Kernow Models D6xx Update

[Southernman46]

and a "proper" van behind the loco to boot....................

[bubbles2]

What a cracking photo!

 

Here to save everyone searching

 

You can certainly see from that picture that the fans were offset.

 

Let's hope they get it right on the models.

[robertcwp]

Here is the photo:

 

D603_D602_Penzance_c1959 by robertcwp, on Flickr

 

Hopefully, DJ will be onto this and will correct this issue otherwise it will spoil the look of the model and dent his own credibility too.

 

Here are a couple more:

 

D600_ClinkRd_19-4-58 by robertcwp, on Flickr

 

D601_Penzance_1958 by robertcwp, on Flickr

[Taz]

I seem to recall the first draft of the Western CAD suffered from the same issue but that was rectified in later iterations so I am confident that it will get sorted.

[Downendian]

Thanks for posting Robert, fairly clear that the scavenger fans were offset - very much like the Westerns Dave, to allow space for an engine room walkway as noted earlier.

I (ahem) had a photo from the mid 1970s of yours truly stood on the roof of D601 at Barry, long since lost unfortunately, which may have been further proof of the fan grille offset.

Neil

[45568]

Totally and utterly off-topic, (but I do have one on order), was Penzance really such a gift to the enthusiast??? Low walls, laid out so well, a dream!

Cheers from Oz,

Peter C.

[Gwiwer]

Totally and utterly off-topic, (but I do have one on order), was Penzance really such a gift to the enthusiast??? Low walls, laid out so well, a dream!

Cheers from Oz,

Peter C.

 

Penzance is a gift location for modellers.  Low level sea wall, sidings, four platform roads, a high stone wall with the road along the top and land rising steeply behind.  

 

There was plenty of action as well with trains arriving and departing about once an hour and with the stock sometimes shunted out to Ponsandane in between times.  Light engine moves between station and depot included the fact that there was a loco-release within the station allowing an incoming loco on platform 3 to shunt out via platform 2.

 

Then there were parcel and van moves between the various sidings and the fruit dock .....

 

All of this and GW steam too.  Until the advent of diesels and the D600s among them. Those became closely associated with Cornwall and were usually to be seen at Penzance during the latter part of their short lives.  The most I remember seeing there together was three of them.

[Adams442T]

Penzance is a gift location for modellers.  Low level sea wall, sidings, four platform roads, a high stone wall with the road along the top and land rising steeply behind.  

 

There was plenty of action as well with trains arriving and departing about once an hour and with the stock sometimes shunted out to Ponsandane in between times.  Light engine moves between station and depot included the fact that there was a loco-release within the station allowing an incoming loco on platform 3 to shunt out via platform 2.

 

Then there were parcel and van moves between the various sidings and the fruit dock .....

 

All of this and GW steam too.  Until the advent of diesels and the D600s among them. Those became closely associated with Cornwall and were usually to be seen at Penzance during the latter part of their short lives.  The most I remember seeing there together was three of them.

Penzance is a gift location for modellers.  Low level sea wall, sidings, four platform roads, a high stone wall with the road along the top and land rising steeply behind.  

 

There was plenty of action as well with trains arriving and departing about once an hour and with the stock sometimes shunted out to Ponsandane in between times.  Light engine moves between station and depot included the fact that there was a loco-release within the station allowing an incoming loco on platform 3 to shunt out via platform 2.

 

Then there were parcel and van moves between the various sidings and the fruit dock .....

 

All of this and GW steam too.  Until the advent of diesels and the D600s among them. Those became closely associated with Cornwall and were usually to be seen at Penzance during the latter part of their short lives.  The most I remember seeing there together was three of them.

I couldn't agree more Rick, apart from the GWR steam bit of course....hmmm, l wonder if l could possibly introduce some LSWR.........

[jsp3970]

So any further news on these? I have one on order and want to make sure I have enough money on the card to pay. I am guessing it is still months away before we see an engineering sample.

[Gwiwer]

More news will always be delivered first to those who subscribe to Kernow MRC's newsletter (via email) or Facebook / Twitter feeds.

 

I think we can be assured that the project is advancing though Chinese New Year intervenes about now which has an effect on products from all manufacturers.

