rob D2

1 hour ago, Oldddudders said:

Well, maybe. It is my distinct impression that changes in the workplace mean that substantially fewer people are now able to take affordable retirement early, and that the final-salary pension schemes that abounded in my youth are no longer taking on new members. I was able to retire at 55, after 38 years of contributions to the BR fund, but I had no dependants, and Deb also had some pension income. That was 20 years ago, and I fear not every employee now has those circumstances at that age - and some may have children still at uni etc, which is no-one's idea of cheap. Add-in the stressier environment most people seem to find at work these days, and the health risks mount as age increases. 

 

I count myself very lucky to have been born (1948) at the right time in many ways. 

Maybe but people will always find a way to find stuff . It’s about balance .

I’d view retirement at 55 and final salary pensions as a luxury then .. and now . My industry compulsory retirement is 65 , which is quite early enough as I’d be bored rigid 

TBF Hornby has never advertised spare diesel bodies ?

Bachmann have a lot , but it’s a revenue generation thing as much as anything else . Before they had the Bachmann spares website , body shells were £34 , this wasn’t advertised as such , you rang or emailed to see what they had. 
 

Then they made the website so you can order direct and the price went seemingly overnight to an eye watering £57-60 each.

I used to chop and change era by changing body shells - no longer .

Whilst I sympathise with Mon ami, I see it as a car - warranty returns justified for mechanical bits that go wrong but cosmetic damage through accident , not really .

57 minutes ago, Pacific231G said:

I go to see layouts with trains operating on them and for me at least, the layout is probably more important than the details of what is running on it. 

 

I couldn't agree more. For me- and this is obviously a personal thing- I don't find the vast layouts with long trains simply running through them as engaging as smaller (but not necessarily small) layouts with a lot of operation. What i don't like, whether as operator or visitor, is the situation where the operators are too busy keeping constant movement going to interact with anyone. If I see a layout that inspires me I want a chance to talk to the person who built it and, for a visitor who is shyer than me- perhaps just getting into the hobby- it's very easy to get the idea that they're simply not allowed to talk to the builders/operators.

The MRC's mini exhibition at Keen House just before Christmas was very good for this and, though I specifically went to see Minories (GN) once more, there were at least two other layouts that I got a lot from by talking to the builder.    

It goes to show how different our attitudes are . I go to shows to see something grander and better than I could produce .. the Mosytns of the world .. more than little planks like I already make .But TBH an hour on YouTube and I can see these anyway .

I must admit I go to less and less of them . The other reason is to get little “ bits “ but the most recent exhibition I couldn’t even get a pack of scalpel blades .. prob due to the demise of real hobby shops and tendency fir shows to have one big retailer and maybe “Del boys trains “ flogging RTR stock .

Overall if this hobby was going to die out , the killer blows of computer games etc in the 80s would have done it and it didn’t so it’ll recycle and replace . One generation of middle aged folk with disposable will be replaced by the next as they die out . 

3 hours ago, 46444 said:

I wonder who will produce a Transrail version?

 

Certainly will be ordering one when it is announced.

 

Preferably 60035 'Florence Nightingale'.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark

 

 

Well I’d be hoping for cavalex , as the alternative is Hornby and they’ll f*vk up the paint job as they  before with three tone grey 

7 hours ago, RBE said:

Well it's because the bean counters have decided that the 66 costs less to operate however they are not taking into account the full story regarding the 60 and how efficiently it can operate, so quite sad really. 

Er, right there , I think . What’s the full story then if the 60 costs nothing but the 66 costs a lot ?

38 minutes ago, RBE said:

Well it's because the bean counters have decided that the 66 costs less to operate however they are not taking into account the full story regarding the 60 and how efficiently it can operate, so quite sad really. 

I think you are overlooking the fact , I believe they are still paying leases for 66s . The 60s cost nothing, inherited from BR. So would you rather have an asset costing , say, £25k a month ( absolute guess , I have no idea on train lease costs ) working , or let it rot and still pay that much .

I don’t think that’s “ bean counters “ gone mad, I think it’s common sense .

54 minutes ago, Jeff Smith said:

Pity about the addition of reheat.......as in many CG aircraft with no reheat suddenly showing flames.....

