Pendennis

Dave Jones had a stand at Fareham MREx today; selling 14xx/48xx "seconds" for £70 - wasn't tempted. Also had J94s but no O2s, probably because he was right next to the Kernow stand!

To Drew and all the team at Didcot, thanks for another very enjoyable tour, I always learn a bit more on every tour I do. It is always interesting to see the progress being made on all those projects hidden from view. If you have any interest in the GWR and have never been on this tour, remember to put your name down for 2019, you wont be disappointed. Martin

I run a very niche aviation related business; there is a series of four products retailing at £20 each. The website cost about £400 to set up; I can do most of the updates that are required and I am not very IT savvy. I have to call on the IT lady no more than once or twice a year. Payment done through PayPal, OK they take their cut, or via bank transfer; it couldn't be easier. I now discourage cheque payments, they are really time consuming and the bank charges for them to be paid in so the difference is not that great. As I didn't have the website for the launch of the first product I have a good idea how it impacted sales when I launched the second product; sales increased by about 50% and it then generated considerable sales for the first product. As far as I am concerned having a website is a no-brainer. Martin

If these kits are released with new artwork then the collectors will have to buy another set; you know what these collectors are like! I just want a kit and some instructions telling me how to build it.

I know a guy who flew these (carrier ops) and surprisingly lived to tell the tale.

Hi Drew Could I book three places; two regulars, one newbie. All the best Martin

Gents Thank you for all the replies. I was sure that they were black but my "NIF" just raised a degree of doubt; I have now convinced him otherwise!

A 'NIF' has questioned the background colour of the name/number plates on post-war black GW (ie pre-1948) locomotives in gereral; he suggests that it should be red. Is he right?

I went today also. There was an excellent selection of layouts, a variety to suit all tastes. It was worth going to see Burntisland again on one of its rare forays down South. The trade stands were a good mix too, as usual. Despite what was said above, although it was quite crowded, it was not uncomfortably so. With a little patience I managed to get a good look at all the layouts. Parking has always been a problem at this venue but don't let that fact put anyone off going along, there is enough on street parking nearby. I go every year and I thought this was the best exhibition since they moved to the current venue. Martin

The last time I saw Coopercraft at a show, two or three years ago, many of the Coopercraft items were like this. They used to be crisply moulded, the ones I saw had an awful lot of "flash". Do we presume that Dunn has not produced any new injection mouldings of any of the ranges he has purchased, and in every case he is selling old stock?

Let me first say I have had no dealings with Mr Dunn or Mr Bedford. However I must say that find Mr Bedford's attitude throughout these posts very disappointing; I have no reason to believe he is a not a good and upstanding trader. However in Mr Dunn's case incompetance is no excuse for his alleged dishonesty; his behavior is totally unacceptable and does no favours for other small traders, Mr Bedford included.

"I wonder how many purchases are made after a view of this thread.I think it must be seeing them do their stuff on Brent that is a key factor." I was going to skip Star 4013 until I saw it on ANTB; my credit card is now £120 the poorer,

Tried to but couldn't understand a word they were mumbling - the bits in German were clearer (and there were sub-titles).

But are these all model railway shops? Remember Bachmann now owns EFE so any new accounts generated by shops stocking this range would be added to the total, but model railway only accounts could be static or even decreasing..

He wasn't at Southampton in 2016 either, the first time he'd been missing from the newish venue. Martin

I would normally cut a trader such as this some slack, it has to be a business for him, but we create the market. In terms of the Slaters Kits, this guy has been leading us a merry dance for three or four years; just check back on other Coopercraft threads. I have not dealt with him and, after reading other poster's experiences, would not do so in the foreseeable future. The last few years seem to be full of empty promises; I can only believe that he has no intention of making any arrangement to reume production. I am not saying that this was his intention when he purchased the range; he has probably taken on more than he can deal with. It seems he is just trying to sell off what he has, parts of kits, in order to recoup some of his investment. We are all dependant on such cottage businesses and are glad to support them. But equally when the owners of such businesses can no longer take such businesses forward, they sell them on to someone who can. It does seem that, despite advice offered on this forum and maybe others, the current owner of Coopercraft is unwilling to do so. For that we are all the losers. Martin

Gents Having voted early on, how do I delete my vote so that I can do so again, taking into account the more recently added options? I note that several posters claim to have deleted their initial vote, but I can find no way of doing it. Confused of Windlesham

You are right, Bob Treacher worked at Eames; he then worked (as Manager?) at Ian Allan at Waterloo before taking on the shop in Alton. The "Pendennis" layout you link to is owned by a former operator of the real Pendennis which, as you correctly remember, was located in Crowthorne. Sadly that layout had to be dismantled as we got marching orders from the extended garage/shed/coal hole in which it was located. It is now somewhere in East Anglia where it is slowly being rebuilt. Before the real Pendennis was dismantled we produced a video for You Tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjTnuJVi9uE and an article which appeared in the April 2010 edition of Railway Modeller. Martin

I dont know when you enquired but I spoke to Irwell Press at Ally Pally and they said a reprint will be out later this year. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

My guess is that with the current Hornby set up in China, they could not justify a production run of tenders; to do so, something else would have to fall by the wayside. Unfortunately I think this would make such a move a very low priority. A shame really as these "spare" tenders could also be used, with care, to produce variants of Stars and Granges that some of us really want. Martin

I picked up the 54xx/64xx/74xx edition at Ally Pally today; all the shed allocations and transfer dates are there and photos of many. I started listing those excluded but then realised that there were a significant number so I would just suggest that it is probably the majority; in a few cases there are multiple photos of the same loco. Nevertheless a worthwhile purchase.

Thanks for the nostalgia Chris. I went to Strodes [1959-66] but used to travel on the 18 to Weybridge [2-EPBs] and then onto the SW main line. I've no third rail and I model post-war GWR but my BR 2-BIL is on order!!