Oxford N7

[57xx]

It is often said on here that we model what we remember as kids. 

 

It is often said, and I often think "hmmm no blue era diesels in amongst my models." 

[GreenGiraffe22]

It is often said, and I often think "hmmm no blue era diesels in amongst my models."

No diesels at all in mine

[wamwig]

Hmmm with the J15 and now the N7 later this year it is getting more difficult to at least not start modelling my 'retirement' project of  Widford on the Buntingford line!

[coachmann]

B&R Video does Vol. 28 'EASTERN STEAM RECALLED', a great video featuring N7', J15's and other GER stuff before the EMU's arrived. Kings Cross and ECML also featured.

[PhilJ W]

I've always been of the opinion that I'll model what I want to model, available or not. However the announcement of the C53/J70, and then this, coupled with the J15 released not so long ago is sorely tempting to to model something simply because it is available RTR. Hmm, a nice GE early 20s Essex home counties commuter town terminus, connecting with a roadside tramway,...

At least I can console myself with the fact that the coaches will probably need to be kit or scratch built and the J15/Y14 needs backdating

And Model Rails next offering will be a GE tram loco.

[9402 Fredrick]

I'm going to be planning a 20s-30s LNER layout now, part of it will include some local lines and a nice roadside tramway, plus an area of a main line that connects the GN, GE, GC, and NE sections, now I just need to model some LNER Gresely coaches, will be using the Gresley suburbans for the N7's train.

[Dick Turpin]

Some of us model what we remember as kids, but a lot of us never felt the appeal. I think the trainspotter generation tend to model what they remember as kids, and who can blame them, but when I and a few railway minded friends used to go out on bikes at the weekends to watch trains, we all viewed the 1970s scene with a feeling that we’d definitely missed the party. We tended to discuss grouping days based on stories we had been told by relatives and their friends, and tried to visualise what it might have been like if we could only slip back through time and experience it for ourselves, which is why we all built pre-war layouts. The model press was all full of LMS LNER et al for inspiration at that time too.

 

There seems to be a bewildering array of choice on offer these days, for all of us, and I have noticed that a lot of younger modellers in particular, maybe because they never spent a terrific amount of time by the lineside as children, as I and many others did, and so have to draw inspiration from a more diverse set of experiences, with the result that they often choose diverse and different subjects to reflect their creative ambitions. I predict a growth in the interest of pre grouping subjects, among other things, and for this reason, am looking forward to future developments with interest.

Edited January 28, 2017 by Dick Turpin

[coachmann]

Dick Turpin pretty well hits the nail on the head, certainly with looking back with nostalgia. I didn't do it so much in the early 1940s/50's because the railways were exciting enough, but I started to visualize how things were when railway photography became my main hobby from the mid 1970's. In the days when one could park the car on the Up Slow platform at Diggle, I used to eat my lunch and imagine the marshalling yards full of wagons despite the fact that they always were when I wus a lad. An electric loco passing through Dinting or Godley Junction would be replaced in my imagination by a GCR 4-6-0 or 2-8-0, yet I had actually seen such locos as a small boy at Guide Bridge while accompanying my father. I was just too young to fully appreciate what I was seeing.

 

Would I model any of it? Not a chance! Why not? Because my memories are tempered by the reality of all the other things in my life in the 1940's and 50's. So when I think of a railway experience or look at a photo, I cannot separate it from how things were in those bleak days oop north.

 

So as not to be completely off topic, I look forward to seeing the N7......on a friends layout!

Edited January 28, 2017 by coachmann

[Dick Turpin]

I have just been looking through Yeadon's, and if I was looking for an example to build myself,I would opt for a belpaire version, maybe just because belpaire boilers are such a rarity on the LNER.

[J C Fenton]

Good news, so far as I am concerned, provided Oxford doesn't b*lls it up.

 

Put me down for the GE and LNE versions.

 

GE grey will be a RTR first.  Mind you, any GE livery would be a first. 

 

What a refreshing change.

[Dick Turpin]

Good news, so far as I am concerned, provided Oxford doesn't b*lls it up.

