Buy on-line! Easier! Cheaper!

Use the chains not independents! Cheaper!

So sayeth the Mantra.

Not always

I, or rather my steam-wagon, needs a 1/2" single-row roller-chain and 40-tooth plate-wheel sprocket, plus connecting links.

These, from an independent company, Bridport-based Townsend Bearings, came to about half what I would have paid two of the main dealers on-line. A third, perhaps selling generally higher-quality materials, would have been more expensive still.

I had to drive a 40-mile round trip to the town that also hosts the Stuart Model casting-makers Bridport Foundry, but estimated the postage costs from the on-line sellers as likely more than my petrol cost. (Yes, Miss Tornberg, I know, but…)

Quick, simple service, the metre of chain I actually want rather than a TT's worth, no waiting stuck indoors for the delivery.

And came home also with two of their cards, one for my reference the other to put up in the model-engineering club-room.

….

All right, the cafe lunch I had on the way back wiped out the saving but that's not the point. That was a rare treat and despite having lived in Dorset for 63 years, the first time I recall having ever visited Hive Beach!

I was very aware of the place though, on my post-prandial stroll along the beach. I kept close to the water and an eye on the Bridport Sands Formation cliff, the Eastern end of the spectacular geological "trademark" of the Broadchurch TV series, as it is prone to rock-falls.

Expensive though.