metadyneman

I don't know if this has been mentioned before, but just as a heads up, I have been running my Mk2a/b rake of 9 coaches ( Accurascale 5 x b + Bachmann 4 x a) over the last few days with the supplied magnetic couplings. They are lovely couplings but the magnets have become detached from the coupling several times from different couplings within the set of 5 Mk2b coaches. It has been a simple fix to glue the magnets back in with superglue but I feel that the original glue used may not quite be up to the job in hand. Other than that, these coaches are just brilliant in all respects.

Yes I agree, DPD are very good at tracking. Thanks for the reply too 👍

Did you get notification from Rails that they they were on their way? would be handy to be in when DPD try and deliver mine

Payment for mine was taken this Wednesday, so yes I expect they will be on their way very soon. As an aside I have just managed to obtain a NSE corridor first from Model Railways Direct in addition to the 4 TSOs I ordered from Rails so I may get that before the TSOs arrive. Either way I am looking forward to getting my mitts on them. From what I've seen on here they really do look the dog's dangly bits!

I recently acquired a mint boxed green 4-CEP for £120 which considering this version was released in 2009 I thought was quite a reasonable price. For some reason, I have never seen a first version VEP come down that low unless it had a string of things wrong with it (other than the factory made ones!) and for what I would describe as an inferior model I find it rather strange.

The one you saw which sold for £137 had been modified with added weight in the motor coach and was fitted with Tyre less wheels on the motor bogie. The interior lighting was also dimmer than it should be and the original front couplings had been removed at one end and replaced with an NEM pocket attached to the bogie at the other as it said in the description. It was also not new and the modifications made to it would have been reflected in the end price. However, having said that I still don't think they are worth the £200-£300 price tag being shown. Again it's the old argument, an item is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it!

I chose 34 because it is/was the Brighton-Victoria semi fast service on which 3514 was definitely used as Gwiwer has said. I live in Portslade and did consider 62 (Brighton-Portsmouth Harbour) but I have a lot of other stuff with that headcode (which was also used for South Western services down to the west country). My one criticism of the headcode stickers provided by Hornby is that the two blanks are actually transparent and not white. I put them on the other end thinking it would look ok but it doesn't, so I will be changing that in due course.

I have to say I am mightily impressed with this revised VEP, I think it really looks the part and is a vast improvement on the previous version. My only gripe is the body on the power car is way too loose. It made it easy to put a decoder in it though. It has been trundling round my lockdown project railway "Portsdale" all afternoon and I'm very pleased with it.

A little disappointing considering the original offering was fitted with interior and directional lighting, however It will be nice to see the finished article when it comes out. I have the South Central (incorrectly branded Southern) livery one on order.

Pardon me for sounding a bit dense here but is interior lighting going to be an extra on top of the model or is it included in the price?

Unfortunately the original shot (which had more background) was deleted when I cropped this shot. I do have this photo though which was taken as the train was actually moving and from a different angle.

Huge thank you to Accurascale for replacing my defective loco. It arrived yesterday and can be seen here with its first train on m y garden railway. Excellent service all round.

I hope it isn't a component similar to the problem encountered with the Kernow models D600 series Warships which has a polyswitch in the circuit causing a few models to conk out after 10 minutes running because it switched out, thinking the motor had overheated!

Precisely why mine went back. Despite having about 50 years experience in railway modelling and taking locos/motors etc apart, if something bought brand new goes wrong 6 days after I received it, then it goes back tout suite and even sooner than that!!😉

Yay! Following my last post regarding my "St Paddy" which failed on me a couple of weeks ago. I have now received confirmation that a replacement is due for delivery tomorrow. Still don't know what happened to the motor in the previous one or whether it was even the motor causing the problem, all I do know is that it lost power when running and would only crawl round at a snails pace afterwards. Superb service Accurascale and thank you. I'll be one happy bunny to get my lovely Deltic back. Can't wait now to receive the 4x Mk2b coaches when they are released.

Yes I had the "arrival" e-mail. I guess it's just me, missing a loco I really liked and had less than a week! Looking forward to getting it back eventually. Yes I have used the web chat before. When I returned the loco the person I chatted with did say allow 28 days so I will wait the course and see what happens.

Well, my 55 001 has been back with Accurascale now for 14 days after having to return it with a motor/ running fault, and I haven't heard anything yet. They say allow 28 days so I guess this is going to go the whole distance before I get my lovely model back! A little progress e-mail wouldn't go amiss though 🙂

I think it is more a case of main generator flashover :-(

Cheers Fran, I can't fault the service throughout purchase and return, it has been exemplary. I do understand things occasionally go "pop" unintentionally and despite my minor disappointment at it happening I am happy to learn from you that it will at some point be back on my railway doing what it did so well before it stopped! I am also pleased to know you don't put dead ones in the bin... 🤣. I have been known to revive many a dead loco which is out of warranty but I didn't want to open this one up and invalidate the warranty. Cheers Jules

Sadly I have to report that my lovely Deltic suffered a major failure whilst running on my layout this week. I have not investigated the problem but in essence, the loco began to slow down until it reached a grinding halt at which point I cut the power to the track. I have not investigated inside because i didn't want to invalidate the warranty and as i have never looked inside an Accurascale loco in the past I didn't want to poke around, not knowing what I was looking at or where to find things. There was a slight smell of burnt electrics inside the loco when I lifted the decoder hatch off so initially though the decoder had gone pop, but this roved to be working fine when I tested it in another loco. I then put the blanking plate back on and tested the loco on DC and it barely moved so there is something wrong somewhere. I have sought advice from Accurascale and it is now on their way back to them for repair/replacement (I hope) Watch this space....

Oh dear! One of the perils of outdoor running is potential for disasters like this. Having had a garden layout for 20 years now I learned at a very early stage (about a week!) that some form of side protection to the running lines, does prevent the potential for locos & stock taking a detour off rails and upside down round the garden!

I didn't consider buying one of these lovely machines when the pre-orders were invited as I have a couple of Bachmann Deltics, but seeing as Accurascale have now opened up the remaining units to general sale I have taken the plunge and 55 001(non sound) is now ordered and paid for. I thought I would have a look to see what the general state of affairs is with regards to this model on the forum. I think I will wait until mine arrives instead, I don't feel up to ploughing through 227 pages of chat 🤣

It is undoubtedly a good move in the RTR tube train market and i have one of the earlier release models in train red which is how I remember the 15 trains of '38 stock on the Piccadilly line up to the mid 1970s. I will wait and see if EFE do a 59/62 stock unit before I make another purchase as I grew up with these on the Piccadilly line and the Central line and they are my real childhood favorites.

There were a few spots where a '38 would bounce along at 45mph... namely on the Piccadilly line between Hammersmith & Acton Town and at the other end near Arnos grove (The picc had 15 trains of '38 stock up to 1975)