DJ Dangerous

Pretty sure that the Mk3's were in need of refurbishment at the time the decision was made. Much better economies of scale in the UK so refurbishing hundreds of Mk3's probably made sense to them. Also, pretty sure that Warbonnet posted in another thread that IE had funding that had to be used up at the time. Much as I love loco-hauled trains, railcars are far less labour intensive for turnaround etc. As you say, every unit is a loco so you can just swap one out if it's in need of maintenance. There's no shortage of pulling power, ever.

Will IRM release a model of the bus?

Was the whole loco painted like that, or just one cab and one side?

Ah, it was disguised for a movie? I couldn't figure out why they'd have covered the cabs up like that in regular service! Surely you could whip one of those together in your sleep, @Georgeconna

What on Earth is that?

Now we just have to hope that An Post sort their website out, or we genuinely will have to parachute pallets down over Las Canarias.

I think that the IRM model of A39R is in her current preserved livery? Although, yes, it would be lovely to see her in her nineties silver livery when IRM do a re-run!

The bald-and-beard look suits you well, @murphaph Were they IKEA Billy units in the corners?

Never know! They might parachute the pallets of locos out down here just to troll everybody up in Ireland a bit longer.

Still a big empty column down the left where the A Classes should be!

Received a few packages lately, this one of special interest. Thanks @Rob

I see a load of them landing out the back here every day. Never been but it looks fabulous!

I'll try that one evening this week, thanks!

Been trying to contact DC Kits by email the past two weeks or so, but haven't received a reply to any of my emails. Does anybody know if Charlie is unwell or something? I hope that he's alright, and it's just an oversight, an email server problem or whatever.

How old are you now, George? I'm a patient man...

Bumble Bee! Where have you been? How's that FB page coming along?

Settle down, lads, he's probably not gonna keel over just yet.

Those Bubbles look very light. Were they actually dark grey, or were they just painted in primer? I'm almost sure I saw DiveController ask a similar question in another thread. Sorry for going OT.

Have a feeling that in another thread, it was said that price point and delivery dates would be announced late summer, after gauging demand.

I got very excited for a moment and thought that you were releasing 323,583 of the post-1970 vans. I'll definitely take some of the latter two from you. Outstanding work, @Mayner!!!

Was it 234 that had the cracked chassis? Did they butcher her for parts to restore 232? What had been wrong with 232?

Ah well, we'll soldier on... How many IRM customers are based in Las Canarias, I wonder?

Does that mean that online sellers will have to charge 7% IGIC for sales to Las Canarias at point of sale, instead of selling VAT free? That would save a lot of headaches when receiving orders, having the IGIC pre-paid.

I suspect that most of the issues suffered by 121's come from a combination of poor packaging design this time around, ie the foam cradle, and the pressure that postal services and couriers around the globe were under during the first "Pandemic Christmas" last year. I forget the actual figures but it was something like three times the volume of parcels sent relative to previous years, with only half the staff working. Parcels were being drop-kicked around the planet, and no loco was going to survive every bounce, specially such a highly detailed one as the 121. I had hoped to hear an announcement by now on spares for them, though, agree wholeheartedly there. From buying my own and from reading accounts online, I'd guess that about a third of the models released need replacement vaccum hoses, hand-rails or both.

Ah, sure that's at least twenty years ahead of us...