Flying Snail

Like most people on this forum, I honestly struggle to see what Accurascale done wrong. They’ve been one of the most positive forces in the hobby in recent years - bringing innovation, investment, and high-quality models to market while still working with retailers. This feels far more like resistance to change from established players than any genuine concern for the health of the industry. Fran gave a very insightful update yesterday which I’d strongly encourage everyone to read: https://heljan.com/blogs/news/the-accurascale-take-over-of-heljan-common-queries-answered I agree with @Ironroad that the stance taken by Rails of Sheffield is not on. To me it feels not only overblown, but somewhat hypocritical. They are one of the largest players in the market with considerable buying power, and their growth over the years has not exactly been to the benefit of smaller independent retailers. For them now to position themselves as defenders of the “industry” sits very uneasily. I can understand why GM might feel raw given their historic relationship with Heljan, but that still doesn’t justify the this campaign either. I’ve spent plenty with both over the years and likely still will, but I’ll certainly be making a much more conscious effort to support a broader mix of retailers going forward. Closer to home, I was disappointed to see Marks Models share the ‘One Industry, One Message’ statement, but I’d hope that was more a reflection of the moment than a firmly held position. They and IRM/Accurascale are stalwarts of the hobby in Ireland, and I would hope that the relationship between the two is not impacted as things settle.

I have an 800 still sitting in my shopping basket from my last visit, stopped myself fn the nick of time as I've an anniversary present to buy herself this month and a grey 800 would not be on her wishlist (don't worry lads I have a couple of 800s on pre-order as it is)

'ello, 'ello, 'ello, whats all this then about a police class 37 spotted at Model Rail Scotland???

Captain Sensible is a good call ... but this is what popped into my head when I saw Colin's comment. I could well believe that this track got cranked up to 11 over at Accuracale Towers over the last few days!

Congratulations - the layout looks really well in those pictures!

Having read through the RMweb thread, I think there are some fair and balanced points being made about what a direct-sales model might mean for retailers and for the wider hobby. But equally, there’s also been a fair bit of hysteria and pearl-clutching. In the end, manufacturers should be entitled to choose the route to market that suits their business, while retailers are entitled to commission their own models as well. Not everyone will like every business model, but that’s how markets work.

Definitely causing quite the stir over on RMWeb. I see Marks Models have issued the joint statement from retailers on their socials now too.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but do the bigger retailers not request discounts from the manufacturers? I would have assumed a large retailer that moves significant volumes would "negotiate" with the manufacturer regarding discounts - in much the same way as the supermarkets do with their suppliers. i.e the big retailer protects their margins by passing the pain back to the manufacturer

Very interesting news .. and very exciting plans. Best of luck Accurascale and Heljan!

Now thats a nice collection! How deep are the shelves?

Love the weathering on show here - especially the bitumen tanker. Its clearly a working wagon with the grime that goes with doing a dirty job, but still not OTT!

It looks really great Kevin!

That looks more than okay. Very nice cabin!

Whats schmozzle in Mandarin? I don't blame you Fran - after all the work thats been put in, it must be incredibly frustrating to have that happen just within touching distance of the finish line.

I’ve only ever had good experiences with Marks myself. Fair enough, it would be better if they gave you the option of swapping an out-of-stock item before sending the order, but I wouldn’t say what they did was unreasonable either. What sounds like “a quick email” probably means more than that in practice. Once they contact you, they then have to wait for a reply, maybe send a follow-up, amend the order, and keep the rest of it sitting there in the meantime. None of that is a major drama, but for a small outfit it is easy enough to see why they would just send what they have and refund the missing bits.

Very novel approach ... and I'm sure I'm not the only one that thinks this would look at home on it: https://www.accurascale.ie/blogs/irish-railway-news/only-the-one-shade-of-grey-800-in-photographic-grey-livery-completes-our-goddess-line-up

Thats a decent price ... and interesting loco choices. A hint of things to come???

Much as I'd love an 071 for the shelf, I'm think its probably too big to sell well. The 141/181 would be a better candidate I think. An A Class might work, but its still 51' - would that be too big?

Welcome on board Bullet_Wanderer!

You needed to get it up to 88! Very nice to see a garden railway, looking forward to watching this develop - is the track powered or are your trains battery operated?

Two things: First, it might be worth checking first whether your O2 plan includes international calls, just in case — that can sometimes be the reason a call won’t connect. If international calling is enabled, you should be able to dial Ireland using the standard international format: Start with + or 00 Then the country code Followed by the area code (without the leading 0) And finally the local number For Ireland, the country code is 353. Dublin’s area code is 01, which becomes 1 for international callers. Second, Marks Models has two Dublin numbers: 01 6715809 (city centre shop) 01 4124829 (Greenogue HQ, warehouse and shop that has pre‑owned stock) You should actually try to ring Greenogue as there's more staff there to answer the phone, and more importantly thats where their pre-owned stuff is located. So, from the UK to call Greenogue you’d dial: +353 1 412 4829, or 00353 1 412 4829

Thanks for sharing, definitely inspiring to see the evolution of the layout - and what a nice layout!

Very nice - definitely has a Heuston vibe to it

It looks fabulous - will you be able to get a few pics of it on the layout for us?

RIP Paddy Murphy. My sincere condolences to his family and friends. He leaves behind a great legacy with the Irish railway modelling scene - Go raibh míle maith agat Paddy