mdvle

Dapol have production samples photos on their website: https://www.Dapol.co.uk/OO-Gauge-Bogie-Bolster-E-Production-Samples-Are-Here

I think the answer to this was provided above in your posting, your kids from what you say don't want the board covered in track and want space to play around in addition to the trains. It's a guess, but in addition to the ability to create all those things they probably would just like space to play with cars in addition to playing with trains.

To which I will point out that we are all there at some point, not just in this hobby but everything in life when we are first learning something. Those who are currently giving advice didn't suddenly wake up one morning with all that knowledge, it takes time and often perseverance. Age doesn't really matter, what matters is that you are willing to learn something new and expand your knowledge. Also worth noting that many studies appear to show that this sort of thing - keeping the brain active with either learning new stuff or otherwise stimulating it - has many health benefits as we get older. To that end your willingness to come on here and ask questions / get help about a hobby that interests you puts you well ahead of a lot of people who lurk silently in the background.

KR Models, who are making an OO GT3, are now considering doing it in O as well and thus are collecting expressions of interest (no money at this time) for anyone interested: https://krmodels.co.uk/gt3-gas-turbine (button is after the OO purchase options). More info on the OO model can be found at: https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/139667-krmodels-announce-a-gt3-model/

Broadway Limited have a selection of SD7/SD9 arriving in July https://www.broadway-limited.com/paragon3emdsd7-sd9.aspx

Google will (with variable results) translate websites for you if you want. I believe Chrome will prompt you, but if not or using a different web browser just go to https://translate.google.com Enter the web site address in the left box, and after it appears in the right box click on the little square with right-upwards arrow that appears at the end of the web site address and your web browser will open a new page that filters the site through Google Translate (though note it doesn't deal with text in images).

Regrettably given the mentality of the problem people the threat is just as likely to make the problem worse as they all rush out to get their pictures before a threatened ban takes place...

In the Revolution Trains section (class 321) someone posted a link to Revolution's March newsletter which at the end indicates that the twins go into tooling in this month with samples hopefully end of June. https://us8.campaign-archive.com/?u=f24e36cafcafabf07d09722c1&id=340d4864efhttps://us8.campaign-archive.com/?u=f24e36cafcafabf07d09722c1&id=340d4864ef

Athearn - preorders May 31, eta April 2020 Genesis EMD SDP40F - Two Amtrak schemes, Maersk (BNSF), BNSF, ATSF http://www.athearn.com/newsletter/042619/01_GEN_SDP40F_042619.pdf 3-Bay Trinity Covered Hopper- GACX (ex SIRX), GACX (Potash), GACX (GATX Lease), BNSF (ex GATX), BNSF (Frisco heritage), BNSF (Patch), NS, UP (CMO), Ferromex http://www.athearn.com/newsletter/042619/02_GEN_Trinity_Hopper_042619.pdf RTR 40' Modernized Box Car - E&N, BCOL, IC, LNAC, UP, CP, NP, Pickens Railroad http://www.athearn.com/newsletter/042619/03_RTR_40ft_Modernized_Box_042619.pdf 52' Mill Gondola - RailGon, Oregon Steel Mills, Gondola Connection, Herzog, BNSF, RJ Corman, Transportacion Ferroviaria Mexicana http://www.athearn.com/newsletter/042619/04_RTR_52ft_Mill_Gon_042619.pdf KW Tractor - CN, BN, UP (70s&80s / Modern), Metallic Blue & Red, Orange & Black, Green & Gold http://www.athearn.com/newsletter/042619/05_RTR_KW_Tractor_042619.pdf Roundhouse Alco RS3 - CNW, CNJ, D&H, MILW, SP&S, Rock Island, Cotton Belt, P&W http://www.athearn.com/newsletter/042619/06_RND_ALCO_RS3_042619.pdf 50' Double Offset Plug Door Box Car - UP, Conrail, PC, ATSF, NW, SPSF, WP (Green / Blue / Orange) http://www.athearn.com/newsletter/042619/07_RND_50ft_Double_Door_HC_Box_042619.pdf

Athearn - preorders due May 31, eta April 2020 52' Mill Gondola - RailGon, BN, Oregon Steel Mills, Gondola Connection, Herzog, RJ Corman, Transportacion Ferroviaria Mexicana http://www.athearn.com/newsletter/042619/08_N_52ft_Mill_Gon_042619.pdf

Welcome to the reality of living in the modern world, where almost any / every bit of infrastructure built (or even maintained / rebuild of existing) causes temporary inconvenience which is often fairly major to those directly impacted. But the alternative is to do nothing and thus let the country gradually fall apart, and few want that either.

For many one of the biggest problems with the Hornby Class 50 is the louvres, and the artificially deep inset from the outside to allow them to work. While it may be possible, perhaps using brass, to make a more scale option that would likely be too fragile and better off to just forget the idea of operating louvres. Surprisingly the P2K series is early 90s, with the first model being released in 1989. While they both made new releases of the 66, neither released a new tooled version, so it is difficult to know exactly how much effect they are having on the market.

