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class 50


mervyn
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Little Loco Company will not be taking on any more commissions. We are sticking to our fully researched production plan. We will also not be announcing any more models in development until after EP1 stage either. The whole Class 50 debacle has been nothing but a long chain of painful lessons, but we learn quickly! Nothing larger than a Type 2 will be produced by us for quite a while yet.

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I was so looking forward to the class 50 that I sold North American stock to pay for them. I would a bought 6 of them!!!

Same here.

Its a shame that an inferior model will will now

take precedence over a model which would have been streets ahead in both accuracy and fidelity.

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Same here.

Its a shame that an inferior model will will now

take precedence over a model which would have been streets ahead in both accuracy and fidelity.

I think that’s a bit unfair considering Heljan’s Class 50 final product hasn’t even been delivered yet! Cut them some slack! The pre-production sample isn’t (in my opinion,) that bad. Yes, there are still issues with the cab windows and front (which Heljan themselves have acknowledged and are working on). I think we all need to keep an open mind until the final rendition is unveiled. A couple of years ago, the trend seemed to be ‘knock Hornby’ ..now there seems to be a fair few people taking every opportunity to ‘knock Heljan’

Sure, it’s a free country and everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but let’s stay positive and keep an open mind before we know the facts!

 

PS I have two Little Loco Class 22’s on order which I’m sure will be fab,so I am in no way doubting their expetise.

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I think that’s a bit unfair considering Heljan’s Class 50 final product hasn’t even been delivered yet! Cut them some slack! The pre-production sample isn’t (in my opinion,) that bad. Yes, there are still issues with the cab windows and front (which Heljan themselves have acknowledged and are working on). I think we all need to keep an open mind until the final rendition is unveiled. A couple of years ago, the trend seemed to be ‘knock Hornby’ ..now there seems to be a fair few people taking every opportunity to ‘knock Heljan’

Sure, it’s a free country and everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but let’s stay positive and keep an open mind before we know the facts!

PS I have two Little Loco Class 22’s on order which I’m sure will be fab,so I am in no way doubting their expetise.

I think that the drive system and sound compatibility being developed by LLC alone was proof of a superior product even if it had the same body shell as Heljan.

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I think that’s a bit unfair considering Heljan’s Class 50 final product hasn’t even been delivered yet! Cut them some slack! The pre-production sample isn’t (in my opinion,) that bad. Yes, there are still issues with the cab windows and front (which Heljan themselves have acknowledged and are working on). I think we all need to keep an open mind until the final rendition is unveiled. A couple of years ago, the trend seemed to be ‘knock Hornby’ ..now there seems to be a fair few people taking every opportunity to ‘knock Heljan’

Sure, it’s a free country and everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but let’s stay positive and keep an open mind before we know the facts!

 

PS I have two Little Loco Class 22’s on order which I’m sure will be fab,so I am in no way doubting their expetise.

Point taken, Nick. I have to admit though, I'm not overly optimistic but I'd be glad to be proved wrong. We'll see Edited by Gary H
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Little Loco Company will not be taking on any more commissions. We are sticking to our fully researched production plan. We will also not be announcing any more models in development until after EP1 stage either. The whole Class 50 debacle has been nothing but a long chain of painful lessons, but we learn quickly! Nothing larger than a Type 2 will be produced by us for quite a while yet.

A class 73 is a type 1 on diesel.....just something to bear in mind

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I’ve been reading the thread concerning another manufacturer’s Class 50 model on and off for a while and so to correct some inaccuracies mentioned in it I’d like to put our version of events forward. Most will not be aware, and it will prevent some unwarranted criticism of our competitor.

 

A new Facebook group was started for LLC (this was not asked for) by an individual (let’s call him Mr X) who did customer decoration and repaints for us. One of the first posts in the new FB group was a poll started by Nikki (our design engineer) asking what we should produce next. The Class 50 won the poll.

