Floreat Industria

Rails Facebook stated they would be in stock this week, so I'm looking forward to mine. I'm surprised they are still available to order if there are only 150 of them.

Hattons now have photographs of the decorated J72s in their news section. I don't think I could live with the coupling rods of the LNER version. The NER green looks lovely, if fictional. I will be sorely tempted to buy one, although knowing that only one side was lined on the grey undercoat for the official photograph will spoil it somewhat. The old model of LNER green 581 was, I believe, in the same category.

Replacement loco arrived today, so all's well that ends well! I repeat, what a beautiful model!

I'm looking forward to the TPE class 68. Only three different bodyshells would be needed to make a complete Mk 5A train to go with it. Here are three photos from the last couple of weeks. 68019 on a ballast train and 68020 testing train TP01.

My original loco was picked up by APC on Monday and I had an e-mail from them to say it had arrived at Locomotion on Tuesday. However, Lukas told me last Friday that the replacement would be sent on Monday and there has been no sign of it!

Here are a couple of photos of 68019 "Brutus" on the Mountsorrel to Crewe ballast at Alrewas Level Crossing. 8 March 2016 and 30 August 2018. Two different sides, two different liveries.

Tom has fixed up my return and replacement and I had a phone call from Locomotion yesterday. It's all in the hands of the carrier now so I am crossing my fingers!

When we got married, 43 years ago, my wife saw some LGB and asked me if I would like a line in the garden as she is a keen gardener. Well, as you can imagine I said yes and was hooked and spent thousands over the years. She never asked how much it cost although I have a fair inkling she had a good idea that it wasn't cheap. It eventually had to go as I could no longer bend down very well. Fortunately I am shot down if I try to tell her how much anything costs as she says talking about the price of a thing is not the mark of a gentleman! She saw an expensive painting she liked and I managed to tell her to get it without wincing as it was our ruby wedding around the time. Apart from that she only buys plants so I buy any locos I like the look of, to run or not (the trio of O gauge Terriers are definitely nots) but there is always a certain amount of guilt involved. Brass locos from eBay can often be delivered to Argos, so that helps! I always say that the value is still there, unlike spending it on drink etc. and that goes down well. She doesn't know a Thomas the Tank Engine from a Martin Finney but seems to like anything with a brass dome or a copper capped chimney. To get back to the thread, the Stirling Single has remained in its box awaiting eventual collection and I am quite sure she will like it on purely aesthetic grounds when its replacement arrives as she liked the original at Quorn back in the 1980s. I've got a feeling she thinks they all cost about the same!

They must be nearly finished. I only ordered my V1 on 1 August and it was posted today!

You personally have been friendly and helpful and I have been very pleased. Locomotion, however are totally out of their depth and seem to be using an incompetent carrier to boot. There is little to do but wait. For returns, it would be better to have a Royal Mail label sent and then at least you would have a receipt and could send it back at a time to suit yourself and not wait for a carrier who may or may not come. If it does come to that I suggest taking a photograph of the handover as proof that it has gone back if the carrier does not give receipts and recording the registration of the van. I am having to look after my wife who is in the early stages of dementia and having had one heart attack I was advised to keep as calm as possible and I find modelling is a good way of doing that so I have no wish to get worked up about the much looked forward to Stirling. I don't blame the staff at Locomotion, who seem to have been well and truly dropped in it. I assume the carrier was the cheapest but it won't work out to be in the end, surely. Someone must be masterminding all this, however, and a statement that they have learned from their mistakes and that it won't be allowed to happen again would be much appreciated. My experience of the telephone has been one of recorded messages so some have been luckier than me. E-mails can only be answered if they have time. When I was working I tried to answer them all immediately as there is nothing worse than having a backlog when you have other important things to do. Unlike letters, people expect a prompt reply. It is all a matter of staff levels. If Locomotion is run on a shoestring they are in no position to take on a large volume operation unless it can more-or-less run itself efficiently. The staff would then have time to attend to returns/problems. Their website is not kept properly up-to-date (essential) and their ordering/dispatch system needs to be accessible by the customer who then can at least see what is going on. That's my thoughts on the subject, anyway.

