acko22

The MOD police has taken more jobs with regards this type of traffic, back filling the Nuclear Constabulary with the jobs, although there primary concern is them very confidential trains, again this is from him and was the 2 locos issues. Yeah just seems very vague with regards nuclear traffic what you do and don't need what constitutes as what etc, I would have thought that well even if it was for public piece of mind ther0,e would be one set format for any kind of radioactive traffic regardless of how active so to speak it! Then you can excuse the way I put it army talk coming now, disguise the nuclear moves so that while they don't become routine you can't say ah that one has passed x place it's going to y it will be there in 2 hours!

Mike, With regards Nuclear movements, I was under the impression for an MOD police friend that they had to have 2 locos to prevent the train been stationary in an unsecure location for a length of time, with all of todays security and threats about. But as you say that could just me a miss interpretation on his or my part. Although still want to know about the barrier wagon at the rear, or again is that as case of miss interpretation?

Hi Jim, Been catching up with all your posts and amazing pics. One from today though has caught my eye and intrigue, the drs 57/37 combo pic, they are dragging a Low hazard radioactive waste container (not saying the N word people will panic and americans will bomb my house mistaking it for iran, although I am near Irlam) Now with these trains they have to be moved with a minimum of 2 locos due to the nature of the fuel just like all other radioactive material trains, however if there was such an issue with them as to need 2 locos just like the more I juicy stuff why is there no need for a buffer wagon?? Just because you have taken the cargo out bit like moving fuels doesn't mean its clean of them, so they cant say its empty and nothing in there to worry about! If any one can answer that would be interesting to find out!

Neil, Congrats on the win, A really nice just an amazing detail lots to see and very technically pleasing regarding the actual train movements especially in such a small space! Although you say the photos didn't do it any favours it just makes it a teaser for anyone like myself who hasn't seen it in the flesh. But I Know where I am be coming now for hints and tips

Not been, there and well unless he there is on my next visit to London I may never get to, But if he is and since he stocks N gauge will be worth a visit a bit chaotic maybe but that's the kind of place you find something really special even if it wasn't on your wish list

Kevin, It was the new method of leaving Crewe works after exams. I'm by rail then pushed down the embankment back onto the mainline!!!

Paul, Sadly confusion is saying the same thing 4 times like you have! It is bullying the sale you give no one else a chance to respond, hence why other sites are taking the added time on to it. Someone may not put higher price on due to people that vindictively run the price up which again is a know tactic on Ebay, so by doing it on multiple items via a program is effectively cornering the market and bullying it people have to play YOUR way or its tough to them which by definition is a type of bullying. Owe just one to note Paul I am fully aware ballistic properties have nothing to do with online sniping but "you don't understand" becomes condescending when I have said I am fully aware or how it works and rather insulting

Hi Colin, I don't mind sniping if its a person doing it on a item, but when people are using them sniping programs and effectively bullying anyone out of the market then I think it should be restricted that kind of activity only harms all parties but the sniper in the long run! Paul, I am totally aware of how sniping works and like I have said one an item ok but the use of programs and excessive sniping, no that's wrong especially when people use it so that they can resell the item days later, but if you are unsure I get it I can teach you the ballistic properties of various projectiles we use in the army my maths degree does help with that!

Ok the flying Scotsman has a "peppermint finish"!! WOW just WOW, I am sure if the guys at NRM had in it peppermint finish in any way shape of form well P45 would be with them before they got their coat!

Ian, I totally agree with your points in principle and for those that think I am moaning about sniping full stop, if say Ian snipes me at 5, 2 what ever seconds I would never have a problem with that he is physically there and if he did it on a few items then so be it. But for people that are constantly using sniping software to push every one out that's my personal gripe I know others will disagree with that and say it's there choice to do it and I should bid higher. But then on the flip side there are shop that sell second hand items at well in some cases less than 10% cheaper than the new thing which has been others gripe on here that there is to many shops and they can get away with charging that amount as it is damn near impossible to buy it off Joe 90 directly as you just get sniped out on a persons say 3rd option in there snipe program list. I know people disagree and I respect them opinions and what people say and sniping is a fact of life in the online auction world but like anything surely there has to be a limit on how much a person should be able to do it, fine do it on a single item at a time that's life you win some you lose some but using a program to do it over multiple items that that strikes me personally as wrong!

