Keith Addenbrooke

1 hour ago, NotofthiscenturyTim said:

The main thing I took away from this, and which I hadn't picked up on in the Hattons statement, is that Hattons' website/software stack has grown organically over time and is a bespoke system. Richard called it something like a "monolith". He also said there were significant costs maintaining it and that lockdown have provided an impetus to many other retailers to get online properly. 

Reading between the lines I suspect that the other retailers who were later to ecommerce were able to go with cheaper, off-the-shelf software while Hattons have all the costs associated with an in-house legacy system which was very innovative when it was first developed but is now showing its age. 

Brings back more memories of Hattons - in 2005 - 2007 when I was living back in the Midlands (actually where I come from) I spent many long hours scrolling through the OO gauge steam loco and coach listings on the ehattons website (as it was then).  I was using a dial-up modem to connect to the internet, so the connection wasn’t fast, giving me time to enjoy the pictures displayed on what certainly seemed to me then to be the best website around.  Happy times, Keith.

5 hours ago, BR60103 said:

1:60 is bigger than S scale (1:64) but less than any of the O scales. (43, 48, 50)

 

Some Narrow Gauge modellers also use 1:55 or 5.5mm scale to model 3’ gauge lines on standard 16.5mm gauge HO / OO track but that’s as close as I could get, Keith.

56 minutes ago, Dr Gerbil-Fritters said:

 

Where are you seeing these?  I've searched and can only find 72 Dapol O gauge steam locomotives of which 70 are Sold out on Pre-order....

4 minutes ago, melmerby said:

They're all in his trunk..........😄

They do seem to have vanished, both from the regular listing and the special Bulk Buy opportunities listing included as part of the Closing Down Sale.  I can only guess, but it would seem to me someone has bought out the stock en bloc (ie: another retailer or commercial organisation).

I did not buy one (nor accidentally buy 200 for us all to share here), sorry.  Keith.

23 hours ago, Johann Marsbar said:

The VW Camper van looks suspiciously like a model that appeared in various "Poundland" stores about 20 years ago and is OO scale. They did camper, flatbed truck and van variants and went by several different trade names on the packaging. I've got several repainted ones in the service of the Brewery on my layout!

Good to know you’ve found a use on the layout for yours.  I think mine may be from different tooling.  No scale is quoted, although the proportions look OK to me, so I’ve checked them against what I can find in terms of prototype dimensions.

If I take the wheelbase length (axle to axle) I believe this is 2.4m (or 7’ 10.5”).  In H0 1:87 that would only be 27.6mm, and in OO 1:76 it would be 31.6mm.  Mine is 40mm exactly, conveniently giving a scale of 1:60, but confirms it as too big.

I’m keeping the Camper van anyway, but not for model railway use.  I’ve decided not to keep the cars.  If they were a bit undersized it might work, as buildings also tend to be quite compressed (even when door/windows are kept to scale), but not with them being a bit too big.  Shame they didn’t all have the scales on the underneath like the red Porsche, Keith.

3 hours ago, SimonHMT said:

It sounds to me like it's been "got at"...after all, why would the factory fiddle about with an existing arrangement that has been engineered to be mass produced, and which works? 

The only Fleischmann vehicle with lights I've got at the moment is a 4-wheel PWG, I haven't investigated how it works yet...will have a look as I'm in the process of changing its couplings.

Hi Simon, agreed.  I need to correct an earlier comment I made about my Fleischmann 6-wheelers:  I thought the metal weight in the carriages carried the current, but on further inspection there are two metal strips beneath it that do the job instead:

I could do with some spare bulbs, and am thinking dolls house bulbs might fit as an option if I can’t get any proper Fleischmann ones (in the middle photo they are clearly of two different styles).  Hope that helps, Keith.

10 hours ago, ian said:

The diving board now has a home. I know that the safety elf would have a fit if he saw it but it's my railway and I don't care! Mind you, the concrete pads on which the legs stand need some work.

