Oxford Rail announces - OO gauge Mk3 coaches

[Going2theDogs]

Hi All,

Has anyone heard mention of the royal MK3's being produced by Oxford Rail?

Thanks in advance.

[Hilux5972]

6 hours ago, CB Rail said:

Hi All,

Has anyone heard mention of the royal MK3's being produced by Oxford Rail?

Thanks in advance.

Their original drawings that were laid out on top of one another showed what could be the Royal Train configuration of windows so yes there’s a good chance we will see them at some point. 

[Hilux5972]

On 25/01/2016 at 18:19, MGR Hooper! said:

http://www.oxfordrail.com/76/images2/ORMK3%20LINE.jpg

These drawings to be specific

[surfsup]

On 30/03/2020 at 03:37, Hilux5972 said:

These drawings to be specific

Looking at those, I can see TGS, RFM, RUO, TSO, FO laid out on top of each other rather than anything Royal Train based I'm afraid. 

[MGR Hooper!]

22 minutes ago, surfsup said:

Looking at those, I can see TGS, RFM, RUO, TSO, FO laid out on top of each other rather than anything Royal Train based I'm afraid. 

IIRC one (or maybe more) of the Royal Train coaches has a wider modifed door, if that's the case then it seems to look like that from the diagram. If not then I agree with your comment.

[GordonC]

1 hour ago, MGR Hooper! said:

IIRC one (or maybe more) of the Royal Train coaches has a wider modifed door, if that's the case then it seems to look like that from the diagram. If not then I agree with your comment.

 

Its not that though, the wider door on the Royal Train is a double-door with a window on each. The diagram there is just a TGS with the wider door.

 

Certainly the Queens Saloon has the wider door, I'm not sure about the Duke of Edinburgh's Saloon

[GordonC]

 

[ThaneofFife]

I thought the Virgin Mk3s had silver window frames?

[scottrains29]

2 hours ago, ThaneofFife said:

I thought the Virgin Mk3s had silver window frames?

The Virgin HST Mk3s had silver window frames, the loco hauled versions didn't. Not sure why though.

 

Hornby really struggled with this concept, producing some HST sets with silver frames and some without. Annoyingly, all the Virgin HST TGS coaches Hornby produced came without silver frames.

 

The Oxford Rail ones look accurate for Loco hauled Virgin Mk3s. If they ever get round to doing the HST versions hopefully they'll paint the frames silver.

[bigwordsmith]

I'm toying with the idea of running a 'heritage' HST set on my line - no reason other than that I have happy memories of many work journeys, and I' playing with the idea of a 'through the years' approach to trains.

 

The last one i had was  Hornby which struggled seven up , so I'm wondering if there are better options?

 

ATB

 

Peter

[scottrains29]

On 05/11/2020 at 15:29, bigwordsmith said:

I'm toying with the idea of running a 'heritage' HST set on my line - no reason other than that I have happy memories of many work journeys, and I' playing with the idea of a 'through the years' approach to trains.

 

The last one i had was  Hornby which struggled seven up , so I'm wondering if there are better options?

 

ATB

 

Peter

OxfordRail have yet to produce HST mk3s though I believe they intend to in the future. They have also not produced anything suitable that could haul mk3s, yet....

 

Hornby are the only ones producing the HST power cars in oo. They have them in both their expensive high detail and cheaper Railroad ranges. Both versions can easily haul prototypical length trains at high speed.

[MGR Hooper!]

It has been 4 years since Oxford Rail announced their intentions to produce Mk3 cocches. Since their arrival they've been plagued with avoidable issue (sloppy assembly, incorrect colours etc). There's been only three releases  (Intercity, ScotRail and Stobart), the fourth Virgin ones seem to be pushed back a little by little all the time (I accept the delays if the end product was good)... All this makes me feel like we won't be seeing any new variants any time soon.

I'm hoping the relationship Hornby and Oxford Rail share can help improve the Mk3 (and no I am not suggesting Hornby buys/uses the tooling). But things like the colours and so on can improve.

