GWR-fan

Peter, thankyou, so the box is an accessory decoder and not simply a CDU for analogue use.

The electronic box that may be used with it, is it a CDU? The box mentions connecting either DC or DCC power. Is the box able to be used with analogue DC as I am unsure if the box is for DCC only? I like the convenience of the led position information, the momentary actuation switch and the frog polarity actuation.

Apart from the hook separating from the loop, another issue with the Hornby coupler hook is that the hook remains in the unlocked (raised) position, requiring manual intervention to return it to the locked (engaged) position. For years I never had a functionality issue with the typical large tension lock coupler. Also never had an issue with the early release Airfix small coupler. The small Hornby tension lock coupler (NEM) though and the small coupler based on the old Airfix design are a problem.

Entered in error.

Edwardian, many thanks. Link is very handy.

I was looking at the expected arrival date of the GWR Hattons Genesis coaches and noticed in the search return the absence of the full brake coach. Perhaps an omission in the search return or has it been dropped from the line up please? Edit: I could only find the coach by searching "6 wheel full brake" rather than a specific search for a GWR variant. https://www.hattons.co.uk/498081/hattons_originals_h4_6fb_101_6_wheel_full_brake_99_in_gwr_chocolate_and_cream/stockdetail.aspx Edit: a subsequent search specifically for a "GWR 6 wheel full brake coach" actually found the coach. Odd that it did not work previously.

My five car set of GWR coaches arrived this afternoon. I am most impressed. At first I was a little hesitant in their purchase as I had previously pre-ordered 10 Hattons Genesis coaches, but after the numerous pre-order cancellations reported by others for Hornby products from the store I was a little concerned that given the popularity of the GWR livery that my pre-order for Genesis coaches may not be fulfilled. My set consists of a brake third, two third class coaches, a first class and a full brake. The fitting of the stepboards really finishes off the cars. If I had not pre-ordered other coaches I could be tempted to buy further Hornby cars.

Not exactly what you wanted but I would think that the London Underground S class stock would have small diameter wheels so these may possibly be an alternative given nil stock on the correct tyres. These are at Rails of Sheffield. https://railsofsheffield.com/products/30863/Bachmann-36-070-oo-gauge-london-transport-s-stock-traction-tyres

I purchased two new Bachmann Manor class in a trainset packaging, "Dunley Manor" or "Dunkley Manor" from memory and both were hopeless runners. To get the models to run required several minutes of spluttering around the track plus the hand of God and finally they would run, although not that well. My third Manor was another Bachmann split chassis, but this time, a stated non-runner and yet with no work needed the loco runs perfectly. Personally, I have never had any luck with the Mainline branded locomotives with their tiny ringfield motor and as before have only purchased for the body and the metal tender wheels which fit nicely under the Dean single tender body. Two Mainline 43XX models after several hours of frustration I simply reassembled minus the motor and will use them as yard queens or maybe double heading a more powerful loco.

I just completed a survey from eBay on the new managed payments system. They are trying to incentisize (?) a quicker payment method if a seller is not happy with receiving his funds in a 1 - 4 business day default timeframe. If you are willing to pay a percentage fee increase depending on how quickly you want your money then they are suggesting several options to either receive your money within 30 minutes, a business day or the default 1 - 4 business days (no additional fee for the default payment period). Their models are between 0.5% to 2% and also a maximum payment fee up to $20.00 Aud depending on how quickly you want your money. If you are prepared to wait then no additional percentage fee payable on the existing selling fees. The quicker you want your money the higher the fee and the higher the maximum fee amount payable. EBay are also considering using your payments from buyers as a "wallet" so you are able to use your eBay account credit to purchase items (only on eBay?), much like using your PayPal account credit. After completing the survey it seems that all eBay is interested in is making money on your money by offering incentives to sellers to get their own money paid out more quickly rather than await the default period. In effect they are holding your money hostage and asking a ransom to be paid for it to be placed in your bank account.

