Mike at C&M

I have just been discharged from my treatment for the detached retina I suffered recently, so normal service can resume. As of Thursday 6th October, our opening hours will return to being 10.00 to 16.30, Tuesday to Saturday. Thank you to everyone for their patience over the past few weeks, whilst we were unable to provide our normal service

I am delighted, and very relieved, that this morning's post-op assessment at the Royal Manchester Eye Hospital was a success. Another week, and the vision in my right eye should 'normalise' - what I am currently seeing is somewhat surreal! Physical exercise still needs to be carefully considered to reduce the stresses and strains on the healing eye. C&M Models will therefore re-open on Tuesday 6th September. Initially, opening hours will be 10.00 to 14.00, Tuesday to Saturday. Thank you for all the good wishes received over the past fortnight. They have been most gratefully received. Mike Parsons C&M Models, Carlisle

The emergency operation has been a success, and the hospital have saved the sight in my right eye - their words, not mine. Recuperation will take time, and it is not known exactly when the shop will be able to re-open. Should you need to contact us, it is best to do this by e-mail to sales@candmmodels.co.uk , and we will deal with your enquiry as soon as we are able. Thank you to Widnes Model Centre for posting the above update, and everyone for their kind words

I am sure that there are many Accurascale stockists up and down the country who will be able to take an order for any of the 37s that Accurascale are sold through on their direct sales.

We have a solution, and my thanks go to John at DCCconcepts for looking in detail at this for me. Not all decoders appear to support coreless motors, and this is what has been the main barrier. The decoders that do support coreless motors are DCCconcepts 'Black' decoders and the Rails of Sheffield 'Connect' Decoder. Others may also do the job. We also know that the DCCconcepts AE decoders DO NOT support coreless motors, and from the experience we have had, I would suggest that Bachmann 21-pin decoders do not support them either. So with a suitable decoder in place, CV66 is changed to 1 Job done!

I assume BEMF is back EMF. How do you turn it off? I have found out that switching CV66 to 1 should help. The locomotive is more responsive as a result, but is still prone to stuttering. It most certainly is not the smooth running you would want from DCC. Further advice appreciated, if anyone can give it.

Has anyone got these CV changes to work? And if so, what "incremental changes" did you end up making. The changes to CV54 and CV55 did make a difference, but the loco runs far from smoothly even with these changes. We have a customer who has brought one of these in for us to investigate, but don't want to spend the day changing CVs when we should be doing other things. Thank you in advance for any advice received.

Not quite a rival to Freilassing and Plattling, but another webcam has started next to the river Rhine near Boppard which shows both rail and river traffic. The camera is not fixed, but moves between a number of different pre-set views

Excellent find. Plattling has a rival!

Not all out paints are sourced direct from Hornby, Humbrol paints are one of those products you can add on to orders from a number of different sources to bulk up an order. Not all the sources we use to acquire Humbrol paints have informed us of the product withdrawal. Therefore, it is possible that the supplier for Boyes (and other shops) have not informed them of the withdrawal. The announcement about withdrawal has been shambolic - we had to ask Hornby/Humbrol for a copy of the letter concerning withdrawal. The information was not given to us voluntarily by them

As someone who in the past has been secretly checked for our shop abiding by legislation about what we can and cannot sell, we are not going to be the shop to run the risk of being caught for selling something that is no longer legal.

Someone is going to ask, so it might as well be me [and my tongue is firmly in my cheek on this one] Are you going around the corner on to the beautiful Langwies viaduct?

We still await any official notification from Hornby, which considering we buy Humbrol paints from them is very poor. Thankfully, information has dribbled through from other sources, although often this was confused as to exactly what action we needed to take. At a time when we are worrying about how the cost of living will affect sales going into the future, we now need to write off thousands of pounds of stock of a range which we sell a lot of, as well as withdraw that range from sale. And there is no recompense for most of that stock. I am sure I am not the only frustrated retailer about this.

C&M Models limited edition ScotRail Saltire Class 156 is now available. A big thank you to Dapol for adding these on to the recent production with very little notice for ourselves. These are selling steadily, so we suggest that if you want one (or more!), Price is the same as the RRP for the Dapol standard series units - £150.00, with postage of £4.50 if required. Collection from the shop is also available. Orders can be placed online at this link: https://cmmodels.7.ekm.shop/cmm010a-scotrail-class-156-dmu-saltire-livery-unit-156508-cm-exclusive-not-yet-released-16985-p.asp . Orders can also be accepted by mail to sales@candmmodels.co.uk , or by phone to 01228 514 689 during shop opening hours (Tuesday to Saturday, 10.00 to 16.30).