It’s ok, we’ll just pretend it was a compressor stall instead ;)

6 hours ago, WCML100 said:

My bold request... on the multiple unit front. One I think could quite easily please a few (us punters and the pockets of accurascale too..)

 

The Networker family? Plenty of livery variations and physical variations which would be easily done in one suite - some variations never even covered before...

 

165/0 - 2 or 3 car variations (NSE, Early chiltern with modified lights + air con mods, later chiltern with modified lights + air con mods)

165/1 - 2 or 3 car variations (NSE, Thames Trains, FGW Link, FGW Dynamic Lines with original light clusters and upgraded LED type, GWR Green)

166 - 3 car (NSE, Thames Trains Express, FGW Link, FGW Dynamic Lines, FGW Plain Blue, GWR Green)

 

These liveries cover over 30 years, from London to Oxford / Birmingham. They now also cover the majoprity of the west country and can be seen on the 3rd network too at places such as Gatwick, Redhill, Guildford and Basingstoke. So a very wide scope geographically as well as the time period.

Potentially could go one step further and incorporate the juiced units too.. 365's, 465's etc. This would open up to the equivalent of the southern half of England coverage wise.. Yes Bachmann have done the 166, but it is a dire need of an upgrade (DCC being the obvious starting point and the 165's were never even covered...).

 

 

What he said ….. Bachmann binned their retool / reissue of the Thames turbo . So we have nothing for Paddington , or the chiltern line from 1992 onwards for local services.

As for steam ? Yes , Barry scrapyard ..in 4 mm 

Is it like the 66 , in so much as overtightened bogie top screw limiting turn radius ?

7 hours ago, bradfordbuffer said:

https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/game/oo-gauge-uk-scrap-wagon

What scale do you play in?

And 3 pounds!

 

Needs some work like buffer beam details etc 

Send me a message if you want details of suports structures.

G 

Interesting , I presume 3 quid gets you the file for a 3D printer ? What I don’t have , nor know nothing about sadly .

Its the earlier SSA I guess before EWS put reinforcing bits on 

I think what also saves chuffer modelling is its diversity .

And by that I mean the whole range of modelling / collecting … from the chap building white metal tea plantation narrow gauge … to the N gauge Unitrak on the kitchen table … to those heavily involved in DCC CVs etc … to the collector who carefully stores boxes away ..

One branch  may become less popular , whilst another flourishes for a bit , but it kind of balances out 

13 minutes ago, bradfordbuffer said:

3d printing is a useful aid to modelling.....especially if you want to model post apocalyptic 20th century scrap yard in Sheffield just after the 'bomb had dropped in the film threads!

 

Even more handy for the crazy 🤪 modelers who dabble in the dark side of humanity that is none 4mm or 2mm(ish) modeling....3mm'ers

 

Foot note bought 3d stl file original 4mm down scaled it just made walls too thin to suport them self...now fitted a hollow box inside at slicing stage and at the stage of 90% happy with result...finished photos will be in 3mm section.

 

So tech can help look at on line research 🤔 (many different forms) 3d printing can help like having scratch aid kits...just need more talent to do the drawing and make it available! hint hint

SSA ?Id be  up for some !

All I know is, when I returned to the hobby in 1998, all we had was crappy Lima lumps now….well, look at cavalex , look at accurascale to name but two ….They wouldn’t keep making them if there was no one to buy them .

Hobbie have never really been affordable , they are discretionary . I remember my parents not being able to  afford much , and now I have all the financial baggage of a middle aged man I can’t afford much . I save up….an idea often lost on the “ gimme gimme “ generation stare at the phone all day .

Fran, would you mind announcing some EWS 37s this week please ? That way I don’t go off hair trigger and order one of its replacements here ;)

10 hours ago, AMJ said:

For many who have paid into pension pots getting to 55 and having the ability to retire is very tempting.  At times for some it can be a 7 day job as the shop is open and model exhibitions at the weekend so when do you have a day off?

