Sir TophamHatt

Find their "contact us" and look near the bottom. Choose the "hard of hearing?" link and it'll give you a form to fill in instead.

Well, time for a new TV. Have looked and chosen a Sony OLED as I wanted something really different to my current set, so another LCD (some people call them LEDs - they're not :P) simply wouldn't have cut the mustard. Boiling in the office today. Maybe I should sit here shirtless... then again, maybe not!

I managed to put in a Zimo or Lenz on my Bachmann Pannier. Can't remember which but I think it was a squeeze. BUT if it's the last chip you plan to put in, route the wires nicely and hope for the best.

Another day at work. Last one this week. Then I have four days next week, then one day the week after and only then will I finally reach my first bit of annual leave for this year. Having a little holiday near Lancaster, which means we'll be visiting Blackpool and Morecambe for the first time. Should be a nice little break I think. Anyone else planned any holidays this year? To be fair, covid hasn't really affected us in that respect as with a 1 year old, we would never really think about abroad - more than happy with the UK.

Maybe I'll follow suit as I've had the reminder for weeks now. Can you still use PayPal? If so, there will be entirely no point in ebay having my bank details as I'll still continue to use that... maybe. I'll have to read back through the thread. Annoying though as my banking app gives me a notification every time I spend some money... :/

Well, when one storm goes, the next arrives... Master Topham Hatt has worked out how to come down the stairs, which is great. But he is also increasingly waking in the night screaming :( This last time was quite bad taking 10+ minutes to console him. Have to monitor this but there's not a lot we can do I don't think.

Wasn't this piece was it? Have heard it many times but thinking the only way to figure out what it is may be a FOI request :/ Even emailed a very well renown music producer who has no idea

They've updated the mechanism since 2017 then...

What are the model numbers of the decoders? Generally setting CV8 to 8 will reset them but some decoders are different. If this is a sound decoder, DO NOT PROCEED WITH THIS, but I guess it isn't. Do just one loco and see how that goes. You shouldn't have to remove the chips from the locos. It would be easier for you to see what's going on using something like a SPROG so you can see a whole list of CV numbers rather than a small screen. But unless you know what I'm talking about, that could just be complicating things. If resetting hasn't worked, go through the CV numbers of one loco and write down the first seven. Read CV 29 and post the result here: http://www.2mm.org.uk/articles/cv29 calculator.htm - put your number in the bottom box and hit the "Back Calc" button on the right. Make a note of the settings and what's ticked. Then, put the next loco on the track and change all the first seven CVs so they match. Also match CV29 with the first loco. If you're trying to run the locos back to back, you will need to reverse the direction of the second loco. In the CV29 calculator, put in the number and tick (or untick) the "Reverse Direction" button - this will change the value, which you will need to enter into the second loco. Sorry if some of this is wrong - been a long day.

Raining, sunny, raining, sunny, raining, sunny again... I wish it could make up it's mind! However, all lupins, sunflowers and daisies potted up to the next stage, so that's nice. Have also made Mrs Topham Hatt a care basket of sweets and crisps. While she's trying to lose weight, I included some flowers and a note to say eat them slowly over a few weeks - I can always help her!

No need to apologise. Sometimes being a little vague gets you the answers and teases out other solutions you may not have thought of.

Interesting. And did the magnets conduct properly?

Good evening one and all :) Been a busy week for me this week. More so that a parcel I was waiting for had been stuck outside for nearly three days! Luckily in a secret-ish box so was protected from the weather but unusual for Royal Mail not to leave a note. Managed to bag 7 signal control boards (the same as the ones I ordered previously) for the price of one! Bonus! Good seller though, was a little surprised they didn't go for the higher price but means I will have enough to signal nearly everywhere I can think of, plus more. 30 minutes of yesterday spent hooking up a test rig. The first board works a treat, but now I have to try and remember how to hook them up together to see if the others work. I have no doubt they will but worth checking now rather than in X years time when I come to fit them. I just hope I have enough places to plug in for power. May have to use some sort of connector block, but worried the one point of input from the bus wire may be a problem. But then they're only a few LEDs so shouldn't pull that much power... Will see - no rush!

Good afternoon! Spent the morning catching up after a weekend of fiddling with solar lights, that I thought were broken but jumped in to life. I also varnished a sandpit... just in time for this turn in the weather. However, today is a war with a TV merchant. It's the time of year where all the older 2020 models are being replaced with new ones. Some good deals at Easter but for some reason, I didn't check. So now I'm stuck with potentially paying £200 more than I could have. One particular merchant has asked me to call them to see if they can match the same 10% off they did at Easter. I don't mind waiting but if I wait too long I may miss out all together. Who blinks first - we'll see!

Or is that how it was? As I say, ebay sided with me this time around so it's not a given that they will ALWAYS side with the buyer. Plus, having a strike against you does what? Sounds scary but people open, close and run three ebay accounts all the time. Unless you're regularly doing something wrong, a "strike" probably isn't worth the time it spend reading about it.

What if you don't offer the refund? To be fair, I've had an item bought that the buyer decided it wouldn't work with their (foreign) electrical system and asked for a refund. I said no. They opened a case through ebay, who promptly closed it in my favour when I showed screenshots of them clearly buying something that was located in the UK. Interestingly, they opened a case on PayPal, who then sided in their favour. A quick call and PayPal said they didn't know why it was decided in their favour so wait until the item arrived back and they'd just refund me anyway. That's £20 up for me, but hassle of having to resell the item!

