Gaugemaster Class 73 (N gauge)

[Elvinley]

I recieved my Pullman livery 73 today after a long wait of 2 years since ordering! Seems good so far. Etched plates and NEM coupling pockets plus DCC ready make it a higher spec than the old version in Pullman livery. Running in at the moment. Seems fairly smooth but dislikes one of my points. Very light compared to the non DCC 73. The loco comes with magnetic couplings as well as Dapol buckeyes.

Cheers

Ian.

[Robert Shrives]

Well after chasing UPS over the west midlands for a few days mine arrived at work today . All had open day on work layout (training you understand!

 locos have a good printed /painted finish with plates all level and no glue showing, all run well and taking off the lid the chassis is a dense plastic with a PCB at one end and the other a single 4 way link plug to body with headlamp only connections - gone are the roof wipers and glued in mass of wiring, only the two wires to LED. Body clips in like before and a good runner -

My fault pushed the buffer/sideframe plate in too hard and trapped a bogie on the little lugs on the inside, a quick tweak and all fine.

 

On a 2nd radius curve happily pulled 4 megafrets, 3 steel wagons and 2 nuclear flasks - it was slipping but ran at a good speed. It would also crawl with this load , but on its own it was a real creeper! It will be fine on 4 or 8 coach loads on the flat but hill climbing not tested, the plastic chassis block is to my mind too light, but at least it keeps cost down and does make a lighter dummy if motor removed.

 

Colouring on models fine the IC livery has gained a much darker grey from samples the SWT swoosh livery  has a muted orange section which is fine on the model with its matt finish but my mind is saying it was a brighter orange - but this is without considering scale colours.

The First livery is well done but numbers feel just a little large - easily fixed if I feel like it but is fine and the real one did have big numbers when it was named on the tour to the WSR., IIRC.

 

For 73 fans well worth the punt if any left at £70 - gone bonkers on Ebay already for the alex 73101 version.

Robert      

[FelixM]

The gaugemaster website did change directly from pre-order to sold out for the two variants I had my eye on, so I missed out on these.

[Automaton120]

EDIT: Sorry, meant to put this in the newer thread.

 

New to this site (and N gauge in general).

 

I just received the GBRf version. I'm not a huge stickler for detail so I have no issues with the model's appearance. It's certainly a cut above the kind of models I could afford in OO, so no issues there. 

 

Straight out of the box though, I'm definitely going to have to get some loco oil. It struggles over streamline points at anything lower that full speed, and needs a good push to get started from most places on my layout. There's a few locations where it falters even at breakneck pace, which interestingly are the same places that my other Dapol loco (a 66) struggles... though I suspect this might have to do with my track needing a good clean. I've been ballasting so there may be glue residue on the rails in places. I don't think it's a bad connection as these spots have improved by running my finger over the affected sections.

 

That said, my only other train at present, a Kato 800, manages the entire layout flawlessly at all speeds without a hitch :/ 

 

I've not seen a red tail light on the 73 either, and instead the trailing lamp seems to flicker the same white as the forward direction. I'm running DC so I'm pretty certain this isn't by design?

 

So yeah, oil and a track rubber are definitely on my list of things to get next. Stupid of me to haven't purchased these already considering I'm halfway through constructing a layout. 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 15, 2021 by Automaton120