My pet grievance, another case of a Hatchette coach masquerading as a Bachmann car. Description states no identification but either Bachmann or Hornby. Then of cause it could be a cheap magazine knockoff. The seller is not a naive eBayer who rarely posts items for sale. https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Bachmann-BR-maroon-Corridor-2nd-Coach/114696111167?hash=item1ab46bc43f:g:SnIAAOSwGGFgD0Xs

When I display an image on a listing the first image is always the item with its box directly behind it. For many the box is almost as important as the contents. Many store the item after use and prefer the manufacturer packaging for security. The box also identifies the item so that there is no misunderstanding as to confusing an item with an earlier released item from the manufacturer. Many do not identify the part number of the item in their listing. Many sellers do not identify a super detailed item as a tender or loco drive so the box is a quick method of identification. While the image of the box does not need to be the first image displayed it is important for the listing. Many times I would receive a message asking if the original packaging was available even though the images clearly showed the box.

This is a quote from the most recent email from eBay. British banks may have different banking rules. Quote: "Instead, eBay will collect fees and other expenses, such as those resulting from refunds, claims or disputes directly from your earnings. If your funds are not sufficient to cover these amounts, we will charge your payment method on file (debit or credit card, and/or linked bank account). ......,."

The latest email from eBay specifically states that a seller is not to state the preferred payment method such as PayPal. Quote: "When eBay manages your payments, your listings are automatically updated to reflect all the ways buyers can pay. Please refrain from specifying preferred payment methods in your listings. For more information, see our listing policies."

My account will be switching over in a week or two to the "managed payments system". EBay thinks it a great idea as they are able to offer the items for sale on your site with the option of many payment systems. Possibly the seller will not even know what payment system has been used. EBay also like the system as it gives them direct access to your banking account should you be remiss on a payment say if a decision is made against you and the buyer is to get a refund. EBay also retain your money for a few days before it appears in your account. From the point of view of the seller what are the disadvantages. Often when I have sold an item basically every payment has been by PayPal. I could then almost instantly use that PayPal payment to purchase another item. Under the EBay system, eBay will hold onto my payment for two or three days then directly credit it to my banking account. I do not know about British banks but usually any payment made to my bank account has my banking institution wanting several days to confirm that the payment was genuine. Thus from my point of view any payment may not be seen actually in my account for a week or so after the buyer has made payment. I am not a fan of the system as I have always liked PayPal and after nearly twenty years of using it I have never had an issue. EBay did contact me personally a couple of months ago about the changeover and in a lengthy telephone conversation I made my points known. The eBay service person listened to my issues however, it was made very clear that the managed payments system was a reality and I would need to accept it. While I was talking to the person I made it known to him that many, if not most of the eBay sellers are not power sellers with a huge inventory in their store, nor do they rely on eBay for their sole income. EBay thinks that everyone is a businessman and not just someone occasionally selling off unwanted items.

I was able to purchase five of the Hornby GWR 4-wheel coaches. I believe that these are pre-1908 livery. Also have ordered ten of the Hattons Genesis cars in the same livery. These will run with a few Hornby clerestories in the livery plus, not very prototypical, but I have four of the Graham Farish non-corridor suburban coaches (two coaches and two brake cars) to use as well in that early livery. I purchased the Hornby coaches as they were available, as I do not know if my pre-order for the Hattons Genesis will be fulfilled when released in a few months. I presume the GWR livery will be popular.

Many years ago when I was heavily into outdoors largescale modelling, I had the audacity to criticise the engineering on an American company's latest and greatest big loco. I have a lifetime in aviation engineering and offered some helpful hints as to how the loco chassis could be improved to improve the reliability of the drive. It seems that the wheels kept falling off on the model. Given that the loco weighed almost 15 - 20 kilograms I felt the method of retention designed in the model to mount the driving wheels was inadequate for the task. I reported my thoughts on the company's own sponsored forum. The president of the company in no uncertain terms over two emails advised me to cease and desist my criticisms or I would be sued for loss of income at the company as not one person had returned a loco to the company for warranty repairs. I advised the company president to read his own company sponsored forum and he would see numerous reports of failed drives and the steps taken by owners to repair their models. All the locomotives were being repaired rather than returned for warranty claims. Days later the company issued a statement advising anyone who had a failed drive to request a shipping return label to return the loco to the company for repair. Not long after I was the president's new best friend and he requested that I ship an example of one of the company's points (switches) so that he could send my modified example to China to show the engineers there what design changes were needed for future production. Several of the design changes I suggested were incorporated making for a smoother transition through the point.

