QUOTE all reminds me of the hoo haaa on the US scene years ago......actually, nobody seemed to mind for years that Athearn's Jeeps had a carbody which was too wide.....they apparently did the job, hit the button, so sold like hot cakes.....
One does wonder why Rail Express has waged a campaign against Bachmann's 37s for years , as if the Mk1 version was some kind of crime against humanity rather than a major improvement on the old Lima one.
There was World War 3 over the Heljan "tubbyduff" when it came out and it was discovered to be too wide because Heljan had confused the width over handrails with the width over the cabsides. (I think REx were in on that fight as well) Perhaps the only positive thing that came out of that episode was went two intrepid souls went out and measured 2 real cl47s standing next to each other , only to discover that the width of the two real and nominally identical locos differed by an inch and a half!
Back in the real world everyone found they ran superbly , hauled masses, had lights , DCC sockets and were significantly better tooled than the Lima version
The long and the short of it is that the Hornby 60, Heljan 47 , and both the Bachmann and Vi-Trains 37s are an order of magnitude better than the Lima and Hornby 37s, 47s and 60 of a decade or so ago . Especially mechanically
For the record Nigel Burkin's comments are not strictly about haulage - they quote drawbar pull in grammes. What that translates into in terms of vehicles on the track , isn't stated. The reality is that any new generation centre drive diesel is going to pull anything you ask of it on the flat with ease, and a good deal more than most folks layouts can ever accommodate. Anyone actually found the haulage limit of a new generation Type 4 or Type 5?
I just wish someone would give us a decent new electric of which the same could be said. An 86 from Vi-Trains would be a great deal better recieved than a 47 duplicating Bachmann's forthcoming model (I've seen the 57 shift a 12' long train and it wasn't even looking like it was near its limit)
Personally I'm ducking all the 37 politics - I don't strictly need one , I'm a lazy cheapskate and as I've had an Athearn chassis, some Alexander sideframes, an old Hornby body and all the bits sitting in the cupboard for several years , I'll be keeping my hand in my pocket and doing a scrapbox 37 in due course. If I were disposed to shell out for a new one, I'd probably spend an extra fiver or so and go for the new Bachmann one , as it seems to offer a significantly better result than the small differential in price. There's also the minor factor that Vi-Trains don't seem to be doing 2 tone Sector grey , and by all accounts removing the printed numbers to renumber is a bit awkward
But the big picture is that they are both radically better than what we had 10 years ago
