Michael Hodgson

I have just come across these kits, HO scale models of Early Japanese signals, very similar to our own very early slotted post "Station signals" of around the 1850s. The arms even point the right way because Japan has left hand running, perhaps thanks to British involvement in their first lines. Could certainly pass for British, with their operating lever at the base of the post, spectacle plates half way up the post and a lamp hoist. Can be pre-ordered, for release next month, so it's only to be expected that there no reviews as yet, and there's also a limit of 12 per household. The price is worryingly cheap at less than £8 for the double arm style or about £6 for the single arm version. It probably costs more in P&P! What's the catch? The material is described as "paper", which doesn't sound strong enough to stand upright even protected in a glass display case. I don't know if that's possibly an iffy translation for cardboard? Even if that's the case it still sounds too weak. Perhaps they might be strong enough for a static diorama though, or they might conceivably be of some use as an aid to building something stronger. I've only ever ordered one item from Hobbysearch, and that took 3 months to come, probably fair enough as it was at surface mail rates. https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/11082899 https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/11082896

But he is a private seller, or at least he purports to be - which maybe means he doesnt plan on declaring his profit to the Revenue. They probably included that caveat in the regs because they didn't like the idea of Joe Public replacing 13A plugs on old appliances he was flogging at a car boot sale or on Ebay.

What's a cat gotta do to get some kip around here ? You let sleeping dogs lie ....

Zebedee takes a bath every year, whether he needs one or not ....

Macavity doing his impression of a dead bluebottle

Price TBA ?

When I was a lad a story like "Horse bolted in the High Street, stopped by Constable Jones" would be lucky to make it to the local rag. Handling horses has always had its hazards. Horses had enough sense to stop short of conventional heavy wooden level crossing gates, but I can't help wondering what would happen if they encountered a modern full barrier crossing.

This was true in most industries producing things to sell to the general public. Business did not generally work to Just-in-Time delivery. Manufacturers would produce goods which they would sell to wholesalers who bought in bulk and broke down into smaller batches for selling on to retailers. They also held stock so that retailers would know they could re-order as necessary to replenish their stocks. When model manufacturing was UK based, they would produce a batch of items, then put that tooling back into store and start a batch of something else. The assorted categories of office staff were needed to deal with retailers or wholesalers and work out what to produce next. In the case of model railways it is not unusual for an item to be in the caatalogue, but your local retailer wouldn't have it. In practice, unless you went to another town who did still hold one, it was probably still available on back order perhaps a few months later when the factory realised there was demand. Most products ran for several years, rather than the current buy it now or miss out.

This never used to be a problem. OK, so the range and the standards weren't what they are today, but a train set would consist of Flying Scotsman and a couple of carriages in a livery from the same era to match the loco - or the goods train equivalent. And it you wanted a longer train, the coaches were also available separately.

So a tallow candle is a lamp, not a light and ships have navigation lamps not navigation lights. And if the foghorn isn't sounding they should be able to see the lamphouse.

Heljan & Accurascale are the same as any other companies - in business to make a profit. It's not a question of do we need another Peak. It's a question if they produce this model, will it sell in sufficient quantity to make an acceptable return on their investment. In the case of the Deltics, that model was so far ahead of what the competition had produced, it must have reinforced their reputation for quality and acccuracy, setting modellers expectations which will make it easier to sell us future products. If Bachmann had a decent model of a Manor and there was demand in the market for an upgraded version, missng such an opportunity would just mean they either didn't have the appropriate resources free at the time or perhaps were simply asleep at the wheel. Perhaps they judged that some alternative project that they did pursue instead would give them a better return.

This is what you've been looking for ... https://store.enolagaye.com/p/eg18-high-output-smoke-grenades/ Just the way to respond to all those irritating whistling and chuffing noises coming from the next stand at your local model railway exhibition ! Also means you don't need worrying about not having done your rivet counting, as the punters won't notice.

As i understand it the rules are also different as between the likes of Hornby producing batches of them for sale, and an indivdual producing a on-off scratch-built example for his own use.

I believe the original use of the term Jellicoe was strictly the coal trains supplying the fleet in WW1, and named after the Admiral. But the term seems to have entered general usage and was also applied fairly widely to troop trains (not necessarily naval personnel) to Thurso for the fleet at Scapa Flow. Similar services also ran during WW2 as my father talked about being sent on one of the Jellicoes to get to various airfields along the Moray coast, presumably changing at Inverness.

Of course the English could pronounce it. They even made a film there

They'd have made less of an impression if you stood clear!

That's not what most railway modellers do!

An admission of guilt on the part of the bridge? "I'd like 30 similar offences taken into consideration yeronner."

Cutting your losses is always a difficult decision. Unfortunately many "entrepreneurs" seem to prefer your alternative

We're not in a position to know which brand(s) are affected. It could be any if them. Or it could be a case of systematically applying a poor corporate approach across all of them.

This appears on another thread.... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/335356510561 Of course it would take more than 30 class 86s to get the stock figures down, but it may be an indication of the sort of thing that's needed. This though is more likely to be a retailer who's in the same boat on a much smaller scale.

If retailers won't take something, it's not their fault. The blame remains with the guy who ordered production of the goods in the first place. Harry Truman got it right ...

If it's 30-years old stock that's not saleable, it shouldn't be in the stock figure at all. If they have a mountain of stock they can't sell, their current assets are overstated, and if their auditors are doing their job properly they would have looked closely at the valuation. Holding useless stock cost you money in warehousing and insurance. If you really are storing a lot of junk, a fire sale may well be a good idea even though the proceeds won't be enormous. If they have to borrow funds to produce new stock that hopefully will sell, their bankers will look closely at the balance sheet, and bankers just don't make unsecured loans to companies whose stock-in-trade they consider to be excessive. What constitutes excessive varies over time, and according to general levels of inflation and its associated interest rates. High interest rates make it even more important to achieve a high gross profit margin in order to make investments worthwhile. What is considered an excessive level of stock also varies by industry, but comparison with competing firms can often act as a good indicator to those who putting up finance.

Let's not get into what the Welsh get up to with sheep!

It was my understanding that the bridge was stationary at the time of the collisiion.