 68 has more success as they've made oodles of them… weve seen some suggestion that happened a few years ago with someone else. But the two selected havent been made for years, which may have relevance to the story. I can certainly think of at least two alternative explanations that would see these in the wild, that differ from the “moonlighting staff” narrative. For example, I have heard anecdotally that a Chinese manufacturer can consider a tooling to be abandoned in some circumstances. We also have no clue as to the contractual arrangements, theres always possibility of a disagreement. Theres also another very recent rtr tooling which imo is a copy with minor tweaks of an existing. Speculating on dodgy staff is a bit sterotypical. I doubt we will ever know the story on this unless some action is taken by the factory/Dapol. that said.. it doesnt change that they are out there in a Dapol / Murphys box when they shouldn't be.

The point missed about the serial numbers, my bad.. Was applying them here, at the warehouse, before going to retailers, not there at the factory. The factory could try copying them, but it would be much more delibrate as they’d need to have one sent there from here to replicate.. something for a model railway item is a bit extreme, A bit like limited edition certificates are added here.

Still in undercoat. its at Tonbridge this weekend, maybe a trip to Eastleigh cometh ? this maybe worth a watch on Monday, its a regular path 0Y68 with a VAR for monday LE to Eastleigh https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:H32609/2024-04-08/detailed admittedly it could be anything, as its a regular path. theres an 0Z69 (clue there) on monday shuffling around Eastleigh yard https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:R09094/2024-04-08/detailed

I wouldnt be surprised if a new model turned up at some point. The 153 /155 is the only one thats not had an upgrade or a retool..

There is another problem.. once they arrive here, the laundry process on a faulty one is all too easy.. I suspect these will be identical. ive said for years adding a serial number to locos and the box would be beneficial for warranty purposes, and help modellers from insurance purposes too.

Just a thought, but with 37407, 37667, 37676, 37685 all at FTW, when was last time 4x 37’s were there? i guess whatever stunt wcrc is planning, it doesnt involve heating the stock… 5-11 degrees and rain.

It would imo be very silly to run this for free with pax on. But running an ecs would score publicity points, and using the allocated paths on demand, hence not abandoning them, and denying them from others. Afterall LSL are scoring publicity points too right now.

So easy to find them. But replacing them enmasse also makes a dilemma of business interruption, rehire and training. The ground staff were probably doing as they were told. But any manager in a bespoke hobby like this will surely know his order book, project schedules and recognise something amiss on the floor… especially given the backlogs we are seeing. Anytime a manufacturer leaks a secret picture our amateur eyes are down in minutes, and those guys are the pros…. of course Chinese new year just past and the factories were supposed to be closed, but tbh if it were me working my holidays i’d pick something a bit more popular and easier to make dissapear, and at a lower price to dissapear faster… China isnt totally lawless, Bastian Schweinsteiger made these dolls of him dissappear.. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/oct/22/bastian-schweinsteiger-nazi-doll-sue

I’d be somewhat surprised to see a whole batch of hundreds of models, made in secret at night by an army of dozens of workers, who somehow hide them from the day shift and the factory management for what must be several weeks to produce… These are batch made products, not year on year run of the mill stuff, someone somewhere would see a batch of unfinished locos that dont match a PO. I also have a hard time believing a Chinese factory would be naive enough to believe the “Chinese concession” wouldnt end up on international websites. This isn't exactly car parts to a back door customer that can dissapear. I could similarly understand if X was contracted, Y was made and Z went via the back door… but if that were the case where is batch X ?, or Z has been hiding a few years. The UK company will know their Chinese factory they contracted with. The Chinese factory will want a continual working relationship with the UK company. So tolerating a one off via the back door seems an odd way to keep that relationship…. especially as whom makes what isnt exactly a secret, and the other UK companies using that factory would also know. I have seen knock off model railway stuff before, though not in branded and new boxes, with documentation and parts bags. That makes these fakes quite brazen, akin to a heist. So I would expect the factory to be siding with Dapol, and chasing hare on tail for what happened and giving full support, as its jointly their brand and trust that is at stake… the factory will know who did it…, its not as if any tom, dick or charlie can walk in and operate a moulding press and spray booths.

