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Discussion starter · #101 ·
It has just dawned on me that for the first time since my 'restart' in railway modelling in 1999, (purchased 2 x Bachmann WD 2-8-0, and a selection of their 16T minerals for evaluation, decision to go with late BR steam on the ECML made) 2020 looks to be the first year that not one all newly tooled RTR introduction of that year will be purchased. My last such was Dapol's quite excellent NBL DE type 2 (TOPS 21) that first appeared about this time of year in 2019. (I waited for a good price on Hornby's 2019 introduction of the J36, bought that earlier this year, and very fine it is too; my sole 'newish introduction fix'.)

There's plenty of announced that I would like, since they are 'perfect fits' for my modelling interests: Bachmann V2, Heljan O2/1 and O2/2, Hornby A2/3 and W1, Oxford J26/27 and GER van, Rails/Bachmann Caley 812, all in BR condition, heading the list. But none of it on the retailer's shelves, and come to that, the fourth version of Oxford's natty little N7 hasn't yet appeared either.
 
Bachmann SDJR 0-4-4t is a collectors club model and the Midland version has sound at £250 which is more than I am willing to part with.

The Heljan 2-4-2tank for the L&B is £203 plus pennies when it turns up and I hope it is better than the nicely presented 2-6-2t Manning Wardles that have issues.

So I contemplate for the first time in 20 years nothing new for Christmas! although Hattons owe me £50 but do not seem to want to sell me a replacement Garrett 2-6-6-2 (with £50 off) so I don't know what is going on with the manufacturers, perhaps one day one of their marketing people will suggest that you need product to sell or you go out of business

Although I feel fed up with Heljan I might after all give an O2/2 a try when ever they appear, perhaps....maybe....urm.....

Then as above A2/3, W1, J26/7, well cannot buy what I cannot see!

Perhaps this Christmas will see me finish the OO9 model layout, repairing the various black 5's and sundry other locos, the P2 I fixed and set that back to work and I have a bit of maintenance to do although I repaired one of the gradients that was causing trouble and have done some track cleaning of late.
 
Discussion starter · #103 ·
QUOTE (kristopher1805 @ 15 Dec 2020, 13:44) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>...I contemplate for the first time in 20 years nothing new for Christmas! ... as above A2/3, W1, J26/7, well cannot buy what I cannot see!...
But of course we know this is a 'first world problem', and with our extensive collections already running on our layouts there isn't that much to complain about! Having had so much difficulty making a reliable running job of the old Stephen Poole whitemetal kit J15 - only really succeeding on the third mechanism attempt, now long worn out - I do so enjoy the Hornby J15, quiet, powerful, highly competent. I might yet see if it is possible to fit the Hornby mech into the old w/m body, as this is a portrait of Hitchin's 65479, which on one occasion at least made it up the ECML to 'Top Shed' where it stood dwarfed by all the mighty pacificness. (A1 to the left, A3 60075 to the right!)

QUOTE (kristopher1805 @ 15 Dec 2020, 13:44) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>...The Heljan 2-4-2tank for the L&B is £203 plus pennies when it turns up and I hope it is better than the nicely presented 2-6-2t Manning Wardles that have issues....
That's brave. With the experience you have had I would 'wait and see'. There's OO9 coming from the Peco/Kato collaboration. Kato mechs are something else...
 
Fair point Hatfield man, I will at some stage buy a Quarry Hunslet I like the look of the Baldwin as a sort of ugly but interesting loco.

Mind having typed my note I then decided to *odd it and bought a new Heljan Garrett as I had been waiting for one to come along, on this Hattons service has been a bit of a let down and in this regard they have work to do, I just hope this one is better than the older one which was a dog, I will keep it to Christmas day to unwrap so photo to follow after this date.

In the meantime I would still like
1. SDJR 0-4-4tank
2 Late BR N7 (I have a builders plate for one built at Gorton)
3. O2/2 yes another O2 from Heljan they dislike curves and are fussy but they do work and pull quite well
4 .A P2 Bugatti style streamlined (one day?)
5 .W1 similarly styled
6. an A2/2 or 3
7. A J27
8 The new V2 if it ever materialises
9. a new J39 (one day Rover.... one day)

and some others, guess we have a few options and it would be better if Hornby service could be as good as Bachmann's service

I missed the Peco/Kato collaboration - tell me more!
 
Discussion starter · #105 ·
That's about as much as I know, not being personally interested in NG just took note of it in passing!

Apparently the Peco announcement is on FACEBOOK! That's a shout of total amazement. This from the business that until last week would have much much preferred to correspond by post if you weren't prepared to visit in person.

