Little Loco Company - Class 22

[mervyn]

I have left a message for Steve on BookFace for an update  will pass this on to here when he replies ,its a bit quiet at the moment ,hope his health is ok .

[south_tyne]

2 hours ago, mervyn said:

I have left a message for Steve on BookFace for an update  will pass this on to here when he replies ,its a bit quiet at the moment ,hope his health is ok .

 

Thanks. I really hope everything is OK with Steve. I've tried to contact him a number of times in the last 6 months but to no avail. I hope you receive a reply through FB. 

[Captain Cuttle]

I did message  Nikki Wilkes Friday at 2pm if there was any progress and she did read it but not had a reply so far.

[mervyn]

Hope everything is okay had no reply so far !

[Redkiterail]

as posted on here https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/135439-little-loco-company-general-news-and-updates/

Dear all. Over the past few months I have been unable to progress any Little Loco Company projects due to personal reasons. I have now come to the realisation that I can no longer continue to operate LLC and I'm inviting offers among the model railway community for the sale of the business in whole or part. Please feel free to share this statement.

 

Offered for sale is a complete tooling set (injection moulding and die-cast) for the Ruston 48DS in two styles ready for production, costing over £140,000 in total for machining, EDM on all parts, and developmental testing. In addition, the Class 22 is fully developed and ready for tooling, incorporating many novel features and systems that have been designed to be marketed separately and feature in future models. Tooling costs can be considerably reduced by removing this system-level approach.

 

I am open to offers for the business as a whole or just the rights and tooling for the Ruston, along with the Class 22 development work. Serious offers or request for further information to sales@littleloco.co.uk – I am happy to act as a free consultant to ensure the sale and project continues as smoothly as possible.

 

I have received many emails and messages recently, and I have read them but I've not had the wherewithal to respond. Any personal messages can be sent to steve@littleloco.co.uk please. I may not be able to respond to all but I will read them.

 

My sincere apologies and kindest regards,

Steve

[CME and Bottlewasher]

I'm genuinely sorry to hear that Steve is struggling and LLP is experiencing difficulties.

 

To my mind the Class 22 was very ambitious, but worth waiting for - perhaps more so for others than myself.

 

I'm puzzled by the following:-

 

1) Why not, bite the bullet, and at least reply here on this Thread, the main point of contact? Also a round robin email to customers/investors?

 

2) Many of us have - LOTS - of challenges in our lives, but we have to find the time and energy to reply to customers/friends et al. Especially those who have invested £1000s in us/our business.

 

3) What happens to the £1000s invested relative to the initial T&Cs? Is there now Eg. a breach of contract? Did the Class 22 ever get to the tooling stage? Where factories paid for work?

 

Fingers crossed that a suitable/appropriate buyer will be found.

 

My thoughts are with everyone at this time.

 

Awful for Steve, his family and partners and for investors. I guess 'crowd funding' is still a risk based desicion/prospect?

 

Atvb,

 

CME.

Edited May 8, 2019 by CME and Bottlewasher

[Kris]

I suspect that's £425 I won't be seeing again then 

[CME and Bottlewasher]

34 minutes ago, Kris said:

I suspect that's £425 I won't be seeing again then 

I'm gutted for everyone. Its all very sad and has multifaceted implications. Let's hope some sort of deal can be struck.

[boxbrownie]

39 minutes ago, Kris said:

I suspect that's £425 I won't be seeing again then 

 

Me too, had the full smoke and sound stage paid for.......at least I had faith 

[Giles]

likewise.....

[mdvle]

 

2 hours ago, CME and Bottlewasher said:

3) What happens to the £1000s invested relative to the initial T&Cs? Is there now Eg. a breach of contract? Did the Class 22 ever get to the tooling stage? Where factories paid for work?

 

From the message he posted, which was copied into this thread:

 

"the Class 22 is fully developed and ready for tooling"

 

So no tooling but apparently CAD complete and ready for tooling to begin.

