SamThomas

But the parcels companies themselves set the unrealistic targets the driver have to meet therefore the drivers will take short cuts.

Bin lorries are supposed to switch off the warning beacons when not actually loading. The purpose of the warning beacons is to warn other users of the potential hazards when the vehicle is stationary & the loaders are at work. & before anyone picks holes in that statement I have worked as a bin loory driver. Warning beacons become superflourous when vehicles that do not present extra hazards when moving keep them on.

I would estimate that 75% of my stock is "pre-owned" bought from many sources. Quite a fair amount in "as new/mint/never run" condition & serviced (locomotives) & checked (rolling stock) before use which is, to me about right. Bought one locomotive from a well know eBay dealer & paid top money for it (been after one for years) - yes, it was mint but the traction tyres had hardened & spun on the wheels - would have been apparent if it had been actually tested. Contacted dealer - no response, so the response from me was negative feedback. Had one item damaged in the post, seller offered me a refund but I did want the locomotive so he offered a 25% refund which I was happy with & repaired the damage. The only other issue was a locomotive that was not the "mint" example in the images but a well used one - had to get eBay/PayPal involved for refund. Otherwise, overall pleased & happy with my "pre-owned" stock & generally good experiences. I have noticed that recently prices are going up at a rate consistant with new items. Good & bad with anything pre-owned, from our models to houses.

Apart from the financial costs to qualify as an HGV driver there are a number of "hoops" to go through. Step one. Have a medical. Step two. Apply for provisional licence. Step three. Have lessons on driving a class two (ridgid). Step four. Pass test. Step five. Obtain Driver tacho Card. Step six. Spend five days in the classroom to take your CPC (Certificate of Prosfessional Competence) & wait for DVLA to send it to you. Step seven. Apply for job. Step eight. Driving assesment with prospective employer/induction ect. Step none. Start work. Then, you may want to go for your class I (artic/drawbar) In which case repeat steps three & four. Even in these days of driver shortages not all employers will take you on if you are of a certain age & have some experience. One or two "steps" may have changed since I went through the hoops. Still fancy it ? Probably a minimum of £5k when you have taken everything into account. Oh, & I forgot the initial step - long, long think about "do I really want to do this ?".

Who will be the first to kitbash a model to look like the "prop", manufacture to produce a replica or retailer to commission a ltd ed' ?

If you send them both back to GM they will repair/replace under warranty & post them back to you. You could get two brand new (current issue) controllers for around a fiver (for the post.)

Apart from the fact that saleries & conditions for HGV drivers are poor there are a couple of other factors contributing to the shortages. The HGV labour pool consists or a large proportion of old farts (I can say that because I am an old fart & HGV driver myself) who are retiring & there is no young blood to replace them. Also, a lot of HGV drivers ran their own Limited Companies responsible for their own tax, both personal & corporate. They were paid without tax deductions. HMRC closed this system earlier this year, accelerating the drivers retiring & many, many Easter European Drivers simply went back to their native countries. There will be shortages of most things this winter, not just because of shortages in physical stock, but the means of getting it to the stores.

What puzzles me is that the "prop" was clearly built to look like a UK locomotive but with differences like the vallences & smoke deflectors - if thay wanted a european looking locomotive why not base the prop on one ? Or, was there a change of location/plan one the prop was complete or nearly complete ?

This pickyness regarding my Z21/layout is all rather pointless as long ago I installed two boosters & the Z21 itself powers only the programming track. My comments regarding 3 or 5a PSU's are only observations based on my earlier experience. I don't think that I or anyone else for that matter can contribute anything further of use to this discussion. Have a pleasant evening. Sam.

John - you are still not reading my posts properly. I did not use a PSU from DCC Concepts. Can you perhaps explain why the original 3a PSU was not sufficient for my layout but fine with the 5a one ? Your quote regarding the use of boosters on my layout is irrelevant as I have already stated that I now use 2 x Lenz Boosters.

