John Isherwood

Perhaps you could clarify the type of business / organisation to which you refer? In my experience, there are mainstream businesses such as Hornby / Bachmann etc. who, in general, do have more than adequate publicity and advertising techniques; (as do many of the mainstrem retailers). There is then a huge, empty gulf before we come to the likes of Cambridge Custom Transfers (me), who rely on a very basic website and word-of-mouth to generate the level and type of sales that they can / wish to handle. You seem to be referring to what, to me, is a mythical body of suppliers who would love to get, and could handle, a greatly increased volume of sales, but who won't make the necessary effort to advertise and market their output in what you deem to be 'the modern way'. It may not suit you, but much of the really desirable model railway equipment is produced by 'one-man-bands', who do it mainly for the love of the hobby and have no aspirations to 'go large'. Obtaining their output requires some extra effort on YOUR part - and no amount of crying 'Luddites' will change that. Regards, John Isherwood.

I doubt that you'll find an exact match - buy a couple of tins that are close, plus white and black, and then mix-and-match. Dab the mixed paint onto the corner of a piece of writing / printer paper, and compare it to the model until you have a match. Regards, John Isherwood.

Beware the ex-A1 Fell - the side / front cab window relationship is WAAAAAAY out. I had the kit but sold it on - I'll wait for Mr. Edge's rendition; (HINT, HINT) !! Regards, John Isherwood.

You have to wonder why they didn't do that in the first place - obsession with flywheels, I suppose! Regards, John Isherwood.

..... so who knows what new wagon subjects might be possible with the latest technology? Regards, John Isherwood.

Why would you need to know? If you are cynical about the thread and the motives for it being created - ignore it. Dave monitors the thread and, if there appears to be sufficient demand, he may produce a frequently suggested subject. End of story - what else do you need to know? Regards, John Isherwood.

How do Peco produce the moulds for their new items? Regards, John Isherwood.

By 'remaster', I think that what was implied was the updating of early kits - eg. the recent re-release of the LNER TOAD E. There are a few kits in the PD range that would benefit from similar treatment - the ones from the early days. Regards, John Isherwood.

Looking at these excellent photos, my reactions are :- i] the shade of green used would probably be acceptable - it's not dissimilar to my recollection of the prototype; ii] the smaller lettering doesn't look too bad, as far as it can be discerned in the images; iii] the numbers appear to be too heavy, and I'm not to sure that the correct version of Gill Sans has been used; iv] the BR roundel is oversized. All of the above seem to be par for the course with Dapol, and would be capable of correction without a complete respray, but :- v] the lining and Vs are way too heavy - I doubt that these could be removed to enable replacement with something thinner. I fail to understand why Dapol are so slap-happy when it comes to liveries - I am sure that it is possible to specify the exact shade of paint to be used rather than to have to choose a 'nearly right' colour from a swatch. I know that it is possible to get lettering spot-on, as I've supplied my transfer artwork to RTR companies, so that the lettering on RTR models matches my transfers - which match the prototype. Miss Prism (above) was able to specify the prototype lining size and layout - a quick enquiry here would have ensured that the lining on Dapol's model matched the prototype. All-in-all, a nice model at a not inconsiderable price that will, nevertheless, require me to strip and repaint / reline / reletter before it matches the prototype. Why on earth should I need to do this when it would be so easy to have it right in the first place? I appreciate that CJL cannot divulge the content of the interchanges between himself and Dapol concerning this model but, whatever they were, they have failed to produce an accurately-finished model. Regards, John Isherwood.

Mine should arrive tomorrow, and I've a feeling that a complete repaint, plus the minor corrections that you've outlined, will be on the cards ! Regards, John Isherwood.

But perhaps they simply don't want to !! If monetary gain is not their motivation in producing said kit - perhaps they and a few friends want / need the subject - they are at liberty to do what they want with that asset. There is no clear demarcation between what is and what is not 'a business' - and there is no "bare minimum" as to how they choose to make their achievement available, or even known, to other modellers. We live in a free society - thank God - and how we (legally) conduct our lives and leisure is solely our concern; we are under no obligation to publicise it at all - let alone via a web-site. Regards, John Isherwood.

Believe me, there's way more than one !! My motivation for offering Cambridge Custom Transfers to the modeller was that there was nothing comparable at the time - Woodhead Transfers had just hit the buffers. I found a means of home-producing more accurate transfers that had previously been, or currently were available, and I felt that it would be churlish to keep the benefits to myself when that means of home-production became generally unavailable. So - I offered reprints of transfers that I produced for my own use to the railway modelling world in general, in the widest range of scales possible. Had I taken the selfish option, my long-planned model of Evercreech Junction would now exist, instead of still being just an aspiration. It would be no disaster for me if I never sold another transfer sheet - but I know that there are modellers out there who appreciate what I produce. I have a basic website which conveys sufficient information to the kind of modeller who will make trouble-free purchases - even so, I could at least double my own modelling output if I ceased trading. It's an odd way to do business, and not entirely selfless, but I get satisfaction from the expressions of appreciation which I receive. On the other hand, those who demand multinational levels of service can go and do the other !! Regards, John Isherwood.