[WesternKing]

More news will always be delivered first to those who subscribe to Kernow MRC's newsletter (via email) or Facebook / Twitter feeds.

 

I think we can be assured that the project is advancing though Chinese New Year intervenes about now which has an effect on products from all manufacturers.

don't forget us n-gauge modelers Kernow! (please) :-)

[WesternKing]

Do one in N and I might order all five

Same here! :-)

[jjb1970]

Any updates on this one? Of all the new projects under weigh this must be one of the most challenging, wot with no preserved example to laser scan and a shape which is deceptively simple but full of potential pitfalls I think. I have always had a soft spot for NBL diesels, the Dapol 22 is a big favourite of mine and Dave got the shape and overall look of the 22 beautifully in his Dapol past so I have every confidence that he and Kernow will get this one right. Roll on the Bulleid diesels too!!

[The Stationmaster]

Any updates on this one? Of all the new projects under weigh this must be one of the most challenging, wot with no preserved example to laser scan and a shape which is deceptively simple but full of potential pitfalls I think. I have always had a soft spot for NBL diesels, the Dapol 22 is a big favourite of mine and Dave got the shape and overall look of the 22 beautifully in his Dapol past so I have every confidence that he and Kernow will get this one right. Roll on the Bulleid diesels too!!

As Rick (Gwiwer) has already said the best way to keep you to date on Kernow developments is to 'subscribe' to their FREE newsletter - arrives by email every Friday (although there are very occasional hiccoughs) and apart from news on commissions - as it happens - there's plenty of info about new arrivals in the shop and you get first dibs at any special offers.  Kernow, very sensibly in my view, follow the line of telling us what is happening when there is something happening plus giving an occasional summary of how commission jobs stand.

 

As for the D6XX they will no doubt be here when they arrive - giving me time to save up for my two (both ordered for sentimental reasons).

[Clearwater]

I'm looking forward to the D6xx as well. Way too young to have seen the real thing but think it's a momumental pity the last ones were scrapped in Barry in 1980...

[Gwiwer]

As Rick (Gwiwer) has already said the best way to keep you to date on Kernow developments is to 'subscribe' to their FREE newsletter - arrives by email every Friday (although there are very occasional hiccoughs) and apart from news on commissions - as it happens - there's plenty of info about new arrivals in the shop and you get first dibs at any special offers.  Kernow, very sensibly in my view, follow the line of telling us what is happening when there is something happening plus giving an occasional summary of how commission jobs stand.

 

As for the D6XX they will no doubt be here when they arrive - giving me time to save up for my two (both ordered for sentimental reasons).

 

Absolutely.

 

As readers of that newsletter will have been made aware some time back the master model has been completed and the project is progressing.  The O2 is well ahead of it and the gate stock probably next to arrive followed, we hope, by the much anticipated D600s.  

 

As Mike says this gives a little time to save up as I now have all five on order making this a substantial investment in the project and a significant addition to my motive power fleet.

[rembrow]

Any updates on this one? Of all the new projects under weigh this must be one of the most challenging, wot with no preserved example to laser scan and a shape which is deceptively simple but full of potential pitfalls I think. I have always had a soft spot for NBL diesels, the Dapol 22 is a big favourite of mine and Dave got the shape and overall look of the 22 beautifully in his Dapol past so I have every confidence that he and Kernow will get this one right. Roll on the Bulleid diesels too!!

Thought I'd remembered a recent article about the Kernow commissioned models and found it today in the January 2015 BRM. This article was a discussion with Chris Trerise, the owner of Kernow Models. He identified the expected order of models going into production as: 

 

O2  at livery sample stage

LSWR Gate Stock coaches  in tooling

PBA Tiger bogie hopper and LSWR road van, both at advanced CAD stage

 

This left a clutch of models at early CAD stage that will follow these 4 - D600; Class 116-118 DMUs; 1361; Railmotor.

 

This leaves the Bulleid diesel which is still in planning as some additional info is needed before CADs can be completed.

 

So the D600 looks to be a way off yet, with at least 4 other models before it.

[bigherb]

 

This leaves the Bulleid diesel which is still in planning as some additional info is needed before CADs can be completed.

 

 

That could end up as the record for the longest model gestation.

