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What happened to Crownline?


sjp23480

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I had a very quick reply from Chris, he has moved and given me his address.

 

''I have not got the workshop set up yet , but can still pack chassis kits .Need a few weeks notice though .''

 

Very good news. According to the price list Chriss plans to start supplying Westward and Perseverance ranges again.

 

Perseverance chassis are available, though they may take up to 28 days for delivery. Westward parts will take longer and loco kits are planned for reintroduction either in 2012 or 2013.

 

Can forward the PDF price list if anyone wants one

 

Yes please, even if only for reference purposes!

 

The good news is that if the Puffers / Perseverance range comes back into circulation, then all those wanting a J50 chassis can have a purpose-designed one!

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  • 6 months later...

i miss crownline, I still have a catalogue

 

I used to like looking at their displayed models in the revolving cabinets at shows

 

I did the wrenn/dublo standard 4 body conversion long before the Bachmann version came out.

 

id like to have a standard 2 conversion kit for the Bachmann ivatt 2-6-0 if it was still available

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The good news is that if the Puffers / Perseverance range comes back into circulation, then all those wanting a J50 chassis can have a purpose-designed one!

 

The J50 chassis was my first compensated loco. Now converted to P4 it still runs more sweetly than it ever did through Peco points.

 

BUT give the Perceverance Ivatt Class 2MT a wide berth The valve gear was unbuildable with the motion bracket they provided. I complained to Chris Parrish that it was not fit for purpose and clearly had never been through a test build or the deficiencies would have been obvious but I got no satisfactory response.

 

Ian

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.....I did the wrenn/dublo standard 4 body conversion long before the Bachmann version came out.

 

Actually quite good even today, but mazak was awfully hard to hack out. I still have mine!

 

i'd like to have a standard 2 conversion kit for the Bachmann ivatt 2-6-0 if it was still available

 

Very occasionally seen on eBay. But note that the plate which forms the tender cab is wrong for the BR version (windows are too big).

 

....BUT give the Perceverance Ivatt Class 2MT a wide berth The valve gear was unbuildable with the motion bracket they provided.....

 

Frame profiles on the 2MT chassis were wrong anyway.

 

Bulleid Light Pacific chassis also virtually unbuildable, with the crossheads and slidebars at the root of frustration. I tried. Comet Light Pacific chassis kit is light years ahead anyway.

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Crownline was a breath of fresh air on the kit scene,I met Dave and Shiela when I booked them for Railex ,what a marvelous couple they are we always had a good laugh at the show and any other show they attended.They seemed very happy when the move to Cornwall took place ,didnt Dave have a few coaches for a while .I hope they read this or Paul can pass my best wishes to them both.Chris Lowe ex Railex ex manager Aylesbury.

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  • 10 months later...
  • 11 months later...

I only once visited the Crownline shop in Maidenhead (many, many years ago), but it seemed to be mainly an outlet for the Crownline products, rather than a model railway shop.

 

Puffers of Kenton were the last "decent" model railway shop that I ever found. Chris Parrish re-opened Puffers in Yorkshire (is it still going?) as he was involved with the NYR.

 

John Redrup, who I first met down in the "finescale cellar" at Puffers is the proprietor of London Road Models, the business he set up after leaving Puffers. It's down to John and his like that we have a thriving hobby for the railway model maker.

 

There were few enough model railway shops in the 70s and 80s who catered for the kit/scratchbuild modeller (rather than the RTR variety). I don't know of one now, but then I don't look very hard as I find it easier to get what I want at exhibitions such as expoEM and S4um.

Anyone remember Max Williams in Bristol - now there was an Aladdin's cave of bits and pieces. I spent many happy hours and pounds (not just pennies!) there exploring the limits of my skills and max's patience. I bought issue '0' of MRJ there as an afterthought one Saturday afternoon along with copious wheels and white metal bits? Never looked back! Happy days, heh?

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Anyone remember Max Williams in Bristol - now there was an Aladdin's cave of bits and pieces. I spent many happy hours and pounds (not just pennies!) there exploring the limits of my skills and max's patience. I bought issue '0' of MRJ there as an afterthought one Saturday afternoon along with copious wheels and white metal bits? Never looked back! Happy days, heh?

Then I moved to London and my home in Highgate. No coincidence it just happened to be around the corner from Puffers!

