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Both manufacturer and retailer should be ashamed that such obviously faulty products ended up with a customer. I'm now very reluctant to buy anything from Dapol unless I've seen it and tested it in a shop.

I remember we were all told 0 gauge locomotives had to cost at least £500 for a manufacturer to make a profit on such complex detailed things. Then along came Dapol and a decade on we have the same locomotives for less than £200. I would encourage people to treat manufacturer statements about what is and what isn't profitable with healthy scepticism. Bachmann's toy trains are expensive because they've found a small group of consumers who will pay the very high prices. Production costs are a factor, but only part of the story. Pay your money and take your choice, but I don't think it's healthy for children to go into model shops and see mass produced 00 gauge trains that cost more than their Dad's weekly wage. That won't encourage broad interest in the hobby. Don't be surprised if they get into Train Sims instead or just move away from railways altogether.

Yes, I agree. However I wonder how sustainable this is. I can't say I have suffered too much in the last twelve months but there are limits to what I will pay for toys. This is partly because I get as much fun out of servicing and detailing old Lima models than just buying new stuff that I am scared to touch due to the cost. But it's also because I'd rather spend cash on beer, holidays and travelling by train than a few very expensive items that for me don't represent good value for money, however good they are.

I think the reality is manufacturers have realised a small group of late middle age modellers will pay almost anything for very high fidelity models so that's where the money is. Cater for them and you will be safe. That's not for me though. I've largely stopped buying new unless a product is absolutely essential for a personal layout project. I don't think I'm the only one.

A recent visit to Cairo revealed that Egyptian railways are now charging tourists a different fare to Egyptian nationals. The first class Alex - Cairo return fare, previously less than nine dollars for everyone, is now fifty dollars for foreigners! Foreigners cannot book online and have to ask tourist police at the station entrance to arrange tickets - I was taken to an upstairs office. I first thought it was a scam, but it is apparently now official policy. I can't make out whether this is a desperate attempt to obtain foreign currency (the Egyptian currency has collapsed in value) or an attempt to discourage foreigners from travelling by rail. There have been a number of YouTube videos taking the Mick out of the parlous state of Egyptian railways, so it might be the latter ... Some have told me it is particularly difficult to get tickets to some provincial destinations. Anyone else had problems? I did think about getting local Egyptian friends to book tickets but the grippers challenge anyone who looks foreign... (you get the same ticket if you are a foreigner, but you also get a handwritten supplement in Arabic, confirming you have paid the tourist supplement). Barriers are now installed in both Cairo and Alex so you can't just get on either ... Egypt keeps saying it wants a tourist revival but it is not making it easy for tourist rail travel. Very cheap fares and simple booking was one of the great pleasures of budget travelling around Egypt

I still love visiting real model shops, but... The problem I find is that very few shops today stock comprehensive ranges. That's partly due to batch production, but it is often the case that I go into fairly large midland stores and find newly released N gauge material is not available - often because it has not been ordered. So what can I do other than go online? The other issue is that stores stocking second hand budget items seem few and far between. That was once the great pleasure of visiting a store - finding an unusual item or something cheap and broken that you could repair. If it is all put on eBay, why go to a store? Stores also need to open when it is convenient for customers. I have some time on my hands tomorrow (something that is rare for a working professional with a family these day), but can I find a store open locally on bank holiday? Many also close early on Saturday, the one day many people have free! Stores need to be aware of when customers are likely to be available to buy. They are in the leisure industry and opening times need to reflect this.

How about some debranded NSE mk1s with the blue regional railways stripe alteration? That would be a nice new variety that has not yet been done.

Reference books show tham as 12 foot nine and a half inches, the same as MK1 coaches. Other photos show them of a similar height. So I am confused now!

I think mine is faulty - the red and white lights come on at the same time on the same end. Oh dear... It also seems to ride too high and tower over MK1 farish coaches. Very odd.

I've had a lot of fun over the years with this "what if" scenario as it allows you to build a small modern image main line in the early 1970s with a large variety of diesels from the WR, LMR and ER (including some rare classes like Hymeks and 27s that did operate on the route before closure). So here goes... How about WR Hymeks, Westerns and Warships on parcels trains to Leicester? 37s and 47s on inter regionals? 27s and 31s on semi fasts? Peaks on main IC services, with perhaps the odd diverted service from the ECML...? perhaps even the odd Deltic...?

Useful, but 'bend the pickups' seems a rather primitive solution. If done clumsily it could affect pickup ability and electrical continuity. Dapol really need to recall them as faulty and fit pickups of the correct size and shape. Sorry if this seems negative, but this is something else in a long line of faults on Dapol products - the gunked-up 121/122 chassis that stutter at low speeds, 156s bodies that still haven't been replaced, the bendy body 153s that were being sold long after the fault was identified, the inaccurate sleeper liveries that have been barely acknowledged as problematic, let alone been corrected... I'm going to be very cautious at picking up new Dapol products until the quality control is there.

Ah, if that's the case, that's a relief! A great shop that I always call into when I am near.

Is Malcs Models still operating as normal as a high street store? I turned up early Saturday afternoon and the shop was all shuttered up despite supposedly opening until 4.30 on the noticeboard. There was no information about the closure.

In other words it has been poorly assembled. Why don't Dapol take a few samples out of the boxes and check them thoroughly before despatch? My missus could have spotted the bendy 153, the reversed 156 logo and the drunken M7...

Is anyone going to have a go at improving theirs? Could the wheels be changed easily? What alternative wheels are available? The lettering is obviously fairly easy to correct as long as the printing comes off without damaging the appearance, but I can't see how the nose down issue can be corrected without resorting to 3d printing... and then it's almost a new loco...

After the banana shaped GWR 153s, the botched MK3 sleepers and the reversed BR logo on the 156s you have to wonder what is going wrong with Dapol's quality control. These look terrible

I am tempted by an experimental TT branch line theme project, but one wonders if smaller locos are part of Hornby's plan? A 1970s freight only branch with a couple of 08s would be interesting. It is just a shame they aren't producing 25s or 31s. The lack of any DMUs is also odd given they make up so many modern image passenger services.

The box spelling wouldn't put me off... But the price certainly would. It is far too much for a very basic model with a shiny plastic finish.

Do they run okay through standard Peco reverse curves? If the buffers are in compression even when coupled on a straight that sounds like a recipe for ongoing problems with buffer locking on any "normal" O gauge curvature.

I'd like them to think more about new rolling stock to go with new loco releases. Apparently we are finally getting the Virgin 47 promised for most of the last decade... but there is no sign of Virgin Mk2 air cons to go with it or even any more IC coaches. So what am I supposed to do with it? Park it on the scrap line?

Yes there's absolutely nothing wrong with modelling the distant past. I love some historic layouts even though I'm a diesel man. Just not sure the 1950s will build a younger market for TT. It is sobering to remember when Peter Denny started modelling Buckingham he was modelling a scene that was only just over three decades in the past... 1990ish is the modern equivalent!

I didn't know that but in fairness to remember the 1950s ECML you'd have to be almost 80 now! Not really a policy to attract youth.... It's interesting that the best train sim on computer TSW offers almost entirely post 1990 routes and rolling stock. Model railways seem to be catering for a much older demographic these days.

What I don't really understand about Hornsby's TT strategy is that they seem to be issuing stock in the first wave that wouldn't normally have run together at the same time or same place. Would it not have been better to start with common modern image items? Eg a DB 66, DB 08, Cross Country HST, 170, DRS 68 and Mk2 Riviera coaches etc. I am interested in the scale but couldn't build a realistic and coherent railway with what is in the pipeline so far.

And another of the bay

Another one