Golden Age

[Horsetan]

Interesting statement on their website:-....

 

Had a nasty feeling that this would involve Santander in some way. I usually advise my clients never to bank with Santander if they can possibly avoid it.

[dynax]

some of their stuff is on ebay, i got this today,

 

[adb968008]

 

 

Just noticed a whole bunch of coaches on ebay, in some cases multiples of that coach.

 

http://www.goldenagemodels.net/golden-age-models-available-stock.html

 

Is it the end ?

[Horsetan]

Just noticed a whole bunch of coaches on ebay, in some cases multiples of that coach....

 

Ellis Clark Trains being the source? I notice some of it is damaged, too.....

[Clearwater]

Ellis Clark Trains being the source? I notice some of it is damaged, too.....

Just noticed a whole bunch of coaches on ebay, in some cases multiples of that coach.

http://www.goldenagemodels.net/golden-age-models-available-stock.html

Is it the end ?

  

Ellis Clark Trains being the source? I notice some of it is damaged, too.....

One seller appeared to be `Basingstoke based - isn't Goldenage Poole based?

 

Given the statement on the website, possible he's just trying to raise cash quickly to unblock the export / import issue.

[73080]

The accounts for Golden Age Models Limited (company no. 05292243) for the year ending 31 December 2016 have now appeared on the Companies House website.  They state that they were approved and authorised by the director on 28 June 2018. 

 

These accounts state that the company incurred a loss of £1,592,663 in 2016 under the 'profit and loss account'.

 

These accounts state that as at 31 December 2016, the company had net liabilities of £1,162,563.

 

The accounts for the year ending 31 December 2017 are due to be presented by 30 September 2018.

[JeffP]

I notice he is scheduled to be at Telford.

 

Wonder if he'll be more amenable to my request being as the company needs the money...?

[JSpencer]

The accounts for Golden Age Models Limited (company no. 05292243) for the year ending 31 December 2016 have now appeared on the Companies House website.  They state that they were approved and authorised by the director on 28 June 2018. 

 

These accounts state that the company incurred a loss of £1,592,663 in 2016 under the 'profit and loss account'.

 

These accounts state that as at 31 December 2016, the company had net liabilities of £1,162,563.

 

The accounts for the year ending 31 December 2017 are due to be presented by 30 September 2018.

 

Gee whizz.... that is a sharp fall from one year to the next. Stock value a 10th of what it was from over 1 Million to less than 150K. Cash 0 (down from 380K), and bank loans  over 1 million (reduced slightly). What happened?

Edited August 29, 2018 by JSpencer

[juke]

Slight digression. But I wonder if owners of Goldenage products could help me.

 

I'm considering purchasing two 1928 Pullman brake's to top and tail Bachmann mk1 Pullmans.

 

- how heavy are these vehicles?

 

- does the livery match the mk1's?

A little late in answering your question David but you repeated it on PN a few weeks ago and I have the answer now as regards weight. The eight I bought vary from 320 to 350+ grms. Mine are crimson and cream Gresleys.

 

At the present time I couldn't advise anyone to buy these coaches if mine are typical. Several had already had their corridor connectors pulled off but lying in the box, luckily. So far I haven't succeeded in stretch-fitting them on again and nice as they are when two coaches are coupled there's quite a gap.

 

The couplings are coach mounted therefore sit very high. I've had to butcher a Bachmann 10001 in order to run them (no idea where to get the correct coupling, I've used a metal Kadee for now which isn't a perfect match). None of my steam locos, all shop bought admittedly, can move an inch with them, not really a surprise. I've now spent many hours trying to get them to run reliably as some keep jumping off the track. I'm sure my track is not perfect but I have it sorted well enough that many different trains, some nine coaches or more long can race round with no problem, (not a normal practice), curves, points etc. (We recently ran a 100 wagon train for the grandchildrens' benefit with no problem). part of the problem is that these coaches have nearly all been fitted with lights, I doubt they were fitted at the factory. Some of the LED strips are dangling from the 'ceilings', the electronics are leaning against the window in at least one and the wires to the pickups were mostly too badly routed or too short to let the bogies rotate freely. Again some of the pickups were already lying loose on the bogies. I decided to remove the pickups as not only were they fixed with nothing more than a spot of superglue but they were so long that they were fouling the chassis as soon as the bogie turned just a small amount. Oh, some wires were already broken as the soldering 'quality' varied greatly. The pickups were designed to press against the top of the wheel treads so effectively every wheel had the brakes applied.The bogies themselves are very sensitive to the track as I've said and I wonder if the wheels are finer flanged than normal, though not all the coaches are affected. As received some bogies had their spring-tensioned screw tightened fully home, others ready to fall off. Adjusting the screw does seem to have helped some coaches.

