Allegheny1600

I can’t help with the ferry wagon, sorry Richard. The Dutch company, Artitec is going to release an Austin seven! RHD with hood up or down also as a “Singer” van with salesman and sewing machine. https://artitec.nl/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Artitec_Neuheiten_Folder_2022_1.pdf Looks like a lovely model. Cheers, John E.

That’s lovely! GNoSR?

Wow! Thanks guys, very much appreciated. EddieB - yes, definitely the diesel locomotives, wifey would kill me if I started getting into (the very nice) Belgian steam! I very nearly fell for the Trix beauty last year but it was so expensive, I resisted. Northroader - a fantastic site, immediately bookmarked for later study, many thanks. Jamie - thanks for your indulgence! Cheers, John

Hi Jamie, Lucky you! I too, found the Belgians very friendly, I even had a lady guard wink at me in front of my wife! Although on my trip back from Lux, another guard accosted me in what I took to be Walloon(?), his attitude warmed considerably when I explained that I’m English. As for their sweet treats, well - delicious! I found the various Belgian shunters very interesting though, especially those 0-8-0 versions, sadly I know nothing about them, does anyone here know, please? Cheers, John

My better half and I had a walk along a nearby mountain track yesterday, here’s a couple of views that she took for me. If you zoom in, you can still see snow on the distant mountains. Turning around 90 degrees to the north, Prophet Illias is the “hump” near the centre left of the picture, the distant hills are covered with wind turbines. Turning again, just more distant mountains and somewhere in the valley is my property! It was cool in the shade but a balmy 16C in the sun.

This is the nub of my beef with buying Continental stuff in the UK - the surcharge added by GM. Back when Local Hobby Shops could bring their own orders into the UK, my LHS owner used to give a very fair discount on the RRP. As soon as GM took over almost all Continental stuff coming into the UK (way before Brexit), such decent pricing went out the window and prices increased in addition to this. An example of an argument I had with them; Me: Why is your price on XYZ item around 15% more than in Germany? GM: Ah, well you see, there’s “import duty”. Me: No, there isn’t, not from another EU country! (Before Brexit). GM: Well, we don’t make any profit buying from your German retailer. Me: You buy it wholesale, from the same place as the German retailer. GM: Goodbye Even counting for the fact that GM do now have to complete additional paperwork and import duties, still does not explain why their prices are so high - except that they’re greedy, exploitive so and so’s. Even were I still in the UK, I would still rather self import and face my own import duties, happily knowing that I am not contributing to their coffers. Rant over, thank you!

Union Pacific is to spend over $100 million on twenty battery electric locomotives. https://www.freightwaves.com/news/union-pacific-spending-over-100m-on-20-battery-electric-locomotives?utm_source=sfmc&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=FW_Daily_1_31_22&utm_term=Read+the+full+story&utm_id=101104&sfmc_id=70698140 In summary, UP will split this order, the largest spend on this technology, between Wabtec and Progress Rail. The approx. 2.5Mwh locomotives will be delivered between late 2023 and 2024 and will be utilised in rail yards in California and Nebraska. Other rail companies are also looking at battery electric and also hydrogen powered locomotives - interesting times ahead.

Hi, thanks for doing this, @Dzine While I never actually had that many copies of SMT or MTI, those I do have are treasured and I really loved the forum, it’s sadly missed. What I found so refreshing throughout all these works was the appreciation that ALL railways have interest and can be worthy of following. That was so different to the vast majority of “normal” magazines back in the day (small exceptions for occasional MRC’s and MR’s) and even more so nowadays, I find. I certainly need to record my thanks to Chris for the “on the nebenbahn” articles, they fed my interest in German branch lines and fostered my interest in firstly the Bavarian railways, later which morphed into Prussian railways which led to my layout linked in my signature. Many thanks for everything, Chris. I hope you have a long and happy retirement. Best regards, John E.

I found it funny that Cameron’s joke about “compounding” was first reacted to by no other than “Compound” himself! I know - small minds and all that. I’m on my way!

I had a few hours spotting on Luxembourg city station a few years back. My wife and I had gone to Belgium for her to have some medical treatment and she told me to go and amuse myself trainspotting. However she didn’t expect me to jump on a train to a different country so when she rang me and wanted me to come hold her hand, she wasn’t best pleased! I made it back just in time to see her that day but she never lets me forget about it. But for that few hours, I was blissfully happy and I hardly put my camera down. Brussels Midi was good but Luxembourg was fantastic. Thanks for the great pictures!

