What Price Modelling East Anglia Beyond 2020

[Kelvin B]

Are you going to Risby on Saturday Kelvin?

 

Just seen Terry is displaying “Neely“ so I might pop along. Your Ely roundy stock would be very at home on it I think!

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/99461-neely-present-day-nearly-ely-in-n/page-4

 

C6T.

Hi Carl

 

Yes, I am there with a new layout called Merlins Lane, its an O gauge fuelling point. The loco's are DCC sound. Looking forward to seeing Neely.

 

See you there

 

Kelvin B

[gc4946]

What about running heritage passenger services with contemporary freight operations - run your preserved 31s, 37s and 47s alongside the newest DRS and Freightliner locos?

[RJS1977]

  

Two very good posts. The OP raises a valid point, but I'd be more concerned with the whole exhibition scene falling off the proverbial cliff due to the ageing demographic within the hobby, instead of exactly what is available and at what cost.

 

 

To a degree though, these may be different sides of the same coin. The models we are now getting are (for the most part) not priced to entice new blood into the hobby, be it youngsters or adults with limited disposable income.

[Kelvin B]

To a degree though, these may be different sides of the same coin. The models we are now getting are (for the most part) not priced to entice new blood into the hobby, be it youngsters or adults with limited disposable income.

Hi RJS1977

 

Totally agree - that's it in a nutshell. Hornby Railroad products do help a bit if new items are required. But it is not the answer long term.

 

Cheers  

[47164]

What we really need is for the precision paints chap who has all the MTK stuff is to reproduce the 309,312, & 321 kits, I know they warn' great originally but it would fill a gap and rekindle the true sprit of kit building and modelling !!! He does sell 321 cabs but then serious modelling needs to start.

[Ravenser]

What we really need is for the precision paints chap who has all the MTK stuff is to reproduce the 309,312, & 321 kits, I know they warn' great originally but it would fill a gap and rekindle the true sprit of kit building and modelling !!! He does sell 321 cabs but then serious modelling needs to start.

 

Don't Bratchill do a 321?  Precision have also done a run of the 321 underframe castings  (1 example seen on their stand at Shenfield)

[Kelly]

Hello all

 

I have just been looking at Abelio East Anglia's list of new units to be delivered 2019/2020. It is clear we are losing some or most of our older units. Losses will include the 153,156,170,321,360 as well as the Class 90's and eight coach sets. These units range from one car to 4 car.

 

The new sets coming in are 12 car, 10 car on the main lines and 5, 4 and 3 car Electric/Diesel on the suburban and branch lines.

 

I think the days of small branch line model layouts with one or  two car units is over if modelling beyond 2020.

 

With the price of a 2 car unit nearly £160, what price a new unit of 3,4 or 5 cars, not to mention a 10 or 12 car. Then consider the space needed. I believe if these units are ever produced they will be in the realm only for rich Model clubs and individuals, certainly not average independent modellers.

 

 

Bachmann list a 2 car EPB (i know not East Anglian) at £186 currently iirc. And £250+ for a 4cep iirc too.

 

John

 OK - its coming over to me that space seems to be a bigger problem than price! But my point is still relevant, up to 2020, you can have a layout similar to Sudbury or a little larger running 1,  or 2 car units, after this date in East Anglia, this may not be possible. Lets forget about the Rich and concentrate on Mr Average.

 

'susie'

Nice thought, we did try this about 5 years ago through the Anglia Group of DEMU, led by Keith Wright. We had 10 plus interested including Clive. We had earmarked East Suffolk Junction as option. Sadly Keith died soon after and no one else took on the leadership.

 

Kelvin  B

 

And a very sad loss Keith was too.

[Kelly]

In the olden days when HSTs were quite long, you could buy a 4-car HST and extra coaches. In more modern times we have seen train packs where the key part of the train is in one pack, and if you want it a bit longer you could buy an expansion pack. Not sure how the economics of this stack up with modern batch manufacturing and a reluctance to store anything in warehouses, but it might be a way to make modern EMUs a bit more affordable to those with limited space and budget.I

 

t is not like the prototype doesn't very in length over time - HSTs have got shorter while Pendolinos have got longer!

 

IIRC, when Hornby did the 5BEL sets, the 2car part sold well, the addon cars, by their continued presence on bargin pages of big retailers suggest they didn't.

[Kelly]

Don't Bratchill do a 321?  Precision have also done a run of the 321 underframe castings  (1 example seen on their stand at Shenfield)

 

They do a 150/317/318/319/320/321/455 and 456. Some only it seems as undecorated kits.

[RJS1977]

IIRC, when Hornby did the 5BEL sets, the 2car part sold well, the addon cars, by their continued presence on bargin pages of big retailers suggest they didn't.

 

That might depend on the relative quantities produced. If Hornby made three times as many middle vehicles as they did the 2-car sets (assuming everyone who had bought the ends would buy all three middle coaches as well), then they would almost certainly end up with quite a lot left over as not everyone who bought the driving vehicles would have the space (or money) for the full rakes. On the other hand, they may well have sold more of the 2 car sets than they would have sold full 5-car sets (if Hornby had decided to only release those instead) for the same reason!