An Update on the State of the Model Train Industry

[commerlad]

2 hours ago, west_clare_wanderer said:

He's a complete idiot. But unfortunately, a very powerful, very dangerous idiot

I have never been worried about the threat of a nuclear war, Even with Putin in power.

Yes he is not a nice man, to put it mildly but he has sense to know that nobody wins in the event.

With Trump I am not so sure.

[west_clare_wanderer]

2 hours ago, commerlad said:

I have never been worried about the threat of a nuclear war, Even with Putin in power.

Yes he is not a nice man, to put it mildly but he has sense to know that nobody wins in the event.

With Trump I am not so sure.

 

I feel exactly the same. Putin is a horrible man too, but he is cold, hard, and calculated. Trump on the other hand... well he's a scattergun who changes his mind on a daily basis. I fundamentally oppose his politics,  but its not that I'm particularly worried about. It's the random, incoherent approach which worries me more. One morning he might get up and, over his bowl of Coco Pops, may just feel like setting fire to the world. 

[David Holman]

Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

[DJ Dangerous]

Well, we almost made it to June.

The only current consistency is inconsistency.

Out of curiosity, how many US based A/S / IRM customers are active here on the forum?

I can think of about eight off the top of my head, but don’t want to list them.

Going back to the OP, how does one disable automatic dubbing of YT videos?

Without having to change account settings, region settings, or use a VPN?

The YT application on my telly plays some videos automatically dubbed into Spanish, but the poor translations and grating AI voice that sounds like a squirrel on meth makes them unbearable.

The video in the OP was released on several manufacturets YT channels, some with original audio and aome with that same atrocious automatic dubbing.

[jhb171achill]

On 2/5/2025 at 5:20 AM, James Regan said:

This is all well and good but we need to move production out of China. They are literally using our money to build their army. That needs to stop. Time to move to a location which is not a strategic threat.

We could move it to Europe or the USA, to any town where factory workers will work for €5000 a year.

Trump and his ilk prattle on about how China has “stolen” their industry, when the reality is that (a) big business in the USA and elsewhere have proactively outsourced their industry to lower-wage countries and (b) as a result, American and first-world customers have voted with their wallets.

Dump China, and be prepared to pay multiples of the price for all consumer goods, as proper western wages have to be paid to the workers.

We can’t have it both ways…..

Edited May 25 by jhb171achill

[Broithe]

People tend to like competition when they are winning, but not when they are not - then, being better or cheaper is seen as cheating.

 

Where I worked, we had a cartoonist who would often sum up the reality of these sunset economies. One of his classics, in the late 1970s, was "The GEC Digital Watch".

This was a chap walking along, struggling to hold up a pallet with an array of 100 watt bulbs on it, whilst dragging a trolley carrying a stack of car batteries and a grandfather clock with wires running from the dial to the pallet display.

Later, after a ludicrous failed attempt to get into mobile phones, starting a decade too late and expecting to do it for almost zero expenditure, there was a similar one with the chap driving a fork truck with a phone box on the forks and a trolley of car batteries trailing behind, and an aerial being held aloft by a kite.

 

These were emblematic of the attitude - everybody else should stay in their rightful place and not cheat by doing things better and/or cheaper.

Lots of other UK industries were run by the same sort of deluded management - cars, motorbikes, aircraft, shipbuilding, electronics, etc. - they all stopped going forwards and expected the rest of the world to stop, too.

 

I am constantly reminded by the fact that I drive a Korean car - I am old enough to remember when, if told that that was the future, it would have seemed as unlikely as being told, today, that you will be driving a Nigerian* car in a few year's time...

* Other countries are available.

[Horsetan]

1 hour ago, Broithe said:

.... you will be driving a Nigerian* car in a few year's time...

* Other countries are available.

If it's Nigerian, either you've been scammed, or it'll be a cut-and-shut one which had been stolen in Europe and then quickly shipped out....

[Horsetan]

On 24/5/2025 at 6:30 AM, west_clare_wanderer said:

 .... Trump on the other hand... well he's a scattergun who changes his mind on a daily basis. I fundamentally oppose his politics,  but its not that I'm particularly worried about. It's the random, incoherent approach which worries me more. One morning he might get up and, over his bowl of Coco Pops, may just feel like setting fire to the world. 

