Class 37, by Accurascale

[RBAGE]

3 hours ago, Andy Mac said:

Bob, do you think that any of the companies want the erratic supplies, delays and all round difficulties that they are all experiencing?  Long delays, unpredictable cash flows means that some of the companies will have been struggling to stay afloat financially. 

Andy,

With all those difficulties, the name of any businesses game is customer culture, and the goal, customer satisfaction.

Some might say that these are none essentials, toys even, but and as such we shouldn’t complain. I don’t know why but that seems to be the way of it.

Anyway, that doesn’t mean we can’t be disappointed.

Acc’s role, outside of providing good quality product, is to keep the customer happy and onside. They manage this on forums like this, regular updates on their website, their public interaction at numerous events and probably many other activities.

That still doesn’t mean the customer isn’t allowed to express disappointment. 
The purpose of sites such as this isn’t just to lavish praise. 
I think the people at Acc probably learn more from these sorts of conversation than being constantly “loved up”. 
The positive thing is, they’re listening, and they seem to care.

Bob

[Roy Langridge]

44 minutes ago, RBAGE said:

<snip>

That still doesn’t mean the customer isn’t allowed to express disappointment. 
The purpose of sites such as this isn’t just to lavish praise. 
I think the people at Acc probably learn more from these sorts of conversation than being constantly “loved up”. 
The positive thing is, they’re listening, and they seem to care.

Bob

I get where you are coming from, but what are they learning? As per @Andy Mac’s post, they are well aware of the delays, the impact of them and the disappointment that it brings, but what can they do about it?
 

A lot of what has happened recently is out of everybody’s control. My family in Hong Kong has just been impacted by massive flooding, as have some parts of China. Who could have predicted that a week ago, let alone months ago?
 

Roy

[97406]

59 minutes ago, RBAGE said:

Andy,

With all those difficulties, the name of any businesses game is customer culture, and the goal, customer satisfaction.

Some might say that these are none essentials, toys even, but and as such we shouldn’t complain. I don’t know why but that seems to be the way of it.

Anyway, that doesn’t mean we can’t be disappointed.

Acc’s role, outside of providing good quality product, is to keep the customer happy and onside. They manage this on forums like this, regular updates on their website, their public interaction at numerous events and probably many other activities.

That still doesn’t mean the customer isn’t allowed to express disappointment. 
The purpose of sites such as this isn’t just to lavish praise. 
I think the people at Acc probably learn more from these sorts of conversation than being constantly “loved up”. 
The positive thing is, they’re listening, and they seem to care.

Bob

 

The nub of the issue with me is would you rather Accurascale kept quiet about their releases until they were about to land or would you prefer to see the insights into the design, development and procurement processes? I really like to see the project progress through all its stages and yes, there will be setbacks along the way. My only feedback to Accurascale on their approach is to be a little less optimistic with arrival times as it helps set people’s expectations and would help alleviate many comments on here when things get delayed. I still understand fully when and why these delays happen though.

[McC]

6 minutes ago, 97406 said:

 

My only feedback to Accurascale on their approach is to be a little less optimistic with arrival times as it helps set people’s expectations and would help alleviate many comments on here when things get delayed. I still understand fully when and why these delays happen though.

 

Trust us we do :) It seems if the universe has a wrench to throw she will :) But as a five year old toddler we’ve indeed learned and grown a lot, even in the last year and have made many changes, hires and procedural tweaks to alleviate the external facing perceptions of delays and hopefully mitigate some of the disappointment when the inevitable typhoon or pandemic or simple twist of fate arrives :) We are listening, we value the feedback and perspective (most of which we also receive directly through our support channels) and our aspirations don’t let us rest on any laurels such as they are. Perhaps by the time we hit our teenage years we’ll have it all smooth as silk :) In the mean time we remain committed to being open, engaged, transparent and honest. 

[97406]

3 minutes ago, McC said:

 

Trust us we do :) It seems if the universe has a wrench to throw she will :) But as a five year old toddler we’ve indeed learned and grown a lot, even in the last year and have made many changes, hires and procedural tweaks to alleviate the external facing perceptions of delays and hopefully mitigate some of the disappointment when the inevitable typhoon or pandemic or simple twist of fate arrives :) We are listening, we value the feedback and perspective (most of which we also receive directly through our support channels) and our aspirations don’t let us rest on any laurels such as they are. Perhaps by the time we hit our teenage years we’ll have it all smooth as silk :) In the mean time we remain committed to being open, engaged, transparent and honest. 

