Phil Parker

3 minutes ago, Neil said:

 

There is a potential problem with this.  All is OK if the layout is operated from the front as space at the front of the layout will (should be) factored into the planning, however if operating from the rear the effective front of the layout will be a couple of feet forward impinging into the gangway. This may still be OK if it's in one of those spaces where the layout itself can be pushed back or where the gangway widens out but things don't always work out that way. 

 

I feel it would be worth indicating the intention to do this to the show organiser in the hope that this can be worked into the floorplan.

Sorry, I didn't bother giving the full discussion between myself and the exhibition organiser. In over 100 shows, it wasn't an issue, but if I was bringing barriers, I'd normally let them know.

The extra space for a rear-operated layout was less than a foot. If your show is so tightly packed that this makes a difference, there is a bigger problem.

49 minutes ago, Neil said:

A further thought.  As an exhibitor, there may be a few pertinent questions to ask of the organiser before accepting an invite. Do you provide barriers? How busy (how many through the door per day) is the exhibition? What is the character of the exhibition; is it aimed at the general public, is it a specialist event or is it a bit of both?  No guarantee that all risk will be averted but at least you'll have a better idea of what to expect.

The only question I used to ask was "Do you provide barriers?" - if the answer was no, and I really wanted to go, I'd borrow a couple from the club and take them with me. Generally though, it was no barriers, no attendance. People will lean on something, and if it's not a barrier, then it will be the layout, no matter how much scenery gets squashed.

As for the rest, I don't care if you rub yourself down with a damp copy of MRJ every morning, uninvited poking of my layout is a capital crime. In my experience, "enthusiasts" are no better than the general public, and older people no better than children, in their respect for the models on display.

21 hours ago, lezz01 said:

Why mess with perfection? Wells' book is a masterpiece why alter it? 

Except that 3-legged walking machines fall over as soon as one leg is lifted. The BBC worked this out when making "The Tripods" TV series in the 1980s. Matt Irvine explained that they invented some sort of lifting ray underneath to combat this, but it wasn't ideal.

Paul Martin (NG Trains/EDM Models) talks about the NG7 thing on his excellent blog about the new range launch here: https://ngtrains.com/blog/quarry-hunslets-in-ng7/

12 minutes ago, Southernfrance said:

That’s good to hear. It must be quite an effort to get something up and running from scratch in nine months. Hopefully you’ll be able to get a good selection of layouts and traders, if none have been invited already.

 

Looking forward to seeing how it goes…..

 

Dave

As mentioned on at least one layout thread, layouts have been invited already, and the trade is being booked. If we hadn't started by now, we would be in trouble!

Don't forget, we already run three successful shows, so this is the same, but a bit bigger.

The Octogenarian Railcar by Charles Carson

We didn't have the space on our pages for all the diagrams in Charles's article, so they are posted here to help anyone following the project.

Contents

The Fairplex Garden Railroad by Rick Bremer

Testing my Mettle by Mark Thatcher

The octogenarian railcar by Charles Carson

Diary Dates

A Bridge Too Far by Peter Charles

Bodging a Big Hauler by Nick Midgley

Painting Figures The Easy Way by Daniel Cousins

A couple of Oddities by Dave Skertchly

Product News

Seen at the show

40 minutes ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

I'm afraid you have misquoted me and I'm very angry that you assume I vote Communist or any other political party.

 

I think an apology is in order.

 

 

Jason

You are right, the quote about profit should have been attributed to the Johnster - no idea why it wasn't, but I apologise for the error.

However, I won't apologise for suggesting that anyone take part in a democratic process that millions have fought and died to support. Indeed I'd expect someone to be more upset if I suggested that they disrespected those people, and didn't vote.

31 minutes ago, Simond said:

Personally, I’d be happy to pay a few pence more to buy stuff made in Europe, or Gt Britain

If it were a few pence, I suspect most people would. The premium is more likely to be a three-figure sum from those who've told me, and know about these things.

Handy Hint: I'm sure Continental Modeller would prefer the content in text form rather than an image or PDF they have to re-type to put in the diary section of the magazine. I know whan I get these things, I do.

Just now, Nova Scotian said:

There was one response blaming Dapol for outsourcing to China ("what do they expect") and two others in a similar, but less direct vein. I certainly agree there's been lots of discussion about how it happens - that wasn't the basis of my post. 

 

Following your comment I went and looked at Dapol's Facebook post. That was a mistake 😯

 

Can delete my post if you wish. 

No. You've learnt your lesson going and looking at the Facebook page. RMweb looks positively calm compared to that lot!

7 hours ago, Nova Scotian said:

I'm frankly disgusted at the attitudes of some people on this forum. They're acting like Dapol is a big bad business and this serves them right - anything for a modeller to be able to get a cheaper model.

Sorry, that's unfair. People on this forum have generally been very supportive.  Now, if you look at Facebook, your description fits perfectly with many suggesting that it serves them right for manufacturering in China, and ranting you should never buy something from Dapol marked made in China. 

