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Oxford Rail Wish List?


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My wish list for Oxford rail is for some products to actually appear. Other than wagons, has anything announced by them actually been delivered yet? They have announced plenty but I believe we are still to see many of the products.

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My wish list for Oxford rail is for some products to actually appear. Other than wagons, has anything announced by them actually been delivered yet? They have announced plenty but I believe we are still to see many of the products.

I seem to recall that at the beginning they said that products would be announced when in tooling so would appear quickly after announcement. That seems to have happened with the Adams Radial and some of the wagons, but as you say, very little since.
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Ah yes I had forgotten the Radial. The Dean Goods is taking extremely long to arrive, having now announced a 2nd round before the first lot have been released.

The Dean Goods was announced at the end of January 2016. Looks like Oxford Rail Have gone back to revisit some aspects of the tooling, taking feedback on board. Probably better to do this rather than rush to release in the original form. The Carflat and Warwell seem well advanced as does the Mk3 coach, so they might fit the faster path to initial delivery.

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Oxford Rail, and since I seem to be banging the drum on their behalf whenever they are mentioned on this site I must emphasise I have no connection to them beyond that of a very occasional but so far quite satisfied customer, are in a bit of a cleft stick with the Dean; damned if they do and damned if they don't.  It should be an easy enough loco to get right, a straightforward 0-6-0, but in reality of course with such a large and long lived class there were variations and the model will be wrong for some people no matter how good it is, and fine for many unless it is hopelessy bad.  Everybody seems to be expecting an inferior model of some sort and we will pounce on any error that might normally be overlooked like a... I don't know, something that pounces a lot, tiger or something.  Ox announce to a stated plan, 'when in tooling', and the delivery performance is no worse than 'a competitor that uses blue boxes'.

 

Model railway rtr manufacturers have always done this, I can recall Triang catalogues from my childhood which came with a separate price list sheet in which models would be listed without a price as 'availble summer' and so on; there was usually some production delay that knocked them back a few months.  I am still waiting for Peco to turn up with the roadrailer they promised in this way in 1967, as they were still promising it 20 years later though they seem to have given up themselves nowadays.

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 I am still waiting for Peco to turn up with the roadrailer they promised in this way in 1967, as they were still promising it 20 years later though they seem to have given up themselves nowadays.

The Peco Roadrailer had been introduced by 1967 but as the prototype did not catch on neither did the model. It continued to be shown in the Peco catalogue long after production ceased. Some still turn up on E-bay and at swap meets however.

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Oxford Rail, ...are in a bit of a cleft stick with the Dean; damned if they do and damned if they don't.  It should be an easy enough loco to get right, a straightforward 0-6-0, but in reality of course with such a large and long lived class there were variations and the model will be wrong for some people no matter how good it is, and fine for many unless it is hopelessy bad.  Everybody seems to be expecting an inferior model of some sort and we will pounce on any error that might normally be overlooked like a... I don't know, something that pounces a lot, tiger or something.  Ox announce to a stated plan, 'when in tooling', and the delivery performance is no worse than 'a competitor that uses blue boxes'...

 Ah, but, they set themselves up for a fall by their market entry announcements. My summary of the pitch would be:

there would be no extended delays, models only announced when well advanced in tooling;

well experienced model making shop under their own control meant the capacity was in place;

aiming at immediate parity in model quality with estabished competitors.

 

There will be a fair range of interpretation of just how well they have brought this off to date. It would be interesting to hear the company principal's take on 'the journey so far', perhaps once the Dean Goods and mk3 coaches are out.

 

I feel they have done a reasonable job climbing the learning curve, but have found it considerably steeper and more extended than anticipated. I would propose that model railway product is for complexity an order of magnitude ahead of same scale diecast road vehicles. The externally visible form has to be correct on both, but in the railway item this must be achieved within the constraints of matching a standard for the working parts and any necessary mechanisms, to ensure correct operation within a system by those purchasers intent on using the item on a layout. (I imagine the most severe test of operation of diecast road vehicles is an owner wheeling it 'brm, brm brm' to its permanent shelf position.)

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  • 4 months later...
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On the basis that, if I bang on about it long enough someone will take notice of me (not by past experience a principle that I have much faith left in) and that this is a wishlist thread, Diagram N auto trailer or any panelled auto trailer, and a 'Metro' 2-4-0T to go with it.  Ont the basis of what I think Oxford should have a go at next, Class 120 Swindon Cross Country dmu.

Edited by The Johnster
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On the basis that, if I bang on about it long enough someone will take notice of me (not by past experience a principle that I have much faith left in) and that this is a wishlist thread, Diagram N auto trailer or any panelled auto trailer, and a 'Metro' 2-4-0T to go with it.  Ont the basis of what I think Oxford should have a go at next, Class 120 Swindon Cross Country dmu.

