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54 minutes ago, RichardT said:

Oh bless. The whole point was that the factory management - well, the shop floor supervisory grades at the very least - were in on the fiddle.

 

RichardT

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

😀

23 hours ago, rob D2 said:

 

I like blue duffs and I’d love to see a marker light job with ETH , with or without headlight ( just sneaked into my era )

 

like this one ( not my photo, Dave peachy on Flickr )

 

 

 

 

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.

48 minutes ago, Roy Langridge said:

73.6% of all statistics are made up. Honest…

 

Google it.

 

100% on RMWeb?

 

Roy

9 put of 10 cats prefer it…

when was last time they asked the cats ?

2 hours ago, meatloaf said:

Lots of Mk2 coaches now in stock on accurascale website. 

 

Ordered a couple :)

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

2 hours ago, brushman47544 said:

 

But Bachmann produced another celebrity rather than a standard version and wasn't 47365 Diamond Jubilee a late production with the previous tooling and that hung around? So I wasn't  particularly surprised.

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

44 minutes ago, Roy Langridge said:

if you like it, fair enough, but there is more wrong than just the front. Those horrendous  “in-fills”’on the cab corners that make it look like it has tiny wings. 
 

Bachmann got slated for their Class 37 nose-seams, which are nothing when compared to those in-fills. 
 

Roy

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.

7 hours ago, Carver Bridge TMD said:

Agreed, but the biggest concern seems to be that the two are markedly different when parked up adjacent?

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..

50 minutes ago, big jim said:

The viaduct now got a national trust urban garden, keep meaning to visit but never have the time 

 

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/cheshire-greater-manchester/castlefield-viaduct

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.

15 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

Something to keep in mind is that manager is not a synonym for leader. A leader provides, well, leadership. That generally includes some sort of vision, inspiring and enthusing people and setting the tone for an organisation. One of the problems I always found with British business was they had plenty of managers but few leaders. 

 

On charities, one of the things I always found eye opening when I worked in London was to look at the offices of charities, not for profit outfits and unions. Lots of expensive office space,  and I don't expect those filling  the floor space are volunteers. Now clearly an organisation reaches a point where it needs office space and paid staff, but does it have to be in expensive parts of the most expensive city in the country?

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.

Another non railway related, but local pub the “Windsor Castle” had a car park sign saying “winsor castle”.

My little one many years ago thought the Queen used to frequent there.

6 hours ago, Nick C said:

That's an impressive selection of bridges!

It always amazed me how these bridges survived 30 years out of use before the tram came.

After Central closed it became GMex in the 80’s effectively killing the chances of these arches. They were wrong side of Manchester for needed capacity too.

There was a forest up there at one point in the 1980’s.

Elsewhere they would have been gone for scrap a long time ago.

Today the tram has generous amounts of space to use.

69011 outside today, GBRF 69 house colours, Orange/blue.

Havent yet spotted any differences between 8 and 11, so we may actually have a matching pair.

59102 alongside it, in Frightliner Halloween blood Orange.

released from Eastleigh tomorrow.

35 minutes ago, Michael Hodgson said:

 

The larger airports have more staff and much stronger financial resources and if they can't plan the installation of a few machines and organise their buildings to accommodate them when all the tin-pot airfields can, I wouldn't rate their chances of organising a p*ss-up in a brewery.

As someone of experience in handling raised floor loads… putting a heavy weight machine on the ground floor or a tinpot airfield is much more straight forwards than putting it on the 2nd or 3rd floor of a 1970’s concrete building used 24/7… it’s not as straight forwards as wheeling it in, and watching it fall through the floor because the distributed load was used instead of the  point load. I know that puts me back in the minority camp… again… 

Interesting comparison to the ORR and WCRC here

Heathrow airport is asking regulators for an extension to time limits to roll out new security measures

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68723697

the approach is different though, rather than shutting down Heathrow for non compliance, they intend to use fines…

different carrot, different stick.

42 minutes ago, dj_crisp said:

I think there's space for celebrity locos but only ones that don't need a heavily revised tooling. Me I just like some nice 47/7s in NSE :)

We just got a class 48.

Whilst there maybe more than 1, (5)

how many people would really buy more than 1 ?

Unless your at Tinsley on a sunday in the early 1960’s you probably never saw more than 1 together. Chances are most wouldnt have recognised it even if they saw it, as theyd be looking for chimneys.