Exactly, and it’s been great watching you develop. 

[Bucoops]

14 minutes ago, McC said:

 

Trust us we do :) It seems if the universe has a wrench to throw she will :) But as a five year old toddler we’ve indeed learned and grown a lot, even in the last year and have made many changes, hires and procedural tweaks to alleviate the external facing perceptions of delays and hopefully mitigate some of the disappointment when the inevitable typhoon or pandemic or simple twist of fate arrives :) We are listening, we value the feedback and perspective (most of which we also receive directly through our support channels) and our aspirations don’t let us rest on any laurels such as they are. Perhaps by the time we hit our teenage years we’ll have it all smooth as silk :) In the mean time we remain committed to being open, engaged, transparent and honest. 

 

Responding to a comment 10 minutes after it was posted on a 3rd party site on a Sunday morning. Says it all to me.

 

Just don't burn yourselves out...

[RBAGE]

45 minutes ago, Roy Langridge said:

I get where you are coming from, but what are they learning? As per @Andy Mac’s post, they are well aware of the delays, the impact of them and the disappointment that it brings, but what can they do about it?
 

A lot of what has happened recently is out of everybody’s control. My family in Hong Kong has just been impacted by massive flooding, as have some parts of China. Who could have predicted that a week ago, let alone months ago?
 

Roy

Roy,

McC’s subsequent comment shows that they are learning all the time and Bocoops later comment reinforces the attention they pay and the speed of their response. Something you might not expect from others.

I expect the changed Acc have made are an adjustment to existing strategies and not a knee jerk to circumstances.

Acc will have long ago (well, within the last five years) considered what risks might affect the success of the business. Have manufacturing in the far East, they will have considered such risks as transport, the politics of an authoritarian state (positive and negative, if only in a business sense), weather events (likely to become more extreme and frequent), response time. These and many more will have been considered and the degree of risk assessed. Actions to minimise risk and contingencies should risk mitigation not be possible or for show stoppers.

97406 suggested that Acc should not be so optimistic on timings. I don’t know the arrangements for airfreight, but it sounds expensive. One draw back is using airfreight is that if there are delays there is no more speedy service to catch back. Maybe sea freight could be considered the normal route and airfreight the contingency.

there are always opportunities to learn.

Bob

Anyway, this is getting well off topic so you might all be happy to learn that I’ll say no more, lest we get picked up by the fun police.

[big jim]

Just chipped up my 97301, the removable roof makes it so easy, set all the switches in the correct position for the Dapol imperium I’ve fitted, I then noticed the pin orientation meant the chip would have to face out below the fan
 

checked a Bachmann chip and that was the same, surely the circuit board hasn’t been put in wrong, went back and had a read of this thread to see if anyone else had reported it but nothing

 

as you can see the single locating pin is at the bottom

Then it clicked……

 

Turn the chip over! 
 

 

 

[nightstar.train]

Yeah, It's a little unusual having the chip in upside down. Presumably to allow clearance for those DIP switches. Not the only loco to have the chip in upside down by any means, but they are uncommon. 

[big jim]

8 minutes ago, nightstar.train said:

Yeah, It's a little unusual having the chip in upside down. Presumably to allow clearance for those DIP switches. Not the only loco to have the chip in upside down by any means, but they are uncommon. 

one thing I did note is the imperium is slightly wider than a Bachmann chip so only just fits in between the white connectors either side of the chip space 

[Bucoops]

It's very weird isn't it!

[Mike Buckner]

20 minutes ago, big jim said:

one thing I did note is the imperium is slightly wider than a Bachmann chip so only just fits in between the white connectors either side of the chip space 

 

I nearly had an insert-brain-here moment too, as I was about to ask how the sound compares with your experience of driving the big ones - till I remembered that the Imperium is not a sound decoder!

[Bucoops]

25 minutes ago, Mike Buckner said:

 

I nearly had an insert-brain-here moment too, as I was about to ask how the sound compares with your experience of driving the big ones - till I remembered that the Imperium is not a sound decoder!

 

I suspect the models are a lot quieter?

