Oxford Rail Annouce 4-Wheel Toad

[Metr0Land]

Where's the bit about £350 million per week for the NHS?

 

Any chance we could discuss the Oxford model and not wave around your political views?

[locoholic]

 

By the way, some ones cribbing. The Hornby "Phillips, George, Aberdare" is also the Oxford "Phillips George, Aberdare" Both with the number 251, both in the same livery. Oh, I see! The tampo machine had a drink, and is seeing double!

 

Cheers,

 

Ian.

This isn't the first duplication - I suspect it stems from the availability of clear photos of prototypes.

[tomparryharry]

Then he'll say he doesn't know where Maerdy, Tylorstown or Ynshir are either, or Porth for that matter!

 

Some A nice gradient on that branch - no wonder Ferndale had an allocation of brake vans, for the full coal trains heading down to Porth.

In Taff Vale days, the brake van was tucked in behind the locomotive. The logic being that the loaded train, going downhill, would close up against the loco & van.

 

"Hey Butt! Chuck a bit in! It's gettin' a bit quick yere!"

 

Cheers,

 

Ian.

[TheGunslinger]

Hardly hypocritical at all when you consider the way Oxford were promoting what they would be offering in terms of the standards of their model railway range.  One thing to aim low and deliver high - quite another to shout about how high you will be then under deliver.

 

This is what they said about their forthcoming models back in 2014 prior to release of any of them -

 

Oxfd 1.jpg

 

extract from next paragraph

 

Oxfd 2.jpg

That sounds like the exact same marketing claptrap from pretty much any other model company, albeit slightly more pretentious. Call me cynical but I pay precisely zero attention to what the PR goblins say or do; my heart can't handle the amount of salt needed to take anything they say at face value, and I'm not even 30 yet.

 

I see RTR Toads, I see the price, I buy. I'm very happy with what I got for what I paid.

Edited February 27, 2018 by TheGunslinger

[The Stationmaster]

That sounds like the exact same marketing claptrap from pretty much any other model company, albeit slightly more pretentious. Call me cynical but I pay precisely zero attention to what the PR goblins say or do; my heart can't handle the amount of salt needed to take anything they say at face value, and I'm not even 30 yet.

 

I see RTR Toads, I see the price, I buy. I'm very happy with what I got for what I paid.

 

As it happens it was the boss man of the company who put his name to it (as far as can be ascertained he doesn't employ any PR folk as such, Oxford is a very small company).  So if he said it - that was presumably what he meant, unless he's some sort of con-artist which hardly seems to be the case.  If you create a promise for your product you either have to deliver or your product will be regarded in the light in which it is found.  And the light in which a number of Oxford railway models has been found is one of either obvious failures of research and/or subsequent failures of implementation.  And the two Toads fall very firmly into that category - but they have the saving grace that they are not expensive and that with some work some of the errors can be sorted but if that is necessary it is plainly obvious that the promised 'accurate' part has not been delivered.

[The Johnster]

The pursuit of excellence is a clever mission statement; it is a laudable sentiment, but has an automatic get out clause when you fail to catch up with the thing you are pursuing!  Unfortunately you are also shooting yourself in the foot unless you can be seen to be at least gaining on your quarry, and we modellers are an unforgiving bunch of entitled ingrates, especially since we have had forums like this to vent our displeasure.

 

I believe that Ox are doing their best, and I am happy with the wagons and toad that I possess from them.  The 'sort of merger' with Hornby will, I think, benefit both companies, hopefully in a fiduciary sense but certainly in terms of product range and quality, with the better features of each being absorbed by the other.  I like Ox's 7 plank wagon underframes, with the buffer springs visible, and pick them out in rust colour; although they cannot normally be seen I know they are there, and get some satisfaction from the knowledge.

 

I have previously stated that, as someone prepared to tolerate a Hornby 2721 on his layout, I do not feel I hold enough of the moral high ground to criticise Ox too much, but I would like to see them do better of course!

[John Tomlinson]

Hi All,

 

Whatever the issues may or may not be with these, they are competitively priced and very easy to take to bits!

 

DDE97D85-AC47-4E45-AEF0-FF4075779E92.jpeg

 

Let Castle bodgery commence!

 

All the best,

 

Castle

 

As there don't appear to be any screws underneath, I'd be very grateful if you could tell us how this dismantling was done, without it appears doing any damage?

 

Many thanks,

 

John.

[phil-b259]

 

By the way, some ones cribbing. The Hornby "Phillips, George, Aberdare" is also the Oxford "Phillips George, Aberdare" Both with the number 251, both in the same livery. Oh, I see! The tampo machine had a drink, and is seeing double!

 

Cheers,

 

Ian.

 

Thats hardly unusual. Over the years quite a few wagons released by Bachmann have also been released by Hornby on their older cruder tooling.

[81C]

As there don't appear to be any screws underneath, I'd be very grateful if you could tell us how this dismantling was done, without it appears doing any damage?

 

Many thanks,

 

John.

There are screws underneath hidden by the brake rigging they hold the deck onto the chassis, you need to carefully push the buffers

out from behind the drawbar there's a small amount of plastic showing once they are out of the way the body should come off.

