Dapol announce 'OO' OLE

[Dagworth]

As I said to Dave at the show, I did have a couple of minor criticisms of the models, normally the return conductor insulator would be on the opposite side to the cantilever though there are exceptions, and I believe that normally only one ident plate would be fitted per mast, I'd be interested to prove this one though, I live too far away from any OHLE to check immediately.

Dave in turn pointed out that the base needs the centre square raised moulding and a small section of the base of the mast painting black, and the ident plate should be white with an ident on it.

We both wondered if the return conductor insulator may be too small, and it should be the same colour as the cantilver insulators.

 

Andi

[essexexpress]

This is amazing news, was going to consider doing some modular etches for the 1960's Mk1 portals, but now may not have to!

 

With regard to the MSW ones, I do find this term rather irritating as really we are takling about LNER portals and masts, remember that althogh the much loved Woodhead route bit the dust some 30 years ago, it's EQUALLY OLD cousin down south between Liverpool St and Shenfield still lives on, with some really old portals around Stratford apparently being pre-war! (yes the war sorta stuffed the electrification for a few years)

 

Will the LNER style portals be available with the larger 25kv insulators? (I bet not!)

 

Lastly, the Mk1 stuff. Does anyone know if this will be round mast or "H" mast?

 

cheers

 

 

Mike

 

Wow, there's going to be a bit of swearing down in Seaton this morning!

 

I am curious as to why they have 1500v DC style gantries/masts in East Anglia though?

[bennyboy]

This is amazing news, was going to consider doing some modular etches for the 1960's Mk1 portals, but now may not have to!

 

With regard to the MSW ones, I do find this term rather irritating as really we are takling about LNER portals and masts, remember that althogh the much loved Woodhead route bit the dust some 30 years ago, it's EQUALLY OLD cousin down south between Liverpool St and Shenfield still lives on, with some really old portals around Stratford apparently being pre-war! (yes the war sorta stuffed the electrification for a few years)

 

Will the LNER style portals be available with the larger 25kv insulators? (I bet not!)

 

Lastly, the Mk1 stuff. Does anyone know if this will be round mast or "H" mast?

 

cheers

 

 

Mike

 

Don't forget that the Manchester Piccadilly - Hadfield/Glossop part of the Woodhead route still exists as well and uses the old 1500v DC gantries for the current (ahem!) 25kv AC overhead wires.

[GaryHN]

Just a quick one does anyone know of the release date???

Gary

[charliepetty]

Are they not doing the wires to go with them. Charlie

[Garry D100]

I see these havestarted to hit the shops, Rails have the masts in.

I was at DEMU at the launch and spoke to Dapol and they said they are doing the wiring too, but I have yet to see any evidence of this.

The magazine reviews I have seen just show the masts.

The "wiring" I think will be a type of plastic because if I remember correctly Dapol said if it was made of metal it was as sharp as cheese wire

 

Has anyone seen the associated wiring with the masts yet?

[grahame]

I was at DEMU at the launch and spoke to Dapol and they said they are doing the wiring too, but I have yet to see any evidence of this.

The magazine reviews I have seen just show the masts.

The "wiring" I think will be a type of plastic because if I remember correctly Dapol said if it was made of metal it was as sharp as cheese wire

 

I was under the impression that TPM were going to be developing the 'wires' on Dapols behalf and don't recall that plastic was going to be the preferred solution. Could be wrong tho.

 

G.

[romley midland]

 

 

It is understand that matching catenary wires will be available via TPM Models.

 

 

 

 

 

From Andy's original announcement,

 

Richard

[Garry D100]

Was just wondering if anyone had heard when we are likely to see the wires for these?

Its been nearly 3 months since launch at DEMU and I have not seen anything about the wires for these since.

 

I have messaged DapolDave on here a couple of times over the last few weeks but had no reply, its all a mystery

[Taigatrommel]

Now having some in my possession, I'm not at all sure that they're really suitable for stringing wires up on. They're just too flexible, any kind of tensioning would cause problems. I suspect even the upward force of an out-the-box pantograph would push the assembly out of position. The chunkier spans from Viessmann/Sommerfeldt which don't need tensioning would spoil the appearance more than an absence of wires IMO.

[Dagworth]

I would agree , have a look at Law Junction, the lack of wires is not noticable in N gauge.

 

Andi

[Garry D100]

Had the following reply from DapolDave.

 

"The catenary range is being slowly expanded with round post MK1 masts next, and the wires are under development.