That's just how I feel. I am waiting for a replacement for the one delivered on 1 August with the bodged paint touch-up on the tender. Rapido Repairs gave me a slightly wrong e-mail address and thet's why my messages didn't get to them. They now tell me they have contacted Locomotion to get a new one to me and get the original collected but I'm not holding my breath. An e-mail to Locomotion has been well over the 5 days reply they quote without an answer and as for the telephone, forget it! I presume I will get one eventually but I don't like the sound of the returns one bit. If this was the real world of commerce I would be livid. I certainly won't order anything from Locomotion again. Thank goodness the Dynamometer Car and O gauge Boxhill are from Rails. I am trying not to think about it by working on four GWR outside frame 4-4-0s!

I'm still waiting to hear from Rapido Repairs and/or Locomotion re return and replacement of my loco with the tender with the botched paint touch-up (post no. 1692). After initial good news (post 1719) complete e-mail silence from both after sending several chasers. Half a month from delivery and my loco is still sitting in its box!

Well, my loco was delivered this morning. The name on the parcel was Johnson, whoever that is. Unfortunately, there were no instructions in the box and the tender lining had a crude bit of repainting so it will have to go back. It certainly is a lovely loco. What a shame there has been such a muddle with the deliveries to overshadow it.

APC sent me an e-mail on Friday saying that my delivery would be today with the delivery deadline set for 16.00. No sign yet! If the consignment number quoted is the same as the tracking number the tracking system doesn't work. I did get my paperwork and chains, however. The new chains needed two pairs of fine pliers to undo a link so they won't be falling apart! One of my chains had a hook at both ends. All I need now is the loco.

I found my message in my junk folder!

This photo, from Haribu's excellent site, shows the end of coach 57705 from set 5705 on delivery. The coaches seem to be bolted together within the set and the connections are only at one side:- http://www.haribu.ch/coppermine/displayimage.php?album=lastup&cat=0&pos=1174 Checking the Filisur webcam most days, all kinds of stock is turning up attached at the St Moritz end. You can look back at previous days/months/years.

If anyone is going to the Albula this summer, the graphic timetable is here:- (the whole of Switzerland is on this site) http://www.fahrplanfelder.ch/fileadmin/fap_pdf_graphic_tt/2018/GRhB5.pdf and the loco workings here:- https://www.rhb.ch/fileadmin/user_upload/redaktion/Ueber_die_RhB/Unternehmen/Dokumente/Lokdienste/Lokdienste_Sommer_Samstag.pdf I can only find Saturday at the moment. They all used to be there but evidently since June they are only available to club members - CHF 89 a year!

My "Peggy" has just been delivered. What a super little loco. Etched name and worksplates are in a packet. Slow speed running is excellent and the motion is fun to watch. Even my wife likes it!

I've got one of the Bulleid diesels and can thoroughly recommend it. I remember seeing the "Turf Burner" at Inchicore in my teens and the J15s at Waterford. I don't suppose anyone will make a model of the TB in my lifetime but then it wasn't exactly pretty. I got a book signed by Bulleid in aid of preservation of one of his locos back in the '60s. What a character - a convert to Catholicism buried in Malta! I'm now awaiting "Peggy" (imminent), Stirling Single, J15, N7 and "Boxhill" but the Stirling is something very special indeed. Cheers, Patrick.

My favourite is certainly "Peggy". I can't wait for mine to arrive. I've made a little layout and a coach kit and one of the weathered wagons is waiting. Out of interest, the locos were named after children of General Jackson, director then Chairman and Managing Director of the Clay Cross Company. "Peggy" (real names Margaret Beatrice Meinertzhagen Jackson) was his eldest daughter and "Hummy" (real names Henry Humphrey Jackson) was his second son.

I was really just commenting on the "Irish Scale Modeller" bar at the bottom of the post. The years waiting for the Stirling Single seemed to go quicker than the last few weeks but then it doesn't seem so long since I was riding behind the prototype on the GCR!

You don't mean you're going to miss OO Works Great Southern and Western 0-6-0, do you? There aren't many like IT! The tender springs alone make it unmissable for me.

I've just had an email from Locomotion asking for the balance. I've already paid it but the locos must be getting close.

... and both Southern versions on eBay today if anyone has missed them.

I've just picked up the print copy and there is one error. The prices quoted are the balance prices and don't take into account the £50 deposit.