Oxfordrail - Adams Radial

[pete55]

Just looking at the photos of the Oxford model and referring back to those in  post #1137

 

The OR radial has 9 spoke wheels on both bogie and rear axles. The prototype pic is 9 spoke on the bogie and 10 spoke on the rear axle. As does the Hornby Radial.

 

Were the wheels changed at some time? The rear wheel also looks to be a larger diameter on the prototype and Hornby model?

 

Cheers,

Mick

 

Crosshead and slidebars differ too......single or double slidebars!

[Arthur]

 

I'll have a look tomorrow for the missing lubricator. These modern RTR models contain such a wealth of small detail, the odd bit occasionally dropping off is hardly surprising.

 

I'm a modeller, I'll stick it back on.

[peteskitchen]

Mine has a bent handrail where it goes over the firebox on the right hand side. Otherwise its all ok

[darren01]

So glad that they have come into the market, I have the early crest on order and if the wheels are not right in my book I just change them.

The hand rails just need a coat of paint and they will look just fine, Bit of weathering and she will be a very fine loco.

Well done to Oxford for there first model and here to the next one... Z class?, lol.

Darren

Edited November 26, 2015 by darren01

[Robin Brasher]

I am not expecting 488 in LSWR livery as preserved until January 2016. Meanwhile I would be grateful if people who have got the BR version would put some pictures and videos of it running on their layout. I would be particularly interested in its haulage capacity and its performance on 2nd radius points and 1st radius curves if it will run on those. I would also like to know how well they are selling, the prices shops are offering them for, whether it is available at your local model shop and if anyone else besides Rails have sold out yet. I would also like to see reports of the model at Warley please and which magazine is going to do the first review.

[Jol Wilkinson]

Items that I would like Oxfordrail to make to go with the Adams Radial are an LSWR brake van and some LSWR bogie coaches in chocolate and salmon pink livery. I would also like to see some wagons on the 2015 wish list like an SR banana van and an SR cattle van.

 

I am pleased to see some pictures of the model Adams Radial today and that the replies are back to discussing the topic.

 

 

I am not expecting 488 in LSWR livery as preserved until January 2016. Meanwhile I would be grateful if people who have got the BR version would put some pictures and videos of it running on their layout. I would be particularly interested in its haulage capacity and its performance on 2nd radius points and 1st radius curves if it will run on those. I would also like to know how well they are selling, the prices shops are offering them for, whether it is available at your local model shop and if anyone else besides Rails have sold out yet. I would also like to see reports of the model at Warley please and which magazine is going to do the first review.

 

I think you are being optimistic about LSWR livery carriages. The only answer might be to commission someone to build and paint them for you. I think Roxey Mouldings have some kits in their range that might suit.

 

A little online research might answer some of your price queries although I don't expect anyone other than Oxford have any information on how well they are selling, and then only at a wholesale level. The Warley reviews, etc. will, I am sure, all be presented/discussed here on RMweb in due course.

[pushpull33]

Crosshead and slidebars differ too......single or double slidebars!

I believe they were all originally built with single slide bars. Mr Drummond change them to double slide bars, but as i have said in a previous post, (LSWR No 488 or SR 3488, or BR 30583, same Loco) This Loco was sold to the Government in September 1917  and later sold to the East Kent Railway. It was bought back by the Southern Railway in March 1946. It was the only one basically still in original condition hence why the Bluebell Railway chose to preserve this one.

 

All had gone by 1927 apart from the remaining 3 engines on the Lyme Regis branch. the other 2 being LSWR 125, SR 3125, BR 30582 and LSWR No 520, SR 3520, BR 30584. These last 2 had the bigger trailing axle wheels and double slide bars. They also had the drummond boilers, although the Adams and Drummond boiler could be swapped around. So what had what and when is anyone guess.

 

Drummond boiler: 3 bands, smaller dome with safety valves above and whistle near the cab.

 

Adams boiler: 5 Bands, Larger dome and safety valves near the cab

 

There's also the issue of open or closed coal rails or any rails at all.

 

Long or short water tanks

 

It's a minefield

 

CONGRATULATIONs  to Oxford Rail  for producing a superbly detailed model and what can only be described as faultless running qualities of their Adams Radial.

 

Colin  .      

[Gwiwer]

At the stage I am interested in owners' opinion of a number of things.

 

Comparing the Oxford product (actual photos) with the Hornby images of their forthcoming release the Oxford one seems to have over-thick wheels.  Does the model actually have thick wheels?

The detail on the Oxford models looks slightly less refined than the Hornby images suggest theirs will be - does it appear so in the "flesh"?

How well does the Oxford model haul a typical train of 3 - 4 coaches?  The clips so far available suggest it copes well though some slipping has been mentioned

For those with something to compare with how does the Oxford material (plastic and metalwork) compare with Hornby's typical offering?