:blum:No doubt Mick at that normal now days. I just go on there for the rare item I can't get and may be on there and well if there is something that's not as expensive in the shop (rare these days true) that I do want!

Ok Horsetan I'm not saying I have any kind of right to a purchase at all, far from it I fully go but an open market place! Nor do I think it is going to be cheaper time after time for things just because it is on Ebay, I myself have paid more than what something was in the shops in the past fro things you can't get in the shops, so I do understand the logical of it, I am not blinkered with it. As you say you sometimes wait till the dying seconds if you want something the key work been (SOMETIMES) my issue is with people who use snipe programs and are at it all the time using it to excess and to rig is so that no one gets a chance to counter the offer, if I had a chance to make better offers still I would there are some items which while I would have stilled paid extra mainly due to rarity on my original bid I would again have raised it. Call me old school or what you will but if you wanted something bad enough you wouldn't use a snipe program time after time after time, and have that is first choice then a number of unwanted fall backs which pushes others out of the market. You would make a good offer on the one item and if a genuine offer beats you then fair that's life and ok the occasional got to have it snipe, but repeatedly doing it daily that just sours it for the buyers as they don't get what they want and in a number of cases included one that I have been the unlucky sod of this morning they use the snipe program to get it cheap by hitting last second for a lower priced product and then a few days later its back on at a distinctly higher price, which call me dramatic is you want it is effectively rigging the field so to speak, so the people who were selling the item don't see the profit it may be able to make either as someone else takes for themselves.

Smiffy and Keith, your are both right, on the same time Smiffy as I have now quickly educated myself by reading some of the ins and out of one of the websites for a number of the sniping programs you can select x amount of items at certain time splits and prioritize them but you will put in the max you are prepared to pay for the item you are mainly after but that max will follow through to the next item so you could have bid on say Dapol 3 coach plus DVT Prentendolino set and put max at 110 notes, loss that but your next item is DRS 57 it's second hand so no one is going to pay 110 notes, but the other bidding will be sniped in the dying seconds for your second, third, tenth choice. Granted the other bidders should have put more in possibly but if that's how your snipe program works then it is unfair on other who put in reasonable limits, I have almost been stung when I was looking for an item to ensure it I put a higher max bid to deter manual snipes but a program did it and the person who did the sniping program got stung rather than me, but that deters me from putting in a high bid as I only go for items I really can't get hold of and want and am sure I am not the only one! This does have the say effect on others so the sellers are losing out as other buyers will be less likely to put in better bids as the chances are there is a sniper out there watching and waiting! Which comes back to Keith's point it keeps the prices lower as people can't be bothered due to sniping and are less willing to put a better offer in and in some cases don't get a chance to. Sadly off the top of my head I cannot remember the sites but there is one in the US and one in NZ that do the time extension idea, and the US will add on an unfixed amount of time if a late bid comes in and the NZ one the seller can select the amount of time. In the US one it does state this is to deter Serial sniping and use of programs to keep a FAIRER market place, and the site is growing bigger than Ebay now as a result.

Paul, Believe me I know the days of buys dirt cheap are well gone and to be honest not sadly end of the day I do sell in there. The reason you can tell is the symmetry of it is always 5 or 2 seconds and with the internet at home and home computer the lag alone makes it hard to do it a few times let alone a large number due to technology factors, where the snipe programs are able to work at that speak constantly. I am not bemoaning sniping as an reality it is there and will stay fact but to allow openness to the Ebay market and to encourage more buyers do you not think there should be some kind of limit of sniping? I know some auction sites have a option for the seller, which if there is a bid placed within the last x seconds the time is extended by x amount to allow counted bids to come in, this then benefits the seller as lets face it if you want it you ARE going to bid within reason and benefits an open market. if you look at it from another perspective if you have a snipe program and are using it excessively you are in some respects rigging the auction. Please not in all of this I am not saying sniping as a rule should be banned as has been said its an open market and well S@@@ happens but EXCESSIVE sniping people who are doing it day in day out.

