Christmas Cracker Surprise Update

[Oldddudders]

7 minutes ago, JSpencer said:

 Or is it a 4EPB?

Hopefully Bulleid not BR standard.

[Clive Mortimore]

29 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

Hopefully Bulleid not BR standard.

Why not both?

[Roy L S]

Are we to assume all announcements will be OO?

[Steamport Southport]

2 hours ago, Star-rider said:

I wish someone would have another crack at a GWR 0-4-2 Auto Tank, I purchased one of the Hattons breed and that did not go well – literally.

 

A decent auto coach is needed from somewhere and I wonder if there is potential for producing a set to make up an auto train utilising one of the coach bogies for additional pick-up (small wheelbase locos often suffer) and finding space I the coach for a sound decoder so that the loco can be well ballasted. Some form of link similar to the Dapol Mogul loco / tender coupling would be ideal so that the items could be separated for maintenance. Lighting the coach would be easy, we could even have a clang for the bell.

 

I think if something could be run up for the same price as a 2 car DMU they should attract interest from customers.

 

A 14XX wheelbase is longer than a 16XXs by about a scale foot. 

 

I don't think you would have problems with pick up if the chassis is done properly and made with a fixed rear axle with a pick up on the rear wheel (virtually making it similar to a small 0-6-0T).

 

Where the DJM model fell down was it was virtually trying to reinvent the wheel with that drive train gear system. Far too complicated and something that might work in N Gauge or in diesels, but not necessarily in steam outline models.

 

Also don't forget they didn't always work with auto trailers. There was twenty that weren't even fitted with the auto gear.

 

 

Jason (not that one)

[Bucoops]

1 hour ago, Roy L S said:

Are we to assume all announcements will be OO?

 

I'm hoping for Ooh!

[wombatofludham]

I'm wondering if the announcement is a Leyland National bus, in four versions, 11.3m one and two door, and 10.3m one and two door.  There were plenty of 11.3m Nashers around Birmingham when Jason was a student there.

Given the range of liveries and the fact that the basic bodyshell was seen from nearly Land's End to nearly John O' Groats, it could be a nice little cash cow .

I'd be up for several.  In fact, apart from the APT-E (now sold on) the Daimler Fleetline has been the only Rapido UK products I have bought as I have no interest in any of the railway products, so if they want any more of my money, a Nasher will be the way to do it.

[mdvle]

7 hours ago, adb968008 said:

Is it

4 EPs of 4 different prototype objects ?

Or

4 EPs of variants of the same object ?

 

I would guess 4 different projects based on the wording, and an assumption of a desire to get multiple products to market to start generating cash flow to pay for that office/warehouse space and additional staff that has been talked about.

 

(also based on that Rapido North America is has been/currently is tooling a lot of stuff in the last 18 months so it wouldn't surprise me to see that same mentality applied to the UK operation)

[adb968008]

On 26/12/2021 at 17:06, rapidoandy said:

Pecketts - me?????

 

I’m a Leeds loco man through and through.

 

Andy

An MSC Hudswell Clarke canal tank.…

long and short tank versions.

 

Go on…Bite, bite, bite..

 

 

I supposed a Conflat P for oo is too much to ask ?

 

Edited December 27, 2021 by adb968008

[Wickham Green too]

6 hours ago, wombatofludham said:

...... Leyland National bus, in four versions, 11.3m one and two door, and 10.3m one and two door.  .......

Ah  -  but there's also the fifth version which that theory would preclude : - 

 

 ( One for Accurascale p'raps ??!? )

[adb968008]

1 hour ago, Wickham Green too said:

Ah  -  but there's also the fifth version which that theory would preclude : - 

 

 ( One for Accurascale p'raps ??!? )

I remember BA owning some leyland nationals like this, mostly at Heathrow, but some in Manchester.

 

Also they had some regular ones, with doors on both sides.

 

 

 

[Wickham Green too]

BA had seven 'bendies' according to Wikipedia and four others were trialled in South Yorkshire & elsewhere ..... no idea where the Rosslare one came from.

[Covkid]

18 hours ago, wombatofludham said:

I'm wondering if the announcement is a Leyland National bus, in four versions, 11.3m one and two door, and 10.3m one and two door.  There were plenty of 11.3m Nashers around Birmingham when Jason was a student there.

