Sjcm

There is very little on there at the moment, probably half of what was on there compared to when I stopped buying a month ago and the prices reflect that. I did very well in December selling because people were going mental buying anything. Hopefully will get back to normal for buyers once people have spent their Christmas money and ebay start giving out selling fees discounts again so supply catches up with demand.

the 8f is quite common, however one with a working tender motor is rarer than hens teeth. Somewhere in the loft I have just the loco waiting for the tender that never came.

no discount here either. missed last one because of proximity of Christmas so was wondering if this is punishment?😂. oh well, looks like I have another 2 weeks at least to get stuff fixed to sell

Anyway, surely for those that strive for realism a musty smelling coach is prototypical for the steam age? The manufacturers have spent have spent so much time concentrating on the sound aspect that they've missed a trick imo. One of those glade plug-in air fresheners modified to fit inside a coach with say sachets of sulphur /rotton eggs or bleach/sick for modern stock and they can charge an extra 50 pounds offer stunning realism for the connoisseur modeller.

this is quite a common workaround I think, at least with the Hornby pug. oobill did it a few years back. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CePMCLzxQYE Edit. Actually, not much use if you're putting motor in the wagon.

Actually I forgot the highlight. I was trying to find the pub I was staying at and Google maps had put me on a footpath on the side of a hill when I saw this rapidly approaching dot in the distance that turned to be a horse running full pelt in my direction.. Ended up down the side of a drainage ditch before the owner turned up and rescued me. Weirdest place I've ever been and I've stayed in Ilkeston!

I once got stranded in Merthyr overnight and it was like the league of gentlemen. I went into a newsagent and the owners infant daughter actually said to him "you can't serve him he's not local". 😂Took me hours to find a pub and that was a crown green bowling club. I was staying in a pub that opened 1 day a week and when I got up in the morning I opened the curtains to find a donkey and horse staring in at me. This was less than 10 years ago, and I'm still surprised I got out of there without being sacrificed.

As you say it's pointless as it basically depends on the seller and how bothered the deliverer is. I always completely disregard the estimated delivery date as it seems to be based on their despatch info.You can buy postage online with the tracking number provided and as soon as you type it in, it's shown as despatched on ebay, but that does not mean the courier actually has it and I often have a 1 or 2 day delay before they actually get round to getting it to the courier. As someone who only provides a tracking number when it's actually in royal mail's hands I always type in the tracking number to see what it's showing and sometimes it comes up with an error and try later, sometimes I get "we've got it" message and I have often received delivery confirmation from the buyer before it's shown as delivered, so yeah it's more for the seller rather than an accurate tracking for the buyer.

I have some items to sell in the new year which would probably attract more interest abroad and not on GSP so I had a look on royal mail. Sending a loco sized item to America would cost me 19.85. so I have to gamble 20 pounds on the uk/usa post service (and from what I've seen the USA post makes Evri look good), fill in the forms correctly and hope I don't get a customs guy having a bad day. Just not worth the risk frankly compared to GSP who are responsible for the gambling bit and would take the hit. Now I did risk it before Brexit but there were such horror stories knocking around at that time that I just didnt/don't want the hassle. Has it settled down? Probably. Unfortunately various governments have cut their own throats on this one

Erm I have some etched coach sides for a lms porthole 3rd made by L&M?

Actually having a look in my spares box, I think my memory has failed me. The top one is the old type and notice the long end which I think people cut off. The other motor is the more modern puny type that often appears unused on ebay

Yep, could be. Can't see what other purpose it would serve.

Has an odd motor by the looks of it with a pole sticking out the back of the magnet?? Can't say I've seen a K's motor like that - all the ones I've seen are those puny things that the builder invariably doesn't bother with.

Yep, the chassis probably fell apart with mazak rot. Now me, I glued it back together and touch wood in 15 years it's got no worse, but then they knew how to make mazak rot back in the 50's. none of this modern cheap rubbish😉

Oh that's normal at least with mine. It's when they start glowing red and the knobs starts melting you need to be careful😉

Reminds me of my misspent youth. Back in the 1980's me and some friends decided to walk the Hampton branch to water orton in search of railway memorabilia. Of course we were blissfully unaware that the wooden bridges were gone, not to mention the M6. Don't think I've ever been so wet in my life, but I did find a Midland railway chair and also a milepost sign that we tried in vain to remove - hadn't occurred to us that tools would be required.😯

That, or eBay are now offering an AI feedback option

Just seen this gem on his feedback. Quite frankly, the seller represents a rare class of pro, whose passion for what he sells remains strongly at its core, along with the integrity and knowledge to accurately evaluate all that he sells according to the most principled—rather than opportunistic—of influences. Carrying some of the finest model trains, offering premier shipping, packing and speed, this business ranks among the loftiest competitors—of which there are few. paid 1,950 pounds. All I want for Christmas is his customer address list😂

Gostude has one for 400 so I'm guessing the seller clocked that listing and thinks his is a bargain. Schoolboy error of pricing your stuff on what the chissellers want, rather than what they actually sell for. to be fair at least the Gosmeister has decent photos Don't all bid at once

I probably would. He's said they're like new and in original boxes, so that covers you for not as described.

Interesting. Have to admit I thought there was more to PAT testing than a visual inspection so pretty useless for a controller on ebay. As I said earlier I use a H&M duette which must be 40+ plus years old. I use it because it seems to have more "oomph" with old motors than the modern stuff. I'm sure there is a modern equivalent but i don't fancy paying 100 pounds to find out. Funnily enough there is one on ebay atm, working but not checked and no proviso to get it checked in the listing and it's at 41 pounds, so you have to wonder would people pay 80 pounds for a tested re-conditioned one?

Oh it was just an experiment with a controller I got in a job lot from watching people repair old electrical stuff. I'm not insane enough to buy an old 60's controller to actually use or sell - anything before the 2000's could be iffy realistically.😉 but the fact remains anything electrical 2nd hand you sell makes you liable however new it is. A friend of mine got blown across the room by a modern plug transformer which was both scary and funny at the same time.

Yes, but isn't that the same with all electrical items? I have a working modern-ish Hornby r8250 controller. It's no use to me so I could sell it, but it's at least 10 years old so technically if I sold it and it blew up I would be liable presumably and I've seen one of those modern plug powerpacks go bang. On the plus side the components should be ok age-wise, on the other hand it's your typical made for pennies tat. The odds are better than a h & m duette but I use one of them everyday😂 A while back I fed an old controller through about about 3 safety cut-offs and left it for 8 hours and it worked fine, but I certainly wouldn't sell it. To be honest, the whole metal case aspect of the older controllers makes me twitchy.

My last buy before Christmas arrived yesterday, a Hornby Dublo 8f, a Kit built GWR railcar, a Hornby class 47 and a Triang DMU for the grand total of 42 pounds including postage. The motors work on all of them so for 10.50 a pop i'm quite happy with that.

It's a difficult one with controllers really. I have thought of having a go myself as they are simple things and once you change out any capacitors, resisters, failed wiring etc.. it should be safe, but I wouldn't trust myself to sell them even if I did the PAT course. Seems to be a grey area selling them, and I think I have sold a working one in the past, but with the proviso that they needed to be checked by a qualified electrician. Also, what is the cut-off for selling them? 5 years old? 10 years? If they have a CE mark? Plenty of "modern" electrics from the mid90's now have failing capacitors..