Easy ways to tell if a sniping program has been used you can actually check for the bidders last bid on all the items they have gone for, up to the 6 month mark if you really wanted to and all winning bids at either 5 or 2 seconds with the ones winning at 2 seconds having not won at 5. Having seen one of the snipe programs that's how they generally operate within the last 5 and 2 seconds, the bid is made and if unsuccessful move to the next item down. I to sell on Ebay and yeah we all want the best price of the goods and model railways are always popular, I am not saying complete across the board no to sniping I mean I have done it and with good reason. Benn a member of the forces I spotted a piece of my regiements history (a corporals cane) been sold and well there was a number of dealers chasing it the only way I was ever going to get that was to snipe, to keep a piece of my regiments history within the regiment. But there surely is an excess to it, like people have said about companies using it to sell on, it throws the concept out of the window, people who continually snipe and use the program to excess (please note not saying doing it as a rule is wrong, but to excess) are in fact only limiting the market! I have only just started to get back into my N gauge layout after a work enforced house move, but since I have been back on Ebay numerous times I have been sniped at times by people who have really wanted the item just like me and fair play, but surely when someone is using a snipe program in one case 37 times in a month that's purely taking the biscuit, and will effect the honest buyer who wants that specific item instead of a person who's interest is passing if they lose on the other x amount of items. Then in the long run as more people are put off due to the excessive activity of some sniping bidders. With the amount of sniping done by the excessive individuals it makes me thing it was safer in Basra from these snipers!

Right yeah it's an auction I understand that, but do you think it unfair that within a month you may win say 7 items using it? Would you not say that is excessive? Would it not be fair to limit the sniping? To allow others to bid without been push out by peoples sniping programs which as you have said occasionally win. Surely this defeats the object of Ebay which is for people to sell unwanted stuff and for people to buy something they want at a cheaper price than high street? With the massive use of sniping and programs it runs the price up unfairly, all because someone wants to win one of the numerous items they have put on the snipe of which they may only get 1. That would be like some one reserving half the items in Argos because they want one! Which happens to be one of the many items you actually do want, and not just a passing interest as a back up to the items they ideally do want!

Ok post has been up 15 minutes and 2 people disagree, be interesting to see why?

I hate stiff like that sniping program, if someone can't be bothered bidding in person the get lost and go some where else, granted it happens from time to time people will snipe last minute it happens, but now there is so much sniping. Was just bidding on a EWS class 73 and was sniped by some ass who when looking at his last bids has done it for the last 15 items he got! I think Ebay should clean up its act and stop letting it happen and have like a snipe limit per month so ok you can do it like 3 times in a month then it is fairer on everyone, not just some ass who comes on and snipes at everything, the annoying thing is this bloke is sniping and then selling then saying amazing value and making up some story to sell them! OK guessing this has upset some people, I just don't agree with the Excess sniping routine!

Hi Matt, Just a quick one do you still have any rolling stock / locos left that you are wishing to part with? Gareth

Hi Dave, First of all well done on your first year anniversary, good to see you doing well and models coming to the market now Earlier in the threat you mentioned about AC locos and units and you saying that you didn't think they wouldn't come far, been an a N gauge modeller and with the hopeful Kick start on the forum looking at getting underway regarding the Pendolino, do you thing this will spark more interest from both customers and the manufactures to start creating and working more on the AC side of life to bring out more and better models in regards to Electrics and the OHLE? While I totally appreciate the economics of it all and lets face it not every class will every be made into a model, do you think it will make people especially in the manufacturing side look more seriously if people are using kick starts to bring in these models? I ask as I appreciate a lot of people still do steam and well remember steam on the mainline everyday but as time goes on there will be people like myself who only ever see steam on specials and preserved railways and are looking for models from when we were kids (well still a big kid in my case) and the norm was the likes of Regional railways 37s on the North Wales holiday trains and 304s doing the local runs between Altrincham and Crewe all passing through Manchester Piccadilly. (Can you tell I was an 80s child?)

if Yodel lost the parcel then they will pay for it neither you or Hattons will. As Hattons paid Yodel then it should and most likely will be them chasing Yodel about where the parcel has gone and paying for the replacement model.