Derekstuart

Deleted. It was more pictures of spiders. But it wasn't funny and I must remember there are a group of big girl's blouses on this thread so I deleted them.

Poor spider probably just wanted to be friends with you. It might have been sharing your house for ages and considered you a good housemate. Spider murderer.

Peter, (or anyone) Can I ask what the story of that brown and white one is please? I can see it reads South Yorkshire Transport, so presumably sponsored by S. Yorks CC. When/where/how/who etc? Was it inherited from the West Country or painted there? Also, ahem (and I realise I might be shot for this), for someone who knows little about 1st G DMUs, what class is it please? I can distinguish only 2 1st G DMUs- class 101 and NOT-101. Thanks.

I meant Blaenau. EDIT: One cannot help but be in awe of the size of that heap, towering over the 101. But after just reading the report about the Aberfan tragedy, I'm not sure there is an appropriately respectful way to describe these heaps. Sorry for ot.

Nice. Does anyone know if that big slag heap is still there behind the station or has it been levelled as so many have? As for 47s breaking down- 47s NEVER break down, they just have a well earned rest.

Thanks Mick. Of course it's not the same quality as the RTR one, but it's still not bad at all. Certainly if it were still available one could easily improve Hornby's 142 using parts from it.

What's the DCK reference? Did Charlie produce a kit before the RTR then?

Don't forget- it is more frightened of you than you are of it. (unless it really is a prehistoric 20 tonne spider in which case it probably just wants to eat you)

'ing hell. Imagine living 1,000,000 years ago when insects were much larger- imagine a 20 tonne spider eating you alive.

Yes Kelly and Andy Spiders are great, Paul. They want to be your friend- they'll even come and give you a big kiss with their fangs if they are big enough. Ask any Australian or South American. What's that hiding in your bunch of supermarket bananas, Paul?

"Hello luv, I fancy picking up some chips on the way 'ome from work." "Ooooh yes. Pick me up some as well please." "Right luv." "Hello mucker, I'd like a DCC sound chip for an EE40, one for a Brush 4 and one Sulzer sound chip for the misses." (though if you try that you might find yourself nursing a black eye whilst sleeping in the shed)

Nice 'little plank', Pete. You seem to have a knack of making these things look "real"- I think your choice of track together with your habit of putting decent, prototypical space between each road probably has a lot to do with it. Real looking 'flowing' track. Excellent. Do you mind me asking what board construction method you used in the end, following on from a conversation previously? BTW Apart from trips to Bilbao on a well known ship (normally just off ship, wait, back on again), I haven't been to Spain in 30 years. Over the winter I shall be driving down to Gibraltar right the way through Spain and seeing the real Country compared to the lager louts paradise that I last went to. If I see anything that resembles a train I will take a photo for you.

Billy Bunter is building a new DMU model. Well, that's what I read. But please don't tell anyone- I was told in strictest confidence.

Oh I hope you realise what you've done now- a huge can of worms has been opened. "psssst, don't tell anyone I said so but I heard from a reliable source that Realtrack is making 2 car Pacers rebuilt with bogies." Dear World: It was SRMan who started it all....

THIS SPACE TO LET IF you would like to rent this space to write a comment and then think better of it, try to delete it and find you can't, then please feel free to PM me.

Although he has already written that he has sold out of 143/144s. Never mind, the problems with the Hornby 142 aren't anything that cannot be fixed... with time, patience, lots of £££ and a big space in the round to it shelf.

Charlie, after you taking the time to answer several questions on other threads and explaining the scale of what you are working on, I have really developed quite a high level of respect for you. (Is this an example of Charlie's well known incredibly dry sense of humour or does he really not realise I was joking?- Charlie, I'm sorry I really am. You are too busy to be asked to respond to what laughingly passes as my sense of humour- after all you are working on your new DMU- remind me again what class it is please...)

Whether an official consideration or mess room discussions I cannot say but I was told by a BR engineer who was assessing a 14X on the Esk Valley that BR had been considering re-building them as you describe with 3 bogies or with a bogie in the middle and the standard axles at the outer (whether practical given their drive on the inner axle I cannot say)

That's been done with the Hornby 142. To chop a £40 ebay 'toy train' is one thing- to chop a Realtrack model costing considerably more, well that takes some nerve.

Here you go Charlie A 4 car 143 with the two middle cars each fitted with a cab so that it can be split into two halves of 2 cars each. Apparently they have also made a six car version, but I've never seen it.

How about the four car version? They weren't seen that much but did exist. The two middle cars each had a cab at one end and the four car unit could be split to work as 2 * half sets. Clever stuff really.

Well then a few thoughts if I may- and this is without any knowledge of what is or is not happening with DCK, what stock or tools was damaged, whether £6k is to re-run all present kits or each product, whether a factory would do just one kit on its own or whether you would still need a minimum of £6k just for the one product. 1a. Those interested get the cash together to ask Charles to buy the tools/rights (as discussed) 1b. Or just ask Charles to sell the whole lot of stock he has left. He might be more interested in selling the whole lot even if he cannot be bothered to sell them individually. 2. As much as I like the DCK 105, realities are that with an RTR version sales will be limited- not viable and the same applies to others (except the 205 as it has a centre coach option...) 3. The amount of times I have seen reference to the Swindon 120 unit on RMW- I'm sure that kit would have a fair few advance orders, but whether it is enough I don't know. I cannot speak for his greatness, but I suspect any attempt to persuade him to re-start it with advance orders would be a waste of time (as Scottish Modeller indicates above). Best bet is ***IF*** there are enough people then either asking to buy the whole stock outright (Charles is a business man after all) or buy the tools/ rights or both.

Phil, I think you may not have read what I wrote fully. I suggested that if there are enough people who want the kits- go to Charles and ask him if he will sell all the tools, moulds and the design rights to the kits. This is not a recommendation to anyone or an offer to start any balls rolling, just an observation that if enough people do feel strongly about it they can always ask him. He might say yes, he might say no, he might promise to get back to you in a few weeks (in which case pencil in your diary to remind him) or him might just stand and scowl at you for wasting his time. Who knows.

There does seem to be a reasonable demand for DC Kits, more so than Charles realises. I can sympathise with that as in fairness to him the kits were very well designed. If people really want a return of DCK then those people could always get together and wave a wad of notes under Charles nose and see if he will sell the tooling and production rights.

Give in to temptation. Temptation is your friend. You know it is the right thing to do. You deserve it. Treat yourself. Ignore all the other voices in your head. They just want to make you boring. Remember- only temptation likes you, nothing else.