Yes, I have. Maybe I should have said "they are very smooth devices compared to transformers".

If you are planning to use DCC for the small lines then I would purchase a DCC system, convert a couple of "main line" locomotives & try it out for real.Then, you can compare the performance with the "yellow" GM controllers. Personally, I would use something like Lenz Silver decoders which are quick & easy to set up.

Clearly, you did not read my post correctly - I did NOT say there was anything wrong with the 3a PSU - just commented on jpendles comment that there is no need to change the PSU that comes with the system. FWIW the 3a PSU was not sufficient for my layout but the Z21 was fine with the 5a PSU. The layout has since been divided into 2 x power districts with a Lenz Booster for each.

It's only American vehicles (railed or otherwise) that explode on impact with anything.

Not always - the Roco Z21 for example* comes with a 3a PSU for 3a of track power, however, change that for a 5a PSU & you get 5a of track power ** * mine did anyway. ** subject to losses in the command station.

Transformers are as "smooth" as the mains supply going into them & that is neither smooth or consistant. A transformer will change A/C voltage to another A/C voltage. What is needed is a power supply (or PSU) - like the black thing you plug into a laptop to charge the battery. These are very "smooth" devices. and will provide you with a DC supply oof 12/15/18volts or whatever they have been designed for. Unfortunatly, many people confuse the two. note : although there are many other types of transformers & PSU's in the world I am simply referring to those in use for model railways.

Could you use reeds/magnets mounted different to the ones you have in use now ? e.g. if your existing magnets are centrally mounted on the locomotives/rolling stock could you not place the extra magnet to one side ? There are a number of current sensing units on the market but these all seem to require an isolated section of track for analogue or digital. Or, the really "old school" way - a very short (10mm) isolated section of rail & a relay.

Gravity was the prime mover.

Is it possible that the newer regulations are not retrospective ?

Q1. Depending on the "drivers" used for the LED's some LED lighting actually switched on & off at a very high frequency - far too high for the human eye to "see". However, some devices react to LED lighting - you can see the flickering effect on some dasgcams when a vehicle coming towards you had LED Daylight Driving Lamps - the image on the camera "flickers" but you eye see "steady". Q2. I have found IRDOT's unreliable in the past due to changing lighting conditions - thje only place I found them reliable was in tunnels. Q3. nearly everywhere is changing to LED lighting so back to Q1.

To be honest, when proving the integrety of the wiring it really does not matter how accurate your meter is, as long as it is consistant. What you are looking for is a voltage descrepancy between the output of the command station & various points (not the turnout kind) on the layout. I do agree about professional grade test equipment - it will be expensive & if used professionally will have to be calibrated at intervals.

The Train Tech SL60 should fit the bill.

I can find out but as the experiences of the people I know are similar I don't think it will achieve much. However, they do not fall into the "must have it in a couple of days" category. They tend to (pre) order & have a little patience.

UK retailers would of course hold more stock if less people bought from the European resellers. I know of a fair amount of European modellers (myself included) who place orders when models are announnced through UK retaillers & they now find the "on the doormat" prices around the same or a little cheaper from UK resellers. Just because the UK importer & the UK resellers were not showing any stock did not mean that they could not have obtained it for you. After all, models railways are a hobby, it's not like you needed parts to get your car back on the road. All I am saying to people is to give UK retailers a better chance, before they are gone & supplies direct from Europe even more diffecult to obtain.

There will always be variations. As a matter of interest what did the total "to your door" price amount to ? If the importers website went to out of stock that quickly that means the BR64 was/is popular & retailers have stocks. The importers sales will always be at full RRP, whereas the dealers will often be cheaper. If you don't give the retailers a fair chance you will never know. Traditionally, a lot of UK dealers don't carry much stock of european items because of the amount of people going to the European retailers, but as the playing field is now a little more level that situation will hopefully improve.