highpeakman

But what action could be taken? If an order is placed by PayPal then the money is recoverable so I don't think any offence is committed (I am open to correction on that point). I am not sure if advertising goods but not responding (with the caveat that no money is kept) is misleading? Unfortunately wasting people's time is not an offence (yet). Offensive, Yes. I really wish the owner would take the simple step of making a statement about the position of the business and his intentions, if any. Hiding under the duvet and wishing it will all go away is no answer.

I was just suggesting that this is one optional course of action but not suggesting it was really the best way. Frankly I am surprised that PayPal is still accepting business through this account. Maybe time to contact trading standards about the adverts or is that too heavy against such small cottage businesses (if it can still be called a business)?

It's both email addresses and both phone numbers that have been unresponsive for many, many months.. You could try ordering - as payment is by PayPal you should be able to recover your money when the items aren't delivered (as most people on here already have found). Of course you have to wait for delivery, there is no acknowledgement of order. Once you have decided there isn't going to any delivery, after say 4 weeks. Then you apply to PayPal for a refund which takes another couple of weeks. It's a good idea to keep emailing Craftsman (although almost certainly you will have no replies) so you can send copies to PayPal to "prove" your case against Craftsman. So, after 6-8 weeks you should get your money back. Of course you may be the lucky one and actually get your goods. Let us know.

No value. It did not explain why the company has totally failed to respond to any customer enquiries of any type for a very long time. It also did not explain why it is still advertising the full product range on the web and seemingly still accepting money while apparently not delivering goods.

Just to say Thanks for responding. I should also make it clear that I found all the other photos interesting as well but this one caught my attention slightly more than usual. Please keep them coming as I look forward to seeing the new pictures every day. Thanks again for your time in doing this.

I found the Staythorpe picture very interesting. Have often passed by the site of these on the train in recent years and had wondered what the sidings looked like when it was a coal fired power station before the current gas unit was built. I assume there were other sidings for the incoming coal as well? Were they adjacent?

Don't want to divert the thread too much but these pictures brought back so many memories. My memory is that the 127s were frankly horrible to ride on with the engines running at full throttle most of the time, a real cacophany of sound and the vibration shaking you to bits by the time you got to St Pancras! Also a real risk of catching fire (as many did)! It was such a relief when the electric units arrived.

Yesterdays MRE mag has a couple of potential comments regarding Craftsman Models including one possible explanation.

Actually I should have said Irchester quarry (not Irthlingborough). So it's not the place I was thinking of above. Getting it wrong all round today! Back to the original point though, there is a branch shown in the link above from Wellingborough Station (opposite side to the mill) to Irchester(?) quarry Back to Dave's thread.

There was also a quarry nearby served by a branch according to the 1" OS map. http://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/sidebyside.cfm#zoom=15&lat=52.2857&lon=-0.6727&layers=11&right=BingHyb Not sure if it is the Irthlingborough Quarry referred to on this page. Used narrow gauge electric locos? Can anyone advise? Edit: Top add extra info about quarry.

And, of course, he has the same name as you so it might just produce a response!

Excellent idea! See if you can contact them - maybe you can get through when others can't. Based on something that happened a few months back I suspect that they may actually look at incoming emails (or listen to phone calls) so, even if they do not respond to customers, I believe they might react to certain contact attempts.

I suspect this company may be beyond recovery by anyone now. It may be that, occassionally, they ship product that is still in stock but I strongly suspect that little of the stock is being replaced.

Thank you, Thank you! The hours I spent at Rectory Road Bridge (as well as passing it on my paper round twice every day). My Scout Hut was also just by it. Great memories. Sad seeing the demolition picture though.

Not sure I agree with you and my argument is certainly not as a "puffer nutter". As an ex director (of a successful company) I do understand business cases. My point was really that Watkin built the railway with far sighted and long term development aims in mind (Channel tunnel and communication spine up the middle of the country. If a similar long term vision had been applied to use the high speed curves and large loading gauge I believe that a future could have been envisaged even with the decline of use in the 60s. Governments of the time were only interested in roads for various reasons (thinking of Ernest M there, as one example). It was all cost saving and cutting with a lack of inspiration and future vision of what could be done. That's my criticism. Trouble is that only hindsight proves the rights and wrongs of such arguments. That's my response. However I do not want to turn Dave's thread into a debate about the rights and wrongs of the time so will not comment further or longer. Keep the pics coming Dave please.

Thanks for the pictures of the London Extension. Brings back so many memories. I could just see the GC line from my bedroom window (on Wilford Hill) as it went past Clifton Colliery and the power station before entering Nottingham. Difficult to tell the types of locos from that distance but my eyesight was sharper in those days. Many 8Fs and 9Fs every day at that time. I am still bitter about the sheer vandalism of the closure of that line. The early foresight of Watkins and the opposite blindness of 60's government!

Part of an email which arrived today from Modelmaster and may explain some of the situation. Since the unexpected death of my Brother in Law, (who looked after our I.T. and created and maintained our websites), exactly six months ago today, my wife Elspeth and I have had to work very long hours to stand still, as we cannot alter our websites because they were written in non proprietary code, to give the speed and flexibility to list and process the huge amount of items we make and sell. As we have to create new artworks from scratch every time we order new nameplates or decals, this has meant that new releases, special orders and renewals of out of stock items are taking longer than we would like to produce. As a result, we have taken a lot of sometimes quite unnecessarily savage criticism from a few people because we cannot react as quickly as we would like, to get missing and new items out into the market place.

What great shots of New Mills, Pleasley and Renishaw. They give the "feel" and atmosphere of the time. Even your pics without trains bring the memories back. Thanks again for doing this thread.

Thanks. I had seen that one but just wasn't sure if it was exactly the same notice. At the one you refer to it seems as if the EBI is not yet in use so I wasn't sure if the notice stayed the same when it was put into use. In particular, the requirement to call the signalman still being a requirement once the EBI is commissioned.

I have looked at the data sheet and notice that there is still a warning sign on the gate post. I cannot read it on the data sheet but would I be right in assuming that it still says that the signalman should be contacted? That would mean that the EBI gate is an additional check not a replacement for calling the signalman? I would just wonder, if that was the case, if some users would only use the EBI and not now bother with calling as they would assume it would be totally safe once they have a green light. Is that truly correct though? As the EBI is separate from the signalling and uses axle counters to detect approaching trains then there must be a time window from pressing the button and receiving a green light until an axle counters triggers because of a train approaching? That would be determined by the distance to the counter and the time taken by the train between the counter and the crossing. So if the user gets a green and has, say, 60 seconds to get across. But what if the user dithers around for a few minutes (extra seconds even) before crossing then they could miss the fact that the light may go back to red if a train then triggers the axle counter as it approaches. The user could potentially still be on the crossing. I imagine the time given is greater than 60 secs but it is the idea of a fixed time period I am trying to make. I do think these crossings are a good idea and they do add another layer of safety but as it seems that, all too often, users totally ignore current instructions for such crossings, then will they make much difference? I do know that no matter how carefully such a unit is designed for safety someone will find a way around it! As this topic is headed "Level crossing stupidity", can that really be overcome? Edited for clarity (hopefully?).

I wouldn't imagine PayPal would being making up the money to return. As Craftsman must still have an account open, otherwise it would not accept money in, they will just automatically deduct it back from that account when the time comes. They won't lose or else they would have closed it by now. I still fail to understand why Craftsman keep advertising but never responding. I think they may occasionally ship something from existing stock though. Their excuses last year that the web designer was away on holiday so could not update the errors on the web page is wearing a bit thin after 8/10 months though!