Allegheny1600

Hi @Joseph_Pestell Sorry about the irreverent post above, I couldn’t resist! While I know nothing of your financial situation whatsoever, let’s take it seriously now. To start off with a robust, budget range would be on a hiding to nothing imo because that’s part of what Hornby offer and they struggle financially. Whether or not it’s the budget range that causes the struggle or keeps them afloat is irrelevant - it exists and is an established and accepted brand. To go super-detailed would cause you to pitch against very serious players who are well known on here and shall we say, meticulous in their details. That really only leaves “detailed” and I really think it would be a very expensive gamble to get into that market. I don’t need to reel off these names I’m sure but there are quite a few now, all producing imo adequate to rather good models across all the different ranges. This is assuming 4mm/00 if you are talking a different scale, I should say the margins expected would be worse. Such a venture would need a unique selling point and the only ones I could suggest would be either a “new” scale I.e. 3mm or S for example. OR A completely new market in 4mm/00 such as the period 1880 - 1920. Okay, there is now some items made that enter this period BUT it’s not saturated with stuff and it is of interest. Food for thought?

While I agree totally with @Mike_Walker above, may I dare for a few moments, just to hope that we may see more like this? Copyright: Neil Harvey 156 on Flickr (are you on here?) Photo deliberately chosen as the “GBRf” is barely visible!

Me too! I lived in France for about four and a half years, admittedly when I was a youngster (and therefore with a fairly agile brain!) and by the end, I could pass for someone from a different part of the country, which I was quite proud of but the numbers of ex-pat Brits would lived there far longer yet made no effort to speak the language, was an embarrassment. Now that I have chosen to live in Greece and I’m a lot older with a much less agile brain, it’s bloomin hard work to try and speak the lingo here but I keep trying. However, there are still Brits here who can’t speak a word, disgraceful. I blame both our own history of conquering the world and American commercialisation, spreading the English language everywhere but honestly - it’s just polite to try and engage in the local language!

I’d brag about how serious I was by “putting my house on the line” and getting everyone to pay for my research trips to the Bahamas, Maldives and other exotic locations via crowd funding. Oh wait, . . . . !

Hi David, I’m liking your progress and the bridge is lovely. Fingers crossed for your resin pour. Cheers, John

Hi Mike, I don’t know if you recall me saying but my grandparents on my mother’s side, came from certainly Lincolnshire and maybe my Grandpa was from Rutland, I can’t recall - he died when I was three! Grandma lived just down the road from where Tony Wright now lives and her sister lived below the famous viaduct, well the embankment leading to it. I do recall trips from Derby across to see Grandma and seeing the absolutely huge walking dragline moving from one quarry site to another, it was terrific. Hi Ian, Please see above - yes, please! Great pictures of your lovely Euclid by the way. Cheers, John

You can just make out the rails here; and you can see that this line has been abandoned for a while here; Where is this? It is the former metre gauge SPAP line into Nafpliou central or town railway station, Greece. I don’t know how long ago it was abandoned but it must be a few years now. The central station area is now a pleasant park with a couple of “stuffed” coaches and a lovely little steam loco while it’s replacement, the harbour station has itself been abandoned since 2008 when the whole Peloponnese metre gauge network was closed in the financial crisis.

Fascinating stuff! Thanks, Mike I am really enjoying this. Cheers, John

This goes back to what I alluded to earlier - the vehicle manufacturers! IF they were forced (somehow) to build cars that last, rather than having depreciation built in, these vehicles could be made to be almost everlasting. I know - it will never happen and again, this vision is a form of utopia but it is one possible future that electric vehicles could afford us. However, a future where we don’t do “something” - isn’t a very positive future for human existence.

Sounds like a brilliant childhood to me! My dad had his own business in Windley making alabaster ‘baubles’ so the only things I remember were trucks with a means of offloading large ton weight chunks of stone (nowadays a Hi-ab) and all my dad’s stone working tools, some of which are still in my possession. As I said before though, it was the sounds I could hear that got me, I believe a lot of Euclids were powered by Detroit diesels.

I actually think that such a profound change in the way that human beings regard the status of car ownership, would be a massive boost for the planet. IF the human race could be persuaded that car ownership is as impractical as say, owning a railway locomotive or even a railway carriage but sharing the use of such is entirely practical, it could take off. HOWEVER, the car manufacturers, leasing companies et al would never go along with this as it would be a sure fire way of going out of business. Just think though, how much resources would no longer be needed to keep building new cars, no more new roads would be needed, the whole “car” infrastructure would not need to be continuously expanded! Sadly, as beneficial as this would be, it is very, very unlikely to happen.

Here is an interesting piece in the Guardian today; https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/may/16/daniel-kahneman-clearly-ai-is-going-to-win-how-people-are-going-to-adjust-is-a-fascinating-problem-thinking-fast-and-slow A quote from Daniel Kahneman: ”You don’t talk about driverless cars in your analysis. But that, I guess, is becoming a key arena of this argument, isn’t it? However much safer automated cars might be statistically, every time they cause an accident, it will be excessively magnified?” (Guardian) “Being a lot safer than people is not going to be enough. The factor by which they have to be more safe than humans is really very high.” (Kahneman) Food for thought?

