Penhayle Bay

[SRman]

I believe that Simon Kohler once said that AUS was Hornby's biggest market outside the UK.

 

Nice plug for BRMA - thanks!

 

Simon certainly said that to a small group of BRMA modellers when he had an informal meeting with us in Melbourne, some years ago. It also came as a little bit of a revelation to him when we pointed out the hidden sales to Australia from many of us buying directly on line from major UK retailers, indicating an even larger market than his sales figures suggested.

[Gwiwer]

Simon certainly said that to a small group of BRMA modellers when he had an informal meeting with us in Melbourne, some years ago. It also came as a little bit of a revelation to him when we pointed out the hidden sales to Australia from many of us buying directly on line from major UK retailers, indicating an even larger market than his sales figures suggested.

 

The mail-order / online market is largely due to the punitive import duties levied by Australia and, as I understand it, the agency arrangements.  The limited quantities in which a single shop might wish to order any British item makes it unviable to deal directly with the manufacturers in most cases.  A popular Hornby or Bachmann release might be available over the counter and there may be more than one in stock.  Compare that to the larger British retailers where there might be 10 or 20 of the same item in stock.  But a less obviously popular item might not be stocked at all.  

 

Retail prices in Australia are very high for modelling items.  British imports can sell for around 50% more than the UK RRP for example.  The market for Australian models is small and as such they too are pricey with a typical locomotive now coming it at around £175 - £200 when currencies are converted.   Recent Bachmann locos which are around the £100 mark in the UK are available here for about £150.

 

Currently we can import goods to the value of $10K (about £5000) a year I believe without declaring them as dutiable.  My methodology has always been to have small items ordered to no obvious pattern or frequency and nothing has ever been queried to date.  We don't pay UK VAT and the 20% tax offset often covers the shipping costs.  In other words I can order something from the UK whilst on my phone / computer anywhere, pay what amounts to the UK shelf price and have it delivered to my doorstep.  I'd dearly love to support the local shops and do buy from them as often as I can - often only modest items such as paints and glues which cannot be mailed or some scenic items - but I need half a day to drive to my nearest model shop, there is no guarantee what I want is in stock, I need to factor in fuel and road tolls to my time and add all that to the total cost.

 

It's no surprise to me that Hornby claims Australia is their second-best market.  I heard the same from the Peco people when I visited their premises in Beer prior to setting up out here.  I specifically asked about the durability of their track and they happily advised me that Australia was their second-largest market after the UK.  Peco is certainly the most widely available track here; our local shops will stock all the popular codes and scales and usually have a full range of points in stock as well.

Edited January 22, 2015 by Gwiwer

[brianusa]

It appears that Australia and presumably New Zealand have a reasonable train group with an affinity to the UK. Whether expat or native this adds up to a substantial number as evidenced by Hornby and Peco findings. There is not a lot of UK expats who are fond of trains in this country and the locals have very little interest in other than US trains. Therefore like you, all of our purchases come from the UK or from E Bay. During my N and OO days, it was a problem incurring many delays which was frustrating. Fortunately we are spared the import and duty fees that you suffer from, which eases the situation. Holidays back home often resulted in heavy carry ons for the return trip!

 

Brian.

[Gwiwer]

 

 

Holidays back home often resulted in heavy carry ons for the return trip!

 

For which thanks are due to Emirates for offering a 30kg checked allowance in Economy and 7kgs in the cabin, somewhat more generous than industry standards.  

[Nobby (John)]

That's why I usually fly Emirates, the food , legroom and entertainment is also better too!

[Gwiwer]

That's why I usually fly Emirates, the food , legroom and entertainment is also better too!

 

We occasionally use other airlines but Emirates remains our first choice.  Last October I came back from London with 40kgs all up. 31 in the checked bag and 9 inside.  They didn't bat an eyelid.  The seats are better, more spacious and more adjustable than most others.  Their food is the best we've had with reasonably extensive airline experience around the world and their in-flight entertainment is as good as it gets.  You can of course also supply your own if you wish as it's possible to plug your mobile in via the USB port and both charge it in flight and enjoy your own choice of entertainment on it.  I surprised a few people last year by also sending text messages and "live" Facebook chats whilst in flight.  