Traksy shows services up and running, some late, obviously not that serious, nothing oou. Delays show 10-15 mins mostly, a few upto 30 which isnt that unusual, certainly on Southern those delays dont get any attention from the media. Maybe a BBC staffer was late for work and short of a story.

Gosh quite some feast there last night, glad I decided to opt in, had I left it to this morning the pickings are a bit thinner.

When the fingerprint was introduced by the US, Brasil objected but was ignored. So they introduced fingerprinting of US passengers in reciprocity, but they used ink. I recall laughing when visiting there with a US colleague as he rubbed his fingers on an ink that wasnt that easy to remove either. Didnt last long but the diplomatic point was obviously made 😀

You would think a plain blue unweathered 47, with yellow panel and headlight would be a good idea… last one I can think of was 47600 by Vitrains in 2009. Bachmanns offered 47404 and 47408 back in 2006, both sans headlight, and 47001 was close, no headlight round boiler port in 2014.. 47402 Gateshead would be nice, just sayin, but an unamed one would be good too. Heljans promising 47314 though.

9 put of 10 cats prefer it… when was last time they asked the cats ?

I just want to hereby declare another case of general bodily harm has been inflicted on my wallet. I thought I was I done here, but the thought of a second NSE rake was too much to pass. But having seen the Bachmann mk2a on the Accurascale mk2b chassis a page back, has opened a number of thoughts into my head… so its a case of make a bit of hay here and have a few extra in the corner for just in case things…. Not least the boxes are a manageable size… Bless

Rfd europe livery always seemed a bit marmite… even Lima ones werent that popular in the 90’s.

And the roof hatch doors, which are harder to ignore from above, even from a distance.. guess which is Heljans? This weekend I might see what I can do about this. head on… (far left is an 87 chassis). side on, theres really not much in it. Pipework is less detailed on 47596, but the shutters have metal hand rails. tbh I like the front foot step under the buffer, the livery just about hides that “crewe cut” insert, on the side, but not sure that will work on all liveries, and certainly not the front. tbh on my desk from 2-3ft away it passes the test, (and so does Lima and Vitrains), but theres a gap between 1st and 2nd place. I guess a good litmus test here is… How many Accurascale 37 pictures did we get in the first 3 weeks of release… versus this one..

I think these urban trails are a good idea, I did the one in New York, a couple of miles long.. a good place to hide weird art.. The line even passed through warehouses.. NYC is full of sharks.. Thousands of people a day use this line as a footpath. I would like to think the unused “10th” track crossing the thames from Victoria would make a good, albeit short footpath to Battersea Power Statiom from Grosvenor carriage sidings.

Often charities will temporarily occupy prime real estate, for example inbetween leases, or before a refit. These are often at peppercorn or lower rates, and help building management companies by increasing occupancy and building security/insurance as they remain occupied during gaps. That building opposite city airport docks was a good example, it was empty for years before London 2012 and housed temporary office space for charities until Khans mob moved in. I have worked in one firm in Canary Wharf which used to accomodate some office space, and staff restaurant access for their chosen charity at no cost in their building, which I found quite good. Right now Londons got a silent timebomb ticking on property, some reports as much as 50% vacant office space in someparts, which is getting worse as more company leases expire… even the HSBC tower in Canary Wharf will be vacant in a few years, and CW is 16% vacant now, compared to 2008 when there was waiting lists for demand and sold out construction projects for years. The problem making it worse is demand for flats is also at a low, as is retail space. Which means converting offices to flats or retail is a lost cause too. Finally “pay as you go space” is hurting with WeWorks collapse too. The response by management companies facing bloated empty portfolios is to hugely increase management fees on those which are occupied.. hence the stories of flat owners finding service charges jumping from a few hundred a month to a few thousand a month… and of course they cant sell either.. who’s going to buy that ? At somepoint those property owners as well as their leaseholders wont make the payments.. at which point the readjustment follows… it takes time for a bubble to burst.. this year the leaseholders can’t pay, next year the building managements accounts look bad, year after the landlords struggle, then the banks get hit… unless of course someone at the top is watching the bottom, that’s when panic sets in and it all falls down in a free for all.