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Has you given thought to acquiring a Hornby one ? i know how it feels, my fathers Duchess of Atholl arrived a few weeks too late.

Mines arrived. But as the package has been handled by a dozen or so people between Liverpool and London or in the last 24 hours, I’m going to let it settle for a few days before opening. I know the ministers say it’s safe for parcels, but the scientists say it can live on cardboard too.. Theres a conflict. I can wait a few days to let nature resolve that.

Heljan spares do seem to have suddenly become exceptionally expensive. i’ll be looking after my collection of acquired sprues..

So here we are... 5 days since probably the most eagerly anticipated announcements of one of the most cult popular classes running in the UK today.... and only 2 pages of comments, and all thanks to some weird rat like scaly creature 6000 miles away that most people have never seen or heard of, and probably associated to a depressing Nicholas Cage film... what makes it worse is that creature is endangered and right now most people probably wished it was extinct. As soon as a 37/4 sound file emerges, minds will be refocused to more happy events in life.

although its a nice morning, I was going to take a picture, but alas the haze has returned, I guess now weekend has passed daily life is catching up. I’ll take a picture later, but it was nice to see green hills on north London. Were towards Banstead in Surrey, elevation (according to google terrain is 100m), it looked comparative on the otherside, if theres any experts that are more informed.

Sounds like my house. weathers nice, my wifes taken my office, i’m working from the garden, wearing shorts and sunglasses. I work in sales so normally want to keep conversations secluded, but my neighbours are a BBC journalist, A Royal protection expert who likes my whisky too much, A Corporate Lifestyle guru (just don't ask), retired ex-spy (her stories are fantastic and she has a few medals and given script details to a Hollywood film), a Bank manager and an ex-Falklands serviceman who legally possesses a rifle and doesnt like foxes... oh and a neighbour who hides his interest in model railways, denys all, yet gives away way too much in any basic conversation. so IT discussions are largely of no relevance around here.

We use web conferencing extensively at work (Zoom, Teams, Hangouts etc). today we turned it over to our kids at school, my daughters class had a 40 minute session, able to see each other, talk to each other, it was free to use. it wasnt structured, each kid just talked of what they did, whilst at a desk and on the screen. Its password protected, and obviously needed a parent to log in, and we know each other anyway. It completely lifted her mood to see her class mates, we are going to do this 2pm each day. The difference to a youtube channel is the bi-directional discussion. if a club wanted to go virtual, or something similar setting up a meeting is very fast, visual or just voice. if anyone wants some help on this, feel free to pm me and I can advise (I’m not selling it, i just use them all daily) , it ranges from free to £25 so hardly a budget busting way for people to convene, talk, argue, see each and discuss in a virtual way.

Well its been very quiet around my way today. The air quality over London has improved remarkably...(either that or my eyesight has)... on a good day I can usually see the vague outlines of London tower blocks as planes circle into Heathrow above, a good 14 mile north from my home, and a wide view that must be 40-50 miles across london. From my house today I can view all the way from Surrey to the hills of North London, its been a bright couple of days, but the green hills on the other side are easily in sight.. I’m guessing its Edgware or Barnet I’m seeing, 40 miles or so away... usually thats lost in a haze.

Maybe the now dormant macDonalds delivery lorries could be used as common carriers for supermarket deliveries ? on the subject of lockdown violations, perhaps rather than telling people, who seem set of working around it... Tax it instead.. if people are found outside, adjust their tax codes to reduce the 80% payment, benefits, pensions etc they are getting... it could be long term alteration too.

Whilst your exploiting loop holes already for your own gain, dont forget other loop holes exist. cardboard.. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200317-covid-19-how-long-does-the-coronavirus-last-on-surfaces Not everyone uses Royal Mail, measures may vary. The virus can get on your shoes and clothes, no one is disinfecting feet. Theres a remote transmission route there, each time you go out, take off your shoes and hang up a coat. To use an IRA phrase... the virus only needs to get lucky once, you need to get lucky everytime. The definition of infrequent shopping is subjective, but explicity... as infrequently as possible (not as an excuse to nip out to do whatever else you want as a cover story). just because your symptom free, doesn't imply your not carrying symptomlessly spreading it... which is precisely why we are in lockdown. Boris said tonight “You must stay home Shopping infrequently as possible, one form of exercise a day, any medical need, and travelling to and from work where absolutely essential”. Theres no need to be tripping out packages every few hours, grabbing a few quid, saying I feel ok and I need a Packet of crisp each time. its seems a bit hypocritical saying second homers should not be going out, yet somehow doesn't apply to you. lockdown means that. i’m doing my bit, were staying in, shutting down and interacting as little as possible. Reducing need to have packages sent or recieved...its a shame not everyone is doing the same... as its those that could make the difference. The aim is to save lives, predominantly those who are elderly. The economy is being sacrificed for them, one hopes they appreciate it, as the rest of us will be paying for it years after they've, hopefully, naturally gone after an extended life beyond this virus. if everyone does their bit, sit tight, the lockdown will be shorter and normality closer. At least supermarkets might now get chance to stock up.