Whatever, the easiest to access retailer site has this:
https://www.hattons.co.uk/stocklist/1000407...s/prodlist.aspx
 
Proof that the new Bachmann V2 is not that far away was the announcement today by Locomotion of NRM blinged up versions as Green Arrow in both LNER green and BR green while Rails have LNER green Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry and BR green Durham Light Infantry.
 
Discussion starter · #107 ·
Desireable as a better model of a V2 may be, the first standard BR green release from Bachmann is now scheduled for August/September 2021 in their release schedule. So a year away in real time. The old Bachmann models must soldier on...
 
Hornby Magazine did the Rails / Bachmann promo video which is now available on youtube. You can see the models running on Hornby's 'Topley Dale' layout towards the end.

http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/TMf7gCRQN4M?rel=0

Can't say I'm a fan of 'blinged up' valve gear but I still think the V2 is one of the finest looking steam locos ever built. It's something about the proportions ...

Will I get one? Probably not one of these specials but something more work-a-day but I'm not in a rush.

David
 
There are also standard releases from Bachmann due of the new V2 - 4791 LNER Green, 60845 BR Black (early emblem); both due July/Aug 2021 and 60847 St Peters School BR green (late crest) due Aug/Sept 2021. Oddly those are the same price as the Rails and Locomotion limited editions but of course many sellers will immediatley knock 15% off making them £195.46.
 
Discussion starter · #110 ·
QUOTE (PAPPA.B @ 21 Nov 2020, 18:57) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Hi Just received my Dapol 43xx DCC Fitted it looks good so far . But i had a long week and a busy day so decided to de-stress with a couple of beers so not really in the ideal frame of mind to take an in depth look at it...
How does yours run? A fairly consistent report is emerging that the gear ratio used is inappropriate, basically too small a reduction ratio: so that the model has way overscale maximum speed, and is unable to move smoothly at dead slow speeds, and jerks into and out of motion. Potentially an easy problem for Dapol to fix, if they are so minded...
 
Hi. Father Christmas was kind to me this year, must have been good. I also received an Hornby King and 61xx, the 43xx was on pre-order. As yet i have not been able to run them but i must say they look quality. I do hope that they run as good as they look . My two other 43's are the Bachmann versions with split chassis one of which is doing the split chassis wobble. I was hoping Bachmann would have replaced the mechanism like they have with other models but i won't hold my breath . I was thinking of setting up a test track in the loft but it has been snowing here which is unusual and is cold up there and not very comfortable. Although i have not run them i have been busy painting some wagons i built before the holidays. I hope you have all had a good Christmas and under the circumstances a safe one. Jim
 
QUOTE (34C @ 28 Dec 2020, 22:38) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>How does yours run? A fairly consistent report is emerging that the gear ratio used is inappropriate, basically too small a reduction ratio: so that the model has way overscale maximum speed, and is unable to move smoothly at dead slow speeds, and jerks into and out of motion. Potentially an easy problem for Dapol to fix, if they are so minded...

I have the same problem of jerky starts and jerky low speed with the Dapol class 22 Diesel Hydraulic. Strange thing is that it does this both on vanilla DC (with blanking plate and no decoder) and DCC (ESU Loksound 5) and it is worse in one direction than the other. Clearly a mechanical issue, not electronic. Have even replaced the motor with a new one and it made no difference. I suspect that the problem is a combination of the gear ratio being too high and the motor not being physically capable of running slow enough without jerking.

Kinda puts me off buying any other Dapol 00 locos as this isn't the first loco of theirs I have had with the same problem.
 
QUOTE (Graham Plowman @ 30 Dec 2020, 02:16) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I have the same problem of jerky starts and jerky low speed with the Dapol class 22 Diesel Hydraulic. Strange thing is that it does this both on vanilla DC (with blanking plate and no decoder) and DCC (ESU Loksound 5) and it is worse in one direction than the other. Clearly a mechanical issue, not electronic. Have even replaced the motor with a new one and it made no difference. I suspect that the problem is a combination of the gear ratio being too high and the motor not being physically capable of running slow enough without jerking.

Kinda puts me off buying any other Dapol 00 locos as this isn't the first loco of theirs I have had with the same problem.
I was concerned about Dapol's inconsistency in 'centre motor both bogies driven' mechanism performance, ahead of my class 21 purchase. The only previous example of their work that I get to see regularly is an LMS 10000 owned by a friend; that performs admirably in all respects, silent, smooth from a dead slow creep, ample traction, and the on line reports were consistently favourable. Against that, reports of the 22 and 52 were 'mixed'. From what I have read reported a major problem is the pick up off the split axles, and modification to wiper pick up has made good out of poor runners; there may be further problems but not enough evidence to identify other 'definites'.