Jaegendorfer 2022 https://www.jaegerndorfer.at/katalog/41e9462c0e~H0_Katalog_2022_15.pdf Joy! They’re planning an OBB 1280 again, I was rather disappointed when they previously dropped this model. LS Models https://www.news.lsmodels.eu/mailing/pdf/Mailling ICRm New item.pdf Heki https://www.modellbahn-apitz.de/prospekte/Heki_NH_2022.pdf Auhagen http://moba-deutschland.de/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Neuheiten_DE_2022.pdf

As noted above, Winco are retired (whether they are still trading is a different matter!), however as a past regular customer, I am happy to vouch for Arcadia models, Shaw. Tim and his crew are great people and do look after you very well.

I agree with Alcanman above, this is truly excellent modelling. Well done for tackling such tasks, I wouldn’t like to open up my Scale Trains loco but if I do need to, you have shown me how. Also, well done for showing that G&W roads DO have considerable interest, I had rather ignored them until now. Cheers, John

I have to share this with y’all. I used to have the 12” live version of the “Bat out of hell” single, how I wish I still had it. Anyway, it was around 10 or 12 minutes of the most amazing singing and riffs, around the two thirds point, there was a pause and all you could hear was Meatloafs heavy breathing - it was quite memorable! Sad to say, I inadvertently left all my 12 inches in a drawer in an old flat then the landlord held them hostage until I paid some back rent. I paid the rent but never got my records back. Justice caught up with the guy though, later he did five years for embezzlement, it didn’t make up for the loss of my collection though. Well, RIP Meatloaf, thanks for the music

A ‘Jumbo’ (a three cylinder BR44 2-10-0) from Brawa in H0! https://www.brawa.de/fileadmin/Kundendaten/Downloads/Broschueren/BRAWA_Neuheiten_2022_DE.pdf Plus several other items in N as well as H0.

I’m really enjoying this photo essay, thanks Jamie.

Marvin Lee Aday “Meatloaf” has died at the age of 74 https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/jan/21/meat-loaf-bat-out-of-hell-singer-dead-at-74 I am saddened by this, he was a large part (no pun intended) of my musical interests for many years.

I think this topic is preaching to the converted! Our mutual hobby literally forces us to tackle multiple tasks that we may never have dreamed of tackling without the benefit of the hobby. Not applicable to everyone of course but I strongly suspect it applies to many of us. In my own case, my hobby gave me the skills and background necessary to adapt things from my wife’s hobby and turn into a business that has sustained us for the past 12 years. Now look at the general population, what have they got to really stimulate them? For many, their greatest interest is what happened in the most recent sporting event or soap opera. A HUGE generalisation, sorry. What I am trying to say is that so much of the mass appeal is driven by the media. Yes, politico/economic drives to cut back on training have hurt the UK but media driven aspirations that appeal to everyone to consume, consume, consume where all have to have the latest “gear” - in my opinion, have been the ruin of the country as much as anything.

Hear, hear! At my last house, I needed a real professional builder (not a cowboy as weeded by from his quote) to put a pair of RSJs in to support the roof, thereby allowing the removal of the previous owners bodge. I’m not a qualified electrician so I employed such to do the re-wire. Similarly with a replacement gas boiler later. Everything else, my wife and I did along with some family help. I can’t bring myself to mess around with cars but most electrical items, I will try and fix. I can lay bricks, tend the garden, clean the gutters, build decking etc. Flat pack furniture is an absolute doddle, I try to over engineer it’s so it will last or even be capable of being dismantled and rebuilt. Why? A. I don’t like to waste money but B. I take pride in what I do.

This evokes a glimpse of past times, it sounds like times were ‘ard in them days but community was great. Such wonderful modelling.

Mia is absolutely gorgeous, I love her!

Hi Richard, As far as I can see, there are two ways of doing this. 1. Go to the main initial page of RMweb, scroll down to the lower quarter and see this; Enter in the status bar. 2. Go to your own profile screen and see this; Again, enter in the public feed. Sorry, I don’t know how to get my added images into this post, if I upload from Flickr, it just goes where I want! Hope this helps you, John PS Andy Y just beat me!

Thanks Gordon, That makes sense as I had to travel from Marmande by train to do my spotting at Bordeaux, I was never able to spend as long as I wanted there, so I must have missed an awful lot. Cheers, John

Hello Gern and welcome! It sounds to me like you could teach some of us a few things, bravo on what you’ve already done. You may well already know but there are several British online retailers who specialise in secondhand goods and will happily ship abroad, these days it’s easier to ship to the USA than Europe. Try Hattons, Contikits, Anoraks Anonymous*, Arcadia Models, Shaw*, Rails of Sheffield or even UKmodelshops.com * an email query of available stock would be best. I see you also appear to like your own local equipment too - I highly approve as I personally prefer US and European H0, we’re all different! Cheers, John