 

It hardly needs saying that April's trip is again with Emirates aboard their A380 double deckers for three of four legs.  Only the Dubai - Gatwick leg is on a 777.  

 

Penhayle Bay won't be making the trip with me but a small all-new layout will.  Watch out for details in the SWAG 2015 area.

[Gwiwer]

Early morning light on the hillside above St. Gunzela's Church.  Also posted in the "How Realistic" topic.

 

[St Enodoc]

Early morning light on the hillside above St. Gunzela's Church.  Also posted in the "How Realistic" topic.

 

Is Gunzela a female gunzel?

[Gwiwer]

 

 

Is Gunzela a female gunzel?

 

She could be!

 

It's one of the nods to Australia on the layout.  "Gunzel" is the term used (often with a combination of derision and respect) by others to describe a railway enthusiast and compares with the British term "Gricer".

 

The name sounds credibly Cornish and similar to actual Celtic saints such as St. Gerval, St. Gluvias or St. Senara.  

 

Other little Australian features are the kangaroo watching trains go by from amid the bushes on a hillside and a couple of broad-brim hatted figures (though there are no corks on strings attached to the hats!) who turn up here and there at times in the scenes, sometimes at the pub but not always.

[Gwiwer]

Every now and again I capture an image which, when I put it on the desktop screen, generates a reaction of "YES".

 

This was taken specifically for a Facebook weathered locos page but bears posting here as well.  The humblest of locos trundling sedately through on a rare main line outing .....

 

[brianusa]

Looks like something out at Carne Point!

 

Brian.

[janner]

Splendid photo Rick.

[St Enodoc]

The name sounds credibly Cornish and similar to actual Celtic saints such as St. Gerval, St. Gluvias or St. Senara.

Or even St Enodoc he says modestly...

[brushman47544]

Wow that 08753 is a long way from home. Did it come down from Inverness by rail?

[Gwiwer]

Wow that 08753 is a long way from home. Did it come down from Inverness by rail?

 

Probably

[Andy R]

That is a very nice bit of weathering Nick. Great photo.

I also noted the comments on buying direct from UK retailers and landing price assisted by VAT off set. That is also my experience with all my SMP track products, most locos and stock and plasticard- which we don't get any decent supply of locally in NZ.

Regular visits to UK are not financially practical for me but the mail order service I have had from several well-known firms has been great.

 

regards, Andy R

[Gwiwer]

This summer has been a quiet one on Penhayle Bay. The weather hasn't been much like an Australian summer staying (by our standards) cool and damp through until the end of January then again from the beginning of March. We've only had a handful of days when the temperature has reached 30C. None has topped 35C. It feels like winter again already.

The change of jobs has had some effect on my modelling time. I have mostly been on a late shift thus far, leaving home at midday and getting home at around 9pm with little enthusiasm to go out into the cold and dark to run trains at that hour. There has also been a NORUN notice imposed on any train running past Sharon's work-room window while she is there studying. She is finding the challenges of full-time work combined with the later stages of writing her PhD thesis quite tough and doesn't need trains running around to distract her.

I am also building the portable N-gauge layout to bring over to the UK in April and which is taking precedence when I do have hobby time.

Having set aside all this afternoon to work on the layouts I then spent the time instead helping a neighbour with her travel planning. With three weeks until a four-nation trip to Europe she had nothing planned or booked and a head full of confusion. It's all sorted now.

My Turbostar units are very seldom used so the appearance of the South West Trains class 170 set at Penhayle Bay was worthy of some attention. SWT had a small number of these units in this attractive livery for a very short time before swapping them for through-gangwayed class 158 sets. They were usually found working the now-defunct Reading - Brighton trains. 





