SamThomas

My comment was intended to be a little more TIC than serious.................

Certainly in my area on unclassified roads it is an issue, but I think two factors are at work here - the County Couuncil do not always paint lines in the middle of the road to save money (but do by the verges where they get covered on mud or worn away quickly), this means people that are not very good at judging their nearside to the kerb/verge/hedge tend to encrouch over to the other lane. You often see them coming towards you, clearly overhanging your side and a clear half a meter or more clear on their nearside.

Ah, the mkI Escort Mexico - wish I still had mine ! Apart from the shape they had little in common with the 1100cc drum braked gutless wonder. I agree about the "modern features" being able to switch them off. Later model DAF's (as in HGV's) have some good features such as adaptive cruise control but the automatic (& hard) braking that comes on in traffic when the "uberoo's" cut in front of you*** standing the truck on it's nose & the "lane assist" that cuts it if you cross the white lines when joining an empty motorway without indicating - well, they get turned off every time. I'm OK with auto boxes such as the DSG from VW & the I-Shift from Volvo Trucks - always in the right gear. As for the auto-boxes in DAF's, the gearchanging is all over the place like a cheap suit & often set up so that the driver cannot overide it. *** & then the onboard telematics report you for "harsh braking" & you have to speak to a driver trainer..................

Love that term "white goods on wheels" - sums up the Toyota range perfectly. Some decades ago it was rumoured that Toyota would take over Land Rover - there was much trumpeting about how they would make the products of Solihull reliable until the enthusists realised that in the process they would loose their charector - which Land Rovers have in abundance (well up to a few years ago anyway).

IMHO there is no such thing as "British" English - it is simply English. Other forms are English are mullered such as "American English".😀

I had a well treaked Lotus Cortina that would do well over 100mph - no driving aids there, so yes, there were quite a few cars from way back that could well exceed the national speed limit - the point here is that drivers who had these sort of cars were enthusiasts. The drivers of less quick cars had plenty of warning before they came to grief. The whole point is that we have may people on the roads that are NOT drivers - they are OPERATORS & the newer generations are hopeless without the so called driving aids - certainly, the likes of ABS are great, but all these parking aids - really ? - if you can't park the thing then you have no business being in charge of it. Any recovery driver will tell you about loads of "drivers" of newer vehicles that have relied on their ABS/TC on icy roads to find that these aids are useless on icy/snowy roads & pondered about that fact when waiting to be recovered from the greenery. Not having ABS/TC & so on can make people better drivers & better still when they have these aids in the right conditions. I'm looking at it from the POV of a driver that enjoys driving & experienced in driving a wide variety of vehicles (inc' motorcycles) from small private cars up to & HGV's including everything from bin lorries (try getting one of those in & out of some tight spots) to fire appliances (EFAD trained). TBH, I'm pleased that I have a track record as such & a few million miles under my belt. I don't really think we will agree on this subject.

You don't have to be driving at anywhere near the limits to come unstuck in a currently produced vehicle. Many cars from the 50's > 70's would struggle to exceed the national speed limit & would give you plenty of warning that it was "about to go". However, you can have much safer accidents in currently produced vehicles & I would be the first to admit the effectivness of crumple zones & survivability. & why am I making a "mistake" - please tell me exactly what is wrong with being an enthusistic driver ? I would suggest that if currently produced cars had a bit more "feel" to them more drivers would be a little more "enthusiastic & better drivers for that reason. Manufacturers willing you could still get from A to be (& even C onwards) in comfort, safety, reliability &, God forbid enjoy actually driving. Alastair & I may be "old school" but its a fair bet that we have considerable driving experience over the years in a wide range of vehicles &far more qualifications than simply passing our car tests.

Personally I don't think that engineering the roadfeel out of vehicles is a good idea - no wonder drivers end up going off the road because modern vehicles give little or no warning of iminant doom. If people are happy being a vehicle operator then that's fine with me - you can keep your charecterless boxes that hves had all of the roadfeel engineered out of them. I'm not talking the extreme like a Series Landrover (much as I love them I would not want to go 100's of miles in one), I'm talking about something like a BMW 6 series - easy to drive & with roadfeel a nice comfortable motor to drive. Trucks are just as bad thesedays - especially DAF's which are devoid of roadfeel - give me a Merc or Scania anyday - auto boxes are fine as long as you can overide the box (cannot do with a DAF). Nothing quite like driving something with a range change & splitter but hey, that's the diffenece between a driver & an operator.

Our system*** can generate a maximum of 4kW & we also have a "Powervault". If we take into account the saving on power supplied from the grid we "broke even" on our investment after about four years. We signed a 20 year contract and during that time our the FIT cannot be reduced, but it can go up & had done so slightly. I cannot quote actual firgures because I'm not obsessed with working it out to the penny, but I do know that it has been a good envestment. We did not at installing a wind turbine but they are very, very expensive and there will be times when we will still have to use the grid as well as what we produce. *** German Inverter & panels.

I'm glad we are on an early "Feed-in-Tariff" - EDF pay us just over 20p/kWh for what we generate, it makes no difference if we use it of "feed it in". People who installed solar panels even earier are on something like 45p/kWh. AFAIK, these schemes are govenment backed so the Gnomes of France are simply acting as agents.

Indeed, some of the European Companies such as Roco have facilities in Slovakia & the Phippines.

That is a quality control issue which can manifest itself wherever goods are produced.

Now there is a scary thought.

Love the nickmane.

I do like the effect of the standing water. Often, I find that what may look good to the naken eye looks terrible in an image, especially with "point & shoot" camera's & vise-versa.

Always worth shopping around & of course importers who are also suppliers to the trade inevitable sell at full RRP m- that's just how the trade "works". It not always that easy to make firm comparisons between UK/Europe prices, especially when you factor in the import levy/VAT/handling charge lottery. Generally (in my experience) if you order a European Item from the Roco/Piko/Trix ranges whern announced it will turn up - eventually, but often just after mainland European availibility.

Looks like the damp course has been breecherd to me.

Not only that - if the parts to repair the controller are no longer available they will replace the controller with a current range equivelent.

I have found that when using the programming track with a Z21 you really do need 100% continuity between the Z21 & the decoder - sometimes, it helps to excert a very gentle downwards pressure on the locomotive when writing or (especially) reading CV's.

Most of the UK modellers I know who model HO European are still in the habit of purchasing from the "Euroboxshifters" but they are increasingly finding that the prices are levelling up when taking into account the total costs.

Personally if I want to purchase HO European that is available from Hornby International, Roco, Trix, Piko or Mehano & the price is similar the HI will be the last choice.

I'm pretty certain that there is now available motorcycling kit with some sort of "airbag" built in.

The multimeter you have will be fine for general layout use. But, do yourself a favour & replace the controller & transformer you have & with something like a Gaugemaster GMC-**. Not cheap but you should get a better price from a GM stockist. One advantage of GM controllers is that they come with a lifetime warranty. If you choose to buy secondhand be very careful.

I do see where you are coming from but virtually every new company has to start off at some point, not all are crooks. Not condoning the actions of the subject company.

I think you have missed the point - the Hornby International Range appeals (or should) to far more than the UK market, which is why I wondered if they operated a similar system in Mainland Europe. Maybe Hornby operate in a differnt manner accross the channel ?