There is a re-occuring theme at the moment among modellers and that is have Hornby, Bachmann and others gone too far in the quest for detail and accuracy and have they forgotten the practical aspects of actually running the trains on wobbly track with tight curves and steep gradients and long loads with owners who actually may want to pick the models up!
We currently have a trend of flangeless pony wheels which Chris Leigh in Model Rail picked up on in his editorial this month. Others have noted the fixed pony axle and the issues that arrise as a result of trains going up and down gradients and tender pick up connections shorting. And then there is the appearance of the white pipes on the latest Britannia models which apparently are prototypical accurate as built but after one steaming the pipes on the prototype changed colour to one that we are all more familar with! This pipe thing is one I cannot get my head around and Hornby are toning this down on future models.
And then we have a release of new Hornby models that, unlike their former Lima counterparts, cannot pull the skin off a rice pudding. Surely priority number one is to offer a loco that can pull a good rake of 10 coaches minimum?
Basically this is a request to go back to the good old days when we were offered locos that could run on radius 1 curves, could pull a decent rake of coaches or wagons, could go up and down gradients with ease, had solid stable engineered running gear, had wheels with flanges that did not eject the coaches and wagons from the track, and couplers that provided enough clearance on curves for buffers, and loco/tender gaps that were OK for tight curves, and bogies that had some lateral movement so that they could run on uneven track, and with solid detail that would stand the 100 mm drop test, that looked as if they actually did some work, with a level of detail that you can see when things are moving at 70mph., etc etc (anything else that anybody wants to add in fact).
When you think about it its all very well the editor of Model Rail reminding us how things used to be.
Its his editorial staff and reviewers that are entirely to blame for current events!
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Are Hornby and Bachmann suddenly suffering a backlash as a result of having gone too far to satisfy the whims of a tiny minority who sit their locos on the shelf?
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The new Hornby Railroad range more than likely will not have any of the issues described above and as a result the appeal of the range may be far wider than Hornby have assumed! It is a range for practical people who run railways and not for collectors who place models on the shelf for show.
OK. Thats got my grumpiness off my chest.
Does anybody else feel a bit grumpy right now?
Or are those who hanker for the old days actually in the minority!
Don't get me wrong. I am all for the fantastic new models and detail but not at the expense of the ease and practicalities of running and handling. And this is what is very much overlooked by those journalists who report on new models and who have so much influence on the manufacturers.
Funny thing is Marklin and Fleischmann seem to deliver on the practical side of things even with the high level of detail. How do European journalists who review their models react to any compromise to permit models to operate under all conditions?
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The classic Hornby period seemed to be 2000-2003 as there were a number of superdetailed models released that did actually run very well on train set type layouts (R1 curves excepted) and had the right balance of detail and running qualities with bodies that were relatively easy to remove. I'm thinking Bulleids and Princesses. From 2004 onwards the balance seems to have tipped in favour of those who demand even more detail and tighter gaps at the expense of the more practical aspects.
Hornby are very successful at the moment so they are doing things right.
Maybe its just me!
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Happy modelling
Gary
PS my interests happen to be steam. I suspect that many of the comments made to not apply to D & E models. I may turn to the modern outline and take an interest in D & E if it means that things operate without constraint, the bodies are easy to remove and replace, and they are easy to pick up. I don't have too much practical experience in this area with the latest models.
We currently have a trend of flangeless pony wheels which Chris Leigh in Model Rail picked up on in his editorial this month. Others have noted the fixed pony axle and the issues that arrise as a result of trains going up and down gradients and tender pick up connections shorting. And then there is the appearance of the white pipes on the latest Britannia models which apparently are prototypical accurate as built but after one steaming the pipes on the prototype changed colour to one that we are all more familar with! This pipe thing is one I cannot get my head around and Hornby are toning this down on future models.
And then we have a release of new Hornby models that, unlike their former Lima counterparts, cannot pull the skin off a rice pudding. Surely priority number one is to offer a loco that can pull a good rake of 10 coaches minimum?
Basically this is a request to go back to the good old days when we were offered locos that could run on radius 1 curves, could pull a decent rake of coaches or wagons, could go up and down gradients with ease, had solid stable engineered running gear, had wheels with flanges that did not eject the coaches and wagons from the track, and couplers that provided enough clearance on curves for buffers, and loco/tender gaps that were OK for tight curves, and bogies that had some lateral movement so that they could run on uneven track, and with solid detail that would stand the 100 mm drop test, that looked as if they actually did some work, with a level of detail that you can see when things are moving at 70mph., etc etc (anything else that anybody wants to add in fact).
When you think about it its all very well the editor of Model Rail reminding us how things used to be.
Its his editorial staff and reviewers that are entirely to blame for current events!
Are Hornby and Bachmann suddenly suffering a backlash as a result of having gone too far to satisfy the whims of a tiny minority who sit their locos on the shelf?
The new Hornby Railroad range more than likely will not have any of the issues described above and as a result the appeal of the range may be far wider than Hornby have assumed! It is a range for practical people who run railways and not for collectors who place models on the shelf for show.
OK. Thats got my grumpiness off my chest.
Does anybody else feel a bit grumpy right now?
Or are those who hanker for the old days actually in the minority!
Don't get me wrong. I am all for the fantastic new models and detail but not at the expense of the ease and practicalities of running and handling. And this is what is very much overlooked by those journalists who report on new models and who have so much influence on the manufacturers.
Funny thing is Marklin and Fleischmann seem to deliver on the practical side of things even with the high level of detail. How do European journalists who review their models react to any compromise to permit models to operate under all conditions?
The classic Hornby period seemed to be 2000-2003 as there were a number of superdetailed models released that did actually run very well on train set type layouts (R1 curves excepted) and had the right balance of detail and running qualities with bodies that were relatively easy to remove. I'm thinking Bulleids and Princesses. From 2004 onwards the balance seems to have tipped in favour of those who demand even more detail and tighter gaps at the expense of the more practical aspects.
Hornby are very successful at the moment so they are doing things right.
Maybe its just me!
Happy modelling
Gary
PS my interests happen to be steam. I suspect that many of the comments made to not apply to D & E models. I may turn to the modern outline and take an interest in D & E if it means that things operate without constraint, the bodies are easy to remove and replace, and they are easy to pick up. I don't have too much practical experience in this area with the latest models.
