Wheatley

If your target 'average / newbie modeller' is satisfied with one size suites all/none chassis, ends and roof then they'll be satisfied with the older generic Railroad RTR coaches and won't buy your kit. And those who aren't satisfied with generic chassis, ends and roof won't buy them either.

Considerably more than the two chains the majority of purchasers will expect it to run on.

I didn't say censorship and I don't believe I mentioned any particular manufacturer. But seeing as you did, the vitriol which spews from some of the rank and file on here whenever DJM is criticised, or even when somebody dares to ask where a promised update or feedback has got to (never mind actual model), is quite staggering. It is matched only by the speed with which the same members fall over themselves to assure everybody that whatever the currently available model is like, the promised proposed/delayed DJM one will be so much better when it appears. I've had to stop reading the DJM 71 thread, it was giving me diabetes.

I was going to suggest that the only hidden agenda on RMWeb was thou shalt only use fulsome praise to describe anything associated with one particular very small manufacturer, but that one isn't exactly hidden.

I think you might be missing the point John. The 'niche' modellers to whom you refer just get on with it and make the ashpan or whatever. Niche armchair critics who don't make anything are another matter entirely, and most of the ones I see are on high traffic sites.

Same solution as Vitalspark here, 1mm hole in the lamp with a smidgin of blutac in it, sitting on the lamp iron and changed as required. Flimsy plastic or etched lamp irons are usually replaced with cut-off staples for strength. Same on brake vans, side lamps are permanently fixed (because they could be at either end, at least in theory,)but the tail lamps swap ends as required with a couple of sidelamp-less vans for fully fitted freights.

I do remember, as you probably guessed from my phrasing. What he said. If the subject is off limits then just say so instead of waving your prefect badge at us and making puerile threats.

Why ? He's hardly likely to get blood on his own hands. And who are you to be warning anyone ? 27 please, or a non-self-combusting 17, I don't mind which.

I agree, and I'm lucky enough to have worked in the industry when the UK did this very well despite being the butt of everybody's sandwich jokes. And I suspect there's just enough corporate memory left at senior level for it to work again if the people who know how to make it work are allowed to get on with it. But they won't be, the DfT are in charge and that scares me.

I was going to say "have they finished the last one yet ? Ye gods. Short franchises specced and funded by the DfT, without a civil engineer between them, trying to do long term investment. What could possibly go wrong ? But this is opening up the pie to even more fingers, some of whom won't see why they need to wash their hands first. Cluster***k is the word that springs to mind. Unless you trust the DfT to do it properly - I suppose there's a first time for everything.

There are a few different variants they could have done - welded, vac braked etc rather than the exact same version. For some of their vans and opens there are several variants, some more common, and they still did the same one as Parkside.

Many collieries had brickworks attached, as many coal seams have bands of high quality clay interbedded with them due to the way coal deposits are formed. They were therefore available on site, effectively at cost. Similar to the way many railway companies used clinker for ballast and surfacing paths and platforms.

Nobody is being rude (except possibly you) or snotty. It's a fact that Peco dominates the UK market with a product which is wrong, and arguably more wrong than it needs to be. There are alternatives available so either their buyers don't know it's wrong, or know and accept it anyway (including me) because it's convenient and reliable.

The ones in yours, Kelly's and Paul's posts.

I think you may have answered your own question there Martin. Those who can see the difference already knew there was a difference and ignored it for convenience (like me, C&L wasn't around when my current layout was built) and for the other 90% track is track is track. Some of it has grey sleepers and some has brown, and none of it matches the black stuff in the Hornby box.

I asked a question and made an observation. I have my answers (or at least theories), thank you.

Thank you, I'm aware how market pricing works and how much it costs to tool up a new model, I don't need a load of condescending replies from fanboys. I was merely curious given that the Warwell is twice the size and a fiver cheaper.

I agree Stewart, it's not something I've ever done for exactly the same reasons. My point was that neither asking a shop to obtain a stock item nor 'expressing an interest' in a forthcoming release constitutes an agreement to buy and it naïve of a retailer to assume otherwise.

I didn't buy one of those either. Thanks.

Is that £43 per vehicle or per pair ? Given that they normally work in pairs.

Made to measure items yes, as David H says. But asking a shop to get a mass produced item in and lay it aside for you isn't a contract to buy, they get it in and then you decide whether you want to buy it. The contract is made at the point at which you agree to pay for it. Back to the Austerity, it's no wonder people are confused: Is it reserved, pre-ordered, ordered or merely expressed to be of interest ? And does contacted mean actually contacted, or just invoiced ? I suppose it's academic if the retailer can't track the orders (or whatever) accurately anyway.

You are perfectly entitled to say you don't want it. Likewise the shopkeeper is perfectly entitled to tell you to take a running jump the next time you ask him to order something in. Personally, if an expression of interest, or even pre-order, was binding at the point of expressing it, you wouldn't get either from me. I'll decide whether I really want it when it appears thanks. However I do think it's unfair of people to pre-order one of every variant with no intention of buying. That kind of thing is fine on a wishlist poll but it's a bit naughty if people are basing business decisions on it. Mind you, given the average railway modeller's tendency for dreaming and armchair modelling, it's a bit optimistic making business decisions on it too.

You stalk Ebay I'm afraid. I bought mine when they were first available along with other forgotten treasures such as Sharman wheels and Portescap motors. I still haven't got round to building it yet

Yes :-)