DJ Dangerous

The Ellis Clark Black 5’s look amazing! Won’t be ordering one myself, but it’s great to see a large steam loco with tender on the market. There has been a bit of a vacuum since the Hatton’s A4’s, and they had some mixed reviews, to say the least.

Class 50’s look to be only a few weeks away… Hello Summer 1990!

Absolutely fabulous project!!!

Absolute shit ton of Irish outline on the Rails website yesterday - probably the biggest Irish outline selection I’ve ever seen available!

I see Hornby TT Gauge DFDS 45' Containers (with wagons) on Modellbahn Union. Still no O Gauge nor OO Gauge, booooo!

On the topic of the current tariff war, the tariffs were sold to the American people as retalliatory. That was untrue. Many countries throughout the world, including America, have mild forms of protectionism, and there's a general status quo, 5% here and 10% there etc. The new American tariffs are a first strike against anybody who treats America on a level playing field, rather than kissing up to them. The formula that the American governement used to derive these tariffs was not related to current tariffs, but to trade deficits and trade surpluses, goods only, excluding services, hence they ended up with the embarrassing situation of taxing islands inhabited solely by penguins. They also chose to exclude services, and only use goods, to create this flawed formula. If they have a trade deficit in goods and a trade surplus in services which cancels out the former, then there is a net zero surplus / deficit. Excuse my spelling, but there's sand in my keyboard that I can't quite clear out!

Easy there, @James Regan, nobody is attacking you personally, and there's no need to start insulting people who think differently to you. The new tariffs, to simplify things for the sake of discussion, are an import tax, collected by the American authorities at point of import. Manufacturers and exporters have no part to play. Importers (ie online buyers such as yourself) and American retailers are the ones who pay the tax to the American government. American retailers then have to choose, do they themselves absorb the increased costs, do they pass the increased costs on to their American consumer, do they try to negotiate a better sale price with the exporter that they are buting from, or some combination thereof. American-based individuals importing / buying online also face choices, do they buy less, do they pay more, do they ship to an EU address instead, then collect their purchases in a suitcase, that kind of thing. There MAY be some limited cases where hsome HUGE Chinese companies decide to take a small hit, and reduce their export price slightly. This would mean that the new taxes charged by the American government have slightly less impact on the American voter. But, this would be a small number of cases, in companies big enough to absorb the costs themselves, by restructruring workforces or supply chains involving thousands of employees, and would not entirely mitigate the new taxes charged by the American authorities. That scenario is the opposite end of the scale to A/S / IRM, with ten employees or whatever it is, all UK and Irish based. A/S / IRM would be better off doing nothing than selling at a loss to a handful of customers. It's not about a bad attitude, it's about their being no sense in bowing to the whims of an unreliable government, where the rules and taxes are likely to bounce up and down, and their American market is very small. Nothing to do with Republican or Democrat, nothing like that, just common sense. Hope this helps you understand a bit better.

Well, that part kind of is.

Another thank you, this time to @WRENNEIRE, for his help. The late great Chris Dyer had one of my locos in his inventory when he passed away. @WRENNEIRE, under no obligation, just being his usual helpful self, passed my details on to Chris’s son, who in turn contacted me. We conversed a bit, and today, a very special parcel arrived in the post. Thank you so so much, @WRENNEIRE! This is more than just a loco, now that Chris has passed away, it’s an inimitable piece of our shared history, as Irish railway modellers.

Another care package arrived last night.

I’ll probably leave things as they are, to avoid unnecessary complications. From a budgeting perspective, and being heavily involved in charity work, I understand the importance of regular income such as monthly donations. The ITG should re-think their membership benefits, as there is currently a disincentive to donate monthly, and more than the yearly membership fee. Either automatic membership once somebody donates the required amount, or expanding membership benefits to those donating. I mean this as constructive criticism, nothing more.

Wait, so membership is cheaper than donating, and they get the magazine and I don’t? I had assumed that membership was more.

I’m sticking with the 371 Class for the 69ified 071’s and the 301 Class for the tuned 201’s.

I should really cancel my donation and become a member instead, so!

Sounds like a special offer at Tesco!