Badgercote

I have an N gauge Brighton Belle (Hornby Arnold) and the plastic/electric coupling at the rear of the power car has broken. The replacement part no. is HN3000/12. I'm not going to attempt to repair it myself as it appears to need the rear bogie and maybe the circuit board removing and even then the parts and springs are SO small I can barely see them. Do you know of any competent N gauge repairers who could tackle this? Thanks.

I have a Northern Belle coach which at some time in the past has had all its decals removed. It is (was) R4285 Crewe sleeper coach. I have a new R4285 with all the correct decals on but I was wondering where is the best place to get replacement ones for the "blank" coach. This would now be named Balmoral and have a different coach number. Also roughly how much are we looking at for just one set of water slide decals?

Quite honestly the only ones I have seen are the "cheaper" ones. I've also been tainted by some n gauge ones which are also in the dirty dishwater colour range. I had those given to me but moved them on pretty quickly! I must admit that the "premium" ones do look better but the comment that because the others are cheap then the quality is allowed to be substandard, even if it has been the same for 30 years, does not wash with me. Can a manufacturer of high esteem not see that the real thing is one colour but their product is another, by a very wide margin, so hey chaps, let's try to make it match? Or because nobody commented on it 30 years ago then we'll continue to pass it off? And I'm a male Badgercote, by the way !!

Now it might be my eyes but every time I see a teak coach model it always looks such a washed out colour. It's more like a sloppy beige than a true wood colour..... unless.... you are going to tell me that the original coaches used to be this wishy washy shade of yuck. Looking at the restored ones on the North Yorks Moors and even on the Peter Snow tv restoration programme recently the teak colour is strong and brown with that hint of orange almost. I refuse to belive that manufacturers are so wide of the mark but please tell me one way or another which is correct, a nice rich stain or a weak pinky brown.