Well I've just returned from a holiday in the Kawartha's (lake area in Eastern Ontario) which was lovely, and as I was only 1.5hrs away from a fairly famous model railway store, Larkspur line in Merrickville I thought I should visit.

What an amazing old fashioned full of everything kinda store! And the owner was friendly and welcoming (I was in the store for an hour and a half, chatting and browsing). There is a SPAM point to all of this I promise, but before that, if you ever find yourself within a couple of hours of Merrickville its WELL worth the visit.

There is a pretty varied quite large, new and 2nd hand selection of N scale (its mainly a HO store though), books, art, supplies. Just a ton of good stuff.  But now onto SPAM.

First off, I found a locomotive I've been looking for for 30 years! In 1996 at my first show in Canada I bought an 8 car set of old Concor NYC passenger cars, The NYC J3a that went with it was wrecked so I didn't buy it (I'm an idiot!) but last week lo and behold a Dreyfus styled J3a for only $125CDN, but wait, upon testing part of the valve gear detached, so it needs work, so the chap said 'Its yours for $25!!).  So I have a little work to do with this one.  I'm unsure if its one of the pre-1987 or post ones (I suspect its 90s)

What a beauty!








Now for something totally different and sold again at a very reasonable price because at the moment she doesn't run, but again a locomotive I've always wanted, A peco Jubilee, 5713 Renown to be precise!.  I've not had time to open her up to see whats up, but she does seem in good cosmetic condition





And finally, for only $65 each, and in the running order that you would expect from a Kato 2 F3s (from 1988 run I suspect) in the wonderful CN Green and Yellow livery.  Both run beautifully though I think they would benefit from a service.




I think they all qualify as SPAM and I look forward to bringing them fully back to life!.

Incidentally I also visited probably the most famous model train store in Canada in Markham, some good stuff, some N scale, very overpriced and absolutely terrible sullen service so I just left without buying anything, its worth the 4 hr drive to visit larkspur instead

G.

Quote from: Bigmac on May 28, 2026, 05:59:07 PMOf these i think a King produced in high volume and attractively priced would be a world wide best seller.

Evidence of response to recent calls for "Expression of Interest" have proved that a 'King' is actually less desired by N-gauge modellers than London Underground Stock!
Unless you can provide hard evidence that the lack of interest was solely due to widespread aversion to the 3 promoters of Kings (DJ Models, Hattons, KR Models) and conversely acceptance of Revolution (the only differentiating factor) then it has to be accepted that the supposed 'Demand' for a king is actually a very small albeit rather vocal cohort...

Quote from: Newportnobby on May 28, 2026, 06:23:15 PMOh no, please don't start another wish list thread

Yes, when these recent posts are compared to the title of this thread, there's no correlation!

Quote from: Bigmac on May 28, 2026, 05:59:07 PMOf these i think a King produced in high volume and attractively priced would be a world wide best seller.

I doubt 1% of UK stock is sold abroad. The idea that any model could be a "world wide best seller" is utterly misguided IMO. The King seems a weak example too, given the failures that have been cited.

Quote from: Bigmac on May 28, 2026, 05:59:07 PMi still cant understand why the larger n gauge manufacturers dont go all in for a really sure fire popular model that hasnt been produced before. IN my case it would be ex lms princess, or a patriot.  Ex GW would be King or county. Southern would be a Nelson. I dont model eastern region.
Of these i think a King produced in high volume and attractively priced would be a world wide best seller.

The King has actually been produced already as a RTR model, it was one of the last of the Poole produced designs, but after takeover by Bachmann a further improved run was done from what was essentially the same tooling.

A new tool King was mooted by DJM, but never got beyond a CAD, it was proposed again by KR Models as a first venture into N, but again never seemed to gain that much traction in terms of interest (maybe partly at least because it wasn't seemingly all that well promoted) so I would (personal opinion only) be very surprised to see one produced anytime soon.

I won't go over what has already been said about production quantities again because it has already been explained why quantities are decided at the way they are, and why producing a higher volumes doesn't work for the N market, which although the second most popular scale in the UK after OO is obviously nowhere near as big.

Regards

Roy

Quote from: Moonglum on May 28, 2026, 07:01:22 PMJust found the track by Johnny Cash that I was thinking of...

Tim

Yep - it's a brilliant cover of the song and somehow changes the message too.

You could ask here: http://www.tri-ang.co.uk/

Jan

Never fails to give me goosebumps.........

And here's the LC track I was thinking of.......

Just found the track by Johnny Cash that I was thinking of...


Tim