I have always said that if I ever lost my interest in railways, real and model, I would probably get into construction equipment! This probably dates back to my very young days living in Windley, Derbyshire. Where my parents cottage was, we could hear heavy plant machinery working hard when the wind was in the right direction, my parents told me that was the sound of Euclid’s working in the quarries. What a fascinating name for a three or four year old, Euclid! The name captivated me and I collected and played with Dinky and Corgi toys until model railways took over from about the age of ten. It came as a great pleasure then to find this video in my YouTube stream recently; I have one other great friend who takes an interest, anyone on here similarly affected? Cheers, John Edit: Title amended to allow farming equipment too!

I love that it’s all standing on gas bottles! And, if it should all go wrong, what’s that blue cylinder? Oh dear!!!

Hello Stephen, Welcome aboard! I know very little about busses and nothing at all about r/c but that does look a lovely model. I think having an adjustable set of front wheels adds so much to it. Here’s hoping someone comes along with the knowledge you seek. Cheers, John

What about a suitable power source? Without a revolution in battery technology, the only way I can see to create vehicles that have range and speed is from an external source - like an overhead supply, perhaps. Link the vehicles more closely together and find that’s what being built!

Not much left of the unrestricted autobahn left anymore, if anything. I have driven/been driven from central England to the south of France and at legal speeds, it takes some doing to do it in 24 hours - you have to be on the move almost continuously with two or more drivers, limited stops for food and toilets, you could not recharge your Tesla in such short stops. Even if fezza started his journey from Dover, he would be hard pushed to go those distances in the time stated, factor in anything that negotiates London and you’re time shoots up. As I said, you can’t justify BREAKING THE LAW to make such comparisons, never mind that if a single trains worth of people were to try it, the chances of serious accidents go up immensely.

So - you’re one of the absolute bar stewards steaming down the motorway at 100mph, are you!? You’re complaining about high speed rail being built in the UK and admitting that you regularly break the law - as though it’s nothing even though you could easily take high speed trains in the countries you mention. And, in the same breath, state that we need to slow down! Unbelievable! Not to mention that no electric car made has that range at that speed so you’re also promoting polluting vehicles into the bargain. Methinks you’ve been watching too much “ Top Gear”

Hi Sam, I’m glad it worked for you! I’ve opened numerous coaches from various manufacturers belonging to several people so I couldn’t recall the exact method so I just listed the “secret” methods most manufacturers seem to use. “secret” as in the less obvious or hidden methods rather than the “open” method of screws or tabs. Cheers, John

@Clive Mortimore - Far out, man! I watch quite a few of these Russian/former Soviet railways videos quite a bit, they are AWESOME! It’s possible to model them too, Roco make the M62 and a very nice CC hood unit, as do Piko along with a small shunter but I *think* to recreate the real exotics, would be very expensive albeit interesting! The Russians also claim the world’s fastest diesel loco, I posted links previously but no one seemed particularly interested as it disputes the British record.

I rather suspected you were talking about this line but didn’t want to spoil the fun! It IS a fascinating line but I think I prefer it in privatisation days when it was diesel operated, they ran some big power then, Blue Tigers, Ludmilla’s and 218’s and I’m sure, others. Not wanting to be critical but under electrification, it is a 25Kv line - unique in Germany but I wouldn’t let such a trifling thing stop me running regular 15Kv German electrics! Plus, in modern times, so many locos are multi voltage, who’d know!? Cheers, John

That last picture - trains aren’t the only things to be spotted! It is France of course, such things barely raise an eyebrow! Anyway, regarding the greenery at Bordeaux St. Jean, my favourite French station by the way, that’s nothing! At the hugely busy Hamburg Harburg station in Germany, parts of the station can appear quite jungle like, it seems they simply don’t bother with vegetation unless it gets in the way.

Hi Sam, There is usually a couple of ways of getting into Roco coaches, I don’t know which applies to this one. 1. Remove the corridor connection moulding, it should pop out or slide out. Then carefully slide the roof off, takes a bit of doing but it will come. 2. (more likely) Make some tapered wedges from the likes of coffee stirrers, about 6 or even 8. Very gently, prise the lower edge of the coach body, just above the solebar - if you look very closely, you can see a join between the two parts. Once you have all the wedges in place, the body should slide up and off the chassis BUT be careful of the wiring. A third option may be to pull the buffers off before the body can be released, this may apply to the above methods but I think it’s method 2. Edit: I am sure the join is between the white bodywork and the black solebar. I hope this helps, John

Thanks Mike. Yes, please - I’d love to see more pictures. I’d love to be able to write Chinese too, I wonder why your quote shows me doing so? Maybe you are using translation software at your end? It seems very clever if so, may I ask what software it is, please? Cheers, John

Hello Mike and welcome! Thanks for posting that picture, they look lovely models. Any details on them, please? Cheers, John