Mike at C&M

The Mariazell station is a one-off, and needed to be pre-ordered. I presume they did it because of their HOe range of Mariazellerbahn models, but I do not know if it was produced for them by one of the main building kit manufacturers on the continent.

One good thing to come out of the prolonged lack of work is that a solution to how to model the churchyard walls has appeared. My agent for Golden Valley Hobbies put me on to the Auhagen range of kits, and more specifically their range of parts for building bespoke industrial buildings. Within the range are two sets of brick walls, reference numbers 41622 and 41623, shown below in pictures from their website, www.auhagen.de . These kits come as individual pillars, separate ridge tile mouldings for each section, and the wall sections come with relief pattern on one side only - two of these sections are glued back-to-back to make the complete wall section [see left hand side of picture below] These wall sections are all brick, but I was looking for rendered wall sections. So out came a tube of Humbrol Model Filler, and the brick mouldings on the upper sections were 'filled in'. Because of the speed at which the filler sets, the resulting rendering was very rough. [see centre item in picture below] The rendered section was then painted with a single coat matt white acrylic, but the coat was not dense enough to completely colour the painted filler. The result looks likely a poorly rendered and poorly painted wall - PERFECT! [Right hand side of picture below] The brickwork was then painted brick red, and give a couple of washes of very dilute light grey paint. The effect I was looking for was to produce lighter mortar in between the bricks, but rather than achieving this, the converse was achieved as the bricks ended up being coloured more lightly. However, I am happy with the resulting weathered look.

Flensburg, twinned with Carlisle. Walk out of the station, and go through Carlisle Park to get to the town centre.

It is over 3 years since I did any serious work on the layout, but early in 2017, I finally re-started to look at progressing the layout. One of the first jobs required is to sort out the church. The first picture shows what it looked like in 2013. The churchyard, as modelled above, is smaller than I would like, and I wasn't happy with the plasticard base structure and how the walling was going to work. So the base has been scrapped. The church will fit into a corner of the attic, so the first job was to level the frame. In the intervening 3 years, I have discovered the delights of foamboard. So a new base structure was built which fits snugly on to the wooden frame. This foamboard frame can easily be lifted out, so work can progress on the churchyard without having to lean across the layout, or by sitting cramped up within the corner of the attic. Work can now start on planning the layout of the churchyard.

For those who wish to spread their cash flow, C&M Models are also accepting orders for TEAs ahead of the order deadline. Payment will be due when the models are despatched, and not in advance, but the price is likely to be around 10% higher than that you would pay to Revolution Trains on their advance payment scheme. All options are available, and we will be ordering some for casual stock, over and above what we have orders for. But we found with the 'N' gauge TEAs that this casual stock was sold before the delivery arrived.

No reason given. My assumption is that once again they have grossly underestimated demand, and are totally inflexible in production quantities. (Other items were also turned down, but these were ones that have already been released, so I would expect that these were due to being sold out.)

The 2017 Rivarossi and Jouef catalogues are a lot slimmer than previous years, and much of their content is for release during 2017, rather than being currently available. I too worry about the expertise at Hornby's Kent offices. And a couple of examples from the catalogue highlight this: - The diesels section has a full page picture of a Burlington liveried U25C, there are now no American items within the 2017 range. - Rivarossi are showing a number of coach packs to go with the Lima ETR610 e.m.u.s, but there are no ETR610 e.m.u.s listed within the Lima range. Definitely another case of First Great Western HST 1st Class coaches syndrome. Time for someone to prove me wrong, and show us that there is some continental expertise within Hornby's offices.

For those looking to put a Class 87 on their Christmas list, please be aware that our latest order acknowledgement from Hornby shows an expected release date of January 2018.

A word of warning to any other retailers who are still placing their orders for the 2017 range. We have just submitted our 2017 advance order, and included the new Pecketts (R3550), our order has been refused. I now have to convince my customers who have given me their advanced orders, in good faith, for an item not due for release until the end of the year, that the manufacturer will not supply me with their wishes.