Given the range of liveries and the fact that the basic bodyshell was seen from nearly Land's End to nearly John O' Groats, it could be a nice little cash cow .

I'd be up for several.  In fact, apart from the APT-E (now sold on) the Daimler Fleetline has been the only Rapido UK products I have bought as I have no interest in any of the railway products, so if they want any more of my money, a Nasher will be the way to do it.

 

One of the four if not two are buses I am sure, and I think Rapido have already realised from the Fleetlines that they are very saleable. Would Jason continue with the West Midlands theme, or maybe go elsewhere ?

 

I am of two minds. We are crying out for a single deck Midland Red S17, S18, S23 not that I can really tell the difference between them myself. These covered from the Welsh borders right across the Midands into Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire and were a distinctive design.  did Jason experience them during his Brummie period ?

 

Alternatively I would very much go with Wombato's suggestion of the Leyland National, because they were literally "national". My first experiences were of the brand new N reg Crosville examples in North Wales.  Most in Merioneth were the shorties without the roof pod.  Fast forward to my move to the Walsall / Bescot area and my acquaintance with the WMPTE examples, in both traditional blue and cream with the red seats, as well as the dual purpose buses with the extra livery trim and the fluffy seats. 

 

Fast forward another generation and those rather senior Nationals were operating for a local company called Chase

 

I am sure the huge majority of us will have encountered National at some point in our lives and a decent model is very much overdue.    

 

As for the other projects, I am guessing both are wagons but so many to choose from.  The Prestwin would be a distinctive choice but very factory intensive so I wouldn't take that forward. Maybe something else like a grain van or hopper based on the W&U in the fens

 

One item I had wondered was whether Jason might figuratively dip the Rapido toe into the canals of Brum and produce static narrow boat models not only in the Rapido brand, but also complementing the Hornby canal products. Some nice scale 70 foot coal draggers would be very nice indeed. 

 

No idea but will be pleasantly surprised when the announcements are made   

[Markwj]

19 hours ago, wombatofludham said:

I'm wondering if the announcement is a Leyland National bus, in four versions, 11.3m one and two door, and 10.3m one and two door.  There were plenty of 11.3m Nashers around Birmingham when Jason was a student there.

Given the range of liveries and the fact that the basic bodyshell was seen from nearly Land's End to nearly John O' Groats, it could be a nice little cash cow .

I'd be up for several.  In fact, apart from the APT-E (now sold on) the Daimler Fleetline has been the only Rapido UK products I have bought as I have no interest in any of the railway products, so if they want any more of my money, a Nasher will be the way to do it.

Another vote for a leyland national - good call!

[wombatofludham]

6 hours ago, Covkid said:

 

I am of two minds. We are crying out for a single deck Midland Red S17, S18, S23 not that I can really tell the difference between them myself. 

 

 

Heretic!

The last BMMO built buses (the S18 was a Weymann bodied Leyland L2 Leopard) would have come out of service with the "Lancer" timetable revisions in about 1980, certainly Stafford depot who supplied my school bus and local routes through Armitage lost their allocations of S21-2 and 3 types in about 1978 when "Chaserider" 2 revisions were implemented.  So, it's highly unlikely any would have been seen in Birmingham at that time.  However, Jason has been to Wythall...

The dual purpose WMPTE Leyland Nationals were supplied to the PTE as plain bodyshells and the seats were made for them at Walsall's Birchills bus depot to their own unique design.  I used them regularly when a student at the Birmingham Poly as the evening rush hour 998 express service to Pheasey used to come off Perry Barr depot and would run in service from Wellhead Lane stop.  As most of the students went up to the bus stop near the station to get the bus into the city as more services called there, there's been many a time it's was just me and some drivers using the service as a staff taxi on the bus.  The seats were extremely comfortable but looked really old fashioned, with a continuous headrest clas in brown leather and very floral moquette, complete with polished handrail attached to the back.  It looked like a seat from a Bedford OB had been pumped up on steroids, very odd in a modern bus!

[ColinK]

One of the benibuses was trialled in Manchester - I was there and have some pics of it somewhere.  One test was at Manchester Piccadilly railway station to see if it would go round the turning circle - it got stuck on full bend, unable to go forward or reverse. 
 