 

Mr X contacted me and asked if we should crowdfund the model, knowing it was not in LLCs foreseeable production plan. He then posed the question on his own FB group and it was obvious to see there was very strong support for it. Nikki and I were too busy to manage the project so I told him he has to put some hours in finding the drawings, looking for other investors and stakeholders, etc. Producing a model this size is very expensive and time-consuming.

 

Mr X could not find the drawings (he did this by using Messenger on FB…) but he had heard that somebody had the entire file and set about messaging him. I have heard through a friend of this person that the messages started congenially and ended up with a copious amount of swearing, all in the name of LLC, and all in a single day. The person with the drawings doesn’t use FB that much, so when he did eventually see the messages I can imagine his reaction and I don’t blame him. I have tried to contact him since to apologise and I can fully understand why he wants nothing to do with LLC if ‘we’ communicate like that. So, at that stage we had no drawings. I eventually found them by paying for researchers at the NRM – the result of a simple email.

 

Another task for Mr X was finding further investors, which he did. Two friends of his were willing to put in quite a big chunk of cash. Unfortunately, by the time we needed it the funds were no longer available. One had bought a new house, which is fair enough, and another had disappeared completely. Fortunately, after taking more time out of our planned projects, I found a very generous person willing to step in.

 

His final task, and the most relevant in this case, was to find partners to work with. The Fifty Fund was the perfect partner, with plenty of resources to call upon. I made initial contact with Jonathan Dunster and then Dave Redbourne and handed over to Mr X to follow up. It turns out that Dave immediately told Mr X that another manufacturer had been consulting with them for about two years already and were well advanced obviously, he didn’t say who, but one can guess. Mr X chose not to tell me this. Had I known, I would have stopped development immediately. It turns out that Mr X was on a one-man crusade against our competitor using not one penny of his own money and not much of his time either. I eventually found out months later as a series of forum posts at the Fifty Fund was drawn to my attention. It was at this time, when LLCs name was being implicated very negatively over there that I decided to cancel the project. I had hoped that the bitter words about our competitor would have stopped.

 

So, with a couple hundred hours down, a few thousand pounds out of pocket and a chunk out of our reputation, we find Mr X totally blasé with not a hint of blame or responsibility owned. In fact, he’s blaming it all on us with his band of loyal FB buddies in tow. I’ve been angry about this for quite a while now, and up until now have chosen to say nothing. This catastrophe has added time onto both of LLCs current projects and taken funds away from them. The facts of the failure of our Class 50 project are above – and it’s now plain to see our competitor was not to blame, it was Mr X.

 

When our competitor announced two days after we did I thought all’s fair in love and war, let the competition begin. But this was not the true case, as they were already far in advance of us, which Mr X knew and said nothing. The reality is this person has claimed to be part of Little Loco Company but never has been, he has claimed the credit for for LLCs achievements but has contributed absolutely nothing, and he has claimed to have ‘built our reputation’ to his followers but done nothing but sap our reputation and goodwill to a certain following on FB – and continues to do so.

 

Whether ours or theirs would have been the better model is irrelevant as had I known all of the facts from the beginning this project would not have gotten off the ground. I can only wish our competitor the best of luck with their model.

 

Steve

 

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I’ve been reading the thread concerning another manufacturer’s Class 50 model on and off for a while and so to correct some inaccuracies mentioned in it I’d like to put our version of events forward. Most will not be aware, and it will prevent some unwarranted criticism of our competitor.

 

A new Facebook group was started for LLC (this was not asked for) by an individual (let’s call him Mr X) who did customer decoration and repaints for us. One of the first posts in the new FB group was a poll started by Nikki (our design engineer) asking what we should produce next. The Class 50 won the poll.

 

Mr X contacted me and asked if we should crowdfund the model, knowing it was not in LLCs foreseeable production plan. He then posed the question on his own FB group and it was obvious to see there was very strong support for it. Nikki and I were too busy to manage the project so I told him he has to put some hours in finding the drawings, looking for other investors and stakeholders, etc. Producing a model this size is very expensive and time-consuming.