Kernow may have done the same as us, and ordered some from Dapol wholesalers, rather than getting all their stock direct from Dapol. We know that we have a further batch arriving on Monday - we have already received the invoice. Assuming this is the case, there should be no need to worry that Kernow do not physically have them on their premises just yet.

From the Dapol order forms that we receive every month, the production run across all liveries (DRS, Chiltern and ScotRail) and all versions (DCC Ready, Fitted and Sound) and including the DRS 68.001 special comes to over 5,000 models made. This strikes me as being a far larger initial production run of any model in recent times, with the possible exception of the Bachmann Midland Pullman. Rather than criticising Dapol for not producing enough, I would suggest that Dapol should be congratulated on their belief and confidence to produce such a large number of models.

Mark Chapman

Any retailer who wishes to obtain these can do so from Hornby, simply place an order as you would for your day-to-day stock. Lists are available, I got mine through my rep. and it would appear that a full set of catalogues is already available. Mike at C&M

I believe that Monday 13th is the date they are expected dockside. They will still need to be unloaded, clear customs, delivered to Dapol, unpacked, re-packed and distributed, so unlikely to hit the shops before the week beginning Monday 20th - assuming that the 13th is the landing date.

I suggest if anyone wants a good wide receiver - athletic and with good catching ability - they should try Lady Gaga. Excellent catch and leap to end her routine.

Despite repeated requests about how we can stock these ranges, since distribution within the UK was wrenched back from OnTracks, the silence has been deafening. I, along with others, have moved on to other ranges - another source of income lost to them.

Not a red engine in sight! Just how I remember it. C10467 gives a wonderful indication about just how steep the climb is.

To clarify the prices: It would appear that announcement yesterday had the coaches at the wrong price, £5 less than the coaches that had already been announced. This error has now been rectified. The recommended price for the Oxford Rail Mark 3 coaches is £34.95 each.

At the doors of Heaven: "You may be wondering what I am doing 'ere...." Thank you for so many laughs down the years. R.I.P Rene.

Houghton Hall Hornby concession is closing on Wednesday of next week. Also the cafe is closed for refurbishment

At C&M, we always try and commission a local wagon every year, and our run is about 150. As well as local modellers, we are lucky that Settle & Carlisle brings us customers through the summer (Obviously, not in 2016), and many of these wagons head down the country as souvenirs of their trip. Each wagon usually takes about a year to sell. For larger commissions, BR Blue Class 86s, ScotRail Mark 3s and ScotRail 156 in N gauge, the key for us is being able to 'piggyback' on to the back of something that is already being produced - we simply cannot finance a production run in its' own right. 'Gut feeling' and experience of the market tells me whether I feel I can sell the quantities required, but I am always aware that some will sell far more slowly than I would like - the 86s took 3 years to sell, the ScotRail 156s continue to dribble out. However, I am aware we are rather off-topic here. Time to bury my head in the Hornby 2017 catalogue and work out together my trade order for the year ahead.

I am lead to believe that Hatton's have been asked to not heavily discount this model, and that they have agreed to this. It must be remembered that like any business, Hatton's are there to make a profit, and if they can command a reasonable selling price, then this will make them more profitable.

The models are being sold geographically, so for the south-eastern area, you will need to order from a shop in the south-east. For the DRS 47, the northern area starts roughly on a line between the Mersey and Humber, northwards. etc. etc. From the Bachmann trade open day in Edinburgh, today, most shops are ordering some. So please feel free to look for shops which might not be your normal source of models, they will appreciate your custom.

38-353 BAA Steel Carrier Wagon in BR Brown livery with Steel Coils (Weathered) - [With coils 'eye to sky'] Nice pair of blue Class 87s on the front - magic!

It is simply the way the two companies work. Hornby announce what they intend to release in the year of announcement. Therefore they have often been working behind the scenes on models about which we do not know, for example, the Class 87 which is already at CAD stage. Bachmann tend to announce before they start work, so this automatically means an increased time until release as all the development work lies ahead of them. As long as you know the way the two companies work, it is not a problem. Occasionally Hornby will meet a delay which results in models being pushed back into subsequent years, and it is not unknown for Bachmann to surprise us with an announcement of a model that will become available in the very near future.