I agree with the Metro 2-4-0T and auto coach I would love to have at least one of each

 

Thanks

Alan

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On the basis that, if I bang on about it long enough someone will take notice of me (not by past experience a principle that I have much faith left in) and that this is a wishlist thread, Diagram N auto trailer or any panelled auto trailer, and a 'Metro' 2-4-0T to go with it.  Ont the basis of what I think Oxford should have a go at next, Class 120 Swindon Cross Country dmu.

The problem with these desired items (also, just some of my choices, btw, is the improbability to scan the subject in question. If we re-trace my own steps to the Baccy 94xx, I feel we've passed the point of no return for Western RTR stuff. After all of the possibly negative response to both DJM and Oxford, they would probably shy away from this. As we all know, some of this is deserved; sometimes not. It would appear to Bachmann to not in be too much a hurry with the 94xx, which is probably the most asked for WR locomotive in recent times. I'd guess that my only realistic avenue is toward Brassmasters/Finney, which in all reality is the best way (for me) to go. Even that notion got pooed pooed by daring to suggest it in a wish-list poll.

 

I don't wish to be shot in the foot, but....

 

On a sunnier note, the Shapeways path seems to be a future untapped source. I certainly look forward to the future.

 

Ian.

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Scottish outline - PLEASE!

Not everyone seems to want Scottish but I suspect that if a manufacturer were to produce, let’s say, a Caledonian 812 Class in blue, a lot of people would all of a sudden realise that it was exactly what they wanted. There are quite a few other machines which could generate the “Bachy C Class” effect.

 

(Note to any interested manufacturer: don’t forget to paint the wheels!)

 

Edit: Count the parentheses before posting!

Edited by No Decorum
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I have one for the wish list: that they get their current models right before thinking about anything else. Too many problems with pretty much everything they have done for me to even consider them doing anything I might really want.

 

Roy

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Reckon the NER 0-6-0 to go for on the back of the Hornby Q6 would be the J27, but J21 is a pretty little thing and would have the wow factor in full NER livery.  Much as I'd like to see one, the Metro is probably a bit close on the heels of the Dean Goods to avoid howls of outrage from other railways' modellers, and fair enough!

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 You have to suspect an LMS group loco for the next steam introduction. Something characterful and neglected from up North that might just:

break open new modelling territory;

be received gladly by folk long starved of RTR.

seem to remember chit chat about a loco of some sort possibly on the cards like a new 87 or 86....................have things moved on since?  Is there a D&E loco announcement expected

 Part of the opening pitch was 'a complete range' not just cherry picking the hot 'want' of the moment: logically traction for the mk3s will appear at some time or other.

 

My own wish would be for HST power cars and the mk3 trailers, available in matching full formation sets. It was possible for the Blue Pullman, (and I still feel that was a lousy investment for Bachmann, compared to the huge livery and formation choice of the probable near half century service the IC125 offers; and it still has liveries unknown to come...).

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A good choice, I suspect that this prototype may be the most sorely missed from the (seemingly) defunct Slaters 4mm range.

Hear, hear! I lost £20 earlier this year, attempting to buy a couple from the website, before realisng to my cost that it's gone belly up.

 

These were widely used in the north east, and further afield - West Cumberland and Furness, for example; and they had a long life, esoecially when they ended up in NCB ownership. Lasted into BR service. Locos - Q6, J94, etc

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Ooh I can play that game. Bit perverse of them starting from 6 o' clock (Eastleigh)

7 Swindon Dean goods

8 Crewe Cauliflower

9 Gorton N5

10 Horwich class 27

11 St Rollox Jumbo

12 Cowlairs J36

1 Darlington J21

2 Doncaster J6 or C12

3 Stratford N7

4 Ashford L1

5 Brighton C2X

Yes, please; for the Horwich class 27! Or even a class 28. Pre-grouping 0-6-0; long life, from pre 1900 to early sixties; wide-ranging, especially in LMS and BR days, from North Wales to Goole, from West Cumberland to Nuneaton; preservd example. Superficially similar to Dean Goods? Maybe not quite the easy jump I imagine, though. You can have any colour, so long as it's black. Is that a plus, or a minus?

 

John D

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Yes, please; for the Horwich class 27! Or even a class 28. Pre-grouping 0-6-0; long life, from pre 1900 to early sixties; wide-ranging, especially in LMS and BR days, from North Wales to Goole, from West Cumberland to Nuneaton; preservd example. Superficially similar to Dean Goods? Maybe not quite the easy jump I imagine, though. You can have any colour, so long as it's black. Is that a plus, or a minus?

John D

PS, does anyone know if Oxford even read this, or should I email them directly?

 

John

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And some NE 20T wooden-bodied hoppers to go with it?

JohnD

If you get your wish I doubt that there will be interior plank details, assuming a one piece body mould.

 

Otherwise an excellent choice with good longevity and liveries to suit, plus industrial use till the late 1980's!

 

Mark Saunders

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