More Class 156s than BR ever had

Our ScotRail Saltire liveried Class 156s have arrived The specifications are the same as the current batch of Dapol Class 156s, and we are happy with the livery details on this, including the Gaelic inscriptions. Details on how to acquire these are in the first post of this thread

The world of cricket is united in it's grief. It doesn't matter which country you represent, whether you are a cricketer from Warne's playing days or playing in the current era. Everyone has a good word to say about the great man. One aspect that has become obvious in the past few hours is how he had time for everyone in the game, whether you were a fledgling spinner or another of the all time greats. Cricket has lost a great ambassador, as well as a gifted player.

With the Post Office being busy, there wasn't time to discuss the detail, but they had had a parcel returned from Belgium due to prohibited goods being sent, and it was a box of toys for a youngsters birthday. The links that "Wellyboots" posted above was one page visited that showed toys as a prohibited item for Germany.

I have just been informed by my local Post Office that Germany and France have banned the import of toys from the UK. As someone who deals with European railways, this is alarming! I have tried to find more information on the internet, and have only found lists of banned items, which does include toys. Other types of goods may be affected, and other countries may be part of the ban. Any further information on this would be gratefully received.

C&M Models are delighted to announce that we have commissioned another run of the ScotRail Class 156 2-car d.m.u.s in the 'Saltire' livery from Dapol. Our thanks go to Dapol for speeding up the commissioning process which has enabled us to add these models on to the back of their Class 156s which are currently being manufactured. As a result, we hope these will become available around Spring 2022, subject to all the usual caveats about Covid, shipping and any other delays that may crop up. This series of models will differ slightly from the previous run that we did. - Our unit this time is 156,508, having done 156.512 previously - One side of each car will feature the Gaelic language ScotRail branding. The previous run was English on both sides. - 156.508 is branded for the Abellio franchise; 156.512 was branded for First Group. - This unit accepts Next18 decoders in both cars, as opposed to the previous use of 6-pin decoders. Price is the same as the RRP for the Dapol standard series units - £150.00, with postage of £4.50 if required. Collection from the shop is also available. Orders can be placed online at this link: https://cmmodels.7.ekm.shop/cmm010a-scotrail-class-156-dmu-saltire-livery-unit-156508-cm-exclusive-not-yet-released-16985-p.asp . Orders can also be accepted by mail to sales@candmmodels.co.uk , or by phone to 01228 514 689 during shop opening hours (Tuesday to Saturday, 10.00 to 16.30). The first run of these models sold quickly, so we suggest reserving your model early.

Nearly with us! The packing department is limbering up with the hope that we will get most of these sent out early in the week commencing October 18th.

We have a limited edition coming from Dapol, and they kindly let me know which vessel the container was on, and hoped the container would dock at the beginning of September. It has been agony tracking the ship as it has spent days anchored outside various European ports awaiting an unloading berth - the 'crowd' of vessels off Rotterdam/Antwerp was particularly impressive. The ship finally docked in Southampton this weekend, some 4 weeks later than anticipated. Now all we need is the gods to smile on us to have the drivers to ship it to Carlisle, via Chirk, and to have access to diesel to move their lorries.... What could possibly go wrong?

I am delighted to inform you that Dapol have told us to expect these coach sets to arrive with us in mid-September. Many of you opted to pay when the coaches were available, so could I ask that if you have a set reserved and still need to pay, please can you phone us with your details now, so we can concentrate on sending the sets out to customers, once they are here. Our phone number is 01228 514 689, and the shop is open Tuesday to Saturday, 10a.m. to 4.30p.m. If anyone would still like to order a set, we still have some available. The easiest way to order is to phone us, and we can take your details that way. Or an e-mail to sales@candmmodels.co.uk

What's green, from the Isle of Man and goes like a missile? I think most on here know the answer. 33 and counting.

For those of you who appreciate a light show, an energetic thunderstorm is currently approaching Plattling from the south. Should be on screen around 20.45 (BST) or shortly after.