In our update on 01.06.19, we welcomed the HNoll brand into production, with the reservation about the boxes not accommodating ‘close coupling’ heads. HNoll has listened (or read), and subsequent boxes have had their inner trays modified to allow for this consideration. Full marks to them for listening and responding to their customers. (Roco, take note!)

And another follow-up: in response to our question about emergency texting in the UK, a correspondent has said that technically, the functionality does exist, it is just with the politics of how the system is set up in the UK. So, at the risk of being seen as comedians, here’s how it might work… The emergency is identified, and an internal message is sent for the emergency notice to be issued. Naturally, this will be somewhere within the Civil Service, and the authorisation lies with a manager who is in a meeting. Once the manager has been consulted, form XQZ.v1 needs to be completed, but form XQZ.v1 cannot be found. So the form is ordered, and it arrives two weeks later. In the meantime, half of the population has been poisoned … but, good news for everyone else, the emergency has been lifted. So the request goes out for the follow-up text to go out, which requires form XQW.v1 to be completed … you get the picture…? It won’t happen!

The Lokstallet D-loco body and Jeco D-loco chassis were matched in January, and although a tight fit, they went together very well. We have paused in order to conduct a bit more research regarding the placement of the tail-lamp. The chassis comes with working lights, but the body is designed for no lights. Fitting lenses over the open lamp apertures (instead of the ‘plugs’) should be fairly straight-forward, but the body does not seem to have any provision for the tail lamp, and it would be a shame to waste the working lamp. It will not receive the number 597 (as mentioned last month) because loco number 597 never had a timber body, so 174 is more likely. The book on the D-loco doesn’t seem to indicate pantograph type, so further research will be required there. But the book did indicate which way round the body goes; a look at roof shews that the fittings are different along its length, and this of course has to marry-up in relation to the drive shaft.

Brekina has announced some new model cars which are especially suitable for a Swedish or other Scandinavian layout. The Volvo 66 was developed by Daf, and produced by Volvo when they took over that Dutch firm. The Volvo 343 replaced it. The Saab 92 was Saab’s first production car and a model has been available from some time by VV Modelle, and sold exclusively by the Stockholm Model Railway Club. That model is in the original green livery used for the first three years; the Brekina model has later liveries. The Saab 99 was a revolutionary car when introduced, incorporating many features ahead of its time enabling people to take the brand more seriously; the previous model, the 96 was becoming quite dated.