Probably because the niche market supplier, continuing to trade on his own terms well past retirement age, would not be found in the US. I stand to be corrected, but I wonder if the US equivalent of our 'cottage industry' suppliers exist. Can anyone post a link to a US niche market supplier who continues to trade well into retirement? My guess is that, if such craftsmen traders exist in the first place, they would shut up shop or sell-on their businesses when retirement age arrived. As we all know to our cost, businesses that have been sold-on in the UK are more often than not totally lost, rather than requiring just a little extra effort on the part of the potential customer. The customer is usually right - provided that he / she has reasonable expectations, given the circumstances of the supplier. Pragmatism - the world would be a place of much less angst if there was a little more of it around! Regards, John Isherwood.

As usual, whenever this discussion comes up, there is the basic assumption that the owner of a range wishes to maximise their customer base, and attract as many sales as possible, by making their sales practices as simple as possible for the customer. Why should we assume any such thing - especially in respect of long-standing product ranges which usually have elderly, one person staffing. So many of these ranges developed in the Royal Mail and cheque era - a method of trading that very much puts the proprietor in control of calls upon their time. There is an expectation nowadays that communication should be instantaneous, payment should be hands-off, and delivery should be by return-of-post. Sorry, but many of the longer-standing niche traders are long past retirement age, and only continue to supply their products on a basis of minimal impact upon their time - they certainly aren't reliant on sales to provide their daily bread. This is surely better than them shutting up shop completely and withdrawing their products? Those who winge about outdated communication, ordering and payment facilities should consider how badly they want a particular product - the alternative may be the response "S*d it - I can't be a*rsed with the hassle"! Regards, John Isherwood.

...... ah - but I've got FIVE; both intermediate (narrow) ones and joint (wide) ones, and with spikes (albeit somewhat corroded). One-upmanship in railwayana; I really shouldn't - sorry! I located a length of rail in the stream, but I didn't have a hacksaw or waders with me. Shame, a joint between two lengths of rail would have made a nice garden feature. Was yours 'liberated' from the turf in the village car-park? It would seem that, after abandonment, the rails were 'recycled' into fences by local farmers, but the chairs were left in-situ - presumably no-one could think of a way of 'recycling' them. Regards, John Isherwood.

The new Hornby version looks very nice, but it has to be said that the Mainline version stands up pretty well too. The Mainline handrails may be solid-backed, but they do 'appear' to be a tad finer than the ones on the new Hornby TOAD. As a 'layout' model, the Mainline one will not look out-of-place if run with the new one. Regards, John Isherwood.

#136 John Isherwood.

Kitmaster had nothing to do with the Booth Rodley crane kit; it was / is an Airfix original. Unfortunately, it is NOT a BR 15T PAD crane, (or a 10T one for that matter). The Airfix kit depicts an industrial Booth Rodley crane on a bogie carriage; the BR versions were on a rigid carriage with a longer jib and modified cab. 10T and 15T versions were supplied to BR(WR), which differed mainly in the ballast weights applied, (or not), to the bufferbeams; some 10T cranes later became 15T cranes. If anyone is prepared to do the modelling necessary to produce an accurate BR Booth Rodley crane, I can supply the transfers - see Sheet BL92 at https://www.cctrans.org.uk/products.htm. Mine is STILL not finished, but it will have functional pull-out stabilising beams and screw-down jacks!! Years ago, I built the equalised eight-wheel carriage in brass and steel, as a baptism-by-fire introduction to my then-new Emco Unimat lathe / vertical mill. The parallel project was motorising a Kitmaster / Dapol Deltic with an double motor / cardan-shaft / gearbox, all-wheel drive using MRRC gears - boy, does that do the Deltic roar! (Shame about the frictional power losses). Regards, John Isherwood.

Really ????? Regards, John Isherwood.

So, what we're saying is that no-one can prove that the Ratio models isn't prototypical, provided that it has a Pxxxxxx number ! That's good enough for me. Regards, John Isherwood.

.... but is it correct? I've always had the feeling that it's too short. Any views on this? Regards, John Isherwood.

From personal experience, nothing is worth putting your peace-of-mind in jeopardy. Stress can be devastating, and when an activity causes you real distress it's time to say "Enough"! If these naysayers think they know better, let them face the consequences - there are other golf clubs; (especially as you can get no personal satisfaction from the game itself at present). Loyalty is all very well, but you do occasionally have to put yourself first, especially as the consequences of enduring stress can affect those around you too. I enjoyed my career, but when it started to make me mentally and physically ill, I walked away, and moved to Cornwall to concentrate on those things that gave me pleasure. The change is unbelievable - you forget how enjoyable and rewarding life can be when you're up to your neck in hassle. All the best, John Isherwood.

Surely the photos make this clear? He's cut back the length of the NEM pockets to pull the coupler heads back towards the buffer faces. Regards, John Isherwood.

I did add a question mark after the Caernarvon suggestion - I didn't have time to plough through my library of North Wales NG books, I'm afraid. Regards, John Isherwood.

Yes, thanks; Lendons of Cardiff came up with the necessary - and at a very good price. Regards, John Isherwood.