Unless your planning to eat the parcel, I don't see how it is essential to be wandering the streets and be posting model railways about. personally, I removed my remaining listings yesterday.. I dont want to be exposing me and my family to risk in a post office. Nor do I want to expose myself to incoming parcels either. The virus can live on cardboard for up to 24 hours, google yourself, how many times will that parcel change hands during the delivery process ? by all means selfishly carry on.. but Its safer not to.

Ive panic bought a few model railway bits, in anticipation of this lockdown. I hope they made the post today, otherwise I guess there is going to be a 3 week delay at least. A lot of ebay ads may disappear tonight, as private sales and the nations model shops consider their options, whilst manufacturers now have to shut down. I hope the retailers survive this shutdown, but it is for the right reasons, and a little overdue.

Ive dismantled Heljan locos plenty of times, it only takes a few minutes to build a bogie tower from bits, the motor drops in, theres not many screws. The hardest part Ive found is securing the bogie towers to its pivot, which I think is an art Ive not learned properly... motor and circuit board are the dead easy bits. from experience on my other locos, making a dummy wouldn't require anything specific to be tooled, just remove the shafts and unplug the motor. If you went whole hog, you could remove the gears from the tower, lights, motor, board. But i’ll leave my ethel motorised, it’ll be assisting my elderly Lima WHL Scottie / White stripe 37’s on my mega gradients, just as my Bachmann Intercity ethel does today. I dont do DCC, but I’d guess a number would want an Ethel power unit running away unpower whilst standing still... thats why steam enthusiasts Nationwide clubbed together to buy a generator car and see the Ethels off... you couldn't hear the steam loco for it.

Hither Green, then Barry.

Oh thats a whale of another subject for the Ethels and other train heating Locos... The class 28 was Hattons.. TDB 968006 perhaps ? if SLW were to do my username, it would be very confusing for me.. I’d have to figure out what colour I am and if I moved in that colour.

Try taking out the DCC board, motor and shaft, stick it on ebay and see if you get £75 for it. As I said, you can buy a whole motorised chassis, wheels, dcc board all in for £40 new. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Heljan-Replacement-Class-26-Chassis-OO-Gauge/283440784769?hash=item41fe632581:m:miNO6H71ePY9vw3QjdQNF-Q even without the motor, you've got more detail, paint detail and of course packaging and parts bags than an ordinary coach. You dont get many coaches with brake pipes, sprung buffers, ploughs, separate hand rails, etched parts, screen wipers etc all factory fitted... The economics of n gauge and oo gauge are completely different... Lima did try this with twin packs of class 20’s, their cost was £80, when individually they were £50, but take up was generally restricted to limited editions. The advantage they had the body was only 2 pieces (body and glazing)+ 4 buffers... the limited editions they made were the same livery, just different numbers...(much like your Dapol examples) so saving on numerous paint masks, print patterns too, unlike Ethels which is unique to 3 locos, that just happen to be unpowered. As I said, if you so confident in your math.. buy it, strip it, sell off the bits and then you’ll get an idea of the cost difference... i’ll give you £2 for the motor.. thats what I paid for replacements to fit my 15/17 & Garratt in the past, i’ll give £1 for the DCC blanking plate too.

This is a fantastic idea... it means I can work at home tomorrow and guaranteed the only distractions will be amusing ones from the little one !

how much cheaper would you expect it to be ? I admit the price of Heljan spares just went through the roof, whole sprues used to be available for the shafts for around £3, now you only get each individual piece for circa that price + p&p and handling charges, But previously I bought replacements motors for my 15/17 and Garratt for £2 each, direct from China. i’ll put it another way, theres a source of new online chassis for 26/27 at less than £40 for some years... thats a whole motorised chassis..inc lights and DCC bits. so if you want to see how much the savings are.. take out the motor and shaft.. you might get a £10 on ebay, taking advantage of those recent price rises. So think of it as a unmotorised 25 with a free motor in it..its still got the electronics, dcc and other gizmos.. so its still much more than a coach.