As for Rapido’s four new items, presumably they will be the top four items in the quirky poll.

[2750Papyrus]

On 26/12/2021 at 13:45, Clive Mortimore said:

I know,

 

A shunting horse and jockey.

A Midland railway single horse dray.

A stable block.

A set of grooms mucking out the stables.

I believe that my maternal grandfather used to drive a horse and cart for the Midland Railway.  I have a small stable block already but could use a set of grooms, and have previously advocated a motorised shunting horse.

 

So 3 out of 4 for me, please!  

[Dungrange]

On 26/12/2021 at 10:41, phil gollin said:

3:  Something modern, and odd

 

Sadly not.  I know someone who knows what these announcements are and the only clue I've had is that I probably wont be all that excited, as my interests are too modern (or odd), so it's most likely something from the 20th century.

Edited December 28, 2021 by Dungrange

[MidlandRed]

9 hours ago, wombatofludham said:

Heretic!

The last BMMO built buses (the S18 was a Weymann bodied Leyland L2 Leopard) would have come out of service with the "Lancer" timetable revisions in about 1980, certainly Stafford depot who supplied my school bus and local routes through Armitage lost their allocations of S21-2 and 3 types in about 1978 when "Chaserider" 2 revisions were implemented.  So, it's highly unlikely any would have been seen in Birmingham at that time.  However, Jason has been to Wythall...

The dual purpose WMPTE Leyland Nationals were supplied to the PTE as plain bodyshells and the seats were made for them at Walsall's Birchills bus depot to their own unique design.  I used them regularly when a student at the Birmingham Poly as the evening rush hour 998 express service to Pheasey used to come off Perry Barr depot and would run in service from Wellhead Lane stop.  As most of the students went up to the bus stop near the station to get the bus into the city as more services called there, there's been many a time it's was just me and some drivers using the service as a staff taxi on the bus.  The seats were extremely comfortable but looked really old fashioned, with a continuous headrest clas in brown leather and very floral moquette, complete with polished handrail attached to the back.  It looked like a seat from a Bedford OB had been pumped up on steroids, very odd in a modern bus!

The last S23 buses came out of service with WMPTE (in blue and cream) at Stourbridge in 1981 - they were replaced by National 2s (DOC V reg) which were delivered to Duple to be completed to WMPTE spec (including the rather nice orange, castle moquette seats. The last Midland Red ones were at Rugby and withdrawn the same year. 
 

The saga of Leyland’s ‘you’ll take what we give you’ attitude to bus supply in the 70s and WMPTE was quite interesting - they delivered a standard package - only one colour permitted - no luggage pen etc etc - thus WMPTE found it had on its hands in 1974 tens of unusable brand new vehicles which had to be converted to be used (at Birchills as you say) - they were delivered with a standard destination display which was one line, and failed to match the normal standard provided by WMPTE and even many NBC operators of the time. WMPTE had a vehicle shortage/engineering issues at the time and following local news headlines about these buses lined up at Walsall quite a number were pressed into service in plain cream with destinations and  numbers stuck on the near side windscreen until they could add the required modifications and complete the livery - many had to subsequently have their M reg allocations as delivered (and seen around on trade plates - there are photos on the internet) surrendered and appeared subsequently with new N reg plates - just a minor picture of the problems faced by the bus industry in the 70s and Leyland’s terminally atrocious attitude to customer service. 
 

I would be pleased to see a National, but even more so a WMPTE Bristol VR (another sorry story of unreliability and nightmare spares provision). The VR would need the lower front and rear panels altering, and the underside but the body is basically the same as the Fleetline. There were 200 of these buses which were based at Wolverhampton and Walsall, though quite a few only lasted 7 yrs - a number had a second life with various NBC companies. 

 

For anyone wanting to depict a 1954-70 railway scene around the Midlands, ranging from Banbury, Leamington, Worcester, Hereford, Shrewsbury, Wellington and any of the other places mentioned in posts, the Midland Red S14 (30 ft lightweight single decker) would be great - in fact almost essential - or one of the similar dual purpose red and black S15s. So that is my choice of Midland Red single decker!! Pretty please!!! Both at Wythall, and presumably would be made available for scanning!! 
 

