CPW

I hadn’t realised Ktrain had closed as well. I, too, hope the tooling from both these marques can be saved. There are a couple of retailers who have taken to commissioning limited run n scale models. El Imperio del Hobby, (IH ), Madrid, has produced UT450 and TRD sets amongst other things. Todomodelismo in Valencia has had special livery runs from Arnold. IH would not comment on future plans when I saw them at their stand in the Chamartin mercadillo in October. As for why there isn’t as great an interest in railway modelling in Spain, I suspect history has a lot to do with it. In very general terms, model railways in the UK and Germany really took off between the wars. Spain was preoccupied with a civil war and emerged a very impoverished country. I guess disposable incomes did not start to rise until the mass holiday industry got under way, by which time the aspiration was for car ownership, and railways were in decline -seen as slow and old-fashioned -, leading to different focus on models: Scalextric seems to be very popular in Spain. By the time interest in model railways in Spain was able to develop, other countries manufacturers were established and could muscle in on the market: Marklin always seem to take up more metres of shelf space in the Spanish model shops etc I have visited than any other manufacturer, maybe more than all the others put together! I’m sure there are plenty of other reasons as well.

Trying to access the Mabar website returns a 404 error. Investigation on Forotrenes reveals that the company closed down on 30 Nov 23. It seems the company’s systems were hacked approx the middle of last year and, amongst other problems, payments to suppliers/manfacturers were intercepted and diverted to the hackers. The company has been unable to recover from this situation. This is sad news for modellers of Spanish railways, especially as they were about the only manufacturer trying to support both HO and N modellers. (Hornby have Electrotren and Arnold but I get the impression the two divisions do not talk to each other. ) There was an indication in the Forotrenes posting that the owners are hoping to return with a new venture.

There is a post on this forum by Neil headed Railway Museum of Catalonia with pics and some details of the Vilanova Museum near Barcelona. I apologise for spelling it wrong in my OP. Web link to the Catalinia museum https://www.museudelferrocarril.org/index_en.asp and the Madrid Delicias museum https://www.museodelferrocarril.org (note the difference in the spelling of the URLs: museu - catalan, museo - castillian)

I recently visited Madrid, Cuenca, Valencia and Barcelona. It is 3 1/2 years since I was last there. The following are points that might be of interest. a ) On arrival at Barajas, I took the shuttle bus to T4 as I prefer using the Cercanias instead of the Metro. More spacious and less crowded. Fortunately the Renfe office at T4 was open so I could get my over 60’s pass Tarejta Dorada. Changed at Nuevos Ministerios for Sol. The rebuilding at NM appears complete and is now a very large station. b) Time slots are now allocated for journeys on the mountain line C9 from Cercedilla to Cotos. There are new turnstiles for the Cotos platforms at Cercadilla and I saw people being turned away because they either didn’t have the paper with the train allocation or it was for the wrong train. The Cotos trip is worth doing if you have the time, but allow a whole day from Madrid centre. There is good walking at the top, but be aware Cotos is at 2000m that’s nearly 7000ft and take appropriate clothing. c) I had thought that the service on the old route to Segovia, via Cercadilla had been withdrawn, but in fact the frequency seems to have increased with several trains a day. The service I travelled on was quite full. It is a bit slower compared to the AVE, but not much when you factor in faffing about with security, waiting for the bus into Segovia and the 20 mins bus ride. The old station is a good stretch from the old town, but still within walking distance. I travelled back on the bus and AVE. One Bus goes from the Aqueduct, another from near the bus station. Fare is currently €2 d) Unlike Segovia the old service to Cuenca has been withdrawn and replaced by a bus and only one or two trips per day. I think there may have been damage to the track on one section that they won’t repair. As with Segovia the AVE station is miles out of town. There may be a bus but I found no reference to it. Taxi to historic old town is a fixed €12 fare. e) Madrid public transport uses a rechargeable plastic card. Ten trip ticket valid on bus or metro is currently discounted at €8.50. Transfers are separate journeys. A separate rechargeable Renfe & Tu card is required for the Cercanias network. Different Renfe cards are required for local networks in other cities. Valencia has a Soma 10 rechargeable card valid on bus, metro & trams. Time limited transfers are allowed. Barcelona is still using mag strip tickets for bus, metro, tram. T-casual is the ten trip version. Time limited transfers allowed. Note Renfe T Dorada cards are not valid on the FGC. f) Delicias (Madrid) railway museum is still worth a visit. The museum at Villanueva (Barca) compliments it nicely. Delicias seems to have more smaller engines and a bigger collection of carriages. Villanueva has more big engines, which are currently in the open air. There appear to be plans to house them in a new shed. Note Villanueva is not open on Monday (few museums are in Spain) in spite of what it says on Google. Lesson learned: always check the venue’s own website. The Madrid metro’s collection of old metro cars etc is on an unused platform in Chamartin metro station and therefore inside the ticket barrier. Although I had pre-booked, this appeared not to be necessary. The little museum at Chamberi abandoned metro station does now need pre-booking. None of the museums I went to were busy (except Chamberi where I couldn’t get a slot.) g) Mercadillos for model trains. Last time I visited there was a mercadillo in the AVE arrivals in Atocha (Madrid) on the last Saturday of the month, mostly second hand stuff. This appears to have ceased. The mercadillo at Chamartin, also on the last Sat on the month is still running. This is in one of the halls off the small plaza in front of the hotel. It seems to be organised by a group of retailers (some on-line, some with shops.). There is some second hand. In Barcelona, the mercadillo on the first Sunday of the month is stiil taking place in Estacion Francia. In the past there has also been a smaller one in the cafe on the previous day. I was not able to determine if that had taken place. h) Masks: masks were still supposed to be worn on public transport. On the AVE the attendants would remind you, on the local trains not so much and compliance was pretty casual. On the metros masks were more prevalent, probably a reaction to the higher occupancy. Trams and busses, compliance was more o4 less universal. i) the worst journey on my trip? Trans Pennine Manchester airport to Northallerton. Only three cars and packed to the gunnels. Where are Northern Powerhouse upgrades? Where I guess they always were, a figment of imagination to be cancelled when spending cuts need to be announced.

John, thank you for your speedy reply. I am pleased to hear it all went well. Anybody able to report on a shipment over the £135 threshold? Peter

Has anyone here bought anything from Spain or elsewhere in the EU since 1 Jan ? How did it go? Was it through Ebay or direct from a shop? And was the VAT handled as expected and in accordance with £135 (?) threshold? Cheers

Thanks for the link. I suspect the average overseas small vendor such as the shops we are talking about won’t have any idea this is coming at them, especially if they are outside the EU. I can’t see how HMRC expect to enforce this with small traders resident in overseas jurisdictions. Very large retailers/wholesalers, maybe aware and will comply. OMPs like Amazon and Ebay should be able to put systems in place and get their cut as small traders route their sales through them as the simplest way to comply. As usual the system is rigged so the big boys win out at the expense of the little guys!

Maico I agree that appears to be the case at the moment, but I certainly remember receiving a shipment from the USA where duty was levied. It was way back when, so the agreed tariffs might have changed since then. Also the amount was exceedingly modest, less than two pounds on a shipment that was around £200 IIRC. However it may be that there was something in the order that didn’t qualify as scale models/toys, and that was what was charged and not the whole consignment. I don’t remember what was in the order.

Like Ellocoloco, I have bought items through ebay.es over a number of years. A couple of vendors I identified as traders (one was in Italy!) and other vendors have been in Germany, France and Portugal as well as Spain. Only once have I had the goods go missing, and that was a private purchase of some Mabar items from someone I had previously dealt with through ebay and I forgot to specify tracked shipping. A couple of lessons learned there! I have persuaded myself that he did actually ship the goods but they were intercepted somewhere en route, as an identical lot appeared on ebay.co.uk a few months later - long enough not to be seen as a coincidence. I have also ordered direct from one manufacturer without problems. Shipping costs can represent a big mark up. Also bear in mind that the Vat and duty regimes may well change after the Brexit transition period ends. Any readers who have bought stuff from outside the EU will know that these will be charged if customs consider the value to be over the de minimus limit. Duty is charged on the value of the goods, VAT is charged on the value of the goods plus the shipping costs - which count towards the de minimus. To add insult to injury Customs/Post Office will levy a handling fee - it used to be £8 but has no doubt gone up. Always check the Vat computation- I have had Customs add the postage value on the package to the declared invoice value even if the latter included p&p and therefore over charge the VAT! I did get a refund. Be aware that Customs set a rate each month that they use for exchange conversion, not the spot rate on the day the goods arrive.