 

Cheak out the 6 wheeled Toad thread I believe there is a photo.

[Nile]

To separate the body from the chassis - pull the buffers out.

[PenrithBeacon]

A bit of thread creep but I have always thought of new builds as full scale models. Sort of P304.

 

Back to topic, I think it’s unrealistic to expect RTR wagons to be correct in every detail for every livery detail. Unless that is you want to spend a lot more on them.

[tomparryharry]

A bit of thread creep but I have always thought of new builds as full scale models. Sort of P304.

 

Back to topic, I think it’s unrealistic to expect RTR wagons to be correct in every detail for every livery detail. Unless that is you want to spend a lot more on them.

 

Putting on my 'Reginald Molehusband' voice, ...."P304? I think you will find it is actually P304.8, my good sir".

 

Cheers,

 

Ian.

[81C]

To separate the body from the chassis - pull the buffers out.

You can damage them by trying to pull them out as I have found, 2 of some that I have had the buffers glued in.

[John Tomlinson]

Thanks to Nile and 81C for advice about dismantling the vehicle.

 

In the  unlikely event that anyone else on here is a dense as me, removing the buffers means the whole buffer, not just the steel head and shank, but the body casing as well. The buffer body casing has an extension that goes through the headstock and is visible inside when the vehicle is upturned. Using a flathead screwdriver I pushed them out from the back, rather than pulled anything. 

 

The same procedure works with the Cattle wagon, except this also has clips on the sides that also secure the chassis. Cocktail sticks can be inserted in the time honoured fashion to keep both bodysides free of the chassis, allowing the two to separate, after first removing the buffers.

 

I picked up both models at the Newark (Lincoln) Show, to allow close inspection and see what all the contention has been about. The underframes, specifically the brake gear, have to be as good as anything we've ever had in the UK in RTR, the overall standard of finish is very high, and pretty cheap by today's standards too. A shame about the errors in both vehicles but there you go!

 

I presume that my BR brake van with a 35xxx number is pure fiction, and that both it and the allocation "Basingstoke" should in any case have black backgrounds with the vehicle being in quite a light grey?

 

John.

[Miss Prism]

AA3 35717 was allocated to Basingstoke at an unknown date. I suspect the allocation might have related to an era when the GWR had a station of its own at Basingstoke.

 

It was normal for the BR(W) lettering to have black backgrounds. White lettering on BR light grey is not particularly legible.

[The Johnster]

One could see examples of BR period grey wagons with plain white lettering applied directly on top of the grey, but the black backgrounds in order to literally highlight it were more common.  The darker bauxite used on piped and fitted vehicles meant that the white lettering was much more plainly visible and did not need highlighting.

 

Minor differences in number position, size of lettering, and the amount of information provided could also be seen, and it is best to work from photographs if you can, but remember that a photograph only shows the situation at the time it was taken, and the same vehicle could present a different appearance after a minor paint touch-up at another time.  Brake vans and wagons in general are not as well recorded as locos or coaches, even in official archives, and pinning them down can be difficult.  The best source is the very good Paul Bartlett website, but this shows wagons in the post steam or preservation era; I would sound a note of caution about assuming that preserved wagons have been correctly restored or that their fittings are original.

[John Tomlinson]

AA3 35717 was allocated to Basingstoke at an unknown date. I suspect the allocation might have related to an era when the GWR had a station of its own at Basingstoke.

 

It was normal for the BR(W) lettering to have black backgrounds. White lettering on BR light grey is not particularly legible.

 

Thanks for your prompt response.

 

Having now found my Tourret "bible", I now realise that the numbering was something of a hotch-potch, with AA3 Toads carrying 17xxx, 35xxx and 56xxx numbers, and other varieties of Toad also carrying numbers in these groups.

 

John.

[Castle]

Hi All,

 

I think that this conversion is inspirational! At least it has inspired me to buy two brake vans, to do something similar. I see in Russell that there were also similar conversions based on plated sided vehicles. And - for variety - tunnel inspection vehicles. So some scope for 'what if'. That is, it is just as valid to reproduce railway practice (i.e. vehicles for particular tasks) as it is to reproduce specific vehicles.

 

That’s very kind of you to say so good sir - thanks!

 

As there don't appear to be any screws underneath, I'd be very grateful if you could tell us how this dismantling was done, without it appears doing any damage?

 

Many thanks,

 

John.

Sorry I didn’t see this sooner - I’ve been a bit busy! I see 81C has sorted you out in the meantime!

 

All the best,

 

Castle

[Adrock]

Wow difficult to just look in on these sorts of threads in order to quickly understand the merit of a model. Can anyone summarise please?

 

Is there a supplier of replacement transfers for the Toad shed allocation panels that I could use to renumber and reallocate one of these?

[cctransuk]

Wow difficult to just look in on these sorts of threads in order to quickly understand the merit of a model. Can anyone summarise please?

 

Is there a supplier of replacement transfers for the Toad shed allocation panels that I could use to renumber and reallocate one of these?

