Philou

Did you also see the narrow gauge railway and wagons to the right? Out of simple curiosity, where was the photo taken? Cheers, Philip

Hmm .... just had a look at the PwC résumé (linked above). It would seem that the threshold of €150 equates to the £135 mentioned elsewhere. It may well be too much hassle for very small suppliers to register, particularly if they are near the lower VAT limit. I'm not sure how it is going to affect UK-EU sales in the end, as model railways seem to be in an exempted class (for now) for additional Duty (have I that right?) and just subject to VAT rules. As I've never imported items from 'the rest of the world' (save one <€22/£15 item from China), I've never experienced VAT/duty payments on imports. Ho hum - we shall see. I would hope that Accurascale will be able to use their Irish address to ease the situation as in their instance it will be EU-EU, new VAT rules notwithstanding. Cheers, Philip

@AlyP As you seem to have the finger on the pulse, can I ask if it will be similar, but for UK to EU goods? I ask as I, and a good few others on RMWeb, live now in the EU. Cheers, Philip

@Great Eastern Lady IIUC, LNER 'teak' for these small coaches is not correct and should be brown. It was mentioned in this thread a little earlier. (Might have been in the Hornby thread). I stand to be corrected of course.

During this period of uncertainty and lockdown (and I understand that of tonight our friends in Scotty-land are under full lockdown), Lord and Butler will be doing 'click and collect' until further notice. You can also call the shop on 029 20 667 225 or leave an e-mail on info@lordandbutler.com for mail order. Peter advises me that the shop is pretty well stocked and there are new arrivals on the way. Cheers, Happy New Year to you all and stay safe, Philip

The link wouldn't open for me today (perhaps a lot of traffic on t'intertubes). I recall The Johnster of this parish, in another thread, explained the reason why the tunnel was closed and is considered unsafe. IIRC, subsidence and then rockfalls within it caused its demise. As I can't open the link, I don't know what the latest survey (if there has been one) has shown up. Whilst no doubt desirable, I suspect it will take a lot of money to make it usable again. Good luck to them anyway, Philip

I didn't used to worry too much about the stock I bought. It was mainly 'if I like it' or 'it's similar to what I remember (but remembering and what was reality may or may not be vaguely similar)' or 'oooh looky looky nicey nicey'. What it has meant is that I could run any period between say 1930 to 2019 (in limited numbers). However, having lurked on here for a while AND finding that finances are more limited, I confess to have become more discerning in what I buy - trouble is - do I stick to 'kettles' or do I go more modern as I really like block train workings of today (some would consider 'boring!' as very samey). Hornby (or any manufacturer) really have to ensure that whatever they offer, must be pretty much perfect to make me part with my cash - acceptable level of detail, correct outline, 21-pin chips and lighting where applicable. My two pennorth, Cheers, Philip

Good luck with that, Johnster, and a Merry Christmas to you (and others that may read this thread). Philip Joyeux Noël!!

Mentioning pre-grouping, I have an Edwardian photo of a junction station on the North-West route with an express pulling in that has 8 coaches behind - 3 of them are clerestory bogies and the rest are (possibly) 6-wheelers. The shot was taken from a footbridge so the wheels and sides are not visible - so a bit of wiggle-room in there. However, I do take the point that the train is not long overall. The branch train is more interesting - a small tank loco with 3 (possibly) 6-wheelers, a closed van, 3 assorted minerals and a brake van to the rear. Bring on some pre-grouping stock, I say! An Atlantic could be a good choice - especially if it were a GWR one. Cheers, Philip

However ....... however ...... almost the last but one photo shows a sign placed by the SNCF which basically says: Do not trespass onto railway land. Risk of 6 months imprisonment and a €3500 fine. The users of the railbridge ARE trespassing and I'll leave it at that. Cheers, Philip

Have you any photos of how the sliding part works? Looking at making a traverser for my layout too. I think one method of powering the traverser running lines (probably old hat now) is by means of phosphor bronze whiskers attached to the ends your movable part touching the live 'inbound' track, but I'm not sure how you can do multi-tracks in and out without using perhaps make to break push buttons or switches to control each and every track. I'm sure someone will come along with other ideas. Cheers, Philip

Has anyone noticed that in the photographs shown, how the double track settings are impossibly close - even closer than 45mm centre-to-centre? Cheers, Philip

I don't think you need to over-worry about it. It may mean that there will be extra paperwork for the shop in exporting to Europe (deducting VAT) and then paying the relevant tariff on arrival at customs (you). There are other suppliers that export to the USA, Australia and NZ without problems - so why should there be a problem to NL? Cheers, Philip (Says he with his fingers crossed and his lucky rabbit's foot in his pocket ;) )

@Accurascale Fran Hello Fran, Is there a possibility using your suite of tools that you will do a 37 version of centre headcode but with skirts? Cheers, Philip