This might be off topic, but the point still applies to the N7. Not wanting to start a wish list here either, but if they were do something really useful, like a B16 for example, I wouldn't care if they did make some errors, I wouldn't complain. I'd just sort it out, repaint it and just be happy they'd done it in the first place. Come on Oxford, you know it makes sense!

Edited January 29, 2017 by Dick Turpin

[J C Fenton]

This might be off topic, but the point still applies to the N7. Not wanting to start a wish list here either, but if they were do something really useful, like a B16 for example, I wouldn't care if they did make some errors, I wouldn't complain. I'd just sort it out, repaint it and just be happy they'd done it in the first place. Come on Oxford, you know it makes sense!

 

Or they could just get it right for us first time.

 

I imagine an error-free model costs about the same as an error-strewn one.

 

Would Hatton's 14XX cost more if they'd remembered to include the ash pan? Would Oxford's Dean Goods cost more if they hadn't mistakenly added rivets to the splasher sides?

 

Expect better.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

'Make it up as you go along' does actually save money in development  to be fair, but then it isn't a model, and won't sell to the sector of the market which expects a model; which I suspect is becoming an ever larger proportion. (And Hornby have a 'lock' on such dire 'make it up as you go along' creations, mostly based on their ancient and surely fully amortised 0-4-0T mechanism, and I suspect that saturation was long ago achieved there.)

 

Perhaps I am unduly optimistic, but Oxford's display of understanding the 'parts' of the class as it developed from GER prototype to LNER standard is encouraging in my opinion. http://www.oxfordrail.com/76/OR76N7.htm That's the right start, recognising that it has distinct variations; a reliable basis for research into the correct configurations for each class part.  Transfer that knowledge accurately to the tooling, and we are cooking with gas.

 

In fairness to Oxford, I do think one has to recognise that this is not an easy task; and I could cite examples of other RTR OO manufacturer's bloopers that occurred when they were going up their learning curves to deliver significantly more accurate models than had previously come from their shop. There was less wailing over such things in the past: when the product overall was day over night superior to what had gone before, shape errors, spurious features and mechanism infelicities were tolerated. Oxford are having to enter against a rather higher standard of expectation, that has built over fifteen years of general improvement.

[45568]

'Make it up as you go along' does actually save money in development  to be fair, but then it isn't a model, and won't sell to the sector of the market which expects a model; which I suspect is becoming an ever larger proportion. (And Hornby have a 'lock' on such dire 'make it up as you go along' creations, mostly based on their ancient and surely fully amortised 0-4-0T mechanism, and I suspect that saturation was long ago achieved there.)

 

Perhaps I am unduly optimistic, but Oxford's display of understanding the 'parts' of the class as it developed from GER prototype to LNER standard is encouraging in my opinion. http://www.oxfordrail.com/76/OR76N7.htm That's the right start, recognising that it has distinct variations; a reliable basis for research into the correct configurations for each class part.  Transfer that knowledge accurately to the tooling, and we are cooking with gas.

 

In fairness to Oxford, I do think one has to recognise that this is not an easy task; and I could cite examples of other RTR OO manufacturer's bloopers that occurred when they were going up their learning curves to deliver significantly more accurate models than had previously come from their shop. There was less wailing over such things in the past: when the product overall was day over night superior to what had gone before, shape errors, spurious features and mechanism infelicities were tolerated. Oxford are having to enter against a rather higher standard of expectation, that has built over fifteen years of general improvement.

I agree with all that you say 34C, but, whilst the 'big lads' can play with releasing  the 'less popular' liveries first, can Oxford, with their record to date, avoid releasing the obvious round-top. BR lined black that will be the big seller first?

 I'm still waiting for Hornby!(please).

 Cheers,

Peter C.

[Downer]

I hadn't seen the detailed breakdown of Oxford's intentions which 34C refers to, and am reassured by it. I can certainly wait a couple of years for my round-topped N7s - even longer with any luck.  

Edited January 31, 2017 by Downer

[Guest Midland Mole]

I really hope Hornby don't do the round-top N7, I much prefer Oxford's pricing!

Alex

Edited January 31, 2017 by Midland Mole

[Pebbles]

I seem to remember that Hornby planned a N7 back in the eighties.