 

As for breach of contract, that depends on what exactly the T&C's say (which I don't know), and will also depend on whether anyone picks up the existing work (in the case of the Ruston that means tooling, in the case of the 22 then the CAD work) and what obligations they commit to.

 

 

 

 

[CME and Bottlewasher]

2 hours ago, mdvle said:

 

 

From the message he posted, which was copied into this thread:

 

"the Class 22 is fully developed and ready for tooling"

 

So no tooling but apparently CAD complete and ready for tooling to begin.

 

As for breach of contract, that depends on what exactly the T&C's say (which I don't know), and will also depend on whether anyone picks up the existing work (in the case of the Ruston that means tooling, in the case of the 22 then the CAD work) and what obligations they commit to.

 

 

 

 

By and large agree.

 

Perhaps my phrase 'breach of contract' seems a little harsh, yet its a serious situation for everyone and it is what it is - albeit not the end of the world serious. Delivery (thus performance of the contract) is in effect 9/10s of any deal.

 

The Ruston 48D? Depends whether the existing costs can be written off or not as to whether such is viable for a.n.other? £140k seems like an awful lot of development costs, thus far and a lot to take on, dependant too, if a factory needs paying etc etc.

 

At this point we only know of the above release from LLC, anything more is speculation.

 

Let's hope for a positive outcome to a complex situation.

 

ATVB,

 

CME.

Edited May 8, 2019 by CME and Bottlewasher

[lewey13]

I am also looking at a £425 loss but it's the trust element that's got to me the writing was on the cards a while ago with no updates forthcoming and no responses to emails very disappointed the class 15 was class!!! Duncan 

[chris coates]

I have three on order so I'm horrified at what will my loss be? It was my favourite loco so I decided I should have different varieties and never considered this project to be "crowd funding" given Steve's background and the way it was marketed. If there is no reclaim then perhaps Steve should offer us any remaining class 15 locos in stock  as some compensation. The whole episode leaves me with a total loss of faith in anything of this nature and I pity anyone else trying to make any progress with this now. Like all companies in trouble, very little is reported and it seems this lack of information was in fact the "writing on the wall". All in all it's a totally unacceptable outcome.

[Kris]

5 hours ago, Kris said:

I suspect that's £425 I won't be seeing again then 

 

Having read this back I do feel that this possibly comes across as rather blunt. I do hope that Steve quickly regains his health as ultimately this is incalculably more important that a model. I also hope that Steve manages to sell the little loco company as a going concern allowing both the Rushton and the Class 22 to progress to fruition. 

[south_tyne]

3 minutes ago, Kris said:

 

Having read this back I do feel that this possibly comes across as rather blunt. I do hope that Steve quickly regains his health as ultimately this is incalculably more important that a model. I also hope that Steve manages to sell the little loco company as a going concern allowing both the Rushton and the Class 22 to progress to fruition. 

 

I understand that folk will be very worried about losing money but I think Steve needs to be given the chance to sort things out. This is not a personal criticism of yourself in any way, but until further information and more clarity is available with regard to the future of the company, then I think Steve deserves some time to bottom out what the situation will be with regard to the money and funding for the loco. His health and well-being is the most important think. However, I do understand that I am not in the position where I have committed funds to the cl.22 project (it is the Ruston I had pre-ordered). Ultimately, I feel for everyone involved and effected from Steve and his family through to his investors and customers. Hopefully the situation will come to a satisfactory resolution in due course. 

 

 

[chris coates]

Sorry if I come across as a tad blunt and I think this is more borne out of frustration at the lack of information recently. Obviously Steve's health is top priority and I wish him well. Until we all have the full story and things are clearer we can but hope that the situation isn't as bad as it might be!

I just hope that, if needed, someone can come in and rescue things. Might Dapol consider picking up the pieces? It's time they did a larger diesel and this might just be the one.