Here, there has been some discussion about how it could happen and some general chat about outsourcing. 

Please refrain from such inflammatory language. 

8 minutes ago, Pmorgancym said:

One brining question, are the J50 we see pictured the real deal or are they 00 models with TT couplers photoshopped on? (As Bachmann were oft to do with Grafar announcements)

This was the state of play back in December, so I'm inclined to think they have samples by now.

8 minutes ago, Darius43 said:

Thing is, I don’t model O Gauge

This is the problem with Dapol. The O gauge locos are very reasonably priced, and sooooo appealing. I have a Jinty, but the 08 really appeals. I have to remind myself I don't need it, as I have a Bachmann version wit detailing kit in the stash. But the little voice in my head says bad things...

On 06/04/2024 at 17:40, Steamport Southport said:

Try selling fake Louis Vuitton bags or Manchester United shirts on eBay and see how much they care!

 

eBay are extremely strict on what is sold on their platform and will prosecute if they have evidence. But they need the evidence and I doubt a few old Hornby Dublo trains are worth even bothering about.

It's all here - https://pages.ebay.co.uk/authenticity-guarantee-seller/

On 06/04/2024 at 16:46, The Johnster said:

I hereby challenge eBay to prove me wrong by removing all their clearly dodgy stuff over the next week; I think we know how that's gonna play out, don't we children?

Get over yourself. If you think the company will splash millions on looking at every listing, then sending the goods to an expert to check authenticity, because some bloke on a forum challenged them, you are living in cloud cuckoo land.  As I've linked above, there is a procedure for high-value goods, but that doesn't include Hornby Dublo or any other toy train. And if it did, we can only imagine the howls of protest as the delivery of said toys was held up, and the buyer landed with a bill for the authentication.

Returning to the OP, has anyone worked out how much you would save buying a dodgy Dapol loco? A quick look at the prices suggests that by the time your postman has extracted the import duty from you on the doorstep (and you have headed to Facebook to have your tantrum about being taxed, whilst also moaning that your roads have potholes), the saving isn't really worth the effort. Now I know we are in a hobby where people scrabble around to save pennies, uninterested in the "big picture" damage they have already done to model shops etc., but I really don't see it's worth the trouble. It's not like Dapol stuff isn't pretty keenly priced anyway.

The ULF transmitter is at Rugby, which is why, according to someone who did know these things, it is the number 2 target for the Soviets. 

1 hour ago, ColinB said:

This is a risk that can happen when you "outsource" your product to a production facility out of your control. Even worse when it is in China and India, but business think they save a load of money so they do it. They don't seem to understand that the fakes will be exactly like their product because they will probably made by the same business. Sadly I have very little sympathy, it should be one of your design decisions when you decide to "Outsource". I know with batteries you have to be very careful as the fakes don't last as long and the rechargeables catch fire. Thanks for the heads up though.   

Ahh yes. Because this will only happen if you "outsource" your products.

When I went to Hornby for the press announcements in December, chatting to the man in charge of the breakfast area, I mentioned where I was heading. He then regaled me with tales of models leaving via the back door at Margate. Apparently, lots of people acquired their toy trains this way.

So, it happens in Blightly, and even when you own the factory.

Please do not paste links to eBay sales in this topic. Dapol has enough on their plate trying to stem the flow of these products, without people here making it easier.

25 minutes ago, Dunsignalling said:

That's why "smaller suppliers" exist and some modellers don't do r-t-r at all.

Chatting to the 3mm Society at York, TT120 has seen a marked interest in people taking out membership with them.

13 minutes ago, PaulRhB said:

To be fair Phil as most modellers just don’t get the randomness you do begin to wonder if there’s much knowledge as the range is so disjointed.

Can't argue that it's not that joined up - I'd have launched with a Pannier, B set and some wagons - but with the gestation period of most models being greater than two years, the origins of this date back a lot further than 9am today. So to say the current company has no-one who knows anything about trains is unfair. That's the only point I'm making.

I've met the designers, and they know their stuff. Now, how much say they have over releases I don't know, but I suspect it's more than 18 months ago.

2 minutes ago, cctransuk said:

 

This is what happens when you run a model train company with people who know nothing about trains!

 

CJI.

I think Hornby's designers would take great exception to that statement.

3 minutes ago, RobAllen said:

Nowadays is that we think that someone shouldn't lose an arm or die on the job because of a preventable mistake.

Different times.

Spot on. I tend to ask people, "How many of your children are you willing to sacrifice so their boss can make more money?"

2 minutes ago, Hobby said:

Going onto the subject itself, though, why do I have the feeling that's 15 minutes of my life wasted? Surely they could have done some more such as estimated launch times for future (already announced) models?

That's why I don't like video for this sort of thing. You have to sit and wait.

You could have the same information much faster by heading to a news service and spending a couple of minutes reading - https://www.world-of-railways.co.uk/news/hornby-reveals-new-products-for-tt120-range/