cromptonnut

My experience with the whole house moving lark has been pretty negative although it helps that we got on well with the sellers and did most of our discussions directly, then responding to the estate agent with "our" response awaiting the seller's agreement which of course we got. The house we're buying has a clear picture in the brochure showing the rear garden and the closeness of the railway line, and that was a put off to some viewers although it shouldn't have been a surprise. Another "really wanted 3 bedrooms" (well why look at a 2 bedroom home in the first place) and many other really stupid things. Much of the time it seems people were persuaded to come and have a look by the agent so it looked like they were doing their job and earning their fee even though the property was clearly not what they were looking for. If people can't be bothered to read the leaflet, and can't imagine that a 15x12 room is more than big enough for a double bed, a couple of wardrobes and a table, then it may well be better for you because they're also likely the sort of people who are going to cause trouble throughout the selling process as well. I scanned the floorplan, resized it in MS Publisher to 1:10, then created boxes 1:10 of furniture we had, and shuffled them round (a bit of an electronic version of graph paper planning) to see how things fitted and how things might work. We both sat down for a couple of evenings optimising things to know we could achieve what we wanted - except there's no space for a model room but enough space in the garden for a nice big shed) before putting in our offer, and we've subsequently done similar with the garden. We've chosen the paint colours we want, touched up photos with the colours, done mood boards and are ready to start decorating the moment we get the keys. But not everyone is as organised as we are. In your situation, maybe when you get viewers have a double quilt down on the floor so you can show people what room there is when there's a bed in situ, and if you have any 'spare' furniture in one room dot it around the others. That'll probably help. Just don't be tempted by any of these. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/howaboutthat/11950433/Horrible-houses-Terrible-estate-agent-photographs.html

Cost is my main preventative there, although I dabble in O, it's just a compact freight terminus with a specific focus rather than my OO "run pretty much anything" collection. If it's a choice of buying 10 coaches for an express to run round the garden, or the shed, then I'm afraid the shed wins - and I'm not talking about a Class 66 either.

You know you want to ... when I move, one of these plans will be a removeable terminus layout that can be used for exhibitions with a fiddle yard attached - as part of a grander plan that hopefully involves a loop round the garden as well if SWMBO can be persuaded... if we had side access it'd go round the front garden as well but digging a tunnel under the house is apparently not permitted.

The other advantage of the shop at Pecorama is that they stock most of the obscure items in the Peco range, like the Individulay stuff, which you might be waiting a couple of weeks to get hold of from your local model shop, if they are willing to get them at all. I've got family in the area so it's not as 'way out' as it could be for some, plus it's always a pleasant visit. I've been visiting there on a regular basis for over 40 years and still enjoy wandering round the exhibition as well as a trip on the little railway. It makes a nice day out if you add in the Seaton Tramway and/or the Donkey Sanctuary.

Hi all I heard yesterday that Dave Haswell has died unexpectedly. He was known in finescale circles, and was the proprietor of the Engine Shed at Leytonstone until its closure a few years ago.

Ah yes, the limited edition "James Bond 007 Viagra". It doesn't help you Sean Connery but it does help you Roger Moore.

Interesting video, thanks for sharing. Certainly to my ear the Radial sounds comparative to your other steam loco, and slightly quieter than the Class 20's due to them having a 'tickover' being diesel. So I might be lucky and have a duff, or my batch hasn't been configured properly. Time for a dig round the CV's I think.

My sound fitted Radial arrived today. The sound seems a bit quiet, has anyone else got this issue and if so what did you do to overcome it?

Having seen all the news stories today claiming that the Labour election manifesto would "drag the UK back to the 1970's", they seem to have missed out one critical thing. Bringing back Tom Baker as Doctor Who.

Who did?

Ah yes, the old Skoda jokes. What do you call a Skoda with twin exhausts? A wheelbarrow. Why do Skodas have heated rear windows? To make it less unpleasant to push on a cold day. How do you increase the value of a Skoda? Put some petrol in it. How do you jump-start a Skoda? Most mornings...

In the context, "aggressive marketing" probably means taking advantage of a sponsored facebook advert to reach x amount of people within y miles of the shop. It simply means "proactive" rather than "sitting back quietly and hoping people find us".

I'm moving later this year. You're going to be my local model shop...

Time for a song by Les Barker... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0jxkZrIB4U

Occasionally but this particular product I am waiting for is an O gauge milk tank.

Hopefully they'll start tackling the backlog of already announced items, including the one thing I've been waiting for that was supposed to be out over a year ago.

Not sure my wallet - or my wife - is looking forward to it as much as I might be if it's something that suits my plans...

Any idea of price?

It now looks like the target of 100 has been reached which is good news for the project.