johnarcher

Well, I won't miss the "rich man in his castle and the poor man at the gate", coming with the assertion that that's how some god made them so the poor man should damn well know his place. I found that grotesque when I was supposed to sing it at school 50 years ago.

True. It makes me feel old with all this talk of Grandfathers and so on, but my Father was in the Coldstream Guards on the Western front from 1914-18. He died when I was only 8 (1958) so he never really told me about it, but once or twice I heard him talk a bit to other adults (for one thing about men drowning in the mud at Passchendaele, I recall) and ever since I have found films etc about WW1 harder to take than any other war films. I was told that in the end he died due to long-term effects of gas from the war.

How does it run on DC? I mean those that run badly on DCC.

I have sympathy for your friend. I've never gone for (or been able to afford) the stuff the reviewers really enthused over, but enjoyed good sound from my Thorens/SME/Shure V15 combination in the late '70's up to Arcam cd amd amps more recently. Until the tinnitus struck, I hardly listen at all now.

Especially when they seem to have some new ones reduced to under £80 (though without sound I suppose). That's almost low enough to think about one to go on a decent chassis - though I am deterred by the extensive internal excavations apparently required.

I agree, I don't have your IT knowledge (though I was a programmer back in mainframe days), so I can see Phil's position. A few years ago I was making and selling things, sales partly via Ebay and partly via a very simple website (thanks to my software engineer stepson) which was hardly more complex than the pdf idea - just pictures and brief description, and details to make contact and order by email, payment via paypal - which worked OK, and made few demands on my limited IT understanding.

Perhaps God sat him there?

You're a brave man to say 'sat' rather than 'sitting' in this thread, Tony must be asleep or in a very tolerant mood.

I would also mention the 'Railway Mysteries' by Victor Whitechurch, featuring a distinctly eccentric amateur railway detective called Thorpe Hazell. There's just one volume of short stories I think, but they are interesting as they were written at the time depicted (pre WW1 I think, anyway the writer died in 1933 so not much later).

Thanks for the information, a pity though. It's odd but for so popular a prototype if one wants a good-looking mechanically sound 4mm model (especially P4 or EM) it's either buy a complete one of these and do these major excavations while binning the chassis (expensive and possibly risky), or it's back to a decent kit chassis and trying to improve the other RTR body or an eBay K's one, or hope someone one day re-introduces the Perseverance kit.

Thanks, in case it is ever possible to get hold of non-runners, it would be interesting to know how much excavation is needed inside the body. (Are explosives involved?)

I've had similar thoughts, it seems to me to clarify things a bit if I think things like - what layouts in magazines or at shows have really stuck in my memory (they must have something that fascinates me), or which prototype would I like to have seen, (or, I suppose, do I like to see for the more contemporary inclined) ?

If you should ask them and find out it is possible please let us know, that would be a good idea.

Let's have some of the good ones, please.

Hello Tony. BY the higher visual quality of modelling do you mean locos and stock, or all aspects, including scenics, buildings etc? If the latter (and from my smaller experience of shows I think that may be the case) what then about the argument that more use of RTR enables more time and effort to go into other aspects of the layout? Re the latter point, I know from your comments (avidly followed of course) that you don't have much interest in small layouts of simpler prototypes, but do you feel that the compromises you mention are more acceptable on a large layout (like LB) where they are maybe not seen so closely, and the longer trains, higher speeds etc make good running more demanding?

Micro-modele? I had some things from them a couple of years ago when we lived in France. A pretty good range of tools, materials etc IIRC. Still going I think.

But probably Won't.

I just did, because it did amuse me. Whether that has anything to do with the fact that nearly all of my wife's relatives are either solicitors or engineers I can't say.

Surely there are still modellers with the necessary skills to repair or replace a chassis to appropriate standards? If there aren't wouldn't that lack say something a bit depressing about the state of this hobby?

The last sentence is no doubt true, though I'd suggest that in building a kit one can improve the appearance more easily than improving the running of a (apparently) dubious RTR chassis design. With the Perseverance kit gone maybe the best-looking 14XX would be this body on a High Level chassis - though it's a bit expensive to buy the complete RTR model and bin the chassis, whatever its faults.

That's probably true, and a good point. It relates to the 14XX quoted above; a very popular prototype, maybe an existing kit could survive but with the sad demise of Chris Parrish the Perseverance one is gone now, would another appear ever? Other popular prototype shave no kit too - Beattie well tank, and will the excellent NuCast partners bring back the 64xx along with the 16xx? There will always be those, like me, who would always prefer any half-decent kit to RTR however good, because modelling for some people is essentially about making models (which, I hasten to add, is no criticism of those who feel differently), but are there enough who feel like that to get over the problem Joseph describes. Sadly I doubt it (sadly, because I would rather like a well tank).

Thank you, I had some with fish in a restaurant not long ago. I meant to look up exactly what it is, but forgot. Now I don't need to any more. I can only say I acquired the taste very quickly - I really liked the stuff.

An update. Anyway, (thanks again for Nick's suggestion), as I said I filled in their online appeal thingy, including scans of the petrol receipt from Sainsbury's and the pay and display slip from the other car park. That went off on Sunday. To my surprise (considering the reputation of these parking companies) I got an email this morning saying the charge is cancelled. They even apologised (briefly). So if anyone else has this happen that does seem the best first step. Thanks again for all the advice, sympathy etc.

Interesting point, especially as the first time I went in I didn't actually park - just into the petrol station and out. I'll have a look though.

Yes, that is understandable. I just think that they should operate their system properly, they seem to monitor arrivals and departures, but have, in this case, missed one of each. Anyway I've now found their online appeal thing (thanks Nick), so I'll try that first, if that doesn't work on to Sainsbury's, BPA, POPLA etc.