Brilliant, instead of an argument about wrong paint shades on a model, here weve a barney about paint shades wrong on the real thing.

He’s only gone and done it. Fantastic, Ive great memories of the last day Though for 37425 Angry Bob, you will need smoke to go with the sound.

Ive just signed my disclaimer and my daughters to appear on this. Filmed 7th December.

The grey on the LNER is way too dark, its almost white. ..and this is a dirty example. here is another, it needs to be the same as their coaches (as used on the mk4’s, but equally as Hornby used on their HSTs).

try your local garden centre. Many have farm shops. its a bit too sophisticated for the Chavarazzi, we found it a refreshingly normal retail experience today... average number of people doing normal shopping with regularly stocked shelves... we even bought some strawberry plants for summer.

I went shopping yesterday and was astonished at our local sainsburys... the only food for sale.... was fresh potted herbs (centre of my picture), and a few odd left overs. No tins, packets, milk, fresh produce, juices, alcohol, bread, cakes, frozen, meat, fish, deli... its all gone. they Still have stationery, cigarettes, kitchen equipments, birthdays cards, general cleaning stuff, personal hygiene etc. I asked about it, they said they get two lorries a day, and storage to last 2-3 days to replenish shelves... right now the lorries arent full, and everything goes out straight to shelves by 7am.. by 11am it looked like the above. They are expecting greater food shortages In the short term, as much produce is imported and deliveries are slowing down, whilst the demand is exponentially going up. The concern is that unchecked consumption, carrying on as it is, will see a collapse in distribution as there could be odd situations where by in order to fulfill a delivery larger quantities of smaller number of items may need to be sent to stores to be productive.. resulting in extremities like some supermarkets overdosing on lettuce but no tomatoes, whilst others end up inverse etc. around here, south london, even international shops (Polish, Turkish etc) are getting over run... My wife phoned the Polish shop about various bits, was told their shelves were pretty much done, but a lorry is due by friday, but it might be late due to restrictions in borders in Germany, Holland, Belgium, France so it could be anytime.. A lot of stories of comparing it 1980’s communism being discussed in the Polish circle, never did they ever think they would see this in the UK. Maybe a lockdown in London is needed, to stopping people going out, will give logistics time to catch up. They did say there isnt an overall shortage, it just people need to relax for a few days. in the end we went to the local garden centre, its off piste for the mad masses, and it was a bit busier than normal, but lots of fresh veg there, bit more expensive, but they source from Covent Garden Market daily, they said delivery has slowed slightly, demand is huge but for now its manageable... until the masses discover it. Dominos pizza, Deliveroo and Just Eat must be having a party though.. you cant move at night for delivery scooters its gone crazy.

I just wonder how muchs stuff is going to end up in the bin in a few weeks time, then as the use by dates expire, people may find themselves needing more, only to find supplies are finally affected by sickness /border restrictions etc. Rather than stocking up on 2 months of pre-cooked rubbish, perhaps now is a good time to consider cooking. Thing is when I had my time of this in 2003.. eating was the last thing on my mind, I lost several kg that week, though I made up for it afterwards. I found chicken broth saved me, ever since, first on set of a nose / throat infection.....get the pan out ..heres the reciepe.. 1/4 to a 1/2 raw chicken.. ensures its got a bone.. like wing, breast, leg piece. (when ill I tend to leave the skin on, its a little more fatty, though in winter normally I take the skin off and add a little cayenne pepper to “liven it”.. though not in a cold as the granules can sometimes stick in my throat). 2 onions 1 carrot 1 parsnip 1 piece of celery inc core and leaves 1/8 to 1/4 a piece of celeriac Garlic cloves to suit A small Piece of beef or turkey or a lamb chop Tablespoon of salt Sprinkle of pepper 5 or 6 peppercorns Cold Water upto 2cm from top of pan. ( this will make at least 2 -3 litres !) Boil, then reduce to minimum for 1 hour to 90mins depending on meat volume. 10 mins effort to prepare, at least 9 good bowls, will last 4 days.. nice with some small pasta... cost... maybe less than a fiver... if theres anything in your throat, it wont cure it, but it sure makes you feel better, warmer and gives energy... and if your flat out a few days in, all you have to do when sick is warm the pan...