I can’t imagine retiring at 55 unless I have literally millions of pounds to spend . More like 75 the way things are going 

34 minutes ago, sga962 said:

Definitely not all at once but if we were going for the stock list I would like to end up with in TOPS order:

 

Class 180 EMR - 2+

Class 222 EMR - 3+

Class 319 FCC - 3+

Class 360 EMR - 2+

Class 373 - At least 6 in original livery plus at least 1 in GNER (If you did the promotional liveries at least one of each as well, though please for my poor wallet stagger them out XD),

Class 377 FCC/TL - 3+

Class 395 - Max 6 (Yes i know Hornby do them so this is very unlikely but it could do with a few errors fixed and the ability to actually work in multiple)

Class 700 - At least 1 RLU and 1 FLU probably more

 

Can you guess my dream layout? XD

 

The eurostar is the one I most care about and you could literally name your price and I would pay it if done to your usual standards even if i had to buy it a few bits at a time. A few features I would like to see though e.g. Working nose couplers and coupler doors for drags

Rough guess, that’s about £8000 of units .

them Accura lads will be contactable in Bermuda with immediate effect 

How many ? One . At 500 quid , that’s all I’d get and to be honest unless I’m modelling Clapham junction - it can go one way and then another and nobody needs to know it’s same one .

TBH , a lot of modern stuff looks similar and has the charisma of an ikea table . How about a hattons approach ( God rest their soul ) and a generic dmu/ emu like their little coaches ? Then it’s right for everywhere ! 
Only one colour available - white ! It’s off lease , between lease , taken back by the DOT , whatever - it can go anywhere !

I’d buy two of those .

I wouldn’t want to be accurascale on this one .

So many units , so many liveries, so many areas .

I saw one of those staedler FLIRTS today at Lowestoft , and was amazed that Hornby are modelling it I think. It’s very specific both in geography and time period .

I think the key will be the right unit , that lasted decades, with many liveries and hopefully got about a bit . That would tend to make me think of the BR blue and sector period . Price wise 4 car I’d say £400 & £50 , ie £450.  They’ll be a glass ceiling above which even the most avid “ I’ll bite your arm off merchant …” won’t venture .

On 13/01/2024 at 16:42, Metr0Land said:

 

Not bothered about the old one , but wouldn’t mind a go in the one under its wing !

17 hours ago, Fair Oak Junction said:

 

Chucking a few bombs is NOT going to solve this problem. I don't want to derail this thread further, but suffice to say this is a far more complex problem that the application of firepower is not going to solve. Recent history has taught us that, but no one ever seems to learn. But maybe it's best to drag this thread back to Class 56s?

Yeah, I wasn’t asking for your world strategy colonel. It was just a light hearted response to supply chain issues .

Can’t have them disrupting our model supply.

Did the bombs not work ? 

On 10/01/2024 at 10:33, atom3624 said:

Looking at today's news, I think most shipping will be taking the longer route for a while!!

Top up with fuel now, for those of us non-eco-conscious !!

 

Al.

I think they fixed that issue overnight .

21 hours ago, big jim said:

Looking forward to seeing the manual! 

They didn’t get you to write it !? 

8 hours ago, newbryford said:

Maybe should this be elsewhere.

 

I’ll see you that and raise you a…

4 hours ago, Accurascale Fran said:

 

Hi Rob,

 

Your post touches something we were discussing over our tea break the other day actually, and something that would be cool to hear about from modellers; 

 

Is EWS livery now becoming a nostalgic favourite? Triple grey has become that way (especially among ourselves in recent years!) so as the march of time progresses we get closer to the launch of EWS. The original shadow freight franchises are 30 years old this year too.

 

Will enthusiasts become nostalgic for 66s? I have to say I always liked a Freightliner green Fred personally, and before the EWS maroon dulled, it looked really smart on the 66s too. 

 

Cheers!

 

Fran 

I guess modelling often goes in waves of nostalgia . I came back to having a chuff chuff interest because I saw a EWS painted 60 and wondered what happened to all the blue ? This was 96 and the interest hasn’t left me since although it ebbs and flows. Then came the 66s and of course the line at the time was that they would co exist beside the 56s;58s: 37s and 60s - competition wiped that out .

Now they the EWS sheds have been with us since 98 they have played a hobby background to half my life - half that saw a marriage, 2 kids , a career on the up…so my memories are kinda woven into that as well…and I’ve got to the age where 1996-2006 was probably my finest times and the world seemed a lot more appealing than it does now ! So the 66s are far from my favourite loco but an unavoidable part of the rich tapestry of life .