Philou

Ummmm ... can I ask why you should wish to do that? It seems to me reading other threads on here regarding split chassis, the consensus seems to be this is 'Not a Good Idea' (TM). I have some old split chassis stock that I bought years ago that seem to work at the moment, but I've been looking at ideas to replace the wheels on them with insulated ones instead - just curious. Cheers, Philip

Hello chaps, Even though I live miles away from any UK railway line, I've been following this with great interest. The good news, according to Realtime Trains, is that at least two GWR units left Swansea on time this morning London-bound at 0528 and 0628, though the first one had picked up a 7 minute delay in the Bridgend area - not specified why. Swansea-bound, the first to leave was going via Bristol TM - I don't know if this is 'normal', but the second service (already left as I write this) is booked via Bristol Parkway. I don't know if all the GWR 80X services will be up and running today. Cheers, Philip

@Titan Thanks for the reply - I hadn't realised that there was a difference in types of 'diamond/cross-arms' arms or even that the Stone-Faiveley (as on my Trix E3001) had been superseded by the Brecknell-Willis though I had of course seen B-W mentioned many times. There you go, and as they say over here 'I'll go to bed less stupid than when I got up!' Cheers, Philip

I'm very late to the party - only on page 37 at the mo'. I have a question regarding pantos on the Class 87s: Why did they carry cross-arm ones instead of single arms? I thought cross-arms were from some prehistoric period concerning DC operations? An enquiring mind should like to know (apologies if the question has been raised elsewhere). Cheers, Philip

Interesting regarding diversification as Lord and Butler are diversifying into model tanks and other AFVs - not too far removed from railway modelling really. It used to be Peter's hobby all those years ago and Covid rekindled his interest - he hasn't lost his touch either! Cheers, Philip

I just hope that no scrotes will try and visit his garage that it's now had wider media coverage. Nice to see railway modelling being given air-time. Cheers, Philip

Nah, you don't need instructions .... they're for wimps........................ On a serious note, the Aberdare was the one kit I should have liked to have. Hope you have fun with it. Cheers, Philip

Well .... I'm sold. They do look very good. I will say this: Had I not known that they were generic, I would have accepted them as pukka and would have been none the wiser. Well done Hatton's for taking on board the very many comments expressed here on RMWeb and coming up with what could possibly be the defintive generic coach. Now, where do I sign up ..................... Cheers, Philip

Oh dear .... I like quirky/one offs ...... and I missed the first issue ...... nice to have ..... not my region .............. oh what to do .......

@The Stationmaster Mmmmm ...... nonclere. Not having seen the word before I WOULD have prononced it as 'non-claire' (without light = dark/sombre). I wonder if clear/clere-storey may have been originally pronounced 'claire' as it seems to have originated from the gothic structures that came from France ...... claire = light. Anyway, back to the coaches ..........................

@The Stationmaster Fly-shunting - that's what the big hand in the sky does - doesn't it? @Compound2632 Sorry about the duplication, though I thought I had read all the items regarding the Hattons coaches - I must have missed or skimmed your comment. Brain of a gnat unfortunately for me ........ Cheers, Philip

Well - yes, sales of the 4/6 wheelers notwithstanding - clerestories or not? Ideally could there be a mix? Perhaps more company related? I understand that there would be tooling issues and I am simply speculating. Having now seen the decorated samples of the 4/6 wheelers, I would really be interested in someGWR/LNWR bogie stock, generic would be quite satisfactory for me. I've just been re-cataloguing my collection of stock for insurance purposes and looking at what I did years ago when my eyesight was better and my hands steadier, quite frankly the painting and lining I did then, leaves a lot to be desired! Cheers, Philip

Off topic but related - when I worked I had to 'interface' with the public in a written form and I was asked quite often if I could re-write a letter to in effect - 'dumb it down'. My answer was that it was a technical response to a technical question and that was it! Pfffff. On occasion I was also asked if it was possible to re-write a letter of refusal (planning permission related) to which my reply was 'in just how many ways can you say 'no'?'. It's a letter of refusal (prettied up of course)!! You can dumb down but there is a limit!! Back on topic - cler - est - tory for me - even though the Hattons coaches are without. Do you think someone may be tempted to bring out a matching range of bogie coaches? Cheers, Philip

I don't know if this of any help but seeing the comment regarding insulating the wheels - years ago I converted some H/D 3-rail locos to 2-rail. The way then was to drill out the wheels on one side in which you could put in a pukka plastic sleeve and push the axle into the hole within the sleeve (they were spares from H/D and cheap as chips at the time). In the end I used to do both sides and the loco was fully insulated. On steam locos the bogie/pony wheels I changed for Jackson ones. If the sleeves are still available, would this be not better than resin, especially if you can't get replacement non 3-rail wheels? Just a thought. Cheers, Philip

@Enterprisingwestern Do you have an option to have your parcels sent by Royal Mail 'signed-for'? For the time being, I've had no hassle whatsoever with Royal Mail/La Poste here in France ............... I hope it continues . Cheers, Philip

I was told similarly last week - which means I shan't be able to get the Genesis stock through my 'local' shop ........