 

Even with a sound chip ;)

[big jim]

2 hours ago, Bucoops said:

 

I suspect the models are a lot quieter?

 

Even with a sound chip ;)

97301 was quite an underpowered loco compared to the others, 97302 was the best one of the 4 back when i drove them regularly, had 97303 the other week and that seemed a bit lack lustre

had a right night with 97301 when I took this photo, the rain was torrential when we I set off for longsight via the hope valley, got tuned back at ambergate due to flooding, then the DBSO failed because of rain water leaking in, got it repaired at derby before setting off again but this time via uttoxeter, got to longsight, changed ends and the DBSO failed again right across the ladder into longsight, got it working again and made it into the depot after blocking Manchester piccadil for about 10 minutes! 

 

[newbryford]

1 hour ago, big jim said:

97301 was quite an underpowered loco compared to the others, 97302 was the best one of the 4 back when i drove them regularly, had 97303 the other week and that seemed a bit lack lustre

 

 

 

 

 

It was reported on a test train /RTC group that 97301s power unit was donated to 303 a couple months back.

That might explain it!

Edited September 10, 2023 by newbryford

[97406]

The impulse buy of 37419 has now been turned into something more appropriate for the time period(s) that I model. Currently sat on its original (in model form) cast bogies, I will be open to a swap for some fabricated examples if anyone out there wants to contact me. For now, Rule 1 will apply!

 

As I have said before, the loco is an absolute dream to work on, with the separate roof panel, easily to remove body and windscreen moulding that pops out with a little gentle persuasion.

 

 

 

 

[derekdoestrains]

On 08/09/2023 at 22:20, Cliff - Exeter TMD said:

The desk lights are permanently on at both ends as soon as you apply power to the track

I can’t unsee this now !

[sulzer71]

1 hour ago, 97406 said:

I will be open to a swap for some fabricated examples if anyone out there wants to contact me

Have Accurascale done both versions already?

[97406]

2 minutes ago, sulzer71 said:

Have Accurascale done both versions already?

Yes they have, so it’s just a case of removing the existing bogies or just the frames and swapping with another like minded soul who needs cast ones for their own project.

[sulzer71]

19 minutes ago, 97406 said:

Yes they have, so it’s just a case of removing the existing bogies or just the frames and swapping with another like minded soul who needs cast ones for their own project.

Which ones have what bogies would you know? Not something I'd looked at yet

[97406]

20 minutes ago, sulzer71 said:

Which ones have what bogies would you know? Not something I'd looked at yet

 

I have Shapfell on a shelf by me at the moment and that has fabricated. All the other Scottish headlamp ones do as well. Out of the later ones, 37402, 37409, 37425, 37432, 37606 and 97301 look to have fabricated. I would think the next batch of green’uns will be fabricated too. Trust me to get one with cast! 😄

Edited September 11, 2023 by 97406

[rorz101uk]

12 hours ago, newbryford said:

 

 

It was reported on a test train /RTC group that 97301s power unit was donated to 303 a couple months back.

That might explain it!

Mick, it’s not always the engine that is generated the power, we had problems with 303, just not powering right, very sluggish, I believe the field divert/resistant came out of adjustment and it took several attempts to get it in tolerance, Caroline was also in the formation as stock. @big jimi remember terry being the driver. After some find tuning, it was a different beast! 

[big jim]

58 minutes ago, rorz101uk said:

Mick, it’s not always the engine that is generated the power, we had problems with 303, just not powering right, very sluggish, I believe the field divert/resistant came out of adjustment and it took several attempts to get it in tolerance, Caroline was also in the formation as stock. @big jimi remember terry being the driver. After some find tuning, it was a different beast! 

they need you back there to fine tune it again! 

[rorz101uk]

49 minutes ago, big jim said:

they need you back there to fine tune it again! 

Unfortunately mate, it wasn’t me that didn’t do it, NR had to get a contractor in to fix it due to not having enough staff, the lad worked for DEDU at the time. I had a good chat with the lad that did it! 

[Glencoe Model Railway]

Any word on the speaker clips being sent out? I ordered 5 packs for all my retrofit versions but still says unfulfilled about a week later, which is quite unusual. 
 

Also waiting on a sound 37606 being dispatched whilst the 37027 I ordered the same day has already been delivered? 
 

Cheers