 

[mdvle]

4 hours ago, CME and Bottlewasher said:

Perhaps my phrase 'breach of contract' seems a little harsh, yet its a serious situation for everyone and it is what it is 

 

Fully agree.

 

4 hours ago, CME and Bottlewasher said:

The Ruston 48D? Depends whether the existing costs can be written off or not as to whether such is viable for a.n.other? £140k seems like an awful lot of development costs, thus far and a lot to take on, dependant too, if a factory needs paying etc etc.

 

So last year Rapido announced a US model (Alco RS-11), and they had EP samples of the model.  Go forward a couple of months, and someone online asked if the cab height was correct...

 

Full credit to Rapido, they responded to the person they would look into it, and when they did they discovered that the cab was indeed to tall and they committed to fixing the problem.

 

In a March newsletter (109 for anyone interested), it was revealed that it cost $15,000 to fix (I assume tool a new part) - and that was Chinese costs for an HO model - or £11,500.

 

Thus it would not surprise me that an O scale model will have those sorts of costs, particularly given that LLC was determined to do all of it in the UK and not China.

 

[nickb4141]

I can’t believe everyone is so blasé and ‘understanding’ about this?!!! I have paid £850 and it totally unacceptable that he now decides to sell the company, leaving everyone high and dry!  This seems nothing short of a scam. I shall be talking to my lawyer in the morning about this. Disgraceful....

[leopardml2341]

I for one will be interested to hear what your lawyer says, please do report back.

[nickb4141]

2 minutes ago, leopardml2341 said:

I for one will be interested to hear what your lawyer says, please do report back.

I will do. I suspect she will say there is nothing I can do and everyone who has ‘invested’ will have lost their money. What I find staggering is that LLC didn’t even have the courtesy of sending people who have invested money any explanation as to what is going on. I’m also alarmed that we have all paid two payments when only development work has occurred and according to his ‘statement’ the class 22 is only ‘ready for tooling’ This alone makes me question just how legitimate the company was in the first place. 

[lewey13]

25 minutes ago, nickb4141 said:

I will do. I suspect she will say there is nothing I can do and everyone who has ‘invested’ will have lost their money. What I find staggering is that LLC didn’t even have the courtesy of sending people who have invested money any explanation as to what is going on. I’m also alarmed that we have all paid two payments when only development work has occurred and according to his ‘statement’ the class 22 is only ‘ready for tooling’ This alone makes me question just how legitimate the company was in the first place. 

Thats what has annoyed me no response to emails asking for money only to find out the 22 is only ready for tooling?, and now we are going to be left high and dry. A valuable lesson never again!,

[96701]

9 minutes ago, Dava said:

First DJM's APT-E folded last week

Did it? Nobody told me. Where is this written?

[Dava]

See DJM thread, again some ambiguity about it, dont shoot messenger.

[CME and Bottlewasher]

2 hours ago, mdvle said:

 

Fully agree.

 

 

So last year Rapido announced a US model (Alco RS-11), and they had EP samples of the model.  Go forward a couple of months, and someone online asked if the cab height was correct...

 

Full credit to Rapido, they responded to the person they would look into it, and when they did they discovered that the cab was indeed to tall and they committed to fixing the problem.

 

In a March newsletter (109 for anyone interested), it was revealed that it cost $15,000 to fix (I assume tool a new part) - and that was Chinese costs for an HO model - or £11,500.

 

Thus it would not surprise me that an O scale model will have those sorts of costs, particularly given that LLC was determined to do all of it in the UK and not China.

 

Yes tooling always appears expensive - for those not familiar with such.

 

I'd lost track of the Ruston, wasn't some of it done in China? If its all UK based then a noble move, but those costs would have to jack up the retail price.

 

All academic now - sadly.

 

Hopefully a company with surplus cash, cashflow, expertise etc will take up the challenge.

 

Atvb

 

CME