Do you remember Miranda Richardson playing the part of Queen Elizabeth in Blackadder II, and hilariously portraying her as someone given absolute power much too soon?

That's pretty much what Trump is. Whims and fancies.

[jhb171achill]

4 minutes ago, Horsetan said:

Do you remember Miranda Richardson playing the part of Queen Elizabeth in Blackadder II, and hilariously portraying her as someone given absolute power much too soon?

That's pretty much what Trump is. Whims and fancies.

Except he’s a great deal more dangerous and irresponsible than Miranda!

[leslie10646]

And, I suspect, making a mint for himself and his cronies. I think that the bit about serving the people got lost when he took the Presidential Oath.

Was I the only one to notice that he didn't appear to put his hand on the Bible during the Oath?

[west_clare_wanderer]

Trump is only interested in himself and this own self-interest. And by extension, the tiny minority elite who he represents. If that means opposing Putin today, but then supporting him tomorrow, so be it. I honestly don't think he has any moral compass. His only motivation is money, power, and influence.

And let's face it,  at his age, he doesn't give a flying f#€k about the consequences for future generations. What does it matter if his tarrifs screw the world for the next couple of decades, he won't be around to see it. 

Unless of course he is cryogenically frozen and lives forever. Or indeed is injected with bleach to make him immortal........ 

[David Holman]

8 hours ago, leslie10646 said:

And, I suspect, making a mint for himself and his cronies. I think that the bit about serving the people got lost when he took the Presidential Oath.

Was I the only one to notice that he didn't appear to put his hand on the Bible during the Oath?

He would probably have self combusted of he touched it Leslie! What I noticed was one of his cronies complaining about the new Pope not putting "America first" on his agenda. 

 They just don't get it....

[minister_for_hardship]

He's treating the office of president as if it was a reality tv show, every day it's a "what the actual *expletive* has he done now?" The "ratings" are through the roof and that and money is all he cares about.

 

 

[skinner75]

It's all a grift - threaten a country with tarrifs, which can be reduced/removed if they pay $$$$$$$ for the 'Trump coin' - so, yet again, just another grift

[commerlad]

On 23/5/2025 at 3:06 PM, commerlad said:

And the rules have changed.........AGAIN.

Trump threatens EU with 50% tariff from June

 

And 3 days later 

Euro jumps, dollar swoons as Trump relents on EU tariff threat

Wonder how much he got paid this time to "Change his mind!"

I have always said that the reason anybody go's into politics is for the money,

But I have never seen anyone so blatant about it before.

 

[Mol_PMB]

12 minutes ago, commerlad said:

And 3 days later 

Euro jumps, dollar swoons as Trump relents on EU tariff threat

Wonder how much he got paid this time to "Change his mind!"

I have always said that the reason anybody go's into politics is for the money,

But I have never seen anyone so blatant about it before.

 

Even if it's not a simple bribe, his cronies playing the money markets (probably with a strong hint of what's about to happen) will be making a fortune.

[Mayner]

The Chinese apparently see parralels between Trumps second Presidency with the turmoil of Mao's Cultural Revolution https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/apr/14/china-donald-trump-mao-zedong. 

[Georgeconna]

4 hours ago, west_clare_wanderer said:

Trump is only interested in himself and this own self-interest. And by extension, the tiny minority elite who he represents. If that means opposing Putin today, but then supporting him tomorrow, so be it. I honestly don't think he has any moral compass. His only motivation is money, power, and influence.

And let's face it,  at his age, he doesn't give a flying f#€k about the consequences for future generations. What does it matter if his tarrifs screw the world for the next couple of decades, he won't be around to see it. 

Unless of course he is cryogenically frozen and lives forever. Or indeed is injected with bleach to make him immortal........ 

"Trump is only interested in himself and this own self-interest"  -Same goes for anyone you vote for....

[Warbonnet]

Okay folks, I think we can leave the politics element there. While it does impact our hobby in this instance for some (in this case our American residents) we do like to keep this place politics free to keep this as a haven away from such stresses of the world and focus on model railways, and our wonderful hobbies we use to escape such everyday grinds.