 

Mr X could not find the drawings (he did this by using Messenger on FB…) but he had heard that somebody had the entire file and set about messaging him. I have heard through a friend of this person that the messages started congenially and ended up with a copious amount of swearing, all in the name of LLC, and all in a single day. The person with the drawings doesn’t use FB that much, so when he did eventually see the messages I can imagine his reaction and I don’t blame him. I have tried to contact him since to apologise and I can fully understand why he wants nothing to do with LLC if ‘we’ communicate like that. So, at that stage we had no drawings. I eventually found them by paying for researchers at the NRM – the result of a simple email.

 

Another task for Mr X was finding further investors, which he did. Two friends of his were willing to put in quite a big chunk of cash. Unfortunately, by the time we needed it the funds were no longer available. One had bought a new house, which is fair enough, and another had disappeared completely. Fortunately, after taking more time out of our planned projects, I found a very generous person willing to step in.

 

His final task, and the most relevant in this case, was to find partners to work with. The Fifty Fund was the perfect partner, with plenty of resources to call upon. I made initial contact with Jonathan Dunster and then Dave Redbourne and handed over to Mr X to follow up. It turns out that Dave immediately told Mr X that another manufacturer had been consulting with them for about two years already and were well advanced – obviously, he didn’t say who, but one can guess. Mr X chose not to tell me this. Had I known, I would have stopped development immediately. It turns out that Mr X was on a one-man crusade against our competitor using not one penny of his own money and not much of his time either. I eventually found out months later as a series of forum posts at the Fifty Fund was drawn to my attention. It was at this time, when LLCs name was being implicated very negatively over there that I decided to cancel the project. I had hoped that the bitter words about our competitor would have stopped.

 

So, with a couple hundred hours down, a few thousand pounds out of pocket and a chunk out of our reputation, we find Mr X totally blasé with not a hint of blame or responsibility owned. In fact, he’s blaming it all on us with his band of loyal FB buddies in tow. I’ve been angry about this for quite a while now, and up until now have chosen to say nothing. This catastrophe has added time onto both of LLCs current projects and taken funds away from them. The facts of the failure of our Class 50 project are above – and it’s now plain to see our competitor was not to blame, it was Mr X.

 

When our competitor announced two days after we did I thought all’s fair in love and war, let the competition begin. But this was not the true case, as they were already far in advance of us, which Mr X knew and said nothing. The reality is this person has claimed to be part of Little Loco Company but never has been, he has claimed the credit for for LLCs achievements but has contributed absolutely nothing, and he has claimed to have ‘built our reputation’ to his followers but done nothing but sap our reputation and goodwill to a certain following on FB – and continues to do so.

 

Whether ours or theirs would have been the better model is irrelevant as had I known all of the facts from the beginning this project would not have gotten off the ground. I can only wish our competitor the best of luck with their model.

 

Steve

That's is a shocking state of affairs, and very gracious of you to wish HJ all the best.

 

I'm sure you have your reasons not to name and shame, again that is very gracious of you. I wouldn't be able to keep my mouth shut!!!

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A rotton situation to have to deal with - you have my every sympathy, and I greatly respect your position and thoughts.

 

All I can say is that both Steve and Nikki have been delightful on all the occasions I have met them, their work is frankly industry-leading, and raises the bar for all the other manufacturers, and I look forward to buying more locos from them just so long as he bank-account holds out......

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Thank you for posting this, it is a very honorable thing to do and displays real integrity. I admit that I wasn't very impressed with some of the comments about LLC and Heljan at the time of the announcements but I take my hat off to LLC and thank them for putting the record straight. My sincere best wishes for the future for LLC!

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I’ve been reading the thread concerning another manufacturer’s Class 50 model on and off for a while and so to correct some inaccuracies mentioned in it I’d like to put our version of events forward. Most will not be aware, and it will prevent some unwarranted criticism of our competitor.

 

A new Facebook group was started for LLC (this was not asked for) by an individual (let’s call him Mr X) who did customer decoration and repaints for us. One of the first posts in the new FB group was a poll started by Nikki (our design engineer) asking what we should produce next. The Class 50 won the poll.

