black and decker boy

I always specify Royal Mail as the couriers are often remote from our house (up to 30 miles away) and very inflexible. I can easily pop to the PO to collect however. One courier I do like is DPD with their early warning email & pick your own delivery option, very efficient. Hattons though do drive me mad. Despite clicking on the Royal Mail option and writing send by royal mail only in the instruction box, they seem determined to send stuff out by courier.

My new NCB Sentinel was put through its paces at the Kendal MRC show last weekend on Eskmuir. It is certainly very smooth when kept clean. The only minor hiccup was the pickups seemed to slip \ become dislodged from the wheel rims. With the wheels being metal tyres rims on a plastic centre boss, this meant big problems trying to run. A tweak with tweasers sorted it out and the resulting video is attached here from YouTube. The loco then ran faultlessly for several hours over the 2 day show. Very impressed.

I have completed the poll but surprised that SMP scale track wasn't listed as this is my first choice for layouts needing BH rail. I mix hand built with bought Marcway points so would consider a mass market scale point but equally may progress to Templot at some point too.

My wife has always said she thinks all men should have a hobby so when I first admitted being a modeller, she was ?pleased? and certainly not offended. The first time our parents met was at Holmfirth show in 2005 / 06 where I was exhibiting. She does think we are all weird but is happy for me spending Friday nights out at the club. Her moans only start when exhibiting eats into my holiday allocation or she feels abandoned if I am off playing on back to back weekends. I was even permitted, under sufference, to have a model railway room. The (now broken) proviso was that everything of mine had to fit in the 1 room and I could only have 1 baseboard at home at any one time. Currently all 4 baseboards are up in the garage being worked on ;-)

My interpretation on the interview/ article after removing political bias, is that 2 and 3 car turbos offer more capacity than 2 car 143s and 150s. No new trains per se but more room in each is still an increase in capacity

The problem (or not) is you never know what will make it as far as the discount bin and what will be long sold out. For purely nice to have purchases,I am happy to wait and take the risk. For essentials, I buy on preorder. Bulk buys (wagons etc) tend to be on discount. I am now the owner of a second co-bo. One full price, 1 discount. Happy days indeed.

It looks so sad in that photo. Very nice conversion work though. Might have to dust off my spare body and have a go.

I think the quest for ultimate fidelity in models is a personal one. There are those modellers who will chase the ultimate 33 model, ultimate 37 model etc. They may do this via wishlists, conversions or making their own. The majority of modellers will happily buy a reasonably priced, reasonably accurate, reasonably reliable model. The Heljan 33/0 falls into this bracket for me. I did buy some of the original version as any errors were lost on my untrained eye. I also have had over time many Bachmann 37s and 24s & 25s as they were an improvement on the older generation from Hornby & Lima. I have now sold my 33/0s on the basis of the original REx proposal but as that has fallen through and Heljan are offering an upgrade, I will be sticking with Heljan. There may still be a market for both 33/0 models as if REx do produce 'the ultimate' in due course then all those that want such a model are likely to still buy one. The middle market will always have had the original Heljan version on discount \ 2nds so competing against their upgraded model (which by then will be on discount) is little different. With a new manufacturer, the REx model must be looking at 2015 or even 2016 now? Absolute howlers such as the Heljan 86 have remained off limits for me too which is a great shame as I had intended to buy some. Detailing up a Hornby 87 / 90 etc to a decent level is easy and gets you a good representation of the loco. Rebuilding the HJ 86 to acheive the same is nigh on impossible and life is too short. I still hope for a retooled body but fear it will be along wait.

The co-bo are exclusive to hattons so their selling price will always be higher initially. Clearly they have now decided to try and sell through some or all remaining stock at what would have been their selling price on a mainstream model. This is No doubt to prepare for the impending Garratt models. A second run ofCo-bo is perhaps very unlikely in the near future. As for other mainstream Heljan models, I don't think that they get discounted any more than Hornby or Bachmann and some models hold their value very well as they sell Quickly - the class 27s are rarely discounted. Bachamm type 2s and class 37s are often in Hattons bargain bin at a fraction of their RRP. It does not stop Me buying new models as you never know what will sell out and what will end up on discount.

And what looks like an APT on the right in the ETD sidings? I had not appreciated just where these scrap roads had been in relation to the new road & store. Thanks for providing the clarifications in the photos.

Mine were here waiting for me. Quick inspection has mixed results. Nicely applied livery. Main headlights not fitted (an easy fix). Side lights are painted not working lights. One head code on 189 is unfinished in red. No numerals, black paint or glazing! Overall though pretty pleased and when fettled, will make great models. A few pics:

The moulding of her face is something to make real children cry. Very nice painting though.

In the days before the web, send a letter to a national modelling mag casting doubt on the word of a supposed godlike modeller who had written a rant in the preceding mag. Cue furious phone call from said modeller. Next show with my layout, guess who was opposite us with the same plank. Daggers at dawn indeed.

A useful twist for the Invicta limited edition mk1 BG Glasgow queen st, April 1986. Loco is 47636.

Not had chance to wade through all 24 pages but the recent limited edition by Invicta prompted me on this photo. Taken in 1986, 47636 works a service train out of Glasgow Queen St. The BG is presumably covering a shortage but offers a splash of colour. I don't have the coach number (I was 12 when I took the photo).

A couple of pics of Warren Lane taken at Wycrail today. Very good layout, lots to entertain us punters.

They'll be overkill on a 4 coach & DBSO test train Mick.

Last ones for a while, more trains on Eskmuir.

A few more of Eskmuir and my little cameo scenes.

A few more shots on Eskmuir

Wow, a charcoal grey West Country, that is really rare. Shame I missed the auction.....

The modelling community will have all the faults and untrustworthy element of the wider society so given the highly specialist nature of the models in question, the perp is most likely a modeller who either cannot afford the kit or hasn't the skill to build one.

A northern purple and northern WY red 144 bought today from Arcadia Models, Shaw (who has more in stock). Can't wait to get them running.

Tripped over this nugget. Shows just how good Blackgill is

A really excellent layout which was a delight to see at Scaleforum. A brief video: Some photos: