New GWR release with Rails of Sheffield?

[Steamport Southport]

54 minutes ago, D9020 Nimbus said:

Dapol don't do RTP buildings…

 

They do water towers though, some of which make noises and talk....

 

 

Have they done one in Welsh yet?

 

https://www.railwaymagazine.co.uk/6040/water-tank-installed-at-corwen/

 

 

Jason

[BVMR21]

5 minutes ago, Steamport Southport said:

Have they done one in Welsh yet?

Now that would be cool. Even though that means they'd need a Welsh speaker.

 

I just hope it's a new tooled piece of rolling stock or loco.

[Steamport Southport]

30 minutes ago, BVMR21 said:

Now that would be cool. Even though that means they'd need a Welsh speaker.

 

I just hope it's a new tooled piece of rolling stock or loco.

 

Well they are still in Chirk I believe!

 

Gledrid Industrial Park,
Chirk,
Wrexham,
LL14 5DG,

 

Personally I reckon it's something mundane like branded wagons. We all know that Dapol churn that stuff out. I really am not getting my hopes up as I've been disappointed with these announcements far too many times (not just from Dapol I hasten to add).

 

 

Jason

[The Johnster]

Well, we've only got ourselves and our propensity to froth for that, haven't we?  It is normal inevitable and natural that any 'announcement of an announcement will be bigged up to increase expectation and interest, that being it's main purpose; if Dap had announced that they were jointly producing a 7-planker in a Corwen PO livery with Rails, the resulting 'meh' would have been audible in the next galaxy.  In my case, given that I have a defined area and period of interest, the majority of announcements will leave me cold, and then Dap come along with Diagram N autotrailers that have me overjoyed!  Should they produce a 14xx or a 517 to go with it, my reaction will be another 'meh', such is the way of the world...

Edited April 29, 2023 by The Johnster

[tomparryharry]

On 27/04/2023 at 11:44, Mallard60022 said:

A little birdy has told me it's a Platform Chocolate Machine.

 A. Wrapper.

With an old sixpence stuck in the slot....

[SteamingWales]

With the news of Dapol releasing a new 2800/2884 do we have our answer?

 

3802 is within the general release though so maybe not 🤔

[Steamport Southport]

On 12/05/2023 at 11:40, SteamingWales said:

With the news of Dapol releasing a new 2800/2884 do we have our answer?

 

3802 is within the general release though so maybe not 🤔

 

This is with Rails, I got the Dapol announcement via Hattons as well.

 

So I take it that it's something else.

 

 

Jason

[The Johnster]

Later pattern 64xx, with squared off junction between cab and bunker and no lip at the front of the cab roof, perhaps.  Bachmann have shown no indication that they are going to do this, despite producing 'both' versions, 57xx and 8750, of the large pannier and both of the small prairie.  A later pattern 64xx would lead into a 74xx, another useful branch type.

 

The lowest-hanging GW fruit at the moment is probably the Churchward 3150 large prairie, no.4 boiler and high roof cab so not an easy conversion from existing RTR large prairies.  Reasoably large class, 40 built, of which 5 were converted to the 1938 Collett 31xx class (increased boiler pressure and 5'3" driving wheels, bit of a thug, whole class would have been converted but the war intervened), and a decent service life, lasting until the late 50s, but counting against would be the limited distribution, concentrated (though not exclusively) on two sheds, STJ and Gloucester, with some at Tyseley and Pontypool Rd, but absent from the London Division altogether.  The RTR trade is fond of the London Division, with large prairies often produced as 61xx and both Hornby Collett Suburbans and the upcoming Dap toplight Mainline & City stock being suitable for that area.  Not that this Rails/Dap is particularly likely to be a 3150, anyone's guess really, good fun frothing subject!

[adb968008]

A Grange perhaps ?

 

[Steamport Southport]

3 minutes ago, adb968008 said:

A Grange perhaps ?

 

 

I doubt somehow that would be very welcome at Llan at the present time.

 

Besides there is nothing wrong with the Hornby one.