Equally modern and as seldom used on this layout is the class 221 "Voyager" unit. These still run on the cross-country routes and at the extreme can be found between Aberdeen and Penzance. Arriva took over the franchise from Virgin Trains some years ago and their units now wear a dark maroon-based livery. Virgin Trains still run some in their bright red scheme on the London Euston - Holyhead / Shrewsbury / Blackpool turns which require diesel traction and on some infill turns in those rosters between Euston and Preston or Carlisle.



Here the unit prepares to do battle with the steep climb away from Penhayle Bay as street and station lights create glints.

[brushman47544]

I do like the SWT more white livery on the 170. I gave mine to my nephews, who saw them regularly, when I went DCC (couldn't be faffed with hard wiring it as it's well outside my normal interests).

 

PS - I hope Sharon keeps a few up to date electronic copies of her Thesis. I knew someone who kept one copy only on the PC hard drive then starting attaching fridge magnets. You can imagine the reaction when over a years' work was lost...

[Gwiwer]

Thanks Andrew.  So far as I am aware there are multiple copies of the research here, in hard copy and electronic formats, and of the written work to date in electronic format here in several places and offsite with supervisors.

 

I'm beginning to consider whether to keep the most recent era passenger rolling stock in the fleet at all as it gets the least use by far.  But set against that are the magnificent wagons Kernow MRC has been able to provide us with as I really couldn't bear to part with the rakes of NACCOs or "bullets" for example.  

[Peter Beckett]

Hi Rick,

I thought you might be interested in these 2 pics. I have been touring the goldfields over the last week and stopped at Fryerstown today 

 

Peter

[Gwiwer]

Thank you Peter.

 

It's fascinating how the traditional engine house design was brought from Cornwall to Australia - and some Harvey's of Hayle engines as well - for use in the goldfields.  They still say a hole in the ground isn't a mine unless there's a Cornishman at the bottom of it

 

The Rowe family are one of the larger "names" around the Camborne and west Cornwall area and were often involved in mining.  I worked with one Richard Rowe, a Camborne boy, between 1992-9 when we both drove buses for a living.  He had spent many years "below grass" at several locations and could talk with some authority on the value of what still lay there and how easy it wasn't to work it.  Provided you could understand his accent which was about as strong as I've heard from any Cornishman in over half a century.  

 

You soon learned never to whistle in his presence - miners (and former miners) consider that to be one of the bringers of bad luck.  And if you ate croust (lunch) with him you always left a few crumbs for the Knockers - sometimes called Spriggans - who were the spirits of the mine and had to be fed in order to lead you to good ground.  

 

With some justification given the high risks of the industry miners seem always to have been a very superstitious lot.  Other things which were absolutely forbidden in the mining community for fear of bad luck were to have any female "below grass" and to "gaze 'pon the Gump" which is a hill, in full Woon Gumpus, rising behind the rich mining area of Pendeen and which you were never supposed to set eyes upon though it is virtually impossible to avoid seeing!  To this day I purposely have no photographs of the Gump though many others of the Pendeen area.

Edited May 6, 2015 by Gwiwer

[class"66"]

Luv the tunnel portals and scenery!!

great work..

 

 

 

cheers neil..

[Gwiwer]

I do like the SWT more white livery on the 170. I gave mine to my nephews, who saw them regularly, when I went DCC (couldn't be faffed with hard wiring it as it's well outside my normal interests).

 

PS - I hope Sharon keeps a few up to date electronic copies of her Thesis. I knew someone who kept one copy only on the PC hard drive then starting attaching fridge magnets. You can imagine the reaction when over a years' work was lost...

 

Funny story.

 

One of the things I specifically asked her before I flew back to the UK - and she to the USA - was to tell me where all her work was backed up.  "It's backed up to the cloud, there's a copy of everything on a memory stick and my supervisors have hard and soft copies of everything written to date".

 

Who was I to argue?

 

So I'm standing in the relatively rural remoteness of Lostwithiel station in Cornwall when my mobile rings.  I knew who it was because she has a customised ring tone set up.  I was a little surprised because it would have been 2.30am in Australia.  Very distressed, she came on the line and said "I need to talk - I've just deleted my entire thesis!"

