John M Upton

377620 was the first, Easter Saturday 4th April, it was sent in error on the 21:32 Victoria to Portsmouth & Southsea when it should have been on the 21:32 Victoria to Epsom. My driver and I (I was a Guard back then) tried to point out the error to no avail. It was trapped the other side of an engineering block on Easter Sunday which saw it running Havant/Portsmouth shuttles all day, attracting more enthusiasts than passengers! On the Easter Monday it did a full day's Arun Valley circuit which is where I caught up with it Horsham: 377604 was the second, working the last train down the valley on 1st May 2015, started from Three Bridges with the only stock that could be found following an entire day of utter chaos when the third rail on the up fast fell over during the morning peak at Clapham Junction. Caused havoc at Littlehampton when it arrived empties as they usually just deal in multiples of four... And 377613 in April 2016 made it all the way to Southampton from Brighton at least twice!! A 387 has made it to Southampton too, just the once, it was not supposed to be there though as they discovered later, thumbing through the Sectional Appendix which resulted in some rapid phone calls and the 387, by now on its second trip from Brighton towards Southampton being very hastily turned around at Chichester and sent back home in disgrace....

The big issue is that ebay now take a percentage of whatever you are paid for postage now as well (questionable legality) which now means if you charge the flat actual postage rate to your buyer you actually wind up out of pocket by about 15 to 20 percent which is used to line ebay's already bulging coffers (the words money and old rope spring to mind) so sellers really need to be overcharging for postage just to break even! Madness!!

I reckon a team were in the process of nicking the tree to sell as firewood, probably unaware of its significance, just a tree in the middle of nowhere ripe for the picking to them and they would have been back tonight to cut it up and load it.

The huge hike in international postage has all but killed off a lot of overseas model railway parts and equipment sales practically overnight.

I am delighted to confirm my one arrived safe and sound this morning and is worth every penny. Of course I have now identified a couple more Class 37's I want to model now!!

They seem to have been listing an awful lot of N scale all of a sudden, both UK and continental outline but the prices being asked for a lot of it is well over the top. Meanwhile, in the once fertile bargain hunting ground of US outline HO, it has all gone very quiet.

What version is being sold in the UK though? US spec two rail RP25 or the European three rail version?

Thanks for the replies, I will try and get hold of a Kadee #37. I am sure someone in the UK will have them.

I picked this up from Hattons scrap pile second hand offerings a couple of weeks back: It is a very old Mantua 0-4-0ST which at some point, somebody converted quite neatly to 0-4-2ST. It's a runner too but had been bodged with UK tension lock couplings on the ends, now thankfully removed: What I need is advice on how to fit some Kadee coupling to it, the standard draught box won't fit in the small space available. Any advice please?

Just found this in my garage! Including genuine 1980's nicotine stained buttons (the numerals should be white!) and still detectable subtle aroma...

I am working on a engine shed knocked together from old wooden lolly sticks and tea stirrers: Thus far only cost me the purchase price of some glue...

Actually, Hattons replacement boxes are quite good, not a hundred and eighty seven sheets good though....

Sounds like someone has been using AI generated nonsense...

This thread has got me totting up the shows I used to go to as well. Of the dozen or so I used to attend, this year just Bognor in January, Ally Pally in March (and only just as a train strike nearly sunk the plan) and the very good Seeboard Southern US outline show in Crawley last Saturday (there is a overseas show for you) so far this year. I am hoping to attend Fareham in October and Brighton but that will be it and even then if train strikes are called (Yes, that irritating political bun fight is STILL rumbling on!) that could become non runners too. Missing from my annual lists are Horsham (Crawley), Ewell East, Woking, Chichester Lions Club and at least three or four others.

I presume some pipe dreaming loons have already started up a social media fundraising campaign to try and preserve one of these rusty basket cases?

Just been, excellent little show. Got some photos:

Bognor's one closes on Sunday afternoon. It was always one of the poorer branches (in the old Woolworths building ironically), often out of stock of items, disinterested staff and massive queues for the tills. Worthing and Horsham were far better branches, but a visit before the administration announcement to the latter showed lots of empty shelves, so I saw it coming, surprised how many didn't. Their range of tools and paint were good, I will miss those but the reality is high street retail is as good as dead.

Apart from the fact the description begins with "You are buying.." which is an automatic turn off for a starter, it's a stripped and wrecked Heljan tubby duff body on a Lima chassis that has fallen inside. Scrap, worth maybe ten to fifteen quid on a good day for parts.

At some point in its life, the front dash panel has been replaced with that from a late 1970's/early 1980's version. A not uncommon modification to many a Plaxton coach over the years, particularly by small independents who looked to update the appearance of some of their stock at low cost. On the Panorama and Supreme series it was fairly straightforward as basically the same design - with updates, modifications and adjustments for the various different chassis they sat on - was built for the thick end of twenty years. Mind you, the bolting on of a much later Paramount series front end on a Supreme did look odd though...

The Goodwood Revival Meeting and the Stagecoach South provided shuttle bus service has had to have some different vintage buses laid on this year due to the selling off of the family silver when Stagecoach's new owners took over. It has meant a few 'new' vehicles appearing such as this rather nice Swindon Daimler CVG6: Some of the Stagecoach family silver was still present, the decision to sell them off was halted part way through the process!

One show I cannot understand why it disappeared was the Brighton ModelWorld show usually held every February half term weekend. Held in the Brighton Centre, it encompassed numerous modelling disciplines, not just railways and was a hugely popular event. The bunch of clowns running Brighton Council (and therefore The Brighton Centre) have had plans to demolish the place and build "something" in its place almost from the moment the last brick was laid building it. Still hasn't happened but I think one of the regular suggestions it was about to happen (it hasn't) may have been the reason for ModelWorld getting the boot? Also, cannot seem to find the Crawley/Horsham show or the Ewell East show (often the same weekend in April) they seem to have gone too?

Not sure if I have posted this one, a LSWR Ironclad that resided in Horsham Yard for many years, probably scrapped but I think the Bluebell did salvage some parts from it. For a couple of bonus points, in the background I can see a SR CCT or similar and an Elephant Van.

Surprised to see the old Hornby Thomas stuff lunacy is still going. Have they not heard of the much better Bachmann versions now fairly widely available?

Probably get more for them separately ironically, probably sold to the same buyer mind!!

Actually, that is less than the going rate, upwards of £75 each they are fetching at the moment. These are probably the most sought after coaches of the aircon Mk2 family and were sold out within seconds of hitting retailers shelves (those few that made it that far that is) as some people pre-ordered these in the tens and there were probably only 500 to a 1000 actually made.