Sir TophamHatt

The sooner we accept the high street is dead, the better. It's clearly what people want - they want the ease of ordering online and it being delivered to them. That's also why we have catering trolleys instead of travelling shops these days on trains - people are lazy and online prices are usually cheaper. However - our post seems to break down on a Monday. That's the day when we're unlikely to see any post. Ordered something on the 3rd of December, still not here. I know that isn't that long but I am weary of item not received time limits by ebay.

Or any other search engine... While "Google" has become a new word for "Search", it really shouldn't have. It's great at finding content on websites rather than website searches (as seen by the example of the Class 89) but the search engine is a mess, loves to track what you search for and offers nothing over and above other search engines that can be better at finding content.

Evening all Not sure if I'm lucky or just having a high at the moment but life is really good! Due to a shift mix around, have had loads of extra annual leave days left meaning I can spend loads of time at home with baby Topham Hatt. The shifts I have now been allocated are on a desk that allows me loads of free time during the working day. Applied for a new job (a promotion really) and have set some plans in place to make me quite a suitable candidate (but will be surprised if I get anywhere). Have bought a 3D printer and been messing about with prints, fairly successfully now.Car still showing the ABS light, but it still goes! Could be better if these ebay things don't keep hanging around but they're a slow burner. And to top it all off, I have a Wispa Gold for pudding!

@MGR Hooper! May be able to help?

Did you not see what happened with the frogs in that episode of The Simpsons?

It works! Thanks very much

Evening. Great to read everyone is doing okay. Been watching The Night Manager. Been saved to watch for months now but 2 episodes in and it's pretty good so far. I see what everyone was talking about all those years ago. Tomorrow is back to modelling. I have an old Lima HO "control car" (DVT in the UK) to mod with dual lights and a marker. I can see it not working very well at all but have the diagram so will give it a go. Been doing that a lot with modelling recently with mostly positive results. Night all.

I suppose another question is why the TGS is moulded so differently to the rest of the coaches. Even the buffet coach comes apart like all the others.

There was an update posted a couple of pages back: While it doesn't show any samples, the CAD work speaks for itself.

Morning all Dark one this morning. Getting bored of this cold-ish but not frosty cold weather here in the Midlands. Seems lots of people have had snow. Our street is just wet, wet and damp. Swapped my shift to an early instead of a late. Now have 8 days off. Oh the joys of shift work + annual leave + Christmas time. Still looking at a new car but this morning, no ABS light and no slipping with cruise control so I may get a few more months out of it yet.

What method is this

Finished the MML set. My storage box / layout can only take 5 coaches so did them all (apart from the TGS) anyway but only keeping 5 out. Strange how some seem to fade unless moving, while others will stay bright. Good way to show track power defects though!

Morning all. The week of working just one day as the rest is annual leave. Same next week too! Loving the misty mornings, just wish it was frosty for longer. Boring when it's just wet.

Just discovered this on my September release - First Class and Standard have the same seating, although different colours of plastic. Disappointing Surprised they didn't fix it for this new release but then I'm sure someone from Hornby was quoted as saying that if people keep buying them, they will still make them - no need in spending the money to improve it.

What a week it's been and what a week to come! Decorated the house in the usual way. I appreciate having the same decorations in the same place every year. I don't see it as "stale" or "boring" but more "tradition". We've also ordered more garlands as I saw some on a film that looked quite nice, so we wanted more. Tut. I hate being a consumeristic door knob head! Anyway, Baby STH is over his cold, which is good. He's now taken to bashing food around his high chair table then eating it. So long as he's eating it, I'm not that bothered yet Mrs STH called me from the Model Railway Room. Turns out she'd knocked over 5 of the coaches that I'd left out drying after fixing people in them. She said one fell on the floor but luckily there was no damage and even more strange, none of the people had dislodged. However it has made her allocate some time for me to get on and finish fitting the lights (turns out I can fit lights to all but the TGS coach as that one won't come apart without damage). Need to buy more wrapping paper too. The huge roll we had finally ran out!