Not sure on delivery dates of either items, but rest assured that we will be producing an awful lot more as the years and sales progress.

The 2011 catalogue , out in 1 month, will unveil a couple of un-anounced models in this genre."

 

So plenty to look forward to.

[GaryHN]

Had the following reply from DapolDave.

 

"The catenary range is being slowly expanded with round post MK1 masts next, and the wires are under development.

Not sure on delivery dates of either items, but rest assured that we will be producing an awful lot more as the years and sales progress.

The 2011 catalogue , out in 1 month, will unveil a couple of un-anounced models in this genre."

 

So plenty to look forward to.

 

Maybe this could include the Electric loco Kernow said they would announce soon in there Newsletter???

Can't wait, A decent electric is what I am waiting for!!!!

Gary

[Garry D100]

Well my box of masts is gathering dust and still no sign of the wires to match.

Is anyone else wondering if they will ever arrive seeing as the masts were announce back in June?

 

I wonder if Hornby and Bachmann would get away with releasing a loco and then saying the wheels will follow sometime in the future

 

 

[bennyboy]

Well my box of masts is gathering dust and still no sign of the wires to match.

Is anyone else wondering if they will ever arrive seeing as the masts were announce back in June?

 

I wonder if Hornby and Bachmann would get away with releasing a loco and then saying the wheels will follow sometime in the future

 

Surely a better analogy would be to ask if they would release a locomotive without any appropriate rolling stock to go with it, which of course they would never do.

[James90012]

And my wallet remains untouched, to me it makes no sense purchasing masts without the wires to supplement them, no point drilling holes to find I put the masts an inch too far apart! (Dependant on the wiring system Dapol choose)

 

Since I have a 4 track layout, 4 track gantries would be great if they came around fairly soon

[Garry D100]

And my wallet remains untouched, to me it makes no sense purchasing masts without the wires to supplement them, no point drilling holes to find I put the masts an inch too far apart! (Dependant on the wiring system Dapol choose)

 

Since I have a 4 track layout, 4 track gantries would be great if they came around fairly soon

Exactly.

I only bought mine because I assumed the wires would be released soon after the masts.

And here we are 5 months on with no sign of them.

[Welly]

To be honest, I would not have thought it too difficult to wire them up yourselves? After all real masts are not at fixed distances apart but as close as needed according to trackwork and local topology.

[Garry D100]

To be honest, I would not have thought it too difficult to wire them up yourselves? After all real masts are not at fixed distances apart but as close as needed according to trackwork and local topology.

True, possibly.

But the attraction for me was that it was supposed to be a complete system to easily install all together.

I did not really want to solder up or weave my own wires which is why I wanted to try this.

If I am going to go to those lengths I might as well scratch build my own masts too.

 

To me the "system" should have been launched together as a whole.

And as there has been little in the way of updates from Dapol it make me wonder where this is going to end up.

[Revolution Ben]

Hello,

 

I believe Dapol had intended to etch stainless steel lengths of conductor wire/support wire/droppers (apologies if these aren't the exact terms) in one piece at various lengths, but there were some concerns about the etched edges in stainless steel being very sharp and causing cuts in installation and during layout operation. It may be that Dapol were advised against this approach. Perhaps they are now developing an alternative solution?

 

But, as others have said, there are other ways of fitting the wires, and I would say that scratchbuilding 10, or 20, or 30 catenary posts is not a trivial job when they can be sourced pre-moulded and painted at such a reasonable price.

 

cheers

 

Ben A.

[Welly]

A little bit of thought, if you want ReadyToPlace electrification masts to include wires, then what lengths should the ready made wires be? Also if they come in fixed lengths then the modeller will have to drill holes by the track at those fixed length intervals to accomodate the wire sections which I think is rather more challenging than stringing them yourselves.

 

Just my two penny worth.

[Garry D100]

All valid points Ben A and Welly

 

But I stand by my point which is that the idea of it being a system is what sold it to me and that is what I am/was expecting.

[Garry D100]

10 months on and still no sign of the wires to go with these masts.

Has anyone any news or heard anything at all?

[James90012]

No sign of anything, I posted this in the closed thread a few hours ago:

 

It's been a while since anything has been posted/reported regarding the OHLE range from Dapol. OHLE is at the moment such a baron landscape, I'm hoping that the 4 track structures and indeed wires, aren't going to be too far away now.

[Garry D100]

Maybe we could get DapolDave to update us?