Whilst there won't be duties payable on intra-EU transactions, the rules regarding VAT payments ARE changing - VAT payable at country of recipient rather than country of despatch. If you happen to live in a country where the VAT rate is higher than the sender's rate, I assume you will pay the higher rate. I don't recall if the recipient will cough up or if the sender pays, but new arrangements will need to be in place. Being the EU, I expect it will be seamless *cough* ............. as each country can set it's own rate of VAT (within a defined limit).

Ummmmm ................. why the rant? I don't do Facebook nor Twitter. I happen to prefer my privacy as I expect many others do who visit here. Just sayin'.

Unfortunately @WM183, as I understand it, the VAT rules between member states will change on 01.07.2021 to be based on the Brexit model. It just that the UK has had a six-month head-start .................. I see doom and confusion on the horizon for everyone . Cheers, Philip

Well, I've just had to clear out the spare bedroom of things that 'just appeared' over the last year - it could well be that a clear-out occurred without due notice. There is another thread elsewhere and some of the stories were really, really bad. Cheers, Philip

..................... and before I forget as it was mentioned above, plywood sheets can be bought over here in 1220 widths (4 foot) and can be 2.4 (8 foot) or 2.5m in length. French plasterboard is BA13 (13mm) but measures out at 12.5mm (1/2 inch!)

Well, the conversion to the metre was started BEFORE the French Revolution and Boney. It was an attempt to standardise measures in France as the peuple were getting restless at being ripped-off. There was the pinte, the pouce (thumb) and the livre (pound), but depending which town you went, they all differed AND if you were buying and selling grain for example, the pinte for buying was bigger than the pinte for selling, the difference being 'ker-ching' - PROFIT! There is a book 'Measuring the Earth' that I can't find at the mo', in which two Surveyors Royal were sent out to do exactly that - measure the Earth - well the distance between the North Pole and the Equator along the 0° meridian and the 1/1 000 000 measure of that distance would be the metre. They set out long before the Revolution started and finished well after it was all over having been arrested as spies and the like in between times. The nub of it was they didn't have to go all the way to the North Pole nor the Equator, but measured France from about Boulogne to the Med following a meridian (the 0° Meridian as we know it wasn't established until the 1920s - my French great-Grandfather was involved in that) and allowing for pesky mountains and rivers getting in way, they did it. I don't recall the exact measure they came up with but is was slightly bigger than the French yard (une latte IIRC - from which we have our lath and is also the Welsh word for a yard). Anyhow, the measures were erroneous due to wear in the instrument they used - the instrument was very finally calibrated but the mechanical gubbins weren't up to the job being mainly in brass. The revolutionary government of the day decided to NOT go metric and put it on the back burner until Napoleon took it up. Unfortunately, the 'standard' metric length in platinum was a fudge and isn't the 1/1 000 000 distance that it was intended to be. Over the years ALL the physical weights have changed due to loss of surface atoms and changes in gravitational influences and hence they're now based on atomic wavelength measurements. HEY!!! Wake up at the back!! I'm nearly done. Just to finish off, over here, you can still go into a shop and ask for a demi-livre of butter (250g). And the imperial measures - and inch being the length of the king's thumb twixt knuckle and first joint, shoe measurements being based on lengths of barley corn and the Avoirdupois (literally 'have-some-weight') was based on the weight of a particular seed (IIRC came via the Greeks). All-in-all, all of it is a right dog's breakfast! (But metric is simpler to use but less flexible - consider: 10 is divisible by 2, 5 and 10, whereas 12 is divisible by 2, 3, 4, (6), and 12) Oh, and the kids over here do not 'do' their 12 times table either that I consider pretty important. Cheers, Philip

Close but not quite regarding water and Farenheit - 0° is the freezing point of salted water (I thought it was a saline solution - there you, I learnt something today), but the top of the scale was the boiling point of pure water at 212° (WHY?!!!) and then divided out in between. But hey, you overlooked the Réamur scale which was 0°R (freezing water) but 80°R for boiling water - go figure! Just as an aside, when I worked in labs at the Polytechnic, we had to make a freezing mixture (to be used to cool another experiment at negative temperatures) using rock salt and water and I got my mix down to -45°C - proud of that or what! Cheers, Philip

IMHO where 1:76.2 scores best using the 4mm/ft scale, is that you can use any old ruler even the old school wooden ones (remember them across your knuckles?) and provided there are mm graduations, you can immediately produce a scale drawing from an imperial scaled one. Now try that in 0 or H0 ......... (Added: working in 4s is simpler than in 7s, IMHO)

I suppose if you were really cheeky, you could turn up at an exhibition with a goods yard with plenty of stock (but no locos). 'When's the next train, then?' 'None, closed on weekends'. Well, the thought made me laugh anyway (bored at the mo'). Cheers, Philip