After a couple of weeks of exhibition photographs, it’s back to the crazed ramblings of the budgie…..  (I’ll try and visit another show soon.)

Reading a non-railway magazine I came across this little story.

Some years ago, a confectionary company caused a stir when children began to unwrap what they thought were Easter Bunnies.  The company had clearly over-manufactured chocolate Father Christmases a few months before, and an enterprising employee had worked out that, once wrapped in the Easter Bunny foil, it was very hard to notice the difference.  Consumers of course complained, but the manufacturer pointed out that they had been marketed as ‘chocolate novelties’ – and novelties they indeed were!

It occurred to me that there might be a few railway-linked morals from the story.

Firstly, transparency in our show advertising.  Although layouts change and people have to drop out, I have been to a number of exhibitions that haven’t delivered what the flyers seemed to promise.  Bad for my blood pressure and bad for the hobby.

Secondly, honesty from manufacturers.  Models are getting better, but there are too many errors and compromises that still appear.  I hope that an ‘N gauge scale model’ is just that, and doesn’t have small under-scale wheels or ride too high on the bogies to get it around a 9″ curve, or significant errors in detail.  Please can models, and their reviewers in magazines, be honest with us?

Finally, of course, caveat emptor! (especially on Ebay.)