railroadbill

Thanks Andy, just what I needed to know. (And as I feared).

You're right Rob, it should be really good. Hopefully won't be too long to arrive.....my layout needs it!

We've received a couple of parcels from relatives in Denmark, summer of last year and just before Christmas, that contained various presents, ie children's toys, clothing, books. Got delivered with no further tax/duty to be paid. So far so good. We sent a personalised mug to a nephew in Denmark, value £10, eventually he was contacted by Danish post office to pay equivalent of £18 duty... by the time he'd contacted us to find out what the item was, they'd sent it back to us. This is now happening with a parcel of Christmas presents we'd sent, calendar, chocolates, couple of small craft items, value around £40, to family members before Christmas (beginning of December) and again it's on it's way back as the amount asked was high. Now when we sent these parcels we attached the customs form we'd been given by the local post office, listed the items and their value. I can't find on Royal Mail web site any codes for items sent as gifts from one person to another, ie not a commercial transaction, although there are codes for use by businesses selling goods. So - does anyone know how sending gifts person to person should be done (if it's a VAT issue then we would have paid VAT when we bought the items in the UK anyway). Somewhere I've seen a code GB PR which looks like it might imply present but not sure. Just can't find the official answer. Help!

Thanks, it actually looks bigger, very good effect.

Better running Pugs I bought a Caley Pug some years ago when Hornby had a black Friday sale. I was expecting it to run very quickly, but it actually ran well, capable of running slowly, with a reasonable top speed. Much more realistic than the older ones. I later bought another one on ebay but that had the older mechanism and ran very fast indeed. So I bought a replacement chassis as an experiment, from Lendons of Cardiff, (£8.99) and that runs slowly like the newer loco from Hornby. It's difficult to tell any difference, the replacement chassis is in the front. The motors are the same size, gearing seems the same. Latest motor must be wound differently. So now have 2 pugs that run the same, nice and slowly (and have a good finish). Keeping these for when the grandchildren are phased in to going up in the loft - they can have one each to run, and it will be a good idea to have locos that run the same! (Suppose they ought to be different colours....). They can have fun away from all that "14 years and over" stock...

Excellent! Particularly like the sunken barge and the weathering on the corrugated shed. What are the baseboard dimensions, please?

That's great. Trip up there later in the year called for.

Re the R253 dock shunter (and also the motor bogie used on the double ended transcontinental diesel etc). I've read through this very interesting thread, especially about replacement wheels. Was there a point when the shunter was fitted with "normal" wheels rather than knurled ones? Seen a few on e-bay, but the ones I've looked at seem to have the knurled wheels.

The Athern RDCs are indeed too short. The CP Rail one under it is a LifeLike Proto 1000 and is scale length. That one came second hand via E-bay from the US when it was simpler to buy items from outside the UK. Nice model, heavy and runs well. It took a long time to find the Athern one, (in the days before internet shopping). Got it from Victors who told me they were only produced in occasional short runs. Bonus picture of Australian RDC (some were built in Australia, some built by Budd and imported), this one is in the SAR museum in Adelaide. Instead of the rubber band drive, I fitted it with a geared bogie drive that came as a kit especially for the RDC. It runs ok, but the rather crude wheels make it a bit clunky and noisy when it's going along. The Athearn RDC's are 10.5" long which is about 73 foot in HO. The Life Like model is 12 1/4" equivalent to the prototype 85 feet.

Been running the Clan a lot on the layout, still going very well. Realised I hadn't attached the extra fittings, the brake and heating hoses to the buffer beam and the cylinder drain cocks. Well the pipes are ok, plenty of photos of the front of Clans for guidance. However, it isn't clear which way the drain cocks should be fitted. The mouldings are very fine indeed, but they are handed and there is a "bulge" on one side where a pipe would run over another (it appears). Advice please, which side of the loco should each drain pipe fit? Facing left, "bulge" outwards. Same one, facing right, "bulge" inwards. Should this go on the left or right cylinders? The other drain cocks are the other way round. Cylinder cocks (actually a Britannia) but it isn't clear to me how the pipes run. Help gratefully received Bill

Not to say they all are or will continue to be but for the moment....