[jjb1970]

The Bulleid diesels are one of the holy grails of modelling for me so I'll wait, hopefully we will see some fine models one day. I have quite a relaxed approach to model schedules in general but in this case even more so as quite aside from the technical challenges of some of the prototypes Kernow have taken on which would have caused problems for much bigger companies they are a small business and for such a small business (in relative terms, they may be a big model shop but they are hardly a major plc) to bankroll a program like theirs takes real guts. And they are carrying the risk for these projects, they're not asking customers to pay deposits up front and limiting production to whatever is ordered in advance. For a shop to take on major projects like that and not try and remove the risks in the way they could easily do deserves our respect and admiration I think.

[delticfan]

I've had mine on order since 2010' that is a joke! I don't care how you dress it up. I hope someone from Kernow reads this.

[Scottish Modeller]

I've had mine on order since 2010' that is a joke! I don't care how you dress it up. I hope someone from Kernow reads this.

I take it you would rather they had rushed out  the model?

 

Then had everyone say that it was wrong in oh so many ways and should not have been released with all these errors?

 

No - I didn't think so!

 

So - you preordered one - good

 

Did you pay any money up front - No - Good.

 

So, even if it never appears you are not out of pocket.

 

Chris will be - he will still have all the research and development costs to cover.

 

I can remember when a certain gentleman from Trix said that he would get the Trans Pennine redone as a Glasgow Blue Train....

 

Still waiting!

 

Thanks

[delticfan]

Point taken, I certainly agree they're not rushing it but come on 5 years! Regular updates to customers on progress and anticipated delivery times wouldn't be a bad thing to do, it just seems a tad arrogant of them to expect people to hang around waiting for this sort of stuff.

[Scottish Modeller]

Hi Delticfan,

 

I'm sure that Chris would love to be able to tell us all about the difficulties that have been encountered to even get the model to the stage that it has.

 

But he won't - if you go into something like this - it's all at your risk!

 

I know that there are drawings available for the loco - several versions it seems!

 

So - even getting to the point at which you would consider going from paper to theoretical CAD model is fraught with set backs.

 

So many sources contradict other sources as they are found.

 

How do you decide what is right and wrong?

 

Especially when you remember there is no full size loco to scan and work from!

 

Thanks

[HillsideDepot]

Five years might be a long wait (I'm not worried, it'll be along when it's ready, and I for one don't want it until it is really ready) but go back say 10 years and who would have thought we'd have D95xx, several types of 4 wheel railbus, Baby Warships etc all available RTR. But we do. These aren't "mainstream", they were well outside where I thought RTR would take me, but the manufacturers have had the courage/foresight to produce them in what must be a marginal market.

 

So, we are still waiting for the D6xx, is it really a problem? There never were many real ones, they didn't last long, nor did they roam very far for most of their lives, so any layout which realistically justifies one will have a whole list of alternative locos on the roster until it arrives. Sure, I'd like to add one to my fleet as much as anyone, but its hardly up there with the likes of a Hall, 57xx, D10xx or D15xx in terms of being the critical item of stock for a layout. 

 

Chris, Dave and anyone else involved in this project, keep at it, I don't doubt that it'll be a superb model when it arrives. Thank you for taking it on, and more especially keeping going when the difficulties arose (and as Phil suggests above we probably don't know half of the problems there have been!).

[Gwiwer]

Point taken, I certainly agree they're not rushing it but come on 5 years! Regular updates to customers on progress and anticipated delivery times wouldn't be a bad thing to do, it just seems a tad arrogant of them to expect people to hang around waiting for this sort of stuff.

 

I see no arrogance on the part of Kernow MRC.  Instead I see a good deal of frustration on their part too.

 

There have been updates - as regular as there has been anything to update - via their emailed newsletter and from those we understand that the manufacturer initially commissioned to produce these models didn't appear to do anything for a couple of years causing a hold-up and the need to recommission them elsewhere.

 

All of that costs a lot of money.  Money which has been tied up in the research and development of these locos for five years now.  How frustrated are we at having paid precisely nothing to sit in line while Kernow MRC is highly out of pocket until the product arrives and starts selling?

 

Where I do see arrogance is among those who complain about the waiting times and lack of information when both have been regularly addressed vie newsletters throughout that time.