Clearwater

Found this floating around our bath tonight! Not quite sure what exactly what species this one is but IKB clearly was a man of many talents. A quality bit of merchandise David

Given their wagon releases, something LNER would make some sense.. David

Many thanks Tony but I think you're being generous about my soldering ability! I look forward to putting what you've taught me into practice and abusing your readers sensibilities with my creations! David

That last shot is reminiscent of blenkinsop's plate 57 in 'echoes of the great western.' I suspect you've seen that shot? Shows Chepstow castle on the Royal Duchy on 28/8/57 David

No idea if relevant to you and short notice I appreciate, but I thought I'd alert you to a programme on "Yesterday" channel at 10pm tonight called "Indian Mountain Railways" or something like that. I won't be watching. Mrs Clearwater is not convinced it is essential viewing... David

Equally off topic but relevant to the bristolian pack, are they going to remember the double red symbols this time? - I guess we know the answer... David

Rob A shot through the station yard with a train in the background. Cheers David

A good selection of books though!

Shock news! Someone has complained to the BBFC about The Railway Children! http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-23270980

The way loan documents usually work is that they test covenants at specific dates. There are only two outcomes at the point. Either you are within your covenants or you are not. If you are not, you are in breach. Unless the bank waives the breach, the loan will default. However, merely because you pass the covenant at any given testing date, it would never absolve you of the need to pass the test in the future. The drafting will be along the lines of "the borrower covenants that at each testing date, the ratio of X:y will be less than / more than (as appropriate) suitable level." What we do not know from Hornby's brief statement, is what they have had to agree in order for the breach to be waived. They could have had to agree to give the bank a new, mutually acceptable business plan by a given date, find new investors, execute asset sales, enhance information sharing etc. It is not "out of the woods" but nor is it "we see no way out from this." If the latter, the bank would enforce and seek to get back what they can. We'll see what they say inJune they announce their annual results. David

The hotel and the building to its right have fared pretty well though

Despite falling asleep on the tube home from didcot, my son still came running in at 720am BST... We won't be changing his time for a few days yet...

Hi Gilbert For the Ely-Birmingham service, did the B17 run through to Birmingham or was it taken off before? Thanks David

Nice post for the big 10k! Congrats David

A couple of years ago my father died and I had the sad task of sorting out his model railway. Most of his stuff was rtr in origin, one or two wrenn items that have some value and a few kit built locos, by others not him although he had a few part built kits (some of his kit built locos were purchased at modellers Mecca - I wonder if any were built by Tony? There's one GWR ex-rod that runs very well...). Sadly when he died, his railway had been neglected for a while and some of the stock was not in good condition - broken off chimneys, bent coupling rods, water damage etc. I'm not sure what had happened in his shed but it was pretty sad to clear up and box up the items. I've not yet finished as I have some storage issues in my house to resolve! Most of his stock has minimal intrinsic value yet for obvious reasons, I've not sold or disposed of any of it. I'm sure like most here my father would not have wanted the stock sold for buttons or, worse, skipped. If that's the case, it makes sense to catalogue / explain to your executors what items are in advance of the inevitability. Particularly if there are specific items that do have value or you'd like to go to particular people. Whilst like everyone on here, I enjoy a good bargain, sometimes when I've brought a second hand out of print railway book, I do wonder about its previous owner... David

Shall look forward to viewing progress on Saturday as the boy and I travel to Didcot for the gala weekend!

So long as rob doesn't object - couple of pics of hungerford. I have one or two other slightly blurrier ones including of the French compound they have and some of the coaches but I don't think are good enough to post. Lovely layout. David

@crichel down Whilst the thread has, in true rmweb style wandered at times, the position of Honrby's finances and the likely bank reactions debated (many pages back). Main comment is that with their limited financial disclosures, none of us really know what is profitable, where their problems really are and the status of the loan docs will depend on the specific provisions which, as is common, will be confidential to the bank and borrower. We do get a feel on some issues from our own experiences, both professionally when facing similar situations and personally as Hornby consumers, and those of experienced retailers such as trains4u. One thing I would just add, having worked in corporate finance for many years, is to state the obvious. Hornby is a listed company. Any disclosure they make about their position with their bank is highly price sensitive information. They will, and their broker will be telling them, have a clear communication plan in place about when and how they update the market on their numbers and negotiations with Barclays. They have previously made a specific statement (available earlier and via the investor relations link on the bottom of their website) about their covenant position. I'd expect them to update the market as soon as practical after their year end and when they have a settled position with Barclays. In terms of liqudation, I'd see that as an absolute last resort for the lender. They'll only do that if there is no business plan that sees them repaid and Hornby operating as a viable concern. At the risk of repeating myself and others, we do not know if that viable Hornby includes uk outline trains as we do not know if they are a profitable line David

There's some on the main ally pally thread. I have a few but I need to make them smaller which I can do tonight (I find it easier to upload from the iPad where photo stream automatically reduces file size from my iPhone which I used to take them). David

I agree with the comments about the differences between the stands when I visited earlier. I quite liked the lounge. Having seen how Bachmann set up previously, I suspect that what is used as the lounge was previously dead space (or used for retail storage). They gave us a bottle of water and were kind to my son, who was a bit tired at that point. Made a nice break from the outside. Plus got a good look at the thonpson EPs which are closely coupled and look superb. The Hornby stall is, by contrast smaller (and probably cheaper). It does look tired. Biggest difference to me is in the staffing. The Bachmann staff all wear easy to read name tags and, when i went through, was manned by the previous and current MD. in contrast, H staff, whilst knowledgeable didn't have name tags and I doubt were as senior as the Bachmann staff I had a quick conversation with one of the Hornby guys which was quite high level however seemed to suggest that we shouldn't expect much new stuff in 2017 given timeframes on tooling. My personal view is as follows - items announced and in tooling such as q6 (samples on stand) and b12 (earlier stage samples) will appear roughly as scheduled. On a marginal cost to complete basis, the projected return must look strong and with money already spent, substantially deriske - announced but earlier stage - eg MN. Sample was still the 3D print but not that prominently displayed. Suspect will be delayed - 2017. Catalogue based largely on reliveries of existing tools. Big emphasis of maximising profitable lines rather than introducing new stuff. - some reliveries trumpeted a la Gresley collection to get a premium - some promise of 'jam' tomorrow David Edit: as an aside I've never been that impressed with BA's champagne...

The town scene on Hungerford is superb. The blending of the back scene and perspective is spot on. Excellent stock goes without saying especially the carriages Ally Pally had it next to one of the big g scale dcc type layouts. Worked very well as my son liked the all action large scale whilst I could admire Hungerford and tell him when to look David

Submitted Bulldog as request in Bachmann box (btw, the members lounge is a nice touch. Submitted maroon collets and Saint on Honrby stand. I asked about a saint. Body language of the guy said under consideration but didn't actually say that. Talked instead about time frames for new toolings. I reckon 2018 Btw, Hungerford is an excellent layout at every level David

We're off to Ally Pally tomorrow. If I get chance, hopefully if I, or my son, ask the question in a saintly manor, we will get a response! If we do, I guess we'll be stars! Junior was quite taken with the straight running plates of the Saint in the Earley book David

Post waiting for me when I got home. Thanks to the miracle of the Internet, amazons reach to second hand book sellers and the generousity of people's tips David

The refinancing I referred to was in 2006, three years after it opened