These were bought from Rails, spur of the moment as there was limited stock and I really wanted replacements for my Hornby Gresleys. I initially emailed Golden Age directly as I have read how helpful they are and I doubted Rails could help. About a month now and no reply. I contacted Rails by email yesterday but they have no-one in their technical department who knows anything about these coaches so have passed my queries to Golden Age, maybe they will have some influence.

I know there is no stock at Golden Age and I'm sorry to hear of their problems but it is still a little frustrating, not helped by the low sales numbers (I guess) means very few people write about them as far as I can see. Meantime they do look nice in the sidings <G>

 

Syd

[davidw]

A little late in answering your question David but you repeated it on PN a few weeks ago and I have the answer now as regards weight. The eight I bought vary from 320 to 350+ grms. Mine are crimson and cream Gresleys.

 

At the present time I couldn't advise anyone to buy these coaches if mine are typical. Several had already had their corridor connectors pulled off but lying in the box, luckily. So far I haven't succeeded in stretch-fitting them on again and nice as they are when two coaches are coupled there's quite a gap.

 

The couplings are coach mounted therefore sit very high. I've had to butcher a Bachmann 10001 in order to run them (no idea where to get the correct coupling, I've used a metal Kadee for now which isn't a perfect match). None of my steam locos, all shop bought admittedly, can move an inch with them, not really a surprise. I've now spent many hours trying to get them to run reliably as some keep jumping off the track. I'm sure my track is not perfect but I have it sorted well enough that many different trains, some nine coaches or more long can race round with no problem, (not a normal practice), curves, points etc. (We recently ran a 100 wagon train for the grandchildrens' benefit with no problem). part of the problem is that these coaches have nearly all been fitted with lights, I doubt they were fitted at the factory. Some of the LED strips are dangling from the 'ceilings', the electronics are leaning against the window in at least one and the wires to the pickups were mostly too badly routed or too short to let the bogies rotate freely. Again some of the pickups were already lying loose on the bogies. I decided to remove the pickups as not only were they fixed with nothing more than a spot of superglue but they were so long that they were fouling the chassis as soon as the bogie turned just a small amount. Oh, some wires were already broken as the soldering 'quality' varied greatly. The pickups were designed to press against the top of the wheel treads so effectively every wheel had the brakes applied.The bogies themselves are very sensitive to the track as I've said and I wonder if the wheels are finer flanged than normal, though not all the coaches are affected. As received some bogies had their spring-tensioned screw tightened fully home, others ready to fall off. Adjusting the screw does seem to have helped some coaches.

These were bought from Rails, spur of the moment as there was limited stock and I really wanted replacements for my Hornby Gresleys. I initially emailed Golden Age directly as I have read how helpful they are and I doubted Rails could help. About a month now and no reply. I contacted Rails by email yesterday but they have no-one in their technical department who knows anything about these coaches so have passed my queries to Golden Age, maybe they will have some influence.

I know there is no stock at Golden Age and I'm sorry to hear of their problems but it is still a little frustrating, not helped by the low sales numbers (I guess) means very few people write about them as far as I can see. Meantime they do look nice in the sidings <G>

 

Syd

Thanks I'll not bother purchasing any

[jjb1970]

Running factory built brass models was never for everyone, that niche of the hobby is notorious for demanding a willingness and the skills to work on models if you run them (most probably live in display cases or their box). I collect HO brass locomotives and running qualities might be most politely described as variable. Beautiful models though, brass models have a finish and presence that plastic has never matched.

[juke]

Running factory built brass models was never for everyone, that niche of the hobby is notorious for demanding a willingness and the skills to work on models if you run them (most probably live in display cases or their box). I collect HO brass locomotives and running qualities might be most politely described as variable. Beautiful models though, brass models have a finish and presence that plastic has never matched.

I understand that but I have some experience with brass models and fine tuning to get the best performance. The weird thing is that about half responded to bogie spring adjustments and all did benefit to varying degrees from having the lighting feeds and wires disconnected. The bogies look square and the design of the attachment looks sound enough.

 

Given they were selling rakes of coaches I really did assume they were designed for regular running.

 

I'll not give up!

[Dominion]

I found most bogies needed the screw backing off. Also a couple of the springs had snags on the ends that I think we're restricting their easy compression. After filing those, and making sure all the bogies could tip in both directions, the set runs well, and reliably.

I use a metal loco to pull the full set of 9, but a weighted Hornby Mallard is currently pulling 6 plus the Rapido Dynamometer car.