[it's-er]

I agree with all that you say 34C, but, whilst the 'big lads' can play with releasing the 'less popular' liveries first, can Oxford, with their record to date, avoid releasing the obvious round-top. BR lined black that will be the big seller first?

I'm still waiting for Hornby!(please).

Cheers,

Peter C.

I'm sure Oxford will do a round-top BR lined black N7.

 

Duplication is generally not welcome to RMwebbers! It is seen as wasteful - folk would prefer to see another locomotive produced, rather than duplication of one that's already available. I suspect the prevailing view on here is rather hope that Hornby will return to the eastern side of the country for their 2018 programme. On this scenario, a J67/69 would be brilliant, and what a complement to Oxford's N7! I'm one of others who hope Hornby will look further north, to the NER and add to their lovely Q6 with a J21 or J27 ......

 

John Storey

Edited February 1, 2017 by it's-er

[Talltim]

J67/69 is a whole other can of worms when it comes to variations. Iain Rice's treatise on them in MRJ of yore still sticks in my memory.

Mind you if a manufacturer is prepared to put the effort in anything is possible, a North American manufacturer is producing a boxcar with two different side rib patterns, three different ends, three different roofs, 5 sill types and 8 door types.

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/112577-ho-product-news/?p=2601422

Mind you I suspect it will cost 3/4 as much as an Oxford Rail loco

Edited February 4, 2017 by Talltim

[Andy Hayter]

I'm sure Oxford will do a round-top BR lined black N7.

 

 

John Storey

 

 

I hope so, if only for all those out there who want one.  My fear however of that there may not be clearance around the motor to go round top.  Much as with Bachmann's 0-8-0 LNWR D class.

[Edwardian]

Perhaps Oxford is taking the trouble to understand this prototype.  Certainly the detail on the website concerning the batch they have chosen is encouraging.

 

Contrast this with Dean Goods 2309 (the one in pre-Great War lined livery).  This locomotive had a narrower frame and curved centre step, so, quite apart from the many and manifold errors in Oxford's tooling, the variant they are producing (later batches with wider frames and squared centre step) could never properly represent the Lot that included 2309.

 

The N7, on the other hand, sounds as if it will be a more honest model.

 

I live in hope.

 

Even if it is too urban and too late in the day for my GE modelling, if they make a good job of the grey 1002, I will happily add to Oxford's sales.

[BillH]

I hope so, if only for all those out there who want one.  My fear however of that there may not be clearance around the motor to go round top.  Much as with Bachmann's 0-8-0 LNWR D class.

The link to the oxford site in post 113 indicates they will be doing the

 

K85 batch

N7/GE

N7/3

N7/4

N7/5

from their first suite of tooling.

 

So three round tops and two belpaire types with the possibility of more types, presumably N7/1 and N7/2 or even the two original locos later.

[Horsetan]

The link to the oxford site in post 113 indicates they will be doing the

 

K85 batch

N7/GE

N7/3

N7/4

N7/5

from their first suite of tooling.

 

So three round tops and two belpaire types with the possibility of more types, presumably N7/1 and N7/2 or even the two original locos later.

 

Hopefully they'll remember that N7/2 and /3 had side windows much closer to the cab opening than the others, amongst other detail differences!

[Edwardian]

Hopefully they'll remember that N7/2 and /3 had side windows much closer to the cab opening than the others, amongst other detail differences!

 

Might not hurt if you told them.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

...My fear however of that there may not be clearance around the motor to go round top.  Much as with Bachmann's 0-8-0 LNWR D class.

 Don't begin to worry on that score would be my feeling. Oxford are listing round top boiler versions as part of their programme, which implies a mechanism designed to suit.

 

Tangential, but I had the Bach G2A/Super D apart for a friend shortly after release to assess the mechanism's 'round top' possibility. Easy fit, Bachmann place about a 3mm depth of wiring and components on top of the motor, rearrangement of the wiring is all that is required for clearance inside a round top firebox. What dissuaded the owner from proceeding was the rather nice casting of the Belpaire back head integral to the body construction, which either had to be severely mutilated, or completely discarded and replaced, to enable a round topped firebox cladding to be fitted.