Hroth

Whatever it is, its definitely the wrong kind!

At least they won't be able to book Sticky Vicky* this year! * Google if you must but not family friendly and NSFW.

You'd think that there would be a clearly visible running list on the Hornby website to point people in the right direction. Meanwhile, both Hattons and Rails are running daily "Advent Calendars" of special offers. They're less concerned with driving people to Social Media and more concerned with driving sales!

@polybear Gog is one of the deities of the City of London. He and his brother Magog lead the Lord Mayors Parade....

The problem with buying attractive "Industrials" is that you then need an "Industrial" layout to run them on. With a Victory*, not only will I have to find a bigger box to store all the locos in, I'll also have to build a more or less generic industrial style layout** to run them on! * Yes, I ordered a Black one! ** Another layout on the project list. 🤪

I'd not really noticed that. On looking, what is the furry bodied transparent skull thing up to? Then it must be true. 95% of the Internet consists of naked young ladies, etc!

No, no, NO! Advent calendar and an Advent candle just introduce Christmas. Work your way in, listen to a few more carols every day. Then, by about the 15th, traditionally the day when the sprouts come off the boil to a simmer, THEN you start putting the decorations up!

But at least you have a backup if your propulsion pack fails during EV activity!

I'm getting concerned about what these picture AIs are looking at. Chimpy appears to have a rather well developed "chest"...

Auditioning for the Child Catcher in the local panto? 🤔

This weekend is still too early! (but good luck!)

Not fast, but reliable....

Shields?

That was when his experimental train came to grief and killed his apprentice?

Thats why it was a good place to leave all the cast iron Anthony Gormleys. (Ok, thats Crosby/Blundellsands but all of that coast seems to merge into one anyway...)

And of course, some parts of the Wirral would rather not be connected to Liverpool in any shape or form! As for Hoylake, the bit from Kings Gap towards West Kirby used to be posh, after all it had the Royal Liverpool* Golf Club and the vast mansions along Meols Drive and Stanley Road. The bit from the Cottage Hospital towards Meols could be considered semi-posh. Over the tracks means the far side of the railway from Hoylake Station which consisted of the gas works, the power station, "social housing" and the tip... Oh yes, and the bit between Kings Gap and the Cottage Hospital was shops and, towards the sea, either Victorian brick terraces or a nest of artisan cottages clustered around the Plasterers Arms pub, which was fairly rough. Its all a bit of a minefield! * Hiss, Boo!!!

Another place that can confuse satnav users is Barrow, who don't always know the difference between Great Barrow in Cheshire, and Barrow in Furness. I'm told* that it has happened that trucks have pulled up in the village, asking the way to the docks... * By a former rector, so who could doubt the assertation?

Hoylake posh? I suppose it all depends on which end of Hoylake we're talking about... 🤔 And we won't even consider the other side of the tracks! Thats been a source of amusement for ages! 🤪

I thought that the interference suppression gadgetry (capacitors/chokes) weren't essential and could be omitted when installing a hard-wired decoder as the decoder performed that function onboard?

I was tempted when they first came out, but now..... Go and hide, my poor wallet!!! (Definitely the plain black one.)

Do you have to paint them before assembling?

Does that mean that dogs like Red Setters and Afghan Hounds are permitted? Just askin'...

I did one a while ago, consisting of a Hornby "Santa Express" set, running around a small fibre-optic tree, which was controlled using an Arduino Uno to allow it to circuit in different modes* and play a tune when it stopped at the station. However that was dismantled and I've no intention to resurrect it as since then a Christmas tree will only be erected during the week before Christmas! * Once, once stopping and playing a tune and continuously.

Thought that was the fermented Herring , which is illegal to open indoors....

As there still doesn't appear to be a conventional Advent Calendar, I've decided not to bother tracking the disparate SM* platforms. Sorry for bringing the subject up, thanks Hornby. As an indication that someone at Hornby left their thinking head behind this Christmas, they've reissued a van from their original Santa Express trainset. https://uk.Hornby.com/products/santas-reindeer-wagon-r60053 and appear to have produced a rather simplistic graphical impression** of it... If they're carrying Reindeer in an enclosed van, perhaps someone ought to inform the RSPCA! Hey ho! Or Ho Ho Ho! * Hmmmmmmm..... ** Spot the graphic on the original release. The van has planking! And doors!