To add some more info on this: Turns out all but the TGS can be opened in the normal way. The TGS is another matter on both the INTERCITY and Midland Mainline (old livery) versions. They seem very much glued on, but strange that it's just this one coach out the lot.

Evening. Had a pretty good day. Got a spare power cable for the 3D printer, which should arrive this week. Went to Lidl and decided it was quite pleasant (probably due to the high ceilings) compared with Aldi. Managed to pick up their black forest mince pies and a cheapy cake slicer for Mrs STH. Spent the afternoon throwing Baby STH around. Well, jigging him. He loves being a helicopter and his favourite activity is jumping. Throwing him up in the air is also an enjoyable past time (sounds worse than what it really is!). However, he's now in our bed with a bad cold. Still not much better than a few days ago. In another 48 hours it'll be a call to the doctors I should think.

In one of your experiences maybe. But not in mine. Sorry about that.

Been soldering some DCC sockets. I bought about 5 as they were cheaper than the pre-wired ones (which I am sure I bought for about £2 each a year or so ago ). Wish I'd have plumped for the more expensive £3/£4 ones as it's annoying - they're so small! And all this for a DVT type of vehicle that I just need lights for, so could easily hardwire... I think I did it because the only spare decoder I have is a Bachmann one. If I was to run into a Lais decoder in the future, I could swap it out and use the Bachmann for something more useful, like a loco. But then I do have three Zimo decoders with no home in the box... Then again, I need a socket for the loco that will go on the other end so maybe not too wasted I suppose.

Maybe I will look at selling mine then :/ Don't want to be left without any sort of help in a few years.

If you need a blanking plug (assuming above hasn't offered), let me know. I have one knocking around I'll never need.

The one that went for £5000 the other month... I asked the seller if they got paid for it (they said they did). So I asked for the buyers username so I could contact them to make sure as something sounds fishy. No reply. I'm not cynical but unless it was being used by a TV studio, nobody is going to pay £5000 for the S-Stock.

Sound advice here. It's a really hard one but after 3 weeks, they should have tested it by now. Also ask for images of the packaging (unless they're on the ball, it's unlikely they'll have them) for you to investigate with Royal Mail. I advertised some empty boxes and a few other bits for a game recently. I made it absolutely clear it was empty boxes - no game (but did include a pin badge and soft toy). Bidder won said item. I posted it to an Argos as instructed by PayPal. Buyer suggested three items were missing. I asked them to re-check and I would re-check here. Seller then said just two items were missing. I asked for photos of the outer box so I could investigate with Royal Mail and the local Argos. Seller opened a case stating just one item was missing. I responded to the case asking for photos. Seller didn't reply, eBay ruled in my favour after the time out period. Even if a case is opened against you, eBay doesn't automatically always side with the buyer these days unless they're doing everything to the letter.

Yeah, adding my thoughts to your positive test, @BoD Although out of 2 parents, 4 kids, 8 grandkids on my side, it's amazing none of us has tested positive (or haven't told the family!). Had a lovely beef casserole last night. Got that down to a T now. I do cheat and use a pre-mix for the sauce but everything else (roasts, dumplings ) all home made. Someone has put a Christmas tree up in our office. My household one will be staying downstairs until next weekend but then have to get a shift on as we want to take a family photo in front of it to send out as cards to people. While some people rate them as a waste of time/money, I really rate receiving cards from people who I wouldn't send a gift to but nice to see they are still thinking of us.

Gave this a go yesterday but I think they're too well joined to get apart. Shame really as I had built the stay alive capacitors and ordered the hundreds of people ready to fit to two sets. I may come back to them again in the future though but without pictures, I'm still worried my latest September release of the INTERCITY coaches won't be the same. I know there's this: http://s374444733.websitehome.co.uk/class-43nmt/index-coaches.htm But I'm still not convinced at butchering mine - I'm kak-handed at the simplest of tasks.