I recall Oxford Rail saying that they intended on bringing out locos and rolling stock that complimented each other. Apart from the steam loco and steam era wagons I don't recall seeing anything suitable made to compliment the Mk3 coaches and the Motorail Carflats

[surfsup]

I do wonder if, after last years transfer of some of the Oxford Rail scriptures range in to the Hornby Skaledale range, the Mk3s will move across to Hornby's main range in the next year or two. They would be a better fit for Hornby than Oxford (Think 87, Mk3 DVT etc) and would probably be able to be bought to market quicker. It's a bit of a shame the Oxford Mk3s have been somewhat painfully slow at coming to the market as avoidable QC issues aside they are nice models. And they do lend themselves to being good bases for conversion. 

[GordonC]

2 hours ago, MGR Hooper! said:

It has been 4 years since Oxford Rail announced their intentions to produce Mk3 cocches. Since their arrival they've been plagued with avoidable issue (sloppy assembly, incorrect colours etc). There's been only three releases  (Intercity, ScotRail and Stobart), the fourth Virgin ones seem to be pushed back a little by little all the time (I accept the delays if the end product was good)... All this makes me feel like we won't be seeing any new variants any time soon.

I'm hoping the relationship Hornby and Oxford Rail share can help improve the Mk3 (and no I am not suggesting Hornby buys/uses the tooling). But things like the colours and so on can improve.

I recall Oxford Rail saying that they intended on bringing out locos and rolling stock that complimented each other. Apart from the steam loco and steam era wagons I don't recall seeing anything suitable made to compliment the Mk3 coaches and the Motorail Carflats

 

There was also the BR Blue-Grey releases

[Sir TophamHatt]

5 hours ago, MGR Hooper! said:

It has been 4 years since Oxford Rail announced their intentions to produce Mk3 cocches. Since their arrival they've been plagued with avoidable issue (sloppy assembly, incorrect colours etc). There's been only three releases.

Which is why I went ahead and got the latest Hornby INTERCITY MK3s in September.

Sorry Oxford, yours may have been better in some ways but take too long and my money goes elsewhere.

Edited November 10, 2020 by Sir TophamHatt

[adb968008]

On 10/11/2020 at 18:26, Sir TophamHatt said:

Which is why I went ahead and got the latest Hornby INTERCITY MK3s in September.

Sorry Oxford, yours may have been better in some ways but take too long and my money goes elsewhere.

Oxford, Hornby.. theres a difference ?

[westonp]

I’m afraid I am being lazy here, but as there are 84 pages in this thread I hope you understand. 
 

Has anyone managed to dismantle one of these coaches and if so, how please?

[young37215]

12 hours ago, westonp said:

I’m afraid I am being lazy here, but as there are 84 pages in this thread I hope you understand. 
 

Has anyone managed to dismantle one of these coaches and if so, how please?

Page 73 of this thread details how they come apart

[wombatofludham]

On 10/11/2020 at 12:38, MGR Hooper! said:

It has been 4 years since Oxford Rail announced their intentions to produce Mk3 cocches. Since their arrival they've been plagued with avoidable issue (sloppy assembly, incorrect colours etc). There's been only three releases  (Intercity, ScotRail and Stobart), the fourth Virgin ones seem to be pushed back a little by little all the time (I accept the delays if the end product was good)... All this makes me feel like we won't be seeing any new variants any time soon.
 

Speculation, but I wonder if the fact Oxford is under the day to day administration of Lyndon Davies' daughter Eloise has led to a cooling off on the rail range?  The HST trailers seem to be a no-brainer in terms of market as despite having purchased two rakes of Hornby Mk3s for my two HSTs I'd much prefer a complete rake of Oxfords based on their loco hauled coaches, gimcrack design and Greygate notwithstanding.  The Hornby Mk3s are nice but are let down in some areas.  The rail side of the business seems to have petered out, and the diecast range seems to be treading water a bit.  Shame really, at thirty sheets a pop the coaches were good value, and the lack of HST trailers means Oxford have lost just over £400 in potential sales from me.

