BG John

I often see that with Slaters O gauge wheels. I hope to pick up a bargain, but then they get up to close to the list price, plus postage, so it would be cheaper to buy new while ordering other stuff I'd have to pay postage on anyway.

As one of the "bloody neighbours" who now lives there, I think this sentence should be "Don’t talk crap” replied the Lord, “wait until you see the bloody WEATHER I’m giving them!”!

I was going to buy a Cameo, but took JCL's advice and bought a Portrait. I really must start using it soon!

Glad I switched plans for my light railway from 4mm to 7mm, when I discovered Dapol were doing a Kent & East Sussex Terrier. It saves me having to decide which make and version to buy to convert to East Kent Railway No 5!

I spend a few seconds most days looking at my phone. It's got a useful sized clock on the screen that I can read without my glasses! Other than that, I seem to remember reading a text on it a few days ago, and giving some quick directions to a delivery driver. Very annoyingly, although EE reckon there's no problems with the local mast, the 2G signal keeps disappearing, so I've had to switch it to 3G, that means I have to be careful not to press a wrong button and connect (expensively) to the internet by mistake. As I'm currently having a Facebook break, I think it's Andy York, rather than Mark Zuckerburg, who is running an Anti Social Network .

I spotted the foil covered stuff in various thicknesses at my local hardware/bits of all sorts of interesting stuff place the other day. Presumably builder's leftovers or seconds. No idea what make it was, as I saw it in my mirror as I was driving out. It was outside without cover in the Welsh weather, so I don't know if it would still be usable. But similar places may be a source of small quantities, if you can find them. I'd be interested to know if being left out in the rain makes it unsuitable for our uses.

I'm interested to see what you do to the Hudswell Clarke to backdate it. I only need to take mine back to early 1900s condition, but if you produce something more interesting, mine could become an old one, rather than being brand new!

When I get round to it, I might start a new topic for the K&ESR Terriers. There are various livery variations, as well as a few errors with parts of the model, and I'm having trouble getting my head round all of them. Getting together information on sources of nameplates, as well as when the name was painted and when it was on a plate, would be useful.

Or for those of us whose eyes are getting older!

Not sure who makes suitable wheels now, as I have a pretty good stock that I bought decades ago! Mine were supplied by the EM Gauge Society (to EM gauge obviously), and it's well worth replacing the plastic ones.

Maybe it's actually in perfect condition, but the owner is a modeller who fancied trying a bit of 1:1 scale weathering!

Are you sure there wasn't a little pile of rust where it had been dumped? If you've had as much rain as we've had lately, I imagine it would finish rusting quite quickly!

I think I've put a stop to the dreaded KB3035583. I hid it in Windows Update, and it seems to have stopped trying to install it. I'm prepared with a program to remove it waiting on my Desktop though! I installed this weeks updates manually last night, and still seem to have a properly working Windows 7, without any bullying from M$.

Back in the late 1970s, it was my job to produce the monthly accounts for the company I worked for. One month when the accounts were due, the computer broke down, sending my boss into a complete panic. He was quite young, well qualified and had worked in the city before joining the engineering company. In other words, about as useful as a chocolate teapot when it came to practical stuff! I just calmly walked into the next room, picked up the tray of ledger cards that the computer also printed, and got on with the job just as I had before we got the computer! I can see similar situations arising when things need to be done and the internet isn't working. The internet, and some cloud stuff are great and have many uses, but critical data is staying on my computer where I've got access to it regardless of breakdowns. If anyone tries to force systems on me that prevent that, they can stick them somewhere where the sun doesn't shine. That's why I avoid complicated phones, tablets and all these other gadgets. It might be convenient, and they have their specialised uses, but they are letting other people take power over us, reduce our ability to control our own lives, and create avoidable risks when we have time critical things to do.

If you want to keep the cost down, you can buy ready made wagons on eBay for around half the kit price. They're not perfect, but the ones I've got are OK, and can be improved when I get round to it. You can make plain track to bury under cobbles or lots of gunge from secondhand Peco OO Code 100 track bought cheap on eBay, as I've done for Cheapside Yard. Or use the rail on copperclad sleepers. Pointwork is harder, but Peco flangeways are pretty close to O-MF. Mine is O-16.5, as the layout is mixed gauge, but it may be possible to rebuild them to 31.5mm. Maybe I'll try it one day just for fun! Or build them using the rail from Peco track.

It's now 20 minutes since you posted that, so are you still of the opinion that you don't model O gauge? I had absolutely no intention of ever doing it back in May when I ordered the first of my Terriers, but I had a layout waiting for it (and the other one) by the time it arrived . Buying Terriers is very risky!

Based on my experience of Yodel, I'd be very happy using them. If they provided a one hour delivery time slot like UK Mail do, that would make them perfect. Especially if they didn't turn up early, like the UK Mail driver has a couple of times recently! But from what I've read of other's experiences, I'd only use them if all the deliveries were to be made in my corner of West Wales, where they seem to have a driver who has failed his bad service training!

I hope whoever was trying to load those cars onto the train got sacked .

Mine is now Shipping Today, Arriving Tuesday, and the payment has been authorised. I thought I was so quick that I must have been the first to order it, but maybe I was too quick for my own good!!!

So you live several thousand miles away, and yours is on its way, but Amazon haven't even processed my payment yet, as they won't be sending the book for a while. Strange old world isn't it! I assume they're printed on demand, and the system is more efficient on your side of the pond.

I can't remember what I put on my order back in May, but the order acknowledgement said they would be sent by Royal Mail. When my Dapol Terriers finally arrived last week, the invoice was marked "Yodel Home 24. Not Royal Mail", and they were delivered by Yodel. I'm not bothered, as there is someone here nearly all the time, and the local Yodel driver is pretty good. I suspect that Royal mail may actually be more hassle if there had been no one here when they arrived, although they may just have signed for it themselves and left it somewhere safe.

It's solved one of the stressful decisions I needed to make though. Which of two identical locos do I convert to Rolvenden? Having a damaged one makes it a no brainer which to mess about with!

I haven't reported my broken bits to Hattons or Dapol yet. I'm not sure it's useful to me to do so, but it may be helpful feedback to the manufacturer and supplier. Two of the faults don't actually matter, although it's a shame that Dapol fitted the wrong brake pipes, or the broken one would matter. As it is, I've got to spend time or money to get the right ones anyway. It's just the tank vents that are the problem. Do I go through a load of hassle sending it back and getting a replacement loco, will they send me new ones, in which case I need to get the broken bit out of the tanks, or do I refit them by drilling holes and inserting wire that would make it stronger?

I've had two Ixion Hudswell Clarkes (the first one was faulty and was replaced), and both have arrived with the chimney not attached to the loco. So there may be design/assembly issues as well as a packaging problem. Although in the case of the HC, the chimney is just glued on, but the Terrier's tank vents have a peg inserted into the tank, and have snapped off.

Just had an e-mail from Amazon to say the estimated arrival date is November 17th. Will your 1 day, or my 7, prove to be the most accurate?