Well, I suspect you fooled us all with that one - the giant leap / fall / dive is off the bottom step, not at the top end!
 

(If only the bottom section was turned at 90° it would look a lot less scary when you start adding people)

Why do I keep looking to see how many O Scale Dapol unlined Black Terriers are still in stock? (currently 202).  I don’t model in O Scale - and never have - and I wouldn’t trust my painting and lining skills on anything big enough to be visible anyway.

But they do look very nice.  Guess I’ll miss all this even more than I thought.

In the scale I do model in - HO - there are some fantastic Crafstman Building kits from a range of manufacturers still showing.  These are priced at £200 - £300+ which I’d say is a fair price for that kind of genuinely rare and sought after limited run item.  They’ve not been discounted, and that seems fair to me: they’re the kind of high value, slow moving item that used to reside on the top shelf or in the window of a store waiting for someone to either save up or give in and buy it.  Sadly beyond my budget.

Not so sure the last two hundred and ninety-three Peco HO Scale Unifrog #6 Long Crossings (Code 83) will shift quickly, but perhaps there’s another story there (Hattons taking on Hornby excess stock has been discussed previously - this looks to be an outlier from Peco though).

I hope that staff are bearing up - can’t have been an easy weekend.  Thoughts remain with them all, Keith.
 

Thank you @Claude_Dreyfus and @298 for the feedback - useful to have other input at this stage (I’m not great at matching scales, so it is helpful).  To complete the story, I borrowed my wife’s red Porsche after lunch, and while it is a bit bigger than OO or H0 at 1:58, the size difference to the silver / grey 997* shows why it was worth checking:

I also dug out Sam’s Van (Gaugemaster H0) to compare with the VW Camper, which again confirms the view that these cars, incidentally all made by a company called Realtoy, are too big - even if with weathering (especially the wheels) I think they could still look quite nice.

Thanks again - question answered, Keith.

*I’m not an expert on cars - the model numbers/ types are all moulded on the bottom

We’re having a clear out, and among the things being sorted are some toy cars and other vehicles the kids long ago grew out of.  These four cars seem a bit smaller than the others, and while I believe they are still over-scale for HO, I’m wondering if it’s not too much to make them useful for a more modern setting?  As usual, I’d welcome any thoughts - I don’t have a layout to try them out on, sorry:

I also came across this VW camper - again, I think it’s a bit too big for 1:87 based on the dimensions when scaled, but how bad does it look to others with more experience?  Just wondered.  Hope that’s OK.  Thanks, Keith.

The plot thickens…but first of all some information that may be of more general use:

I have a couple of Fleischmann HO bogie coaches with lights exactly as Simon ( @SimonHMT ) describes: wiper pick-ups that brush the centre of the axles, (the insulated wheels are on the same side on one bogie, and the opposite side on the other bogie at the far end):

I also have some Fleischmann HO 6-wheel coaches, again with lights.  The pick-ups are the bearings:

The clever thing with these is the metal plate that adds weight across the coach also carries the lighting circuit.  Axles are the thicker insulated type.

I then have a few Roco coaches.  A couple have the thicker axles that are recommended when fitting light units, with the others having the metal axles with an insulated wheel at one side (as below).  Pick-up is via the bearings, then there is a thin brass feather / wiper pick-up between the bogie and the coach body (also highlighted):

What is strange is that the coach I had problems with yesterday continues to be the odd one out: three of the four coaches I have with this arrangement have insulated wheels one way round on one bogie, and the other way round at the other end.

Not that one - that one produces a short unless all four axles are the same way round.  I don’t know if it has been internally modified at some point - it is the only one with wires inside the coach, which don’t seem to be standard (according to the instructions the light bars - when fitted - are fed by metal rods from the floor to the ceiling, not wires).

For now I’m inclined to leave things as they are - but if I ever want to fit lights that coach may need further investigation.  Hope that helps - it appears I have an odd one that caused the issue, Keith.