 

I'm ready to place an order and cost isn't the main deciding factor.  Oxford has no track record (pardon the pun) in this field so before jumping in I'm trying to gauge opinion as to which might be the better product but without the benefit of the opposition item being available just yet.

[stewartingram]

Re: what will it pull? Just a thought, is the "block" that is visible under the boiler actually a weight/metal infill found to be necessary for weight distribution reasons?

 

Stewart

[cctransuk]

Re: what will it pull? Just a thought, is the "block" that is visible under the boiler actually a weight/metal infill found to be necessary for weight distribution reasons?

 

Stewart

 

Stewart,

 

See my post earlier in the thread - the on-line maintenance sheet shows that the block is part of the motor or it's mount.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

[amdaley]

I believe they were all originally built with single slide bars. Mr Drummond change them to double slide bars, but as i have said in a previous post, (LSWR No 488 or SR 3488, or BR 30583, same Loco) This Loco was sold to the Government in September 1917  and later sold to the East Kent Railway. It was bought back by the Southern Railway in March 1946. It was the only one basically still in original condition hence why the Bluebell Railway chose to preserve this one.

 

All had gone by 1927 apart from the remaining 3 engines on the Lyme Regis branch. the other 2 being LSWR 125, SR 3125, BR 30582 and LSWR No 520, SR 3520, BR 30584. These last 2 had the bigger trailing axle wheels and double slide bars. They also had the drummond boilers, although the Adams and Drummond boiler could be swapped around. So what had what and when is anyone guess.

 

Drummond boiler: 3 bands, smaller dome with safety valves above and whistle near the cab.

 

Adams boiler: 5 Bands, Larger dome and safety valves near the cab

 

There's also the issue of open or closed coal rails or any rails at all.

 

Long or short water tanks

 

It's a minefield

 

CONGRATULATIONs  to Oxford Rail  for producing a superbly detailed model and what can only be described as faultless running qualities of their Adams Radial.

 

Colin  .      

 

That's a fantastic amount of information Colin.

Thank you for posting it.

Now i'm even more confused than before 

[Peter Bedding]

At the stage I am interested in owners' opinion of a number of things.

 

Comparing the Oxford product (actual photos) with the Hornby images of their forthcoming release the Oxford one seems to have over-thick wheels.  Does the model actually have thick wheels?

The detail on the Oxford models looks slightly less refined than the Hornby images suggest theirs will be - does it appear so in the "flesh"?

How well does the Oxford model haul a typical train of 3 - 4 coaches?  The clips so far available suggest it copes well though some slipping has been mentioned

For those with something to compare with how does the Oxford material (plastic and metalwork) compare with Hornby's typical offering?

 

I'm ready to place an order and cost isn't the main deciding factor.  Oxford has no track record (pardon the pun) in this field so before jumping in I'm trying to gauge opinion as to which might be the better product but without the benefit of the opposition item being available just yet.

 

Hello Rick,

 

My approach to the "will I, won't I" question was much the same as yours. In the event - earlier this week -  I decided to jump in feet first. I ordered the first from Hattons and it arrived on time this morning. First superficial impressions were (and still are) extremely favourable. My shunting plank does not favour extended running-in; that must come later, and I shall leave fitting a decoder until after the running-in session. But straight from the box, analogue power using a very basic H&M set up, has been most satisfying.

 

 

My first test has been a simple load test, using a single and heavy etched brass coach (a 58ft rebuild similar to the Lyme Regis stock) and the loco was not troubled at all.

 

Over the next few days I hope to explore the performance envelope in a more structured way, but for now I'm most content with my purchase, and expect to add any more from OR in either Maunsell or Bulleid livery

 

My piccy shows the loco posed on my plank, together with the 58ft rebuild Brake Third. Actually the prototype for this particular coach was from Set 20, but was only marginally different in detail from the actual Lyme Regis stock.

[pushpull33]

At the stage I am interested in owners' opinion of a number of things.

 

Comparing the Oxford product (actual photos) with the Hornby images of their forthcoming release the Oxford one seems to have over-thick wheels.  Does the model actually have thick wheels?

The detail on the Oxford models looks slightly less refined than the Hornby images suggest theirs will be - does it appear so in the "flesh"?

How well does the Oxford model haul a typical train of 3 - 4 coaches?  The clips so far available suggest it copes well though some slipping has been mentioned

For those with something to compare with how does the Oxford material (plastic and metalwork) compare with Hornby's typical offering?

 

I'm ready to place an order and cost isn't the main deciding factor.  Oxford has no track record (pardon the pun) in this field so before jumping in I'm trying to gauge opinion as to which might be the better product but without the benefit of the opposition item being available just yet.

I Don't think the photos do it justice. I will agree that the wheels look a tad thick, although comparing it to a Hornby M7, the adams bogies wheels are 2.84mm thick where as the M7 are 2.96mm thick. adams and M7 drivers are both 2.91mm thick.

