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The death of the British model shop!


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Although visiting a local model shop is very nice, I am amazed at the number of posts on forums that say "the man at my local shop said......" and the advice given is absolute rubbish.  😮

Absoloutely right, we had a model shop in Horley that has shut.  I went in and asked for track cork and they told me no one uses it anymore. They had no product knowledge, all they wanted to do was take the money and sell model railway products like Mars bars. You could get away with this in the 1970's when all trains were plug and play but not today with all the different options available you cannot do this. 

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Like back home in the UK we in Australia have had more than our fair share of model train shops that have shut the doors, we do however have a local hobby shop that has been selling radio control models for years, they have RC boats, planes and cars plus a wide range of paint and other supplies.

A few months ago they decided to stock model railways since then stock has been selling like hot cakes, they sell a large range of Hornby sets, locos, rolling stock, track, buildings etc at reasonable price's, they do not sell N Gauge or American models but have decided to stick to OO gauge sadly though they do have a problem with getting some stock, I take my hat off to these guys that has proved that some people still enjoy shopping local instead of online.

Dave.

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I live in Essex and my nearest model shop is in an industrial estate and he deals mainly in n gauge, but of late has started doing OO gauge. All his new locos are mega expensive but the second hand is reasonable. I tend to buy most of my locos online, but when I go on holiday to York I find it is great to look round decent model shops. There is a great one in York, I won't name it but I think probably most people know it. and yes it is great to actually see the loco before you buy it. The trouble is unless they are on offer they are substantially more expensive than online. There is also a really good one on the moors just past Goathland, again a really good shop and great for picking up buildings and figures etc., but generally their prices "online" are cheaper than in the shop. The best compromise is really what the one just outside Goathland has, it has a shop you can look around, is in a cheap area, and has invested massively in Mail Order. I must admit their mail order is brilliant. Then there is the North York Moors railway model shop in Grosmont, which is great as anything you buy in the shop supports the railway, and they are competative with their prices.

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Just to clarify for the doubters,  Deliveries to France by Hattons, are sent DHL.  This particular carrier, together with DPD, will only deliver to main towns/ Villages.  They will not go to country addresses.  We have been in contact with both companies Head Offices, who, despite being very apologetic, refuse to make any attempt to travel on small roads. They say their drivers have far too many deliveries, to be able to go off the beaten track. Chronopost, the second biggest  french internal carrier, is in same boat.. Hattons, are aware of the problem, but are contracted to DHL.  Marks and Spencers, who , until this year, used DPD, have changed their contractor, following, several complaints for same problem. This is made worse, as GPO, will not accept flexitrack, due to length..  Those who have deliveries, in other French towns, get them, as it is a French Town.   We accept ,  that we live off the beaten track. Indeed , we are 800 metres, from the main trunk road, but despite, providing maps, these 3 carriers reuse to turn either left or right,  even though we are clearly visible, from the main road.  All the farms down  our road, are treated the same way.   Of course, it was, and is, our choice to live here, but what is so singularly, frustrating, is for the first 15 years, all these firms, daily delivered, down our road.   I spoke at length to the local director, of Chronopost, who said, the drivers were bringing so many parcels back,failing to make their normal town deliveries, whilst going off route, due to time constraints, that he had to issue this directive, as  much as he was loathe to do so.  What happens now is that they leave parcels at town Post office, and we have to drive 20 kilometres to collect.

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Just to round off, it means, not only we pay for delivery, which does not occur, but we then  incur another cost to fetch the parcel.  The French post office, Collissimo, do not  deliver all parcels sent to france from other countries postal services..  All parcels arrive in an enermous hub in france.  From there, 3 firms are  emplyed to deliver, Collissimo(french postal service), DPD, or Chronopost.  The sorting is equally divided between them, so its Hobsons choice, who gets it.   Only Collissimo, will deliver to us, from those three, and you cant make a choice, when buying.     This is by no means, a rant, as we kinda  have the way round it, as explained, but can only solve by moving into the village.  We do put our phone number on parcels, so can happily pop to the end of the road, should any kind guy, bother to ring us..

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Stuff to Cyprus followed much the same methodology John.

 

Royal Mail UK eventually once past Heathrow International Depot became Cyprus Post responsibility, but only delivered to the village community office, from where a notification card was issued by the weekly postman, whereupon you went to fetch it.

 

Parcels sent by UK courier ended up in a courier depot in main town some 16-20k distant depending upon which depot it ended up in. Again you had to go fetch it yourself. Not many couriers would venture out to the villages to deliver.

 

Now I am back in UK all I have to do is find out where the courier has dumped my parcel If I am not in to collect in person. In the wheelie bin seems to be a favourite, but totally stupid if it is obviously bin day or oft-times OTF - i.e. over the fence.

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I leave a plasic box at the rear of the house for parcels if we are not going to be in but they are usually given to a neighbour. Never had anything put in the bin or chucked over the fence. Did have a box of wine put into a skip on one occasion, and the skip was't at our house. 

Our courier service is excellent in this part of the UK, mostly DPD. 

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Just to clarify for the doubters,  Deliveries to France by Hattons, are sent DHL.  This particular carrier, together with DPD, will only deliver to main towns/ Villages.  They will not go to country addresses.  We have been in contact with both companies Head Offices, who, despite being very apologetic, refuse to make any attempt to travel on small roads. They say their drivers have far too many deliveries, to be able to go off the beaten track. Chronopost, the second biggest  french internal carrier, is in same boat.. Hattons, are aware of the problem, but are contracted to DHL.  Marks and Spencers, who , until this year, used DPD, have changed their contractor, following, several complaints for same problem. This is made worse, as GPO, will not accept flexitrack, due to length..  Those who have deliveries, in other French towns, get them, as it is a French Town.   We accept ,  that we live off the beaten track. Indeed , we are 800 metres, from the main trunk road, but despite, providing maps, these 3 carriers reuse to turn either left or right,  even though we are clearly visible, from the main road.  All the farms down  our road, are treated the same way.   Of course, it was, and is, our choice to live here, but what is so singularly, frustrating, is for the first 15 years, all these firms, daily delivered, down our road.   I spoke at length to the local director, of Chronopost, who said, the drivers were bringing so many parcels back,failing to make their normal town deliveries, whilst going off route, due to time constraints, that he had to issue this directive, as  much as he was loathe to do so.  What happens now is that they leave parcels at town Post office, and we have to drive 20 kilometres to collect.

Glad you qualified it rather than the glib comment They don`t deliver to France 

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It was not a glib comment, it was a statement of fact. Those who have been on here as long as i have know i dont make glib anythings. Moving on, Dustman, what are they. We dont have anything like that. Rubbish put in bags, taken to central collection zone.  All far too civilised for me. As for wheelie bins.........?.. 

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Similar to Yelrow, here in south east Spain, the Correos decided that they will not deliver to our area.

We all have to drive up to the town to collect anything from the office. This includes businesses.

However, strangely, if it is a communication from a Government department, this gets delivered !!

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Hi,joe, nice to hear probs  appply in cyprus and spain. I have sympathy with country deliveries in outlying places, but 800 metres from main road, is a tad ridiculous.. We pulled out onto main road at 09.30, this morning, and DPD, were ontheir way down main road. Coming back up, an hour later,DHL, was doing same thing..

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