Tom

[juke]

I found most bogies needed the screw backing off. Also a couple of the springs had snags on the ends that I think we're restricting their easy compression. After filing those, and making sure all the bogies could tip in both directions, the set runs well, and reliably.

I use a metal loco to pull the full set of 9, but a weighted Hornby Mallard is currently pulling 6 plus the Rapido Dynamometer car.

Tom

Hi Tom

Great to hear from someone who is running these coaches. I'll check the springs over the weekend. I have already checked the fore and aft tip but worth making sure. How did you arrange a coupling for Mallard? I have an A4 but not sure which one, I'd like to get it involved.

Do your coaches have lights? I am fairly convinced mine weren't factory fitted and one isn't fitted at all. That Rapido car is really tempting me, but a bit out of period.

Syd

[Dominion]

No lights in mine. I use a kadee 20 which I have carefully bent upwards. The shank of the kadee is strong but will break if not careful. So I use needles nose pliers to hold the shank right up next to the knuckle, and then flat nosed pliers on the swallow tale part of the shank, and then bend. You have to bend way past what you want eventually to introduce a set to the material.

 

Use smooth pliers on both ends to avoid introducing any dents that will become stress points as you bend it. Do not try to bend from the knuckle itself as the hinge pin is much too delicate for the force required to bend the shank. 

 

You still end up with an angled knuckle on the loco which is not ideal, and I still only get about 2 mm of vertical overlap of the knuckles, but it works on my layout. Others may have a more elegant solution.

Good luck, Tom

[juke]

No lights in mine. I use a kadee 20 which I have carefully bent upwards. The shank of the kadee is strong but will break if not careful. So I use needles nose pliers to hold the shank right up next to the knuckle, and then flat nosed pliers on the swallow tale part of the shank, and then bend. You have to bend way past what you want eventually to introduce a set to the material.

 

Use smooth pliers on both ends to avoid introducing any dents that will become stress points as you bend it. Do not try to bend from the knuckle itself as the hinge pin is much too delicate for the force required to bend the shank. 

 

You still end up with an angled knuckle on the loco which is not ideal, and I still only get about 2 mm of vertical overlap of the knuckles, but it works on my layout. Others may have a more elegant solution.

Good luck, Tom

Thanks Tom, I wouldn't ever have thought of bending Kadees. I'll get hold of some and give it a go.

Interesting about the lights, mine certainly didn't look like a factory installation.

Syd

[maico]

What about trying the Roco height adjustable universal?  https://www.roco.cc/en/productsearch/0-0-0-0-0-0-0-003005-0/products.html

[juke]

They are certainly something to  keep in mind for future use on other stock maico but after some trials I finally decided to drill a hole in the full brake coach and use a fine screw and some nuts to bring a Kadee down to the required level. A bit drastic but successful. I had got to the point that I would have tried anything to get some use out of these coaches.

I have all of the vertical springs removed from the bogies which means the bogie drops down and swings about when they're lifted off the track but together with some straightening of each of the couplers they are now pretty reliable. They can, rarely, uncouple but its rare but  they do need well laid track.

I have also relaid a few lengths of track which were less than perfect but which everything else had no trouble with.

 

They certainly have a nice sound when traveling fast though they do require a powerful loco.

[zr2498]

Reducing rolling resistance / drag on GAM coaches

 

Having purchased a set of Silver Jubilee (7 coaches) and Coronation (9 coaches) from GAM many years ago, I was rather disappointed that the GAM A4's could not haul the coach sets and loco driver wheel slip was present even with 5 coaches. The A4's could however pull 20 RTR Bachmann and Hornby coaches!

Looking closely at the wheel sets and measuring drag it appeared that rolling restistance was high and that the stiffness of the bogie attachment was causing additonal drag with higher forces generated on curves.

So I took the plunge and decided to change the wheel sets and install pin point bearings instead of the plain bearings supplied. In addition, the springs of the bogie attachment would be replaced with stand off spacers giving a small axial clearance.

The following set of photos gives the sequence I have used. Before proceeding though it it worth mentioning that the modification has been successful and the GAM A4 can now pull the 9 coaches without slip.

1 The original frame of the GAM coach includes plain bearing and a sping loaded bogie attachment

 

 

2 Bogie removal

 

 

3 Dismantle the bogie. The cross member secures the bogie via M1.4 X 3mm screws

Remove the plain bearings and clean up the oil

 

 

4 Clean out the holes in the bogie frame using 2mm drill. If a slightly deeper hole is needed to fit the bearing flush, use a 1.7mm drill at the bottom of the hole

 

 

5 Below is a photo of the Alan Gibson wasted pin point bearings and shim washers used. A 'little' is taken off the bottom of bearing to remove any machining pips and to reduce the depth of the hole required

 

 

6 Fit the shim washer over the back of the bearing. It will click into place or disappear around the room. If loose, then superglue in place. I mostly used the 0.25mm thickness although these varied between 0.28 and 0.38mm thickness. There was some variation between the wheel sets of the Jubilee and the Coronation but I erred on on the slack side when fitting the new wheels rather than a precision 'clockmakers' fit.

