Willie Whizz

Agree with that. Towards the end of the last Century we had four medium-sized breweries in Nottinghamshire, all of which got taken over and shut down. At least two of the new owners tried to continue some of the key brands by using the original yeast etc. at their own premises - with their own local water of course. The results were so dire that sales fell off the edge of a cliff.

Now you tell us …

Doesn't the lack of a smokebox number enhance the looks of this engine!

For those of us lacking the confidence or unable to acquire the skills despite effort and practice to build good working loco chassis, the ability to use a RTR chassis that gave a plausible approximation to the ‘real thing’ (ie would look all right at the proverbial “two foot viewing distance” even if not quite passing close scrutiny at six inches by an expert on the prototype) would be a godsend, not pointless at all. I’m not advocating completely implausible arrangements like the ancient one you mention where the kit itself was deliberately compromised; but how many of us would honestly notice a millimetre or two in the wheel spacing or one less wheel spoke unless we “knew” already or had been alerted to look? Unfortunately as the practice has almost died-out, as you say, there is little information available these days as to which such chassis are suitable to go under which kit bodies.

At my Junior School the ‘Nit Nurse’ used to take over the Secretary’s room twice a year and we all had to queue on the stairs to be seen-to. I found the wafted smell of the disinfectant totally seductive, and to this day it still evokes lovely childhood memories. Bizarre, but there it is …

I always find that having tidied-up, irrespective of how much I threw away, what is left invariably takes-up about 50% more space than it did before …

I’m thinking of the DC option, not DCC. Something more up-to-date and flexible than traditional controllers ideally; but not at a stupid multiple of the cost. But the descriptions seem very vague and, as I say, I can’t wait forever to find out more as the point wiring is nearing completion and I need to plan to move forward to the next stages. Alternative suggestions always welcome of course! The layout is a terminal station and parcels yard with just over 20 points and half a dozen uncoupler ramps.

Might be, but I can’t wait forever and although it sounds quite attractive the whole thing seems rather … vague … so far.

Although that presumes they actually built the real thing the way it was drawn, which I believe wasn’t always quite the case …

All you need to know then is how many modellers usually buy one magazine a month, how many two or more, and (importantly) how many buy none at all because they either see no value or only use Internet websites these days … It’s not easy, this kind of thing!

Has anybody heard up-to-date information when this sysyem might actually be available for sale please? There seems nothing very recent on the Gaugemaster website.

Whatever the cause of the endless delays may be, it is not preventing Mr Banks adding further material to his website (though the 'sidebar' mention of Volume 2 has remained unchanged for several years now, so don't believe it!) As recently as December he posted material about ex-GNR Catering Carriages and took the opportunity to have a 'pop' at the fairly recent Longworth book for (he says) getting confused about them ...

It might be an interesting question, Tony, to wonder how many DJH A1 kits were manufactured. and what proportion of those have been built over the years by you personally. I bet it would be quite high!

Laugh? Or cry? I must admit, I laughed …

There are, I suppose, arguments to be made on both sides of the WFH debate, but one thing that makes my blood boil is people who are doing so, and getting all the ‘benefits and savings’ of negligible travel costs, no need for “suitable office attire” to be worn every day, and no need to buy expensive lunch from Prets, Subway etc., and yet still expect to be paid London/Large Town Allowances which are meant to cover costs they are (except for odd days) largely no longer incurring. Shouldn’t be able to have it both ways, IMHO.

Seems to be behind a paywall.

Presumably ‘someone at some point’ thought they were getting a good deal by buying in such bulk. One has to wonder though: at the typical monthly rate of sales for such items, by any retail outlet, how many years-worth of stock that represents to he held, curated and warehoused? Perhaps some old Hattons habits never really died out.

I’m just … stunned. Been a customer for about as long as I’ve been buying on the Internet (so about 20 years), and although I do spread my modest business around a bit, I always found Hattons offering extremely good, helpful service at competitive prices and kept going back. Their approach to the development of the Genesis coaches was a model of how it can be done. A great shame, and my sympathy goes out to the owners and staff that this has come to be necessary; but if it was going to happen they have at least realised in good time to run things down in an orderly manner without (it seems) ‘stuffing’ the creditors, as so often occurs, and they deserve great credit for that.

Just get things running! That may not sound like much, but this is my fourth attempt at a layout in 30 years, all the previous ones being aborted for “wheel of opportunity” reasons (space, time and money all needing to coincide, and not doing so). Target this time was the end of 2023 and was going well till Lady Whizz became ill in the Summer. Even so, today I am closer than at any point in that 30 years, so fingers crossed this time …

In Ye Olde England at least, many of the places where stagecoaches exchanged horses were associated with hostelries where the passengers could eat, drink and -at the end of the travelling day - sleep. Therefore that traditional feature of many towns: the “Coaching Inn”.

I’m sure I read, years ago (but can no longer recall where) that it was called a “Railway” Station because in the early days and some way into the twentieth century, people and businesses had far more dealings of various kinds with the railway local company at that building than the mere act of catching a “train”.

Indeed. Where would I be without Lady Whizz to be my third hand and second pair of eyes. A woman who will stand holding a torch shining down from above your baseboard while you faff about on your back underneath, trying to insert a point motor pin into a tiny hole the motor obscures when you offer it up, is a “keeper”.

Personally, although I have no desire to get older any quicker than I already do, I shall be very glad indeed to put a pretty awful 2023 behind me and move on to next year - in which, I hope, for the first time in several years, “nothing much happens”. But thank you all for the fun and long-distance companionship, and I hope we all have a lovely Christmas and a great New Year. WW

Money will not in itself make you happy, true - but a sufficient lack of it will make you miserable for sure! As for not giving a stuff what other people think about you, it’s an interesting concept, but not without risk. Taken to extreme you can become a crusty old curmudgeon and end-up alienating some perfectly decent people who mean you no harm. To me the answer is “moderation in all things - including moderation itself”.

[cynicism mode on] No doubt Mr Longworth has been quite bombarded with people pointing out errors in his book, many of them un-necessary had he only (a) waited forever until more accurate information became available and (b) asked for the input of others, who he already seems to have antagonised, and (c) not been regarded as such an insufferably arrogant individual. But surely he will have a website on which some at least of such errors are acknowledged and corrected. And he will not dare deliver another manuscript to a publisher again until he is 1,110% certain there is no error, even though nobody else has delivered anything comparable on the same subject. Or am I thinking of two other authors …? [cynicism mode off; sorry].