Leyland National is a bit too late for me - I guess an S16/17 would be ok but 36ft at 4mm to the foot is a big vehicle to accommodate on many layouts without taking up a great deal of road vehicle space. 

Edited December 29, 2021 by MidlandRed

[wombatofludham]

Uugh, I remember the Walsall VRT2s which monopolised the 15 minute frequency (at the time) Wednesbury and Darlaston circulars.  Towards the end of their lifespan I used to catch the bus into Walsall to pick up the train to Perry Barr and more than once these horrendously unreliable vehicles would break down somewhere on the circuit, causing the next to be fully loaded and passing by the stop unable to pick up, leading to another wait for the next bus - assuming it hadn't broken down.  I'm sure the VRs did more to increase car ownership in the Walsall and Wolverhampton areas than deregulation.

Their jinx like reputation didn't end when they were sold off, as a fleet of them were bought by Crosville (England) and sent to Liverpool, where they were immediately blacked for not having power steering.  It was the end for the Crosville association with Merseyside as the operation was closed down as a result.

[Johann Marsbar]

12 hours ago, ColinK said:

One of the benibuses was trialled in Manchester - I was there and have some pics of it somewhere.  One test was at Manchester Piccadilly railway station to see if it would go round the turning circle - it got stuck on full bend, unable to go forward or reverse. 
 

 

They seemed to go to various places for trial, but nobody else ordered any.

 

This was used in service in Ipswich for a while in 1981, along with a MAN example...

 

 

Whilst I found this one being peered at by various Officials in Hull in 1983...

 

[Wickham Green too]

On 29/12/2021 at 01:13, MidlandRed said:

....... Leyland National ........ ok but 36ft at 4mm to the foot is a big vehicle to accommodate on many layouts without taking up a great deal of road vehicle space. 

Don't forget it only has to pose on a bridge ! 

[dibber25]

Please, ANYTHING but a Leyland National bus! Or if you must, put sound in it to remind us all of that dreadful tin rattle-trap noise that they made. I don't think I've been on a bus since going to Shepperton on those things. They cured me of buses forever! Of course you could make it the start of an 'Awful Vehicles' range. That would give you an excuse to do a deLorean - but you'd better grab the licence for the film version first, just in case anyone else has the same idea...... (CJL)

Edited December 30, 2021 by dibber25

[MidlandRed]

1 hour ago, Wickham Green too said:

Don't forget it only has to pose on a bridge ! 

Quite long for a single track branch line bridge though 
 

Im in the same camp as @dibber25 - Leyland Nationals were rattle cans of the highest order, especially the early ones - when my friends and I saw the first Midland Red example (in traditional livery, not NBC poppy red) the din which reverberated off Birmingham City Centre’s old buildings was extraordinary - and the appearance of something akin to a spin dryer on the back was quite perplexing!! Their reputation was not helped when the 13th of the batch, in common with several around the country, incinerated itself (without assistance) within around a year, and not long after being taken over by WMPTE.  However a lot of people like them and it’s nearly 50 yrs since they first appeared.

 

I’d much rather see a Midland Red S14 or S15 - unlikely as that may be - suits my Worcestershire ex GW  model interest perfectly!! 

Edited December 30, 2021 by MidlandRed

[Steamport Southport]

3 hours ago, dibber25 said:

Please, ANYTHING but a Leyland National bus! Or if you must, put sound in it to remind us all of that dreadful tin rattle-trap noise that they made. I don't think I've been on a bus since going to Shepperton on those things. They cured me of buses forever! Of course you could make it the start of an 'Awful Vehicles' range. That would give you an excuse to do a deLorean - but you'd better grab the licence for the film version first, just in case anyone else has the same idea...... (CJL)

 

I think Hornby have got there first this time.....

 

https://uk.corgi.co.uk/products/back-future-delorean-and-doc-brown-figure-cc05503

 

https://uk.scalextric.com/products/delorean-back-future-part-2-c4249

 

 

Jason

Edited December 30, 2021 by Steamport Southport
grammar

[Wickham Green too]

3 hours ago, MidlandRed said:

Quite long for a single track branch line bridge though  ....

Depends on the slope angle of your cutting sides !