From an official IRM point of view to our US customers, we advise to keep your pre orders with us and then assess as they come into stock and decide what your best course of action is. Remember too that they will be shipped from the UK, so that is where to keep an eye on when it comes to knowing what to expect.

Cheers!

Fran 

[James Regan]

Look at this wonderful website… and so cheap too! I wonder why?

https://accurascale-us.shop/

[Garfield]

49 minutes ago, James Regan said:

Look at this wonderful website… and so cheap too! I wonder why?

https://accurascale-us.shop/

Fake news?

[Mol_PMB]

It was there half an hour ago - offering class 89s at less than $100, for example. 

Edit: Still there now, in fact:

Edited June 13 by Mol_PMB

[Garfield]

Interesting, still not accessible here. It has no connection to IRM/Accurascale and we strongly advise against using it as it is clearly a scam.

[Broithe]

I can see it - the IPs used come up as being in California and Canada.

[DJ Dangerous]

Looks the same as our good buddies at Spray Tan Fresno a few years back:

On 17/4/2020 at 5:28 PM, Ironroad said:

More that seem too good to be true, the alleged stock levels are staggering.

https://muy.spraytanfresno.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_3&products_id=13512

https://muy.spraytanfresno.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_3&products_id=5898

https://muy.spraytanfresno.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1_3&products_id=7873

If it looks too good to be true, run the other way…

[Broithe]

Maybe someone who's prepared to believe it might buy something and let us know what happens?

[James Regan]

So the importation process did not go well. I requested Accurascale send the locomotive to me by the mail option but in their wisdom they decided to use FED EX who duly charged me a 30% tariff and a handy handling fee too for the pleasure. Won’t be doing that again. Fool me once shame on you.

[BosKonay]

5 hours ago, James Regan said:

So the importation process did not go well. I requested Accurascale send the locomotive to me by the mail option but in their wisdom they decided to use FED EX who duly charged me a 30% tariff and a handy handling fee too for the pleasure. Won’t be doing that again. Fool me once shame on you.

All options would have passed on a tarrif. It applies globally not by carrier. 

[Niles]

In fairness, surely the tariff would still be charged regardless of courier? It's hardly the doing of Accurascale...

[BosKonay]

Just now, Niles said:

In fairness, surely the tariff would still be charged regardless of courier? It's hardly the doing of Accurascale...

Exactly my point. Tariffs are nothing to do with the seller or carrier. They are imposed at point of entry by the US Govt 

[skinner75]

52 minutes ago, BosKonay said:

Exactly my point. Tariffs are nothing to do with the seller or carrier. They are imposed at point of entry by the US Govt 

To raise money to allow for tax cuts for the rich elite

[DJ Dangerous]

2 hours ago, skinner75 said:

To raise money to allow for tax cuts for the rich elite

Gotta subsidise the lives of the Epsteins and Trumps of the world with the blood of the workers!

[Galteemore]

To be brutally honest, anyone who can afford to spend significant sums on what are essentially toys is, in global terms, rich beyond measure. In terms of Maslow’s pyramid, most of us are living quite far up on it….

[Northroader]

I’ve heard of Cheops, which dysentery was Maslow?

[James Regan]

On 16/5/2025 at 4:02 PM, MOGUL said:

We are currently working to improve our shipping, particularly to overseas market and will be able to offer Royal Mail, DHL Express or Fedex for our US customers. We will leave it up to the customers to pick which one they want and which one allows them to best avoid the tarriffs.

So just to state this again, the tariff rates by mail vs fedex are not the same. You guys said you would give the option to chose. I chose mail but you sent by FedEx and now I am stuck with the FedEx rate. The likely rate by mail is $0 because it appears USPS is not collecting tariffs on small packages from the UK. All this was already discussed and acknowledged above. 

6 hours ago, Niles said:

 

In fairness, surely the tariff would still be charged regardless of courier? It's hardly the doing of Accurascale...

 

Nope the tariff rates are different as discussed earlier in this thread

Edited Wednesday at 16:48 by James Regan