@adb968008 Nice video - and at 7 up plus the DVT not over-long for a reasonably sized model railway and could be cut back in length for a smaller layout - c'mon Hornby do some packs! Cheers, Philip

@tomparryharry I shouldn't be too sure about a 14xx 'just' pulling a couple coaches. I have some photos (borrowed off t'intertubes so won't post up here) showing 1427 waiting for 'right away' (shirley that ought to be 'right-of-way'?) and has in its consist the following: a ventilated van, two 6-wheel coaches, another ventilated van, 2 7-planks and 4 5-planks all loaded with coal, plus a Toad at the rear - so a nice open cab 0-4-2 for a change would be good. Its replacement, 5818, is shown pulling similar loads - 10 assorted goods wagons including a steel 16 tonner plus a Toad - I'd have one of those too. Cheers, Philip

Not feeling baaaaad, I hope

@Dungrange Thanks for the link to the 2010 thread - very interesting. I now have a few other named wagons to make up a consist and the early photos were good too, as they show the formation of the consists. I wouldn't have known about vac and air-piped wagons and probably would have mixed them all up for variety - as one is wont to do in ignorance. Thanks too to Mike, The Stationmaster, as it greatly expanded my knowledge-base regarding the actual ops. Cheers, Philip

Chaps, I'm should like to revive this thread - if I may? I've been gifted at my recent birthday with three Hornby mess vans (R40006/7/8) - yes three! I trying to find out how I can make use of them and what would have been the consist. I saw the photo to which @Phil Bullock linked - so a short train can be made up - but how short? The train in the photo had a mess van, two guards vans (top'n'tail) one or two bogie wagons (salmons?) with track panels and A.N. Other. What about ballasting? What wagons would have been used? I know absolutely nothing about track maintenance or the associated rolling stock, but I have heard of sea-cows, dogfish and turbots - but as to what they were used for ...... Can I use a handful of assorted ones to go with the mess van (or vans)? Cheers, Philip

Hello chaps, I'm still about but only on page 82 at the mo'. I'll catch you up a bit later - very interesting the bits on tanks. Just so I may go to bed wiser, just what is the difference between guns being classed as 'pounders' and calibre? Diameter of the barrel I can understand but pounders? 'Fraid I don't have much military in my recent family though my two French great grandfathers were. On my grandmothers side, her father was head inspector of munitions during the Great War, and on my grandfather side his father was an admiral who was responsible for persuading the French government and navy to accept zero meridian at Greenwich and not Paris as the French wanted. Got the KBE for that despite being French. He also set up with Prince Albert 1st of Monaco, the International Hydrographical Office. It was originally based in Monaco but now resides in Brest. It was its 100th anniversary last year. Closest to military I got was being 'sursitaire', that is; being let off doing French military service as a dual national in 1970. I was already employed in the UK which would have been a bit awkward! Cheers and keep safe, Philip (still in lockdown)

@stovepipe Thanks for taking the time to answer my query - at least I can assume it's not a terribly popular model! I did look on the t'intertubes and I found Paul Bartlett's photos of the coaches, but not as a complete train. I doubt if there any videos about as they pre-date digital cameras. I know where they came from and I might send them back (perhaps keep one), and swop for something else. I know that newbyford(?) does the modern yellow stock - so I'll try and track him down. Cheers and thanks anyway, Philip

Calling Mr York, calling Mr York, @AY ModI don't know if this has been flagged up by others - I didn't go back more than a couple of pages. I was looking through my message box searching for a couple of photos that had been sent via the messaging service quite some time ago, as I couldn't find them on my laptop. Unfortunately there was an 'oops' message saying "we can't find what you're looking for, contact us'. There was also an error code - sorry I didn't note it, but I can go back and get it if you want. It would seem that there are no pictures archived at all. Cheers, Philip

Hello chums, I'm reviving this thread as I have a question regarding Mk1s converted into departmental stock. As a recent birthday gift I was given three (yes 3) ballast cleaner staff coaches from Hornby (R40006-8) and I mused the following questions: How many ballast cleaner staff coaches does a layout need? Where would these coaches have been used in the UK? What would have been a 'normal' consist? and; What would have hauled the consist (and in what colours)? I had never considered having departmental stock, though some of the stock available RTR looks very good. I do have a rake of auto-ballasters but these are probably too modern for the stock. I'm period agnostic as my collection waiting for 'the' layout could cover from pre-1940 to 2019 though all rakes I'm trying to keep as correct as possible. Any ideas? Cheers, Philip

Erm @Steamport Southport ..... in Cardiff there are both coach and bus stations (in a park a mile away from the 'other' station from which trains arrive and depart. I understand it's temporary) - here's a picture .............. CoachStation.pdf (Sorry, I can't save Google views as .jpgs) Cheers, Philip

@Dunsignalling Is the photo with the trolleybuses part of your layout? If so, how did you do the overhead, and does it work? It looks very impressive! I have some Original Omnibus ones to convert with working poles and I'd be interested to know. Cheers, Philip