I would like to model British OO scale. I find myself (see my first blog) trying to improve off the shelf items from the two big manufacturers.

Then I ask myself the same question I asked myself back in the 1980s. Why? Why do I need to fiddle with Hornby railroad coaches when if they had bothered to model the buffers retracted they could have halved the distance between them for no extra cost?

Why did the Bachmann MK1s have a flawed close coupling system (and still do) making it hard to couple the two main manufacturer's coaches.

Large hook and loop really does not like small hook and loop etc etc.

Enter European Ho. Things couple. Don't derail, mix and match and close coupling mechanics work well.

They are no longer for the better off modeller. Piko new and Roco second hand are very reasonable compared with British OO prices. Tillig are

fantastic former TT producers that make great Ho.

Continental stuff just works out of the box and let me run my railway not a Thomas the tank railway were everything has to go to the "steam works"

on a regular basis. Using a good old Scottish word. I am scunnered with British OO.

P.s. Did I mention the horrendous price of British models now.