Hi El loco loco. Thanks for the link. Looks fascinating. At first glance I think I saw another conversion lower down the thread of a Fleischmann 130(?). I also had a very quick look at the Pdf. The contents page seems pretty comprehensive. I can see myself learning a lot of Castillian very quicky, that or Google translate will be working overtime. I think I was half aware that the Piko 040 was not a exact model of a Spanish prototype, after all it does seem to be a tarted up version of their DB 55. I suspect the tarting up is little more than a paint job too. But, as you say, it looks the part and at the price they were, I might be prepared to do the surgery, following the guide on the link, if the spirit so moves me.

El toro Osborne is stretching my time frame a bit as I don’t think the first one was put up until early fifties - it would have carried the brand name too until c 1990 - but the image is too iconic not to have one, along with a church, a castle and a bullring. A few more pics for you. The viaduct is based on the one at Hervas at the southern end of the ruta de la plata, and the river bridge based on that at Toro on the Zamora to Medina del Campo line.

Thank you gentlemen for your replies. I will have to have a good a furtle round on Forotrenes - I have found discussion threads with pictures of various classes of steam loco grouped by wheel arrangement, but have not yet investigated the other threads and sections of the site. It was a lot on ebay.es that made me aware of the K’s 030. Looked as though the builder had done a quality job, with a suitable price tag . I fell in love with the Mabar 030 when I saw it in Bazar Matey in Madrid, and it got me started thinking about a Spanish layout. I also have the little Ibertren 030T. It was a bit pricey but it runs like a sewing machine. According to their website Mabar have a 230 in development but there is no indication of what stage it is at. Although I think mikado’s were on the roster at the time period I am thinking of (mid- late 40’s) , my personal preference is for some thing smaller to complete my roster as I already have a pair of Piko 040s. cheers Peter

Hi I have recently discovered that K’s / Keysers used to do a whitemetal kit of and ex Norte 030 (0-6-0 in UK terminology). No doubt they will be are rare as rocking horse muck by now, but does anyone know if K’s did any other Spanish outline kits, or if anybody else did or does them? It helps when searching/keeping an eye out for such things if you know what you are looking for! Since I am looking for a couple of medium size tender locos ( 030, 130, 230) I suppose I shall have to try my hand a scratchbuilding on the basis of the general arrangement line drawings I have in book published by MAF and whatever photos I can find. Cheers Peter

Hi everyone I am building a layout loosely based on Benavente, ZA on the, now closed, Ruta de la Plata between Plasencia in the south and Astorga in the North.. The time period is notionally mid -late 1940’s. Progress is painfully slow but I thought folks might be interested in some pics if only to alleviate the virus induced blues. Some of the buildings are placeholders and the trees are not finalised and there are still acres (hectares) of uncovered baseboard/base layer. Research is internet based although I have stayed in the town and thought the general arrangement of the station would be a good basis for a layout. Cheers Peter not sure why reposted photos are inverted!

Hi Stephane Your layout looks really good with some great details. I wish I had managed as much on my layout in the same time. And how did you do those twisted columns on the church facade? They are super. You said : “In France, few people are interested in the Spanish railway, I do not know if it's the same in the United Kingdom. With its different gauge, it is an exotic railway and yet very close to us. I live less than 100 km from Spain.” I am not sure that there are that many in Spain who are interested in Spanish railways. Marklin/Fleischmann seem to be as common as Electrotren. I think some people will be put off by the gauge issue, but UK modellers are more used to that with OO scale (4mm to foot 1:76 on 16.5 mm gauge ). I doubt the idea would catch on but maybe modellers of Spanish railways should use the TT scale of 3mm to foot , approx 1:100. 16.5mm gauge would be dead on for 5ft 6inches (two Castillian yards IIRC). Good luck