Thanks @SimonHMT, makes sense - I was thinking the pick up was via the axle point bearings.  If it’s wipers on the axles, the insulated wheels need to be the same on each bogie, but opposites at each end of the carriage, just as you say: which would mean it was the other wheel set in my errant bogie I needed to reverse.  It’s all packed away now, but next time I get out the coaches I’ll check again.  Thanks for the quick reply, Keith.

I ran into a problem with a Roco coach that arrived today, which I’ve fixed but don’t really understand, so thought I’d ask here…

Some pre-owned Fleischmann coaches I bought recently came with lights not mentioned in the description.  I’ve therefore taken to testing any new coaching stock just in case (the simple way, with a PP3 battery across the rails).  I didn’t expect these Roco coaches to have lights but tested them anyway, and noticed the battery was getting hot - suggesting a short circuit somewhere.  The coaches come with lighting pick-ups fitted to the bogies, so I just needed to figure out where the problem was.  I wired up a controller and set to work.

By process of elimination I worked out which coach it was, using one of the Fleischmann coaches to check.  Some wires visible inside the coach turned out not to be the problem, which I finally worked out was down to one particular wheel set:

But the wheel set in itself was fine:

All I had to do was turn it round.  Somehow it had ended up with the insulated wheel on the opposite side to those on the other three axles - it had probably popped out at some point after last being used and was quickly replaced the wrong way round in error.

But my question is: why?  Given all the axles are insulated, why would having one the wrong way round cause a short?  Any ideas?

The lesson I’ve learned of course is to check each new piece of rolling stock separately before running it in a train: I could easily have spent a lot longer trying to work out if there was a problem with a locomotive if I’d had one to hand this evening.

Any thoughts would be most welcome - simply to improve my understanding.  Thanks, Keith.

4 hours ago, Robin Brasher said:

Perhaps we could start a topic for our last purchases from Hattons.

One thing that’s emerged from this thread is it’s more common than I realised to maintain spreadsheet records of purchases.  As a former Management Accountant I thought it was just me, but it’s something several have mentioned.

Checking my spreadsheet last night shows my transaction volume and spend at Hattons has gone up in recent years, especially in 2022 when, post-pandemic, I tried out several different ideas (all pre-owned based).  The number of sales of surplus / pre-owned stock I was making to Hattons also rose - same reason.  All transactions were flawless and efficient.  There was only one occasion where I can recall making a return, and this was handled very promptly and courteously.

My final parcel came yesterday: Items I wanted to buy later in the year, but pulled forwards.  

No prizes for guessing the long box is a few lengths of Peco Flextrack, but I wanted to show the packaging because of the additional reinforcing strip Hattons have been adding for additional rigidity during shipping, which is appreciated.  I’m aware of other suppliers who will only ship complete boxes of 25 lengths of Flextrack, which is fair enough, but more than I need.  

Ideally I would have called in at the store in person, but am not over that way this week.  I emailed the staff I’ve been dealing with at Hattons after the news broke, and it’s a sign of their professionalism that I soon got a gracious reply back, Keith.

Thanks for sharing these - would love to have space to model these: simple scenery, big trains and tall elevators, plus heavy traffic.  I think it could make a perfect basement-sized shelf layout (with plenty of staging).  Thanks again, Keith.

31 minutes ago, Northroader said:

“Ticket offences fell dramatically after the newly recruited Fahrkartenkontrolleure were revealed.”

Just watched the video of the fiddle yard: a truly amazing piece of design and engineering!  I have no idea how many hours thinking it all through must have taken, but I don’t think I’ll ever look at a staging area in quite the same light ever again!  Thank you for sharing it in such detail.

And if anyone thinks I’ve lost it over a few hidden sidings - please do watch the video in full, Keith.