As regards QC alas I am not encouraged by stores that test a loco prior shipping. Several years ago I purchased two new stock Hornby train packs with the then unknown to me T9 mazak issue. The packs were received two weeks after posting and each included a certificate that the models were tested prior dispatch. Strangely two weeks later the motor retention casting on both locomotives had totally disintegrated making the models inoperative. Mid last year I returned a Heljan 1361 class loco requesting that the replacement loco be tested instore prior shipping. This is the only loco I have ever returned as I usually sort out issues myself but this one was a basket case. The return process took four months and upon receipt of the replacement loco it needed the hand of god to get moving and operation was barely better than the returned loco. Knowing that stock levels were low and a further replacement would take many months, I repackaged the loco and placed in a dark corner on a shelf so that I would not be reminded of its existence. Given the comments on the A2/2 loco I would not be impressed if I had paid the retail price or even a discounted price and had to deal with the livery and poor assembly issues. This does not bode well for future Hornby releases. Fifteen years ago Hornby had the expertise with its Chinese manufacturers to produce an outstanding model. What has changed, has the company in its quest for profits reached rock bottom to get the best manufacturing deal at the expense of customer satisfaction?

For a rigid chassis then a multi axle model in essence becomes a two driving axle model. Contact with the rail for the intermediate "driving" axles will degrade traction over track irregularities. Compensation will transfer load to those driving wheels able to maintain both contact and traction. Thus, while both torque, power and traction are essential to consider, the state of the chassis, rigid or compensated, is just as important.

While I live in a very large city in Australia, the nearest "hobby" store to me is over one hour's drive cross the city through peak traffic. When I get there I find no Hornby or Bachmann "OO" items and quite often am unable to source polystyrene cement and even matt black tins of paint. That store is regarded as being one of the biggest in Australia. Two stores that I know that stock a reasonable level of Hornby products, one in the city centre and one on the north shore, both charge full "local" retail price. There are other suppliers of Hornby items, however, as I do not reside in those cities then online ordering is my only option. Due the high prices I do not consider these an option. For me the only satisfactory alternative is one of the larger UK box shifters. Many UK stores either do not ship internationally or do not offer VAT exemption and so I do not use their services. Two main alternatives that do offer shipping and VAT exemption I avoid due in my opinion less than satisfactory service. Another large store I no longer offer my patronage I have abandoned due a recent gross overcharge on postage costs when the order could have been sent in two packages for one-third the cost of a single package. This leaves me with in my opinion just one store that I have purchased from for many years with just a few instances of less than desirable service which the store was more than obliging to take responsibility for and correct the situation. If I was to pre-order then this is the store I would use, even if I knew that I would receive an unable to supply email. The store has more than earned my respect and a recent look at my profile on the store's site shows several hundred transactions with the store. They have earned their reputation for service and while some offer knee jerk reactions to a pre-order being denied, I will stand by the store for service and reputation. Those UK residents who are spoilt for choice can go elsewhere, however, for me I will go without if the store is unable to supply. The need to have the very latest release from the manufacturers, to me, is like a drug fuelling an addiction. As soon as an item is announced then a pre-order is deemed necessary. The refusal email puts them in a state of withdrawal. I understand that one is disappointed upon missing out on a new release, however, how many in true honesty is able to say that they really have more than enough locomotives and rolling stock to use in a lifetime and yet cannot refuse the urge to get on the gravy train of the latest release?

As regards coach rooflines I am reminded of my days when I modelled LGB products. Many of us are anal retentive being particularly fussy that rooflines and liveries are matching over the full length of a train. A case comes to mind of a production run of a Zillertalbahn "U" class steam locomotive which prototypically had a very low cab roofline. Knowing that most modellers would have liked the loco cab roof to align with the coaches in the rake, the manufacturer specifically raised the cab roof to match the roofline of the coaches, even though unprototypical. They did release a more prototypical low cab roof model for the more discerning modellers.