Atlas have a video of their operating oil pumps

I wasn't intending to state / place blame with my wording, rather just point out that there were 2 new models of the 71 regardless of who came first and that might have had a negative influence on the possibility of a 74 getting done, either because Hornby could decide to enter the market or alternately had already decided and was progressing and just hadn't announced yet. And then with time, and lack of progress by either likely sources, the possibility of a model just faded away.

I suspect that a fear that Hornby would again go for a duplication made many take a wait and see approach until it just was forgotten about and/or subsequent issues caused hesitation.

A lot of bridge and other infrastructure builders would have been very happy and rich given the amount of stuff it would take out on its first trip.

This blog post in a way seems to have what you are aiming for - it is one industry (a paper mill), some connecting scenery, and at the other end a connection to the mainline with the interchange. It is in many ways a very nicely designed layout, lots of space for the layout to "breath", and as such I like what this person has designed. The catch, if you want to call it that, is despite how little there is in terms of "busy" areas the layout takes up a 10'x17' room... http://hedley-junction.blogspot.com/2019/04/brompton-paper-revisiting-layout-concept.html [its also worth I think a side note, if one looks at any of the other topics in this section of RMweb as people struggle with layout designs the one common issue is just how much space those nice to look out wide curves eat up in a room] It all comes down to the combination of your goals and what compromises you are willing to live with. Do you want the layout to be complete and operational, or are you willing to approach it more as a work in progress that you hope to finish but time and money may mean it never gets fully completed? If you want it completed, then you need to take a look at what your limitations are - time, money, ability to build things or have them built for you, and plan accordingly. Just remember that even with flexibility, a layout eats money. Track is expensive, and even cheap rolling stock adds up once you start thinking of multiple trains scattered around a large layout. But if you are more flexible, then yes you can take a slower view and make substitutions to allow for playing while working to an ultimate goal.

The first thing to remember is that given the size of those layouts they are much like the proverbial supertanker that doesn't turn or stop very quickly - given the length of time it takes to build many of them inherently have the preferences and biases of layout design from 10, 20, 30, etc. years ago. They also reflect the compromises their owners are willing to live with, which will likely be different to yours. Despite all that, I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss them as they do offer a learning opportunity given that there doesn't appear to be much in the way of large UK layouts to use. If nothing else they will given examples of the issues faced building such a large layout, and the time required. I am not saying you need to watch / read everything the owners of those layouts put out, but scan through to get an idea of how much time things take, the changes as a result of facing reality, etc. One good example is Mike Deverell and his Colorado Front Range layout, which he has documented building on YouTube in a dedicated 28'x38' building - https://www.youtube.com/user/madeverell/videos Another good example, if you are willing to deal with Facebook, is Jason Shron's Kingston Sub. Jason took the rather unique path of creating a model railway company (Rapido Trains) to create the models he needs for his layout, but his layout updates are more about the struggles of building a large layout while at the same time running a business and raising 3 kids. Despite having help from friends and visitors progress has been slow and he has been forced to rethink things several times. https://www.kingstonsub.com/ Devon may seem like a boring, dull place from a railway perspective today but go back in the past there was a lot more to like, and I assume that would still be true extended back to your favourite era. The other advantage of your era is that I would guess most stuff would be moving by train, as the road network and lorries hadn't been implemented yet, so even a small place will have a reasonable amount of good traffic.

Appears to be branding/marketing. If you go to their website you will see several images of the rabbit visiting places they serve, and there is a video showing the same thing with the rabbit leaping into place above the name at the end.

Dapol is mentioned in the very first post in this topic:

Practical, or more of a acceptance of people being getting injured or killed being a part of life?

Don't know how applicable it is, but the latest North American Rapido Newsletter announces Rapido has just hired 2 people and significantly promoted one existing employee to help deal with the issues they were facing being a rapidly growing company. Hopefully this will help both prevent what has happened in this case and solve some of the other issues that seem to have cropped up lately. (those that want to read about it can see the end of this newsletter - https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Rapido-News-110---New-LRC--New-Hoppers--New-NP-Boxcars--New-Video-.html?soid=1101318906379&aid=I4ag6HlTnuk ).

Search of Google reveals at least this story on the legal proceedings: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/may/08/stagecoach-launches-legal-action-over-rail-franchise-competition-ban And this paywalled articles about Grayling allegedly misleading parliament over the issue: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/chris-grayling-accused-of-misleading-mps-over-stagecoach-rail-ban-hr3mvsqq3

Possible a message you read has been deleted, but there is no ambiguity. Dave has not announced any cancellation of the APT-P (the APT-E was done by Rapido) so anything in the DJM thread is speculation or rumour.