 

 

7 Superglue the bearing into the bogie frames. Ensure that the bearing / shim assembly fits flush to the frame.

 

 

8 Now for the new wheels.

Note that standard wheel lengths in 4mm OO gauge will not fit into the width available but Alan Gibson also supply wheels with 24.5mm axle lengths (might be on longer lead time). These were purchased  (14mm 4005 plain disc wheels). Reassemble with the new wheels and ensure that the wheels spin freely with minimal side play

 

 

9 Attach the bogies using stand off spaces 3mm long. Note that for some reason 2 different diameter shouldered screws were used, spacers with ID of M2.5 and M3.0 were needed.

Supplied by eBay https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/323327974017

 

 

10 Modified bogies fitted and oiled

 

 

11 The wrong A4 pulling 9 Coronation coaches. I need to replace the micro plug on the Mallard.

 

 

12 Extra comments

a) Extra fine adjustment of the sideplay can be made (if necessary) by the using the existing clearance in the holes for the M1.4mm screws attaching the cross member or even opening the holes a little. 

b) A Hornby RTR A4 can just about pull  7 of these heavy coaches after the modification. A weighted RTR might even do the job and adding weights to an RTR does not look as daunting as getting into a GAM A4 (there are no instructions), and it looks complex.

So why is the GAM poor at providing the traction? They are heavy but perhaps the fully compensated wheels and / or the drag on the tender wheels which have spring loaded pick ups and / or the profile of the driver wheels are the issue.

c) Having said that the locos and the coaches look stunning. It is a pity that they are (were) difficult to run but I hope the above can help those that have had similar issues

 

Dave

 

Edited May 8, 2023 by zr2498
Corrected supplier for spacers + photos reloaded May 23

[ecgtheow]

Dave,

 

Thanks. This is very clear & helpful. I will give it a go when I return to my normal home.

 

William

[maico]

On 28/08/2018 at 10:11, JSpencer said:

 

Gee whizz.... that is a sharp fall from one year to the next. Stock value a 10th of what it was from over 1 Million to less than 150K. Cash 0 (down from 380K), and bank loans  over 1 million (reduced slightly). What happened?

 

I'm not very good at reading company reports, I can't see what the company turnover was?

Did they sell £900,000 and fail to secure further bank loans for new stock?

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/05292243/filing-history?page=1

[Adrian Stevenson]

I was only speaking to Quentin (the owner) yesterday. Hopefully his long running dispute with Santander will soon be over.

 

http://www.goldenagemodels.net/golden-age-models-available-stock.html

 

Cheers, Ade.

[adb968008]

An interesting post has appeared on the Golden Age facebook page, directing people to a new business.

 

https://www.facebook.com/goldenagemodels
 

link to new business..

 

https://greenwoodandpring.co.uk/
 

only the O gauge, and Gauge1 coaches, not the OO.

Edited August 8, 2021 by adb968008

[Darius43]

I am confused as to the first sentence in their Facebook post.

 

Please be aware: The following statement that appears on the Golden Age Models web site is totally misleading. 
 

What about the statement is “totally misleading” and why would a company make such a statement on their own website and then draw attention to its being misleading on their Facebook page?
 

I have two rakes of OO gauge Golden Age coaches - Coronation and Silver Jubilee.  The finish on the coaches is superb but their running qualities are terrible as has been confirmed by several posts in this thread.  I modified the bogies to accept bogie-mounted couplings, which stopped derailing and buffer lock on large radius (greater than 4th) curves but can confirm that even a Golden Age’s own A4 can’t pull them without slipping.  I think the easiest thing to do is bite the bullet and replace the bogies completely with Bachmann Gresley/Thompson bogies.  Not something you should have to do with coaches of this price range but there it is.  They are really built to be put in a display case, not to run on a layout.

 

I contacted Quentin at the time I modified the bogies and emailed some photos of the mod as he was interested.  He subsequently contacted me a few times over the next two years but only to try and sell some OO gauge LNER teak coaches that he had.  The contact stopped after I had declined to purchase them for the the third or fourth time.

 

Cheers

 

Darius

 

Edited August 10, 2021 by Darius43

[ColHut]

Possibly he can no longer modify the website, and hopes for the future are now kaput.  At least that is the way I read it.

 

regards