Like others who’ve already posted, my first memory of shopping at Hattons was in the original Smithdown Road store a quarter of a century ago.  Regular visits to the later store, where the friendly, knowledgeable (and patient) staff, along with the wonderful glass display cabinets, made it a real destination to visit.  More recently,  I’ve mainly dealt with the Pre-Owned team, who have been excellent on every occasion.  The Trunk service has been a genuine (award-winning) innovation too, and my last visit in-store to Widnes was only just before Christmas.  Gasps of shock from the family when I told them - will leave a big hole in my modelling memories, as well as future.  Can only wish the very best to all the staff.  Take care, Keith.

On 06/01/2024 at 10:33, JZ said:

That's me happy.

Interesting to see an article about the history of Eggerbahn / Minitrains - presumably in HOn30 (9m gauge).  Keith.

Hi Paul, a company called Pentrex seem to have done one with a blue cover and photos.  Any use?  Keith.

Excellent - thank you for sharing your layout here.  Looks like you’ve made very good use of your head-start in scenic modelling in creating something good to look at that will be enjoyable to use.  Always nice to see something in Narrow Gauge posted here too, Keith.

On 02/01/2024 at 19:51, Neils WRX said:

One final arrival for 2023 was yet another 62 this time in Locon orange livery.  The loco is on the shed for repairs from its Dutch owners. 9802 was formally ACTS 6702, before that it was SNCB 6325. The locomotive will be fitted with LED lights in due course.

 

 

 

Thanks,

 

Neil

Hi Neil, this looks remarkably like a loco I was keeping my eye on on the pre-owned eBay website of a well-known UK retailer recently.  If it is indeed the one, niceto know it’s gone to the right home.  Looking forward to more in 2024: always good to read and watch your updates here, Keith.

37 minutes ago, John Besley said:

Just had a look on flea bay and found a pair of mini cube speakers 65mm square. Seeing as how the Desktop PC sits on my desk directly underneath Exhill I can mount both speaker's under the base board at each end, I think I can tweak the sound project to run from either left or right as I want which will be fun.

 

The MP3 file can then live on the desktop for the time being,  they should arrive by this weekend from China! Anyway at £5.99 postfree can't go too far wrong

Could be just the job.  As it happens, I was sharing a display table at the November meeting of our local 009 Society Group with @ColinK (who first mentioned Audacity on the previous page).  His rather fine micro layout next to my collection of 009 scratch and kit built models.  The gentle sound of appropriate ambient noise would have complemented the day quite nicely I think, so I hope this all works out.  Keith.

6 hours ago, Jon Gwinnett said:

Apologies to the Ercalverse for going off topic, but I’m generally very satisfied with Roco universal couplers, positive, light action coupling, not too hard to uncouple, delay latch built in, and nicely close coupled. I’ve bought some HOfine hooks to fit to my locos, as an experiment, and the Marklin close couplers offer the facility to shunt with a magnetic pole (I like to be involved in operation, so hand throw points with Caboose Hobbies ground throws and so on).

 

I don’t operate fixed rakes, but if I did, I’d be tempted by Fleischmann profis (or more likely the cheap Chinese knockoffs!) as they seem more robust than Roco close couplers, but not really suitable for shunting as they require a good whack to bring them together (or so I’m told).

If I can add my apologies to @ian for the continued thread drift, but just to pick up on @Jon Gwinnett‘s reference to Fleischmann Profi couplings requiring a push to get them together.  My understanding is this is in fact deliberate, so some gentle shunting push moves can take place without couplings always engaging.  In the tests I’ve done they’ve worked fine.

Personally, I’d take any European close coupler over a UK OO tension lock coupler any day.  And to get back to Die Ercallbahn, as the videos demonstrate, it’s worth noting Maerklin technology was decades ahead of its time.  Keith.

I had a good look at a Bachmann On30 Mogul like this last time I was in the Hobby Shop.  Looked very nice, but I didn't fancy moving up to a bigger scale for buildings, etc.  Problem largely avoided if you go outside.  Good idea, Keith.

Hi Paul, I see crests and writing, so my guess would be it’s not a picture / photo as such, perhaps a poster of railway heralds?  I see the picture on the box isn’t much help 😀, Keith.