YT-1300

And you know all this for sure do you? Have Bachmann told you that? Writing off a large sum of money takes some explaining to the shareholders, and replacing that with another new product only adds more cost, which takes some explaining to the shareholders.

The bogies on the models may have a little fore and aft play to allow proper negotiation of trainset curves and inclines, so the bodyshell on the examples may be pushed forward in transit? Just speculation, as I dont have one

An automatic coupler is only worthwhile if all you are doing is uncoupling the loco from the stock, it doesn't help if you are shuffling wagons around in a yard

Straight to the bank, ASAP, get the bank to block any repeat withdrawals. The longer you leave it the more change you could get you're account emptied. Tell them what happened, there is a good chance they will re-imburse you, but the longer you leave it, the bank will take the view that it's a purchase you've changed your mind about and wont entertain you.

If I want to use Apple Play in my car, I have to use an iPhone. I don't go moaning to the manufacturer just because I don't want to use an iPhone, instead I use Android Auto. It might not, or might, have the same features but at the end of the day if I want those extra features, then I'd need to use an iPhone. Simple as that Accurascale have designed a full range of features that can be completely unlocked using a specific ESU decoder. The option is there, its up to you to decide if you want it or not, if you do, then use the ESU chip, if you don't want to, don't berate the manufacturer.

Adding extra gearing for the powered centre axle increases drag, which affects haulage performance. Try an experiment, take the gears off the centre powered axles on a comparative US loco and see how much its performance increases, it'll surprise you. There where a number of 6-axle US loco's whose drive train was A-1-A, to spread the weight for increased traction, adding the associated traction motors and gearing would have increased the weight and actually reduced the available power for haulage. The 6-axle monsters on the railroads today are very high powered and the extra weight and drag taken up by those traction motors and gearing is negated.

Number 1 end is generally regarded as the fan end of single engined loco's

The steerable trucks reference is to the type of truck fitted to the prototypes, the models don't have, nor need steerable trucks. Scaletrains models (and indeed all central motored US locos I've came across) are very sure footed and will pull way in excess of their prototypes loads without missing a beat.

I've never hidden any of my hobbies from anyone, I've had some gentle ribbing about my interest in model railways, but I've had abuse, some quite nasty, from other modellers over my choice of prototype (North American).

The only things common to a 71 and a 74 are the cabs, everything else would need to be newly tooled

I think clubs and show are very important to the hobby and the loss of them would be detrimental. I joined a club a number of years back and met some really nice folk, and formed some strong friendships, I also gained a wider network of friends that are members of other clubs, and gained a number of friends that stop and chat at each exhibition I'm at, even if I am a visitor and not an exhibitor. I left that club along with some other members and we formed our own informal club, we all work on each others layouts, help out exhibiting and above all, have developed our friendships into really strong bonds. We also share our knowledge, expertise and opinions. I would not know anywhere near as much as I do about any part of the hobby without these friendships, and I wouldn't have these friendships without that first model railway club that I joined, whom I'd heard about at a model railway show. I was a lone modeller from my early years, through to my late 30's and I reckon I learned more about modelling in the first few months in that club than I did all those 30 years on my own with the monthly mags. It gave me the confidence to try new techniques, build my own layout and exhibit it and get it published in a magazine. Without shows and clubs I would have none of that. Face to face interaction is seriously under-rated these days. I am in no way a loner, I am lucky to have a wide circle of friends both in general and related to other hobbies. I appreciate some of the YouTube channels that show progress on layouts, such as Everard Junction, but I switch off as soon as there are shots of trains running - I'd much rather see them at an exhibition. I can't be alone in noticing that a growing number of people at shows just point their phone at a layout, film trains moving and nothing else, no focussing on scenes or details. Are they taking anything in? The hobby wouldn't die if clubs and shows were no more, but it would be much poorer for it.

The above in bold is very true, and likewise not all model railway enthusiasts are interested in the real railway

If the hobby died out and nothing else was manufactured, the only people who would be moaning about it is the same ones who are gloating about the supposed death of the hobby now, i.e. those who swarm RMWeb and social media platforms with negative comments about models being too expensive whilst at the same time boasting about the multiple amounts of X that they have on pre-order. Too many people on social media are too full of their own self-importance. Those who actually model will still model, as we'll realise that life goes on and all the items we would need to build a model railway will still be able to be sourced for many many many years to come., and any friendships we've made with other modellers will still continue. The less fuel we give the internet 'celebrities' the better, there are too many weak minded folk who hang on every word they say, no matter how ridiculous it may be.

That is a rather rude comment, just because someone works in a distribution business does not mean they are low skilled. In my dealings with the staff they have been extremely knowledgeable, not just with model railways but within the plastic kit arena.