A definite snatching defeat from the jaws of victory moment.

[woodenhead]

Feels a bit like Daddy has a bigger trainset now, but he doesn't want to sell his old one in case he changes his mind.

 

Shrewd businessman, keeping his options open - he learns a great deal about model railway business, if it works out he can later merge the two into Hornby, if it doesn't work out he takes his skills back to Oxford and becomes a competitor again to Hornby.

 

As it stands Oxford is a sort of Dapol, lots of wagons and a few locos (but not too many to bother sales in the big house), complimentary not competition to Hornby.

 

In fact, Oxford isn't a threat to anyone, not even everybody else's favourite to copy Bachmann.   I imagine it makes a steady income for the Davies' family.

[The Black Hat]

Im one of those that thinks that the Oxford rail Mk.3 was a nice coach and very well presented and detailed. Yes some bits dropped off but for the price they look very good. My Intercity ones were repainted as needed and as much as some might be in shock.

 

When the Virgin ones come I will use them for an HST rake and think when put alongside the Hornby DCC HST they really look spot on. Yes they might not quite be accurate in terms of type but the finish and detail of these makes them worth waiting for. 

Honestly wish Oxford rail would churn these out. Some HST GNER ones done to same standard would be great. 

 

[VXDH92]

50 minutes ago, The Black Hat said:

Im one of those that thinks that the Oxford rail Mk.3 was a nice coach and very well presented and detailed. Yes some bits dropped off but for the price they look very good. My Intercity ones were repainted as needed and as much as some might be in shock.

 

When the Virgin ones come I will use them for an HST rake and think when put alongside the Hornby DCC HST they really look spot on. Yes they might not quite be accurate in terms of type but the finish and detail of these makes them worth waiting for. 

Honestly wish Oxford rail would churn these out. Some HST GNER ones done to same standard would be great. 

 

The Virgin Trains ones are curious in that I emailed OR last summer to see what was happening and they said they were imminent. Then heard nothing until Feb when they announced they had completed production and would be shipped following Chinese New Year. It's now mid-may and one of the retailers has told me they've been put back to late summer / early autumn. Cheltenham are showing them due Dec 2021! I think everyone appreciates covid delays, but this doesn't seem right - if production was finished in Jan / Feb, why are they now due late summer at the earliest? 5 or 6 months to ship from China?? And why say they were due immediately last summer?

 

I'm afraid it'll be decades before we get HST trailers as it must have been 2-3 years since they announced the VT ones!

 

Love the model, but they must be losing sales by taking so long to produce even new liveries, let alone other variants.

Edited May 13, 2021 by VXDH92

[Dr Gerbil-Fritters]

Perhaps they got held up in the great Suez Canal Tailback of 2021...

[VXDH92]

3 minutes ago, Dr Gerbil-Fritters said:

Perhaps they got held up in the great Suez Canal Tailback of 2021...

Haha yes, the thought did cross my mind. Although still makes me question why OR said last summer that they were due imminently if they hadn't even been produced at that point.

 

Nevermind - save the pennies!

[surfsup]

On 13/05/2021 at 16:20, The Black Hat said:

Im one of those that thinks that the Oxford rail Mk.3 was a nice coach and very well presented and detailed. Yes some bits dropped off but for the price they look very good. My Intercity ones were repainted as needed and as much as some might be in shock.

 

When the Virgin ones come I will use them for an HST rake and think when put alongside the Hornby DCC HST they really look spot on. Yes they might not quite be accurate in terms of type but the finish and detail of these makes them worth waiting for. 

Honestly wish Oxford rail would churn these out. Some HST GNER ones done to same standard would be great. 

 

 

I too find the Oxford Rail Mk3 situation rather odd - QC issues aside, which with a few tweaks at the factory could be easily rectifiable, they are a coach which deserved to be churned out in there droves! It's not as if there isn't a plethora of liveries to chose from either - and like you, I to find they do make an idea base for a repaint or conversion. I had hoped the Mk3 range was to be shunted into Hornby's range this year but alas not.