Common sense would dictate that when there is a new release announced a retailer will be told how many items the store will have for pre-order. If other stores do not fulfill their quota then Hornby would most likely offer the unordered items to those retailers able to sell the item when available. Recently, even though supposedly sold out one of the major retailers offered pre-ordering of a limited number on the hush-hush locomotive with the nameplates. I was surprised as I believed the production was sold out. Pre-ordering with me always makes me cringe as the system is open to manipulation. I recall several years ago a particular production run of a West Country loco that had a production run of around 200 items. The loco was heavily pre-ordered and yet production for some reason was heavily curtailed. What really peeved me was an employee of one store bragging how he had ordered and received six of the locomotives with the intent of making a fortune on an online auction site. I have never pre-ordered previously but did make an exception for the Hattons Genesis GWR coaches. If I receive them then I will be happy, if not, then I will not be bad mouthing Hattons and saying I will never shop there again. Stores (and manufacturers) usually, unless a specific store commission from a major manufacturer, will never reveal production numbers. This is understandable as customer uncertainty will persuade him to either pre-order or purchase immediately on release at the quoted retail price. If demand is not met and the production quantity high then buyers will play the waiting game and wait for a firesale to purchase the item. Hattons was severely chastised over the Stephenson Rocket release for being unable to fulfill all pre-orders. We do not know whether the fault lay with the store for accepting more pre-orders than able to fulfill or if Hornby itself was to blame by not being able to supply the quota promised to the store. I do not believe that the store would grossly overorder if unable to supply. They may have allowed pre-orders for a limited number in excess of actual promised supply as some who pre-order either change their minds or have duplicate pre-orders with other stores. Without the specific details one really cannot lay specific blame on a store for not being able to fulfill a pre-order. It is easy to take a gut reaction and blame the store but one should consider that perhaps there are mitigating factors such as the manufacturer not supplying the store's quota. It would be nice if the store was able to explain why a pre-order has been cancelled but perhaps due contractual conditions they are not able to.

Do you realise just how much the GSP is charging international customers for this service? Like many others who have purchased internationally I refuse to use any eBay seller who offers GSP as their shipper. For instance I was interested in a few small decals offered by a seller on eBay. The GSP shipping to Australia was GBP23.00. I contacted the seller and he advised that he had no idea that the shipping cost was so high. He ended the listing and offered RM as the shipper. The shipping cost GBP1.95. He got a sale.

Sometime ago our delivery driver could not speak English but I assume that he could read addresses. My son had requested an item to be sent to my address. As it had not arrived we went to the local post office to see if it had arrived. The postmistress carried out a check but said that my son's item had not arrived but that there were seven items for me that had arrived from the UK. If the postman is unable to make a delivery he is required to leave a collection card in the letterbox advising that the item is held at a particular post office for collection. The driver had left no collection cards for the seven items held in the post office. A few days later those parcels would have been sent back to the UK as unable to be delivered. It seems that due the inability to fully comprehend the English language the delivery man found that at the end of the day he still had numerous items not delivered. To speed things up he omitted to leave collection cards and simply dropped the undelivered items at the nearest post office. The post office staff would not be aware that collection cards had not been left and so when the items were not collected the staff would return the items to the sender. The post office is only required to hold the items for around ten days. In the past a second collection card would be sent to remind the buyer to collect his item at the post office. To save cost the need for a second reminder was removed and so the delivery man leaving a collection card was the only hint to the buyer that his item had arrived. In another case in our area it became apparent that many items were not being delivered. An investigation into the delivery contractor revealed over 8000 items in his possession that had not been delivered. He was not stealing the items, however it seems that he was so inefficient that at the end of each day he always had undelivered items and knowing that he would not have the time to deliver on the next shift he simply stored the undelivered items on his property. Over time the number of items got greater and greater.

How many times have we seen the Hachette Mk1 coach described as "Bachmann"? Even the major retail stores listed them incorrectly at times. I have even seen the diecast static model locomotives included with magazines that were described as being Hornby. I have even advised a seller of his mistake, been ignored and the seller then relisting the item incorrectly as before. Now one could excuse a seller with no knowledge of model railway items but in the cases I have seen the seller has model railway experience. Mistake or possible deceit? I know my answer.