Silver fox coaches - Green & Silver era.

[Noel]

Silverfox CIE Tin van arrived and some CIE green laminate coaches. All will be gently weathered in due course. The tin van will get le grot treatment as they suffered fairly quickly from new. The laminate roofs will be repainted black.

Was quite impressed with the CIE laminate coaches. Will modify the bogies to take Kadee's as they lack NEM pockets and will close couple using Keen accessories before weathering. Believe it or not I remember travelling on these as a child out of Westland Roe and Amiens street to Galway.

Now I just need to couple up an IRM A1 to this formation.

Beware BREXIT hassle with customs from small UK suppliers, it's a disaster zone, aside from the extra cost (23% VAT+Duty), it adds about 4 weeks to delivery times. Brexit pushes the cost up to an extent I doubt many of us can justify the costs going forward except for the bigger suppliers who have DDP (delivery duty paid) because they are vat registered in Ireland or deduct UK VAT from orders to Ireland before payment. But I do love these coaches and they will make such a difference and can be mixed with just about any black'n'tan coach formation of that glorious era. Worth it to me in this case.

Edited December 1, 2022 by Noel

[Flying Snail]

Thats a very nice looking scene indeed! Did you have long to wait between ordering and dispatch from Silverfox?

[Noel]

12 minutes ago, Flying Snail said:

Thats a very nice looking scene indeed! Did you have long to wait between ordering and dispatch from Silverfox?

Yes, I think I ordered them last February. Then they spent 3 weeks in an Post after customs cleared them, arrived today at last. Delighted to have RTR from this era.

[minister_for_hardship]

Got a railcar set from them, bypassed customs, got them brought in as hand luggage.

Have had enough of An Post fudging and being shaken down by Revenue.

[Westcorkrailway]

50 minutes ago, minister_for_hardship said:

Got a railcar set from them, bypassed customs, got them brought in as hand luggage.

Have had enough of An Post fudging and being shaken down by Revenue.

From Experience (groan)….your saving about 65 euro 

[Noel]

1 hour ago, minister_for_hardship said:

Got a railcar set from them, bypassed customs, got them brought in as hand luggage.

Have had enough of An Post fudging and being shaken down by Revenue.

In Fairness, Its not An Post's fault brexitistan has shot itself in the foot and caused some Irish modellers a little inconvenience now and then. I'd rather walk on hot coals than go near an airport cattle crush and walk about 6km just to board a flight. Jeepers in the old days you could park in the outdoor car park opposite what's now called T1, step over a 1ft hedge walk straight into the terminal passed the hand luggage sniffer at the entrance door, and arrive only 20mins before a flight to LHR was due to depart. You could walk to either BA or AerLingus gate with either ticket/boarding pass and get on board such was the interchangeability in those days of the old duopoly. Nowadays Mr O Leary's staff nearly prod us with a meter length of hydrodare hose like the ring in a cattle mart.

[murphaph]

13 minutes ago, Noel said:

Jeepers in the old days you could park in the outdoor car park opposite what's now called T1, step over a 1ft hedge walk straight into the terminal passed the hand luggage sniffer at the entrance door, and arrive only 20mins before a flight to LHR was due to depart. You could walk to either BA or AerLingus gate with either ticket/boarding pass and get on board such was the interchangeability in those days of the old duopoly. Nowadays Mr O Leary's staff nearly prod us with a meter length of hydrodare hose like the ring in a cattle mart.

That's true Noel but thanks to that same duopoly a flight to London was about 200 pounds minimum. That was a huge chunk out of an average salary back then. The best thing Thatcher ever did for Ireland (possibly for anyone) was breaking the duopoly. The Irish government did not want to let Ryanair get off the ground. Pardon the pun.

[Irishswissernie]

Its the same Customs fiasco Eire to the UK. I understand that my IRM Fertilisers and Tea Containers etc., order on IRM UK and Accurascale Irish are still stuck in UK Customs, it must be getting on for a month now.

 

Edited December 1, 2022 by Irishswissernie

[minister_for_hardship]

Brexit is no excuse for our own crowd to rob us blind!

[GSR 800]

Most of it seems to be on VAT, absolutely robbed blind.

[Georgeconna]

35 minutes ago, murphaph said:

That's true Noel but thanks to that same duopoly a flight to London was about 200 pounds minimum. That was a huge chunk out of an average salary back then. The best thing Thatcher ever did for Ireland (possibly for anyone) was breaking the duopoly. The Irish government did not want to let Ryanair get off the ground. Pardon the pun.

Ah it was not that bad if you booked early enough, I remember booking up flights in the 90's in July for IAT Fairford, 88 Punts with EI. Took Me Camera Gear, Step Ladder, Tent and clothes back for nothing extra. probably have the ticket somewhere if I looked. Hate to see what that would cost with FR.

Back then you only travelled if you had to. Now Like Noel I hate it, Now Take the Ferry to the UK when I have to.

So Silver Fox can't or won't deduct the VAT from the invoice? 

 

[murphaph]

48 minutes ago, minister_for_hardship said:

Brexit is no excuse for our own crowd to rob us blind!

What does An Post charge in handling fees? Here in Germany they charge €6 to collect the VAT for the customs.

[Broithe]

16 minutes ago, murphaph said:

What does An Post charge in handling fees? Here in Germany they charge €6 to collect the VAT for the customs.

In the UK, some years ago now, 'Royal' Mail charged me £8 to collect the £3 that a Japanese item that they assessed as being £15.05 on the day was liable to, when £15.00 was the threshold.

Turning £15 into £26.