Completely not my thing but I am thinking of getting one to support you guys. Really impressed with you as a company. Don't worry, I have other locos that aren't my thing either!

Good morning! The boy is loads better now - back to normal... apart from waking at 3:30am this morning. Then I found I had locked the cat in the back - eek! Doing my token one day in the office this week. Had a strange day yesterday. Was going to do some computer stuff when the graphics card said there was an update. Duly clicked "update" and it appeared to crash while uninstalling the current graphics stuff. Quit that and restarted. Then the PC went into recovery mode. That's fine, whatever but it couldn't connect to "the cloud" to download Windows and reset it. Right. Went to the HTPC and created a windows install on a memory stick. Went back to the PC and booted it up, but nothing appeared on the screen. The self-check (called a POST - Power On Self Test) where computers sometimes beep, nothing. Then the graphics card stopped working. Found an HDMI cable and connected the motherboard to the screen, still nothing. Reseated the RAM, nothing. Checked the PSU by using wires and a multimeter, all fine there. Took the CMOS battery out of the motherboard and disconnected the power. Still no joy. It really is a puzzle. Promptly ordered a new motherboard, hoping something has just corrupted with the old one. I don't mind resetting Windows as it's hassle but perhaps the only way. I store all documents and important things on other disks anyway so it's only a few programs to reinstall. Talk about hassle. But it did give me a half a day to read Midnight in Chernobyl, which I didn't remember that it's only been a few days since the 35th anniversary. Started watching the drama about it again. It really is strange, the whole thing.

Thanks everyone :) After 11 hours of sleeping he seemed a little better this morning. Negative covid test, so that's all good but still not right. Then it went downhill when Mrs Topham Hatt had a shower; lots of crying and not really being sure what he wanted. But a pretty nice walk to the park, seeing some doggies and laughing at them, plus a little go on the swings seems to have kick started his recovery! He was quiet on the way and way back but as soon as he got home we decided to do some gardening and he was out toddling all over the place. Had a fair amount of fish pie for lunch, although not so much for tea but no lethargy into the evening so that's a huge step forward. I think another good nights sleep and a day of fun filled swings and dog laughing and he'll be back to his usual self. First proper bit of "sick but don't know what's wrong" completed! Parenting level 2: Loading!

Well, today was blown out of the water. The one job I had to do... not done. Master Topham Hatt came home from nursery very poorly. Quite weak, just wanted cuddles, had a high temperature. He only managed a biscuit for tea (although did have a "little" of what nursery gave him). Milk, paracetamol (for toddlers) and off to bed. Wakes up today and seems pretty usual. We kept him off nursery anyway, but he had some breakfast and a bit of lunch. Has an afternoon nap and woke up the same way as yesterday. Quite worried after reading online as it could be quite serious but that's for proper lethargy - hard to wake up - his symptoms seem more like he has no energy at all. Called 111 and a GP calls us back and says to monitor temperature, give paracetamol and ibuprofen just before bed and start every 6 hours from wakey time. Poor guy. He's had so much thrown at him from birth but what a fighter! From being formed under a microscope (ICSI - a form of IVF), then having a twin that was lost (very early on - in the first 2 weeks of pregnancy) to being premature (33 weeks) plus being a baby, he's a real inspiration to me to take everything in your stride and keep going.

Have you looked at Bachmann's effort? Specifically the City of Truro. They have essentially mounted one plug permanently on the tender, which allows you to connect and disconnect the "loco" side easily. This means the plug is completely hidden and it's just two wires between the vehicles.

Good afternoon! A lot cooler today here in the Midlands, which is a shame as I've somewhat become a little accustomed to the warmer weather. Made me think when the last time we had rain was though. I couldn't actually say. Although a weather man on the radio was saying a dry April usually means a wet summer, naming 2007 and 2011 as two years where this pattern came true. Had a relaxing morning before work and have lined up a job for tomorrow morning, which hopefully won't take too long. Hope everyone is keeping well!

I thought about this but didn't want something else powered. That was after I bought all the kit to do it! I could potentially fit it in the loft as the new aerial comes in and then joins to another cable, which goes down into the wall downstairs. I bought the kit (fused spur, plug socket, back boxes) to convert a spare twin and earth cable for powered operation but didn't bother in the end. Indeed, by quite a fair bit. Despite being in the catchment area for it :confused: So to finally finish this off... Flattened the aerial so it wasn't pointing up any more. Retuned and got ~70 channels. Turned it to the left a little. Retuned and got ~50 channels. Turned it a little to the right. Retuned and got ~70 channels again. Turned a bit more to the right. Retuned and got ~40 channels. Took aerial down, turned it round on the bracket and mounted it towards Sutton Coldfield. Retuned and got 96 channels. I don't have any more time to devote to this so West Midlands local news it is. To be fair, we can always change back to freesat and watch the East Mids news if we REALLY want but I suspect we won't miss it. Learnt a lot through it all though and probably worked off a 10th of a pizza slice! Now on to more pressing matters - repotting sunflowers and veg! From large metal devices to dainty fragile plants. Two ends of some sort of scale!

I should think Hattons will wait until the returns / guarantees have run out on the current v1 locos before announcing any more. You'll have people who aren't too precious wanting to send their original ones back and get a v2 (with the fixes), which means they'll be stuck with hundreds of pre-owned, likely damaged locos. May as well not bother talking about it for another 8 months or so.