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Anyone remember Max Williams in Bristol - now there was an Aladdin's cave of bits and pieces. I spent many happy hours and pounds (not just pennies!) there exploring the limits of my skills and max's patience. I bought issue '0' of MRJ there as an afterthought one Saturday afternoon along with copious wheels and white metal bits? Never looked back! Happy days, heh?

 

Max Williams' shop has been mentioned in several other threads in the past. Excellent shop - if he didn't have what you wanted, even if it was something quite obscure, he'd scribble down some notes and later order it up, so if you went in a few weeks later he'd have it in stock. I expect this is why there was so much stock to dispose of when he decided to shut up shop. I still sometimes see at toy fairs etc., little detailing packs or whitemetal parts with a "Max Williams" price sticker on them, and sometimes I have managed to buy them at the same price as the sticker!  Happy days indeed!

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  • 6 months later...

Then I moved to London and my home in Highgate. No coincidence it just happened to be around the corner from Puffers!

 

I would have hated you for a Father.

 

Can you just nip round the corner to "Puffers" son and get some Peco fishplates.  About 6 miles I should reckon, Highgate to Kenton.

 

Was there not a model shop in Muswell Hill at that time ?

 

Regards,Del.

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I would have hated you for a Father.

 

Can you just nip round the corner to "Puffers" son and get some Peco fishplates.  About 6 miles I should reckon, Highgate to Kenton.

 

Was there not a model shop in Muswell Hill at that time ?

 

Regards,Del.

Alas 'Jr' was immune to my pursuits, preferring his guitar. At the time - mid '90's - I recall a shop of some kind near the bus terminal on the roundabout, possibly at the top of Dukes Ave, but I may be mistaken. We moved to NY in '98 so I'm a bit out of date.

 

'Jr' is now a successful musician...oh, well...

 

Best,

Marcus

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  • 3 years later...

Yes, I know it's been over three years since the last post on this thread.  :D

 

Having seen a Crosti 9F batting through Luton once in the late 60s I got fascinated by the weird devices and bought a Crownline Crosti conversion and a 9F detailing kit direct from Dave's shop in Maidenhead. Needless to say I had a standard 9F, 'Evening Star' of course, but didn't have a layout of any sort back then.

 

I started stripping the 9F down, but things got in the way and never went any further. A week ago I found the box with the whole project on a shelf underneath my model bench with all the Crowline bits totally untouched.  :D

 

No, I'm not going to sell it, I'm going to build the darn thing!

 

WukHWm.jpg

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Good on you. I had great fun with these conversions back then when they were an easy way to adapt and improve. They still look OK on the layout, and probably led and encouraged  some to take things a bit farther than they might have had thought possible. Keep posting updates please.

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Having seen a Crosti 9F batting through Luton once in the late 60s ...

Strictly, that would have been a Crosti 8F, since they were downgraded after the secondary boiler was blanked off, but I understand the allure. I was lucky enough to see one or two working while they were still in full order, and felt instantly attracted to their 'ugly duckling' appearance. I always thought it a shame when they were restricted to conventional steaming and felt that left them more than a little 'lost'. I don't 'do' big engines (or, usually, post-Grouping) but a Crosti build in definitely on my bucket list, with or without the Crownline bits. I'll follow your progress with considerable interest.

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It must have been a 9F Crosti I saw as the exhaust was coming from half way down the boiler, so perhaps it was in the late 50s?

 

I can't remember, it was a LONG Time ago...................

 

Mine isn't going to be exactly 'standard Crosti' as I've just got hold of a second copy of Robin Barnes' 'Locomotives that never were' after losing my first copy some years ago. I always liked the look of the proposed 8F 2-8-2, which is pictured in Robin's book, but right after that comes a Crosti Caproti 'Black 5' effectively. I'm going to cross-wobble these two and make a Crosti 8F 2-8-2, but the Caprotti gear is probably beyond me.

 

I know many people may hold their hands up in horror at what I'm planning, but I'm a died-in-the-wool WhatIf modeller in the aircraft field and I'm going to do just the same in my railway modelling. 

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Hi Kit,

 

You must have missed my build :)

 

It was six years ago now :)

 

Thanks to Chris Nevard for the pic

 

I certainly did as I wasn't on RMWeb back then.  :D

 

It looks very good, a very handsome loco, as Mr. Barnes says in the book. Did you use a Britannia trailing truck for it, as I plan to, and if so how difficult was it to fit? I foresee quit a bit of chassis sawing in my future......

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