 

 

Jason

[adb968008]

10 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

Besides there is nothing wrong with the Hornby one.

You could say that about the last half dozen Hornby locos that have recently been duplicated by others.

[HExpressD]

5 minutes ago, adb968008 said:

You could say that about the last half dozen Hornby locos that have recently been duplicated by others.

Duplication isn't a problem if the existing model is c**p but this doesn't seem to be the case of late. Hornby seem to get bashed with the duplication stick more than others which is weird when you consider there are some model companies that seem to be picking off Hornby's catalogue one by one

[adb968008]

40 minutes ago, HExpressD said:

Duplication isn't a problem if the existing model is c**p but this doesn't seem to be the case of late. Hornby seem to get bashed with the duplication stick more than others which is weird when you consider there are some model companies that seem to be picking off Hornby's catalogue one by one

They may have made the stick to beat themselves with.

 

For sure though the 28xx for Hornby, another one bites the dust.

 

i cant see Hornby flooding the market with cheap 28xx’s and if they did I doubt it would be hugely popular.

Edited May 15, 2023 by adb968008

[Halvarras]

On 29/04/2023 at 17:58, Steamport Southport said:

 

Well they are still in Chirk I believe!

 

Gledrid Industrial Park,
Chirk,
Wrexham,
LL14 5DG,

 

Personally I reckon it's something mundane like branded wagons. We all know that Dapol churn that stuff out. I really am not getting my hopes up as I've been disappointed with these announcements far too many times (not just from Dapol I hasten to add).

 

 

Jason

 

The 'LGW' peaked-roofed grain wagons having lasted well into the (Scottish) diesel era I would really like Dapol to re-issue 4F-018-025 but using the lime wagon moulding instead of the salt wagon this time (still not perfect but closer, with roof hatches and no handrails) - and paint the bl**dy thing brown not bright red this time 🥴!

 

Unfortunately it appears that there is (was) only one source of transfers - guess who? 🙄

Edited May 15, 2023 by Halvarras

[Pteremy]

There must be a reasonable argument that the only bad duplication is one that does not sell. And given the costs involved it is difficult to believe that a manufacturer is ever going to embark on a duplication project without considering the likely market. 

 

[BVMR21]

Duplication isn't inherently bad, if people will buy it, and it is more popular than the competitors model, then no it isn't bad.

[Edge]

I’m gonna be daft and say it’s a RTR ‘Great Bear’, for exactly no other reason than I want one :)

[Pteremy]

Perhaps we need to get better a lobbying? Rather than just saying 'why don't they do X or Y' a group of people with relevant knowledge could put together some sort of initial proposal for a design team to consider.

[St. Simon]

8 minutes ago, Pteremy said:

Perhaps we need to get better a lobbying? Rather than just saying 'why don't they do X or Y' a group of people with relevant knowledge could put together some sort of initial proposal for a design team to consider.

 

Hi,

 

Most model companies already have that, they use their own knowledge, market research as well as feedback to put together proposals and then decide what they should produce.

 

Simon

[Steamport Southport]

The problem is - Who do you lobby?

 

All of them or just a specific manufacturer? That's probably why we get so many duplicates as people and wishlists are suggesting that item X is popular when in reality about four people want one.

 

The long standing joke on here was Fell. They got one and many still complained for various reasons. I bet most people wouldn't have known about Fell if they fell over it. Pun intended.

 

 

Jason

[BMacdermott]

1 hour ago, Pteremy said:

Perhaps we need to get better a lobbying? Rather than just saying 'why don't they do X or Y' a group of people with relevant knowledge could put together some sort of initial proposal for a design team to consider.

 

Hello Pteremy

 

The 00 Wishlist Poll Team has done that on numerous occasions.

 

Brian (on behalf of The 00 Poll Team)

[BMacdermott]

59 minutes ago, Steamport Southport said:

All of them or just a specific manufacturer? That's probably why we get so many duplicates as people and wishlists are suggesting that item X is popular when in reality about four people want one.