 

After a few frustrated tears had subsided it emerged she (a) did NOT have everything backed fully up to date and ( b ) what was "backed up to the cloud" was what had just been deleted namely the only copy of everything she had.  She had tried to click-drag a file into a folder and had instead somehow landed on "Delete" and watched, mortified, as file after file vanished before her eyes.

 

Knowing how user-friendly iCloud is I asked of she had tried the "Restore" button.  "What restore button?"  "The one in the corner of the screen" says I.  12000 miles away it was found, clicked and one by one the files came back!!!!!  I don't make much use of cloud storage but one thing I did remember from setting up my own account was that it said in large friendly letters "We know you sometimes hit the wrong button or regret making a choice - so we give you the chance to undo it before it's too late forever".  

 

I don't think anyone has ever sounded quite so relieved.  Not least because at 2.30am she was already in a frazzle about getting her papers for the USA conference in order and was due to fly out later that same day.

 

All ended well.  Thanks to the wonders of our present-day technology and a fortuitously good phone signal where there hasn't usually been any at all deep in the Fowey River valley!  

Edited May 6, 2015 by Gwiwer

[Donw]

Funny story.

 

One of the things I specifically asked her before I flew back to the UK - and she to the USA - was to tell me where all her work was backed up.  "It's backed up to the cloud, there's a copy of everything on a memory stick and my supervisors have hard and soft copies of everything written to date".

 

Who was I to argue?

 

So I'm standing in the relatively rural remoteness of Lostwithiel station in Cornwall when my mobile rings.  I knew who it was because she has a customised ring tone set up.  I was a little surprised because it would have been 2.30am in Australia.  Very distressed, she came on the line and said "I need to talk - I've just deleted my entire thesis!"

 

After a few frustrated tears had subsided it emerged she (a) did NOT have everything backed fully up to date and ( b ) what was "backed up to the cloud" was what had just been deleted namely the only copy of everything she had.  She had tried to click-drag a file into a folder and had instead somehow landed on "Delete" and watched, mortified, as file after file vanished before her eyes.

 

Knowing how user-friendly iCloud is I asked of she had tried the "Restore" button.  "What restore button?"  "The one in the corner of the screen" says I.  12000 miles away it was found, clicked and one by one the files came back!!!!!  I don't make much use of cloud storage but one thing I did remember from setting up my own account was that it said in large friendly letters "We know you sometimes hit the wrong button or regret making a choice - so we give you the chance to undo it before it's too late forever".  

 

I don't think anyone has ever sounded quite so relieved.  Not least because at 2.30am she was already in a frazzle about getting her papers for the USA conference in order and was due to fly out later that same day.

 

All ended well.  Thanks to the wonders of our present-day technology and a fortuitously good phone signal where there hasn't usually been any at all deep in the Fowey River valley!  

 

 

That's an awful lot of brownie points earned there. Having been in IT support at one time I always thought there stop be a big warning 'If you do something stupid stop immediately and phone Support'  Good job she did and got through!  Are you still in the UK?

[Gwiwer]

No longer in the UK I'm afraid until May next year.  We are both back in Australia from our respective travels.  I don't suffer from jet lag so was right in the time zone from landing but Sharon usually takes a few days and has also crossed the date line coming over the Pacific from the USA so is still about 18 hours adrift from reality!

 

Long-haul air travel effects people differently.  I have never ever suffered from jet lag.  There isn't a secret.  It's just how I am.  But for what it's worth I have spent most of my life working shift patterns so am well used to slightly odd meal times and apparent day lengths.   I also don't watch in-flight movies nor play games.  Instead I usually have some light music on the headphones, eye shades and ear plugs and just zone out.  With the "Wake me for meals" sticker prominently on my seat!  In 18 hours of flying time and 24 elapsed hours in transit with a 9-hour time difference between origin and destination I probably slept (if fitfully) 12 hours each way.