Cityfan

Now about 3 months since the Club disappeared online. How long does it take to revamp something like this. Hornby couldn't plan a booze up in a brewery!

"I always open MRE Mag at 7pm or shortly thereafter on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. This is the advantage of being in Canada 5 hours behind the UK. However I don’t think I shall be logging on for much longer as I am obviously not your target audience. I have “modelled” railways for over 40 years and have a layout and an extensive collection of models. After reading today’s issue I realize that I would not recognize the following if I fell over them: . The mysterious glaring error on the Hornby 4F . Missing linings on cylinders . Erroneous bucket seats . Rocking grate lever on wrong side . Older type of valve gear . Non corridor beaded tender . Short cut out cab . 8 ton rating on wagon instead of 10 or 12 I appreciate the knowledge of the people who wrote those comment today but they are lost on me. I do not want to single out the writers - they are just today’s examples. I really enjoy some parts of the Mag but comments like the above seem to be the norm now. I shall just stick to running what I like and looking at it from 4 or 5 feet and feeling content that I shall not lose any sleep because of the incompetence of manufacturers." This is what I wrote to the Editor in August 2015. Since then I have checked in very occasionally to find that things did improve slightly although maybe not, if the Blue Era comments above are anything to go by. Maybe I am perceived as one of the "a**holes referred to in a previous post, who knows. However if the magazine goes to a moderated forum type of website and the above type of comments appear again and again I think participation will be severely limited. Good luck to the owners, directors etc., and thanks for your past endeavours. Malcolm

Many thanks for this link Luke. Malcolm

Thanks for your reply Luke.

I have purchased the LSWR version but the numbers 488 are very feint and flat and I would like to add more 3 dimensional numbers. Does anyone know something appropriate is available? Thanks.

So you are entitled to your opinion based on your experience and I am not! "Nuf said on the subject.

Mr. Administrator, It’s very easy to say that the dealer should pay for the return of the loco. Why should he/she have to bear the cost when the fault is due to poor construction by the manufacturer? Too many small model shops have closed down already without adding to their burden. In a day and age where parts are available for just about anything why is it beyond reason for a manufacturer to make a body available to exchange for a faulty one? The cost of mailing the whole loco from Canada to the UK is in the region of £15-20, which would have to be incurred twice by the dealer. To send the body alone is £5 or £6. I don’t know about anyone else but I hate wasting money especially when the Post Office is the sole beneficiary. I think it’s time to update some thinking here Dapol. Or maybe you don’t think customer service and satisfaction matter.

When my Class 22 arrived in Canada the windows at each end had become detached and fallen into the cabs. It was impossible to effect a repair as there is no way to get into the cab. Therefore it is not possible to fit a crew either. I wrote to Dapol but their response was not positive or conciliatory. I found on a different forum that others have found the same shortcomings in the model. Fortunately the dealer I bought from has agreed to replace just the body - a request which was made of Dapol and declined by Mr. Jones. The cost of returning just the body instead of the complete loco is significantly less. Unfortunately I shall end up with a blue version instead of the green one I wanted. Poor customer service Mr. Jones.