Johnangler

My latest acquisition is Clan Class Clan MacDonald but I have renamed it Clan MacLaren and renumbered it 72010. I am aware that 72010 is being built in reality and will be named Hengist but I'm happy to use the next number in the original series for an actual Clan. Does anyone know why they are using the name Hengist? - so far as I was aware he and his brother Horsa had no connection to Scotland, but I may be wrong.

Bulleidboy you may be right for committed Hornby Buyers. It will be interesting to see what happens. I don't wish to see the demise of the club but I am puzzled by the overall balance of changes and value.

I did refer to that in my initial post, referring to it as "a low cost model"and making the point that this effectively increases the equivalent cost of membership by over 50 percent. Suggests to me that Hornby aren't too interested in maintaining the club as membership is likely to fall. The extra benefits of membership that I didn't mention are the free entry to the Hornby Museum and reduced price tickets to the Greta British Model Railway Exhibition but I don't think they redress the balance of reduced value for money.

I would love to know what the discussions were over Member' Club for 2022. Last year membership was £30 and for that we got 4 magazines, a badge, a card and lanyard and the free engine; they then added on 10% discount in the period leading up to Christmas (annoyingly just after I had ordered something!). Now the free loco has become a low cost model only and the 10% discount has been added as standard. It seems to me that the overall value is significantly dimished unless you are planning to buy at least £160 worth of goods from Hornby (which I am unlikely to do this year). The most significant thing the £30 membership gets you is four magazines at an equivalent value of £7.50 per issue -because the card is a standard membership items in most clubs - and, unless you collect badges do you really want one, and who needs a new lanyard each year? I know that the 0-4-0 models are not to everyone's taste, and personally I'm not in need of another one, however I have always thought that the club membership was good value but if you rejoin this year the comparative price of membership has increased by over 50% so good value is no longer a description that I would apply. It raises the question: do Hornby think that the club is something to be phased out?

I have just come across this thread. I have a couple of old Triang coaches and some of the wheels do not run smoothly so I wanted to replace the wheels. Forgive me if it's a daft question, but how do you remove the old wheels/axles?