 

Go to https://www.cctrans.org.uk/products.htm - Sheets BL166 etc,

 

For ex-GWR AA3 in the BR period :-

 

BL166B - BALA

 

BL166C - CHESTER, CREWE, CIRENCESTER

 

BL166D-G - EXETER, FRESHFORD

 

BL166H-L - HIGH WYCOMBE, KIDDERMINSTER, KINGSBRIDGE, KINGTON BRANCH, LYDBROOK

 

BL166M-O - MARLBOROUGH, MORETON-IN-MARSH

 

BL166P-R - PEMBREY, PLYMOUTH

 

BL166S - SEVERN TUNNEL JUNCTION, STOKE GIFFORD TO SWINDON LOCAL, SWANSEA, SWINDON, SWINDON TO STOKE GIFFORD LOCAL

 

BL166T-Y - THINGLEY, WOLVERHAMPTON, WORCESTER

 

Regards,

John Isherwood,

Cambridge Custom Transfers.

[The Johnster]

Try Cambridge Custom Transfers, who will either make up a customised one for you or supply you from a fairly extensive range.  Brake Van allocations are on alphabetically organised sheets, so for example 'Tondu' includes Tetbury, Treorchy, Truro, and so on.

 

Organising and summarising threads is a time consuming and difficult job than nobody has time to do.  My general impression, FWIW, of the Oxford Toad is that it is not a bad model; good points are the separate handrails, lamp brackets, and easy access to the detailed interior to add extra detail (can't do this on the Hornby), and that it is very reasonably priced.  Bad points are the lamphatch and other rear end windows, and the cut out for the central axlebox in the footboard of the 4-wheeled version because it is a standard part shared with the 6-wheeler.  Finish is good, and there is plenty of underframe detail, though questions have been raised about the footboard brackets.  I have a personal hatred of white roofs, which would not have lasted 5 minutes in service and look dreadful on models, correct or not.

 

I can live with the problems and am happy with my 4-wheeler; it is a matter of your individual choice to accept the compromises or look for something better.  RTR choices are basically 5 toads; Bachmann and the older Hornby are dimensionally correct for the vans modelled but based on older Mainline and Airfix models respectively, with rather crude underframes (brake blocks do not align with wheels), no NEM coupling mounts, and moulded handrails and lamp brackets.  The newer Hornby is a much better, and more expensive, version of the same sort of larger van, and a very good model with good underframe detail, and with separate handrails and lamp brackets, though the side lamp brackets are moulded.  The Oxford 6- and 4-wheeler smaller vans are very good models with the provisos noted above.  

 

There is also the Ratio kit for the larger toad, cheap and easily assembled, but it's only superiority over the Bachmann or older Hornby is that the brake blocks align with the wheels.  Of course, painting and lettering are left to you; there are no transfers.

[cctransuk]

Try Cambridge Custom Transfers, who will either make up a customised one for you or supply you from a fairly extensive range.  Brake Van allocations are on alphabetically organised sheets, so for example 'Tondu' includes Tetbury, Treorchy, Truro, and so on.

 

No - sorry - I can't offer that service !

 

However, see #274 above for details of AA3 numbers and allocations.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

[Adrock]

Go to https://www.cctrans.org.uk/products.htm - Sheets BL166 etc,

 

For ex-GWR AA3 in the BR period :-

 

BL166B - BALA

 

BL166C - CHESTER, CREWE, CIRENCESTER

 

BL166D-G - EXETER, FRESHFORD

 

BL166H-L - HIGH WYCOMBE, KIDDERMINSTER, KINGSBRIDGE, KINGTON BRANCH, LYDBROOK

 

BL166M-O - MARLBOROUGH, MORETON-IN-MARSH

 

BL166P-R - PEMBREY, PLYMOUTH

 

BL166S - SEVERN TUNNEL JUNCTION, STOKE GIFFORD TO SWINDON LOCAL, SWANSEA, SWINDON, SWINDON TO STOKE GIFFORD LOCAL

 

BL166T-Y - THINGLEY, WOLVERHAMPTON, WORCESTER

 

Regards,

John Isherwood,

Cambridge Custom Transfers.

Great, thank you! Is there a separate pack for the Hornsby AA15 van?

[County of Yorkshire]

Alternatively, there is the Old Time Workshop transfers. Whilst I have not been able to get hold of the proprietors over email, H & A Models sell them. Set 1 here, and Set 2 here. 

 

No connection, just a satisfied customer etc.

 

CoY

[cctransuk]

Great, thank you! Is there a separate pack for the Hornsby AA15 van?

 

The packs are not diagram-specific, they contain all known authentic TOAD diagrams / numbers / allocations for the alphabetic ranges indicated.

 

AA15 numbers / allocations can be found on Sheets :-

 

BL166B - BANBURY, BASINGSTOKE

 

BL166C - CARDIFF, CHELTENHAM HIGH ST

 

BL166D-G - EAST USK JUNCTION

 

BL166H-L - HONEYBOURNE, LLANDILO JUNC, LLANELLY, LLANELLY DOCK, LLANTRISANT

 

BL166M-O - NEWPORT DOCK STREET

 

BL166S - SWANSEA DOCKS

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.