JamFjord

I think I'm a little bit in love with Sir Harry. The locomotive, you understand, not its namesake. That kit sounds like no small undertaking, but of course James has come up trumps - what a lovely model.

Thank you @rapidoTom and @Neil - that would work for me. 965502 it is. The different charging pipework shouldn't be too much of a challenge even for me. In any case I'd imagine there will be 3D printed details on the market within seconds of these being delivered. On the subject of Heysham No.2 my understanding is that she hasn't been, err, in steam (? charged?) in preservation, but Jason @Steamport Southport can probably tell us for sure. One of my many favourites at Ribble... I do love that place.

@RapidoCorbs - the team should be pleased, it's a little beauty! I'll be after the Bowaters Kent and Shell Mex models, I think, but which of the offered variants would you recommend as most suitable for adaptation to Heysham No. 2 (either as preserved at Ribble or working at Lancaster)? TIA

So, apparently this was the second poorly kept secret from Doncaster and before that went completely over my head (the first being Warley>Warner). I blame the efficiency of the door staff keeping the queue moving which meant I didn't get time to read the show special issue of BRM. In any case I couldn't be happier about this announcement - a Barclay Fireless has been on my wishlist for some time. There's a pretty good chance I'll be getting more than one. It's also good news from the perspective that it saves me ruining one of my Hattons AB in my (probably ill-fated) quest to recreate Heysham No 2 https://ribblesteam.org.uk/exhibits/steam/andrew-barclay-1950-1928-heysham-no-2/ That was never going to end well...

I hope the house move goes/is going well, Keith - having just gone through a move ourselves late last year (and still ongoing if you count unpacking and finding places for everything) you have my fullest sympathy. Hope it doesn't disrupt your modelling too much! All the best

In my excitement at discovering that my existing pre-orders had been saved, I missed that the Accurascale website is also taking additional preorders for all three... uh oh! 😬 Better make some more space in my stock box.

Best possible outcome as far as I'm concerned, I couldn't be happier that these toolings are finding a new home with Accurascale, especially the Andrew Barclay. I take full credit, of course; I can provide written evidence that I've been making a nuisance of myself, pestering Accurascale to take on the Andrew Barclay tooling - for completely unselfish reasons, of course. You're all welcome 😁 Seriously though, I'm very much looking forward to receiving the AB and P Class preorders I was worried I'd lost, and seeing what Accurascale does with future runs of those toolings and whatever else they've taken on. I'm fine with the bump in price, seems fair considering what's going on elsewhere in the industry when it comes to pricing. Great news I reckon.

Hi @Sectorisation and welcome. Nice choice of finish for the photo shelf - grey oak should set off the model nicely. If you need some inpiration (over and above the excellent examples you've already found), quite a few talented modellers on here have used IKEA's Mosslanda version of this shelf to create photo planks, vignettes and even micro layouts - it's a subject that interests me too, I've included a search URL for you to check out if you're interested: https://www.rmweb.co.uk/search/?q=mosslanda&quick=1&type=forums_topic Good luck with your own build - I'm sure I'm not the only one interested to see more photos.

Thank you Hattons, and best wishes to all the staff and management for the future.

Agreed, but the question wasn't specific 😉 Granted, your example was more appropriate.

Like this?

Not you specifically, and not wrong per se, but watching this video caused me to think that perhaps there's an approach one can adopt which doesn't trigger a desire to poke out one's own eyeballs rather than get started ballasting that next couple of metres... https://paxton-road.blogspot.com/2024/01/on-video-mindful-ballasting.html

I now feel ready to welcome our robot overlords with open arms. Life under skynet might not be so bad after all...

This issue made quite a thud as it landed on the doormat. Very enjoyable issue so far, still haven't finished, lots to absorb. Excellent video too as @sjrixon said, enjoyed that last night.

Uploaded to YouTube 28 Jun 2019 according to the video description

"Hornby-Dublo Chassis. We can send you at once a fully serviced guaranteed complete chassis which you can fit to your own loco body" Well, isn't that interesting...

Wow, even from Accurascale that's not something I was expecting. But, as you say, you like to shake things up. 👍 What I wouldn't give to take a look at the spreadsheet... 😅

Very interesting concept, this, and an interesting, innovative use for these mini shelves. I just ordered myself a couple with a larger IKEA order as I fancy seeing what might be achievable using both James' and your approaches, and whether I might be able to combine them. As a reader of his blog you're no doubt already aware of the layout, but I was just wondering whether James' more recent Mosslanda adventure 'Wrecsam Canalog' might suggest a couple of features that could be useful here? The box with lid (and lighting pelmet perhaps if you're feeling fancy) could offer some protection to any scenery you did decide to add. Maybe the attachable fiddlestick system could be adapted to lock two Mosslanda shelves together, or more end-to-end? In any case, I'm following with interest - looks like a fun solution to a real-world limitation many of us face.

Yep, agree. Although the ongoing effort to keep a system running seems to increase with the age of said system, in my experience. With Rich's background in IT, I'd be surprised if he took his eye off the ball and allowed any significant holes - he stikes me as a savvy chap. Incidentally, another interesting takeaway from Jenny's interview was Rich's comment about Hattons having possibly focused a little too much on innovation - a really good point and a lesson worth learning for a lot of businesses, especially startups. One of the things I admire about Hattons has been their history of innovation, but there needs to be a solid bottom line too. In any case, I doubt we've seen the last of the team behind the Hattons brand. I hope not, anyway!

These look great, just my kind of thing - looking forward to seeing the decorated samples. I do fancy a couple of packs, just need to restock the coffers a little... frankly I'd like a whole rake but unfortunately I don't have any spare kidneys to sell following quite a firesaley kind of week and a house move.

Gone, all gone 😵 - oh well, that saved me having to build an O Gauge shunting layout for the time being... They were still there some time after lunch, when I last checked. Not that I was checking. I wasn't checking. Honest.

Large ecommerce organisations tend to have software-based order fulfilment systems, which queue pick-pack lists in the sequence that the orders were received (although other factors to drive efficiency can be employed). Published standard delivery windows often tend to be calculated by the system based on quietest and busiest periods the business usually experiences. There can be significant variance between quiet and busy periods, and sometimes no obvious reason why (of course in the case of Hattons right now, the reason for order delays is obvious). Anyway, in general terms, paying extra for a priority despatch just pushes your order into a different (usually much shorter) queue. It's not in the interest of most businesses to sit on orders simply to artificially increase income from shipping, as the overwhelming likelihood is that the business will lose any repeat orders from the customer. It is significantly cheaper to keep a happy existing customer than to attract new ones.

Thanks for the tip regarding this book, Paul. It prompted me to buy the audiobook and I've been enjoying it so far. I didn't have many preconceptions, really, other than an impression that he seems like a nice enough lad and genuinely enthusiastic about railways. That he's on TikTok is of no relevance to me as I'm not on the app (nor ever likely to be). I can forgive a little clunky writing on the basis that I'm in no position to criticise...

Maybe too, a little LR/industrial/pseudo-industrial inspiration 🤪😬 https://chasewaterstuff.wordpress.com/2011/06/25/steam-locomotives-of-a-more-leisurely-era-1872-–-‘terriers’-0-6-0t-–-london-brighton-south-coast-railway/ https://sremg.org.uk/steam/a1-a1x.shtml PS I'm not tempted myself, not tempted at all, not even a little bit, nope. How many are left again?

I'm not sure it's a sign, but hopefully will help swing the decision in the positive direction.