 

Hello Jason

 

The 00 Poll Team would stop running The 00 Wishlist Poll immediately if it was proven to us that The Poll causes duplication. 

 

Brian (on behalf of The 00 Poll Team)

[Hal Nail]

Ironic that a wishlist is full of the usual comments about duplication when there must be at least 10 other concurrent theads all saying exactly the same stuff.

[The Johnster]

Duplication is a consequence of market research producing similar results at around the same time in different companies, which naturally keep their intentions under their hats for very good reasons of commercial confidentiality.  So where do the market research teams get their information, and what models get produced once they have obtained it?  The 00 wishlist poll here is only one source, and it is reasonable to assume that we (RMWebbers) are a minority of modellers.  Some of us are big fish in the small pond of magazine articles and exhibition layouts, and some are medium-sized fish in the even smaller pond of this site, but our influence on the RTR companies is limited to our market share.

 

We bleat for models we want for ourselves that we think might be profitable for the companies to produce for us, but are not party to what thinking process the companies go through when they consider producing new models and do not understand the costs and planning involved in the production process that may make certain prototypes difficult to produce in RTR volume production at prices the market will bear.  Don't forget that satisfying their customers is the second most important thing for them to take into account, the first is turning an honest dollar for the shareholders after seeing to the overheads, and that consideration may well be at odds with ticking boxes on our wishlists.  I'm sure they are aware of and influenced by our wishlist polls, but we would be deluded to assume that such polls are the only or even necessarily the major factor in what gets produced.

 

The realpolitik of producing models has developed over the last few decades into shortish Chinese production run commissions, which is conducive to widening the biodiversity of a company's catalogue in a way that the traditional UK Hornby Dublo/Rovex Triang was not; you got the same limited range produced for many years in a steady stream instead.  Companies are on the lookout for new items to produce, possibly mainly driven by the collectors market, but this plays to our needs rather nicely.  But saturation, which has pretty much been reached in terms of diesel locomotives, has become a problem; there are no new locos left that haven't been produced before, so duplication is inevitable and the choice comes down to features, detail, and price.

 

Duplication in steam models occurs as well, the classic case being the Manor, as both Accurascale and Dapol simultaneously got fed up of waiting for Bachmann to update the old Mainline version to modern standards in response to pleas from us.  The only way to avoid this would have been for Dap and AC to have colluded by informing each other of their intentions and perhaps coming to agreement on the matter; 'I'll do the Manor, and you can do the Aberdare', 'ok, sorted'.  This sounds very sensible and all concerned benefit while the biodiversity is increased to the extent of an Aberdare (consistent high scorer in Polls and much desired by TomParryHarry, The Stationmaster, and others).

 

But that is not as much in our interests as it might sound, and is in fact illegal cartelery, market rigging, and monopoly behaviour, and the Fraud Squad will be interested in it.  In that sense, duplication is an inevitable and bad consequence of what is overall A Good Thing, Trading Regulations and Laws.

 

It may have another possible benefit as well if production is staggered, and availability of Chinese production slots will guarantee this over time.  To return to the Manor as an example, if a modeller wants a Manor and the Dapol is out of production and the Dapol is sold out at the time while the Accurascale one is available, then a Manor is available to him/her when he/she wants it, which has to be Another Good Thing. 

[BVMR21]

I have long said that as an industry, model railways has to be more cooperative than directly competitive (not having the same small class produced by 2 or 3 manufacturers, etc) if we take Dapol and Accurascale, both are producing a Manor however Dapol are producing GWR coaches that can go with (at some point) in the form of the Corridor Toplights, it's really more about supplementing what other manufacturers produce on top of "new" things. This is where models of Industrials are very good, the only produced prior to 2015 was the J94 so when Hattons and Hornby entered the market with the Barclay and Pecketts respectively it opened up a new world for modellers that was previously difficult to enter, we're seeing this with 009 as well, which supplements the exisiting 00 gauge range quite nicely.

 

End of the day, we will see duplication of other models because if the market wants, then more than likely the market shall get due to the commercial nature of anyone producing products.