 

Mr X contacted me and asked if we should crowdfund the model, knowing it was not in LLCs foreseeable production plan. He then posed the question on his own FB group and it was obvious to see there was very strong support for it. Nikki and I were too busy to manage the project so I told him he has to put some hours in finding the drawings, looking for other investors and stakeholders, etc. Producing a model this size is very expensive and time-consuming.

 

Mr X could not find the drawings (he did this by using Messenger on FB…) but he had heard that somebody had the entire file and set about messaging him. I have heard through a friend of this person that the messages started congenially and ended up with a copious amount of swearing, all in the name of LLC, and all in a single day. The person with the drawings doesn’t use FB that much, so when he did eventually see the messages I can imagine his reaction and I don’t blame him. I have tried to contact him since to apologise and I can fully understand why he wants nothing to do with LLC if ‘we’ communicate like that. So, at that stage we had no drawings. I eventually found them by paying for researchers at the NRM – the result of a simple email.

 

Another task for Mr X was finding further investors, which he did. Two friends of his were willing to put in quite a big chunk of cash. Unfortunately, by the time we needed it the funds were no longer available. One had bought a new house, which is fair enough, and another had disappeared completely. Fortunately, after taking more time out of our planned projects, I found a very generous person willing to step in.

 

His final task, and the most relevant in this case, was to find partners to work with. The Fifty Fund was the perfect partner, with plenty of resources to call upon. I made initial contact with Jonathan Dunster and then Dave Redbourne and handed over to Mr X to follow up. It turns out that Dave immediately told Mr X that another manufacturer had been consulting with them for about two years already and were well advanced – obviously, he didn’t say who, but one can guess. Mr X chose not to tell me this. Had I known, I would have stopped development immediately. It turns out that Mr X was on a one-man crusade against our competitor using not one penny of his own money and not much of his time either. I eventually found out months later as a series of forum posts at the Fifty Fund was drawn to my attention. It was at this time, when LLCs name was being implicated very negatively over there that I decided to cancel the project. I had hoped that the bitter words about our competitor would have stopped.

 

So, with a couple hundred hours down, a few thousand pounds out of pocket and a chunk out of our reputation, we find Mr X totally blasé with not a hint of blame or responsibility owned. In fact, he’s blaming it all on us with his band of loyal FB buddies in tow. I’ve been angry about this for quite a while now, and up until now have chosen to say nothing. This catastrophe has added time onto both of LLCs current projects and taken funds away from them. The facts of the failure of our Class 50 project are above – and it’s now plain to see our competitor was not to blame, it was Mr X.

 

When our competitor announced two days after we did I thought all’s fair in love and war, let the competition begin. But this was not the true case, as they were already far in advance of us, which Mr X knew and said nothing. The reality is this person has claimed to be part of Little Loco Company but never has been, he has claimed the credit for for LLCs achievements but has contributed absolutely nothing, and he has claimed to have ‘built our reputation’ to his followers but done nothing but sap our reputation and goodwill to a certain following on FB – and continues to do so.

 

Whether ours or theirs would have been the better model is irrelevant as had I known all of the facts from the beginning this project would not have gotten off the ground. I can only wish our competitor the best of luck with their model.

 

Steve

very gracious and honest of you to set the record straight Steve. I wish you all the best with your future projects and can’t wait to get my hands on the two Class 22’s I have on order with you!

 

Kind Regards, Nick.

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Perhaps another crowdfunded project could be started at some point  for all the disappointed people (myself included) who were let down by this whole fiasco  :scratchhead: :(

Good shout Phil, is it worth Steve putting the feelers out for interested parties in a pre-refurbed model ?

 

One interested party

Craig

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Perhaps another crowdfunded project could be started at some point  for all the disappointed people (myself included) who were let down by this whole fiasco  :scratchhead: :(

If I was the company owner having to pick up the pieces after this shambles, I certainly wouldn't consider jumping into another potential mess.

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