 

the adams is slightly heavier than the M7.

 

I have pulled 5 maunsell coaches around a 3' curve with no slippage at all.

the Plastics are as good as any Hornby model.

 

The lining is crisp and clear.

 

The makers plate on the front splasher is legible under an eye glass.

 

Hope this helps your decision. 

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

One detail that catches my eye is the protrusion of the crankpins from the wheel face, genuinely a feature of these locos,such that the coupling rod is well clear of the wheelface. Don't recall seeing that on any previous RTR model, (quite possibly because it hasn't been a prototype feature of any previously modelled subject?).

[SDJR7F88]

Does the model come with a detailing pack? And if so what's in it?

[Dunsignalling]

One detail that catches my eye is the protrusion of the crankpins from the wheel face, genuinely a feature of these locos,such that the coupling rod is well clear of the wheelface. Don't recall seeing that on any previous RTR model, (quite possibly because it hasn't been a prototype feature of any previously modelled subject?).

The coupling rods on the Oxford Model are, correctly, mounted outboard of the connecting rods. 

 

Beattie Well tanks (prototype and Kernow's model) are also like it as is the preserved T3 4-4-0, so it was probably usual LSWR practice on outside cylinder locos built prior to the adoption of  Walschaerts valve gear on Drummond and Urie 4-6-0s.

 

It presumably minimises loco width by allowing the cylinders to be mounted closer together but I don't know if it was a done by other railways (possibly the GER where Mr Adams worked before his LSWR days?); maybe others can enlighten us.

 

John

Edited November 26, 2015 by Dunsignalling

[Butler Henderson]

Very quick response from Oxford, no plans to sell spare parts.

Edited November 26, 2015 by Butler Henderson

[Godfrey Glyn]

I was in Alton Model Centre last Friday when the first issue of Radials arrived and although I have two Hornby versions on order I had only ordered the LSWR version from Oxford. However it looks a beautiful model and I was very tempted! Paul had one out on a test track ring which had been set up and tried it out. The track is uneven in places and the Radial did not like it at all. When it went over a piece of poorly laid track or point with a dip in it it would lift the driving wheels off the track and come to a halt. I decided to give it a miss. Paul has investigated the problem and by simply filing off the front top surface of the front bogie the problem has been solved. I have now bought one and tonight's modelling task is to get the file out and make the modification. I have taken some photos on the iPhone which I hope will demonstrate the problem and the simple solution - that's if any of your track is less than perfect!

The first photo demonstrates how the top of the front bogie can foul the front buffer when there is a dip in the track, the second photo is a comparison between the original version on the right and the modified version on the left. The modified version copes with the undulating track and runs beautifully.

I did video it but alas I haven't worked out how to get that to load into this reply. 

All the best

Godfrey

 

 

[Gunslinger]

I'd noticed a tendency to stall in particular spots on the track with wheel spin too - not associated with curves or the load attached. This (+ my uneven track) may be the cause. Think I'll wait to see if others have similar experience before getting the file out!

[asmay2002]

The coupling rods on the Oxford Model are, correctly, mounted outboard of the connecting rods. 

 

Beattie Well tanks (prototype and Kernow's model) are also like it as is the preserved T3 4-4-0, so it was probably usual LSWR practice on outside cylinder locos built prior to the adoption of  Walschaerts valve gear on Drummond and Urie 4-6-0s.

 

It presumably minimises loco width by allowing the cylinders to be mounted closer together but I don't know if it was a done by other railways (possibly the GER where Mr Adams worked before his LSWR days?); maybe others can enlighten us.

 

John

 

Midland Compounds were like this too.

Edited November 26, 2015 by asmay2002

[alfsboy]

Very quick response from Oxford, no plans to sell spare parts.

This is poor .I can buy a lot of spares for Atlas ,Athearn ,Bachmann etc.Not all but many .Fleischmann offer a spares service.I think its against Oxfords interest long term and shows just how little they actually know about model railways .

[David41283]

This is poor .I can buy a lot of spares for Atlas ,Athearn ,Bachmann etc.Not all but many .Fleischmann offer a spares service.I think its against Oxfords interest long term and shows just how little they actually know about model railways .

 

To be fair, in my experience none of the major british manufacturers readily sell spare parts, those few which claim to do so rarely have any in stock.

[Culmhead]

Am I imagining things, but does the chimney in the first picture (post 1274)  look poorly fitted and the clack valve slightly askew?

 

Still think its a very nice model all the same.

 

Cheers,

 

Aidan

Edited November 26, 2015 by Culmhead

[Butler Henderson]

At least Oxford replied promptly to my query, an enquiry to Hornby International over the availability of a listed spare is now into its fourth week without any reply.

[darren01]

Well thats me sold.