And you'd need to be in your 60’s to remember a 48, as a 48 (and most likely a steam fan).

47901 is an openday queen of the 1980’s/90’s, and whilst admittedly it mostly slept at Westbury.. its one people regularly looked for.. and in living memory of diesel fans. My personal feeling has always been 47901 would be more popular than a 48.

14 hours ago, black and decker boy said:

More info on the LSL trains here:

 

https://www.railadvent.co.uk/2024/04/west-highlander-day-trips-to-run-on-scotlands-jacobite-line-next-week.html

 

Tickets will be available as a ‘pay on the day' basis priced at £40 per adult and £20 for those under 16s.

at this short notice I suspect this will be a bit of a stretch to be successful.

if they remained a couple of weeks it may have more chance.

(I do wish LSL would buy a 26 or a 27).

In 2016 I bought a 50 from Kernow to replicate 50032 Courageous.

For whatever reason its still sitting part renumbered on my shelf.

The blue nameplates really stood out on this 50, I have vivid memories of seeing it fly through Clapham.

There, now Ive admitted it… it has to be in Batch 2…, just to guarentee it, this weekend i’ll get the box out and see if I can move it along a little…

20 hours ago, rob D2 said:

No manufacturer have ever done that …limited number, colours and geographical area may scupper the idea

So was the class 80 / 18100, its still been done.

 
47901 is an enigma to many.

People like enigmas.

13 hours ago, Morello Cherry said:

 

 

 

Managers need to put themselves in the shoes of those at the bottom

This 100%.

You cant understand the problem, if you've never seen it, understood it or done it in some form or other.

I once saved a £15mn software project, with a top 10 US Financial institution, by flying from Sydney, where everything was going smoothly, to New York, at 24 hours notice, and on a very long flight, where they said it was falling apart and were threatening to quit the project.. solely to go in on a saturday morning, as soon as I landed at EWR, to sit next to the actual guy doing overtime inputting data into our software and see exactly what his problem was…

There was no way It would have ever been detected using a conference tool. Indeed the way it was going was a tit for tat blame game about user skillset vs support. We were days from being thrown out. 

I didnt do much, I watched, listened, learned and asked a few questions, and about his having to miss his kids soccer game in order to use our software on a saturday, then viewed our solution in context to his process.

It was hidden in minuta and the type of work & work process the employee was inputting wasnt in a way the tool anticipated it, forcing him to do it manually and work arounds… but you had to see his actual work process to understand why.

Once understood, documented and explained to the techies, the fix took a week, problem solved… overtime over, Saturday's off and his teams productivity flew away

I took 48 hours off, went back to Sydney and continued overseeing the deployment there.. truly wiped out knackered, but with my gold card secured with the airline for one more year… but that financial was my account for years after, with a constant set of orders. ultimately our software saved the customer of needing a $300mn IT investment…

But there was still higher management who just didn't understand it and questioned the expenses for what looked like a weekend in new york and could not correlate it to the sales forecast… they just cant see beyond the numbers… Has we been thrown out it would have been recorded as technical issues, we would lose, our customer would lose.

The customer director, and my boss at that time have been my best advocate for job references ever since.
 

It remains a story I retell to graduates, new hires ever since, the importance of understanding your customer, the person doing the task, and who his personal customer is (the one he hands off to). The more people understand each persons role, the better they can help each other. Even small changes can have huge impacts and determine success or failure.

I smelled the EP for that at Warley last year… it seems everyone was wearing it, or an older version of it.

On 02/04/2024 at 16:32, E100 said:

 

Oh yeah, the spares website is superb, just hadn't appreciated a retailer their own exclusives direct as well.

I wish they would update the spares site, I dont think theyve added anything new in quite some time.

i know i Can phone and ask but sometimes I just like to noodle around.

22 minutes ago, woodenhead said:

Top & Tail - it's got a DBSO so it's just the solitary class 37 required - it's as if the Mk3 Push Pulls of 1980 and the post privatisation DRS Mk2 Cumbrian services got melded together with a 37 at the helm.

 

I reckon if the main users of the service are American tourists they will appreciate the ambience of a Mk3 FO over an older Mk1.  The engine at the head might not matter so much to them.

Only if you take all the windows out…. 

its not called land of the free for nothing.

Seeing the 37 and the 156 they may be confused between which is older, they might think the 156 is a British budd railcar.

it needs a chimney to be obvious,there is space for it on a 37 bonnet !