Very saddened to hear this news, I've shopped with Hatton's for over 30 years, in various scales, new and secondhand. I've never had a problem that wasn't resolved, even then it was only once. I've been modelling US HO the past few years, and bought a lot of stuff from Hatton's, all at decent prices, often receiving items that in far better condition than I expected them to be in, and one loco still with the box factory wrapped. Even when Hatton's stopped being the cheapest, they were my go to retailer, as the service far outweighed any price differential. They will be sadly missed and I hope all staff find new employment. Thank you for many years of great service.

Its a 4 year old design, car is 2 year old, and the most popular car on the road these days. I've had loco's in the past with poor pick ups where I wiring in new ones (original Bachmann 08 for example). I don't give up on them!

I'm a DCC user, and I don't use stay-alives. I think they just mask bad track laying and maintenance/wiring/pick-ups, although I can see their usefulness when using sound to stop it cutting out with a momentary short. When I build my layouts I test the track on DC with all my stock to make sure there are no problems - I exclusively run US bogie diesels, but I test my track with a 4-wheel Hornby Ruston 48DS. Any issues are sorted out before any scenic work is started, and I test again when the scenics are done. On my latest layout I created a concreted in area across some tracks and after it was complete I found a couple of my loco's would stall on once section of it. Rather than fit stay-alives to them which would have been the easy option, I kept working at the bit of track to fix the underlying problem. I eventually did, it took a good bit of time but I know I can run any of my loco's over that bit of track without a thought . Attention paid to baseboard construction, track laying, wiring and loco maintenance cuts right down on any running problems. To those who rely on and swear by stay-alives, what would you do if your DCC system went down or something happened and you fried your decoders? Would your loco's work as well on DC? I doubt it very much. Electronics are good, but over reliance on them isn't. To give you a real life example, my car recently shut down completely with less than 30 seconds notice. No dash, no lights, huge reduction in steering and brakes. Not even any hazard lights. Fortunately I had just come off a motorway slip road otherwise god knows what would have happened. The problem? The car needed a software update. Complete over reliance on electronics.

And was a good wage back then, not every one earns the average salary. I know a fair few folk who don't even earn 20k even now!

I think you've been on the mushrooms, speaking from experience of working for HMRC in the past. 25 years ago I wasn't even earing 6k. 17k was a decent wage back then.

Why not though? Although I don't model UK outline anymore, I don't buy the latest versions of US models because at normal viewing distance, you can't see the differences. That's the reason I gave up on UK modelling, nothing was detailed enough for me, I was obsessed by it, so much so that hardly anything got completed.

It would bring tears to your eyes...

I don't think I've had any unreliable pointwork, even though I alter every point I use (I replace all the moulded sleepering around the tie bar and replace with copper clad) and I usually modify the angle of the straight part of the point to suit my needs, I've never had a problem with derailments from doing this. Actually now I think ok it, I did have a derailment at one point but this was due to me damaging one of the blades when I dropped a hammer on the layout. Just had to bend the blade back to vertical and its worked fine ever since. Re your comment about couplings, this is very important. I use Kadee's on my HO (and OO) stock. It's very important to have the same make, height and the same degree of movement on each and every coupling. I spend time making sure my boards are flat, my track is flat, the b2b's and couplings are consistent. Spending that time results in smooth, trouble free running.

The piece of track is not level with the baseboard and wont be helping with any derailments or unwanted uncoupling. Is the XPS flat? As well as checking the track is flat, I'd check that XPS is flat too, use a long steel rule. That piece of track is not level with the baseboard and wont be helping with any derailments or unwanted uncoupling. Is the XPS flat? As well as checking the track is flat, I'd check that XPS is flat too, use a long steel rule. I remember my friend had problems with wheel drop on Peco's O gauge points, he ended up laying plasticard strips in the frog to alleviate it - it was trial and error but worked successfully in the end. If your Dapol Brit and 9F are having problems, the driving wheels need to have their back to back's checked, if they wont run well on Peco track, they'll run even worse on finescale trackwork. A running video would be helpful

I haven't had a derailment in either N (using Unitrack) or HO and 4mm using Peco track in I don't know how many years. Careful laying of track, and consistent back to backs go a long way to reliable operation. Any derailments I have are down to being knocked off the track by sleeves

I picked up a few packets of their figures, gave me enough to populate my layout. A little bit of tweaking the arms and legs and a repaint and they done the job perfectly! Some of the figs are a bit tall though so need to be positioned carefully. I also picked up a Karman Ghia with caravan. Wouldn't touch the MP trucks, loco's or freight cars though!