[Noel]

3 hours ago, murphaph said:

That's true Noel but thanks to that same duopoly a flight to London was about 200 pounds minimum. That was a huge chunk out of an average salary back then. The best thing Thatcher ever did for Ireland (possibly for anyone) was breaking the duopoly. The Irish government did not want to let Ryanair get off the ground. Pardon the pun.

Yes, If I remember correctly it was IR£300 for business class tickets back then and €150 for economy (ie super-apex as it was known then), but you could not change flight or anything back then, and those prices were during a time when inflation was running at 16%. Dublin London route was almost exclusively used by business travellers irrespective of which end of the plane they sat, with nearly all tickets being paid by companies rather than folks on 'average salaries'. £150 was a a heck of a lot of money back then and a hell of a price to pay extra for a prawn sandwich. Thye duopoly knew companies could afford it especially DUB-LHR. Back then airports were filled with suits, whose companies funded commercial aviation. Folks complain about Ryanair, but it does what it says on the tin and offers flexibility we could not have imagined 30 years ago (eg change tickets, flight dates, pax).

 

2 hours ago, Georgeconna said:

So Silver Fox can't or won't deduct the VAT from the invoice? 

 

Don't think SF charge vat as they are probably under the turnover threshold. DCC concepts and others now subtract UK vat from orders shipped to ROI, so at least we don't have to pay vat twice.

3 hours ago, minister_for_hardship said:

Brexit is no excuse for our own crowd to rob us blind!

Not our own crowd, only applying EU laws as per the customs union and applying tax on imports from a third country. The tricks is to get these small foreign suppliers to deduct their nations VAT from the cost to us (ie avoid double vat).

[jhb171achill]

I got stuff from Silverfox recently, but had it posted to a friend in the north.......   best way if possible for those with family or friends in north or Britain.

[Noel]

3 hours ago, murphaph said:

What does An Post charge in handling fees? Here in Germany they charge €6 to collect the VAT for the customs.

€3.50 it seems. These are specialist models so I don't mind the extra cost. Delighted to have flying snail era coaches and vans, rather than the inaccurate toy Bachmann ones with the 1ft high eau de nil stripe.

[murphaph]

Why is there import duty on model railway items? Should be zero rated.

[jhb171achill]

9 hours ago, Noel said:

Silverfox CIE Tin van arrived and some CIE green laminate coaches. All will be gently weathered in due course. The tin van will get le grot treatment as they suffered fairly quickly from new. The laminate roofs will be repainted black.

Was quite impressed with the CIE laminate coaches. Will modify the bogies to take Kadee's as they lack NEM pockets and will close couple using Keen accessories before weathering. Believe it or not I remember travelling on these as a child out of Westland Roe and Amiens street to Galway.

Now I just need to couple up an IRM A1 to this formation.

Beware BREXIT hassle with customs from small UK suppliers, it's a disaster zone, aside from the extra cost (23% VAT+Duty), it adds about 4 weeks to delivery times. Brexit pushes the cost up to an extent I doubt many of us can justify the costs going forward except for the bigger suppliers who have DDP (delivery duty paid) because they are vat registered in Ireland or deduct UK VAT from orders to Ireland before payment. But I do love these coaches and they will make such a difference and can be mixed with just about any black'n'tan coach formation of that glorious era. Worth it to me in this case.

I ordered stuff from Silverfox recently myself. Pleased overall with what I've got, as I have been before, however, for some reason they WILL not produce models in the correct livery. Grey roofs on green coaches, black roofs and chassis on silver stock, and white lines and snails on green stock. I specifically mentioned in my order that the roof of the green vehicles (a coach and a van) that I was ordering must be black, as per prototype, but they arrived grey. It's not rocket science. As they arrive, they look as ridiculous as an 071 painted red and yellow - but a part-repaint is always possible. I note from their website that they offer a railcar set in green too - but grey roof again; plus all variations offered of their G class loco are wrong. It would be so easy to get these details right, as these vehicles are a good addition to layouts without the even greater expense of getting many specialist kits made up.

[Mayner]

The Silver Fox CIE coaches are based on conventional coaches built at Inchacore during the early 1950s and were quite different in appearance to the Laminate coaches built during the late 50s.

 While reasonable models (the coaches), Silver Fox omitted the raised detailing on the sides a distinctive feature of early CIE coaching stock.

 

Going back to travelling between Ireland and the UK.

I used to travel by boat and train after moving from Dublin to London during the mid 80s was fine if you had plenty of time and were able to take the day time Mail Boat sailings arriving in Dublin or London early-evening or late afternoon.

A couple of times I was foolish enough to take the evening sailing from Dun-Laoire and the overnight train arriving bleary eyed in London at around 5:30-6:00 intending to start work at 07:30 but ended up going home and crashing out!

London-Holyhead was enjoyable on particularly on weekends not very crowded comfortable MK2 (E)? coaches, cheerful Buffet Car staff and interesting diversions round Brum. and Northwitch due to engine works on the WCML, had one night mare trip on a hot sunny afternoon in the opposite direction, Buffet Car ran out of water and soft drinks at Bangor then blocked for an hour at Hollywell Junction when we discovered the A/C ventilation system was not working. Very fast running and no delays after Holywell Junction Buffet Car re-stocked at Crew.

Flew Heathrow-Dublin with Aer Lingus/BA a few times at Christmas, I started flying Luton-Dublin when budget airlines entered the market a couple of years later, I had a job with a company car and it was simpler and less hassle to drive to the airport or Holyhead than take the Tube and BR. I was allowed use the car for non-business use including the holidays and exploring the UK from Cornwall to the Highlands with the odd trip to Ireland in the days before a company car became a serious tax liability.

These days I am highly reluctant to fly, though until fairly recently it was basically turn up and go for internal flights in New Zealand, but you needed to allow half a day to check in for an international flight.

Edited December 1, 2022 by Mayner