Re balsa wood, I was told by a local model shop that balsa had become very expensive (regardless of shipping) because it's used as the core of wind turbine blades. Chinese companies, as the main manufacturers of these, have bought up very large supplies on the world market. So balsa has become a very high demand product. Sounds plausible. [The balsa sheets in my garage have no doubt become very valuable...]

Just seen this, also have 5 and 7 year old grandchildren, younger grandson is another speed freak, but also very keen on doing exactly what should be done, therefore trains may well need to be slower at times. His sister is very good at driving at a more reasonable pace - this is with LGB in garden, which will take a lot of abuse. Haven't let them up in the loft yet, but do have some older (0-4-0 tanks etc) stock set aside for them.

Thanks Moxy, just the job! Having had a look at the link you provided, I've recognised some signs and timetable boards (and bus stop) I've also got that are also Master model, so that's been useful as well. [Found the seats and crane in the catalogue extract linked to].

This oo diecast seat (with Merit WRAF sitting on it) goes back to early 1960s I think. It has "British made" cast underneath but no makers name. I've got a couple of these. Any idea what they might be, please? Think there were some similar seats among other accessories on another thread here, but I can't find it. Also this operating yard crane. Again it just has "British made" and "made in England " cast underneath, but no makers name. Just a matter of interest as to who made this. I did get some information on another forum some years ago but can't find my notes - Modelmaster (?) comes to mind but I don't know anything about them. Thanks for any info.

I agree with saturating the market. However, that point may well not have been reached yet. Think there were 500 of each produced with the first ones. I've seen an MN advertised for sale at over £500 by a retail shop, (not just an e-bay chancer) and they were £230 when they first came out. So my feeling is the market is still hot for these, even at £302.49, and potential buyers far outnumber the supply. We shall see! Re Duchesses, I did see that City of London( in maroon) is being produced in the main range, h'mm...

H'mm, if someone didn't get a duchess or mn first time round, and they obviously sold out very very quickly, then here's a chance to get a similar loco, so from Hornby's point of view probably a good call. There was what appeared to be an A4 with a cast body at the side of the Hornby test layout in an early TV show episode, so not surprised that's appeared, also the A4 is logical alongside Duchesses if the original H-D locos are being referenced. Also they've interestingly done 2 A4 body styles. The set is an interesting development, Hornby Dublo as a brand is obviously doing very well indeed for Hornby.

Awful film but great engine. Actually, those wicker hampers on the trolley and the bike make a good little grouping on the platform and the lamp's great. H'mm, some ideas for the layout there, thanks for posting the picture! None of which has anything to do with the thread so I'll stop now...

Had the Flying Scotsman set when I was 7 to replace wind up Hornby o gauge. A4 Mallard with the later crest, just like the full size loco had then. N2 added a while later when pocket money saved up. Extra tin plate stock and track added second hand. Got type 1 Bo Bo as somewhat later present. Finally bought Bristol Castle and 8f when they were being sold off very cheaply in a local shop at the end of H-D. Best stock, breakdown crane and tpo set. Still got it all, but as it's 3 rail only gets occasional test run. Some accessories on main current layout though. Now if it had been converted to 2 rail.....

Not if you've got your own tent. Even worse then... :-)

Best thing to take on a plane to get you through the journey! Agree about catalogues.

And here it is. Think there was a deal on getting it with another magazine, or one retailer sold them cheaper. Lots of prototype and modelling articles, also about how Hornby developed models. In fact for someone starting from scratch it would be very useful. And this page looked back at new releases from 2015. The 2016 catalogue at the end went on for 7 pages. When you look at everything Hornby produces it's quite a range. Magazine is 140 pages, 110 pages were on previews of 2016 releases, intermixed with prototype and modelling info. Not long for 2022 info now.....

E-bay changed things in that it provided a very large second hand market where it was easy to find the item you wanted (and hopefully at the "market price" you wanted to pay). Previously it was pot luck if a local model shop just happened to have that older item on their shelves. So a lot more older model railway stock must have been re-circulated than could have been found in pre-internet days. Another point, it would have been interesting to know what mark-up on Piko was applied.

The force is strong with this one.

Happy Christmas from the railroadbills. (Reasonably vintage loco, Farish from 1973). Stay safe!!