The running of my one example of their 21 is all it should be: immediately mechanically 'perfect' on a resistance controller, very refined indeed on DCC, and the general reception this model has received so far indicates it is pretty much trouble free. (The only significant criticism I have in respect of the class 21/29 mechanism is 'where's the assembly and parts diagram?'.) I'll be watching for any drop off in performance and should it happen this model will receive a wiper pick up mod.

Dapol's B4 0-4-0T is well regarded for mechanism performance, and I have seen one on an exhibition layout performing admirably, so the poor (too small) gear ratio choice on the 43xx is a surprise. The reports of the 43xx from those that operate their models are sufficiently unanimous that I regard this as fact, even though no one yet appears to have reported what the gear ratio is, nor the gear train layout! (If I had one and it exhibited the scale 5mph minimum crawl speed and way excessive maximum speed , it would be in pieces to see if the gear train has been misassembled. This is always possible if there is one or more intermediate stage between the pinion and the axle gear. Unfortunately GWR enthusiasts appear to be consistently devoid of any mechanical insight...)
 
Following up on post 104 I got the Garrett out and the front of the footplate fell off, OK no big deal, I fitted a decoder as usual with 8 pin jobs my goto DCC Concepts nano, the slot for this is in the firebox and is easy but despite this there is not a great deal of space in there, you can see the blank in place here, as opposed to the black spagetti in the older loco this one has red wires as well but the wiring still looks a bit Heath Robinson.


Once this was done I tried to prog the loco, I had added the program on the ESU tester but it would not respond, if you look at the photos below you can see some wheels are dirty and others just cleaned by me, just cleaning up 6 wheels used up 10 double ended cotton buds and they were still not great, they were so dirty that the loco would not respond at all, so after a mammoth cleaning session I got the loco to run, sorry I need more pics as the others are poor, I eventually got the thing to run but it objected to the GC line track somewhat but I got some circuits out of it. I am left with the view that this is not a new loco but a reworked one





So £221 new price but I was granted £50 for the trade in for the Beyer Dog, someone is having a laugh here at my expense! I could have bought a new middle section and with some work I could have had a decent report, as the wheels were so dirty it is clear that no one tested this loco after assembly? repair? rework? pre dirty newness?

Not the fiorst timer I have had a dirty dog from this source by the way so I am a little disolutioned.
 
Hornby dangling more big steam stuff for 2021, so one suspects the 2020 range of big steam stuff must have done something positive for the business.
The metal bodied Duchess in BR green, and the next metal bodied pacific is a Bulleid MN in original condition.

Streamlined form P2 2-8-2, that'll scream off the shelves.

All new 9F too. Can they beat the Bachmann?

Among the reliveries of existing tooling, the much requested BR Clan.

And rather than fall out with Hattons, it's one big knee in the groin, here's our 4 and 6 wheel coaches. That's the way to do it, don't throw a fit, just compete!
 
I'm still getting time outs on the Hornby 2021 web page. Twitter awash with similar complaints. This has happened before on launch day.

I'm still waiting for the MN in BR blue early emblem that was announced way back in 2017 or even earlier.

Poor show from Hornby.
 
Managed to see the new releases thanks to Jadlam Models.

Early emblem Clan and a couple of LMS Princesses for me, but disappointingly it looks like they are still incorrectly using the unique Princess Tender that had the coal pusher on both 6203 and 6205. My recently acquired 6212 has the incorrect coal pusher tender which should only ever be with (4)6206, which Hornby did get correct.

What's with the Beatles stuff? Have I missed something?
 
I've not managed to get to the Hornby site at all. Pity - their E-mail is entitled "The wait is over....', but not for me it isn't. I may be tempted by a clan - lovely looking based on the photos I've seen, but I never actually saw a real one; it's sad that they've all gone really, but I gather they weren't such a great success.
 
Discussion starter · #119 ·
QUOTE (Andrew Rolland @ 5 Jan 2021, 17:18) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>...What's with the Beatles stuff? Have I missed something?
I expect that's just a significant commercial exploitation of something or other. What those Scousers had to do with railways escapes me to. Next thing you know it will be a Spice Girls Special train, Game of Thrones Express, or invent your own similar nonsense. (Just so long as Hornby make a thumping great profit on it, that's fine as it will sustain the business for the future.)

QUOTE (PeterPug @ 5 Jan 2021, 17:34) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>... I may be tempted by a Clan - lovely looking based on the photos I've seen, but I never actually saw a real one; it's sad that they've all gone really, but I gather they weren't such a great success.
When handled appropriately this class is known to have performed well. There may have been detail design aspects that required attention (similar to the poor draughting of the Riddles 8P) but there is unlikely to have been anything fundamentally wrong with the design.
 
I couldn't get the Hornby website to load either so I went to youtube and watched Hornby Magazine's rundown of what's coming out.

I think I was spoilt by last year. I was rather underwhelmed ...

David
 
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