Brian Indge

Hornby could stop all the foaming at the mouth by being upfront to prospective customers about the supply situation but have chosen not to. Once again it is poor customer relations, especially by a Company supposedly trying to get into profit. For the customer services manager to state that retailers will get a “Fair” allocation is rubbish when one retailer has stated they will only get one of the ten W1 models they ordered.

Well I have quite a few pre-ordered models with a retailer. If any get cancelled because of Hornby not supplying, that will be the end of any future purchases of their products, it is not critical for me. Whatever some say on this forum it is obvious Hornby are trying to bypass the retailers by selling direct. This will affect model shops badly and eventually reduce the amount of advertising in the Model Railway press. Bearing this in mind I am surprised that not one of the major publications has queried with Hornby what they are playing at.

I have also had the e-Mail asking for the balance of payment with a link to do so. Trouble is the link sends you to a page to order another new model, not to pay a balance.

TMC are very good, have dealt with them for years.

This is exactly what happened a few years ago when they released the Stirling Single loco and they did not have the excuse of the Covid situation then. Frankly, their service is appalling.

Wonder if the supply/non-supply problems to certain retailers will be highlighted in the series!!!

Bure Valley Models at Aylsham have posted on their Facebook page that their shop will reopen for customers on 12th April, from 9am until 5pm seven days a week.

I also made my first purchase from Colletts last week for an item out of stock elsewhere. First Class service, and like others have said you get a personalised e-Mail thanking you for your business. Will certainly use again.

As an update to my posting above, I had an email from Oxford Rail yesterday to inform me that the Westinghouse Brake pump sound is not included on the decoder, even though the pump is fitted to the model! I cannot believe this, it was the most distinctive sound of an N7 when working the “jazz” service from Liverpool Street station. Sadly for Oxford Rail, they will not be getting an order from me, it’s a poor decision by them.

Thinking of getting the BR sound fitted version. Earlier in the year mention was made that the first sound fitted versions did not have the Westinghouse brake sound. Does anyone know if this has been rectified.

I send packages Airmail to family in Canada every so often using the Royal Mail “Tracked And Signed” service. All goes well until they arrive at Langley for forwarding to Canada Post then they disappear for days before suddenly turning up at the destination. An item I posted at the beginning of April took 6 weeks recently.

ITV Anglia interviewed Andrew the other day where he named the Insurance Company involved. This is just another example of being “ripped off”, the railway has paid all the premiums so they should have been paid out. I have bought numerous items from the model shop over the years, in fact my wallet cries when I visit the place! lovely people, they don’t deserve this treatment.

Sent a package to Vancouver Island at beginning of April and it has still not arrived.

The North Yorkshire Moors Railway have also started an appeal for funds due to the shutdown, suggesting that they could lose £1m in this period. Worrying times for the railway but it shows how fragile finances must be at all our heritage lines.

North Yorkshire Moors Railway has announced it is closed until further notice and cancelled five events.

In the absence of any new videos which is a shame after all that was uploaded at the start of the replacement, on the NYMR engineering blog on their homepage there are some new photos.

Plenty to look forward to there

The January 2020 issue of Hornby Magazine shows how to fit sound to these models if you are interested.

As the signal box is not in use, this is surely not a concern

And so would I!

For a start, two weeks ago would be the middle of December, not the Christmas holidays! Secondly, trying to have any communication with Locomotion Models is a sick joke and has been most of this year as many on this forum have found to their cost, including me. Frankly, I don’t know how they are still in business, they certainly don’t seem to be concerned at taking orders over the telephone. Their telephone answering machine asks you to leave a message, saying they aim to respond within 5 working days, it’s 2018 for heaven’s sake, not the dim, dark ages. Certainly until they improve on communications I shall not order from them again.

Yes the code worked for me!

I also thought the show was really good, although it would have been nice to have had a major trader for bits and pieces such as Squires in attendance. The Bournemouth layout was superb and every time I looked there were huge crowds at the barrier. With the space in the isles being so wide there was never any problem of being squashed. The only thing SWMBO said to me was that with all the space in the main hall there could have been more seating for those that wanted to rest their feet. Some years ago there were bench seats for people to do this, so perhaps that could be looked at. Anyway, roll on next year!

I would have thought that your model was not fit for purpose and as such should have been replaced by another immediately. It is not as if you have had the thing very long. As I have posted earlier, Locomotion Models have been an absolute shambles in delivering this particular model and until their communication system is greatly improved I am reluctant to order anything else from them. Brian

Both variants should still be available I believe. Good luck in trying to contact Locomotion to order one though.