Rapido Port of Par Bagnall 0-4-0ST (OO Gauge)

[Poor Old Bruce]

1 hour ago, SteveyDee68 said:

As a self-confessed addict to collecting small industrial locos or anything associated with docks, this announcement is not good.

 

Not good at all.

 

I’m a shunting locomotive addict, and I have been sober haven’t bought a loco for 122 days…

 

That might change very shortly…

 

Must resist… MUST resist…

 

I wonder if there's a 'Shunters Anonymous' group in existence. I think we both probably need to join! These, Y7s, RSH 0-4-0STs.  Whatever next?

[Legend]

Must be a really clever bit of engineering to get sound in too !

 

I knew they were Bill and Ben and that they were based on real locos , but never realised they still existed

 

Hats off to Rapido, thats an impressive set of announcements . Coupled with their wagons (all puns intended) and the Titfield stuff they really are the most prolific of the new UK suppliers .  Cant wait for my Jones Goods

[rapidoandy]

19 minutes ago, Poor Old Bruce said:

 

I wonder if there's a 'Shunters Anonymous' group in existence. I think we both probably need to join! These, Y7s, RSH 0-4-0STs.  Whatever next?

Oh I know, I know!

[AlfaZagato]

Wonderful announcement.   Now I don't have to find one of the increasingly scarce Ertl toys do do these even close to accurately.

[Captain Kernow]

1 hour ago, Captain Kernow said:

Who's sat on that Bagnall?

Although these squat Bagnalls are very distinctive and more or less instantly recognisable with the Port of Par, I suppose that other limited height scenarios can be imagined, such as the Western Region obtaining one to pass under the low Arch at Radstock, should that have survived a bit longer...

 

[JSpencer]

Interesting comment about Judy nearly being mistakenly named Cough. 

 

In the Rev. W Awdry books, Bill & Ben talk about "coughs and sneezles spread diseasels" story.

 

So I wonder if the Rev. W Awdry knew about that and it inspired the story?

[Halvarras]

A couple of years or so ago I got all excited when I read a proposal to produce these as RTR models - then noticed it was 1st April. Yeah, well, I mean, of course, nobody's ever going to make these, are they......?

 

Why excited?

 

On my first visit to Par and St Blazey up the line from Truro in the summer of 1966 I found 'Alfred' parked on the line into the docks, alongside the A3082 (there was just a simple concrete-post-and-wire fence in those days, allowing the kind of close-up viewing today's tall security fencing prevents). Later on the loco put in appearances at the 1969 (I think - missed this one), 1970 and 1971 St Blazey Open Days. As a result I've held a fondness for 'Alfred' (who was 'born' the same year I was) and also the wobbly piece of track into the docks which is still in operation but now occasionally traversed by a somewhat larger Class 66!

 

I retired in 2019 and house-hunting back in Cornwall turned up the ideal property just 10 minutes' walk from Par Docks. So all things considered a pre-order for the Par twins from me is inevitable!

 

What a total surprise - thank you Rapido, and roll on 2025!!

[gwrrob]

2 hours ago, BenL said:

We’re gonna need some decent china clay wagons…

 

Isn’t that the same chassis under the forthcoming O11, talk about joined up thinking.

[rapidoandy]

Just now, gwrrob said:

 

Isn’t that the same chassis under the forthcoming O11, talk about joined up thinking.

I think the China Clay is DCII brake rather than DCIII…

[BR Blue]

2 hours ago, rapidoandy said:

Errrr.....?

It is a cunning plan to finally get his hands on the licensed Titfield Thunderbolt model.😁

[PaulRhB]

Downright naughty . .  😄

[BenL]

4 minutes ago, rapidoandy said:

I think the China Clay is DCII brake rather than DCIII…

Just need to move the brake handle on one side to t’other end - you know you want to!

 

(And can add lever brakes for WW2 and early postwar conversions - simples 😆)

[Ruston]

I've never seen a photo of the reason for the low height of these engines before but I guess this bridge is it. I've seen photos of them shunting vans, but not any wagons low enough to pass under the bridge. What wagons did they take that fitted under the bridge and what load did they carry?

I think I'll buy one of the plain, unlined, green ones.

[Tim Dubya]

1 minute ago, Ruston said:

I've never seen a photo of the reason for the low height of these engines before but I guess this bridge is it. I've seen photos of them shunting vans, but not any wagons low enough to pass under the bridge. What wagons did they take that fitted under the bridge and what load did they carry?

I think I'll buy one of the plain, unlined, green ones.

 

I guess china clay hoods 🤷

[New Haven Neil]

Oh.

 

Its like this.

 

1 Mrs NHN is Cornish.

2 Mrs NHN lived near Par.

3 Mrs NHN's sis lives in Par.

4 Mrs NHN likes Alfred and Judy

 

But - they aren't O gauge.

 

To order or not to order, that is the question.

[Michael Hodgson]

Very nice, I love the oddities, this is another class where one might collect the whole fleet! 

All the same I think I'll be passing on this one.  There can't be many people modelling Par so almost all the cutomers will be applying.to everything.

 

Might be useful for shunting colliery wagons where there isn't enough headroom for a full size train accessed under the running line (instead of just laying 009 tracks and running a narrow gauge section)

 

Price seems a bit steep for an 0-4-0ST. but it's probably fair, given that its not likely to sell as many as they would of 4472, I suppose they have to recover their tooling cost over a more limited number

[Tim Dubya]

I can see these moving to Radstock to work under marble arch, in the thriving Somerset Coal field of the 1970's. 😉

 

I'm not sure if those notorious spotters of the area, @Captain Kernow @Tim V and @Not Jeremy, have any photographic evidence* to support this though 🤔

 

Edit: I hadn't read the Captain's earlier post before gobbing off, it appears they did work in Radvegas after all.

 

*I've got Photoshop if not 😜

 

Edited November 10, 2023 by Tim Dubya
Thinking about having cider for my tea.

[Halvarras]

45 minutes ago, Tim Dubya said:

 

I guess china clay hoods 🤷

 

China clay wagons yes, but without the hoods (introduced 1974) as the hoods wouldn't fit under the bridge. The clay dries strung out alongside Par Moor Road (the afore-mentioned A3082) accessed via this bridge fell out of use around 1970, before the hoods appeared. The photo above of 'Judy' passing under the bridge (and the Cornish main line) was taken by Bernard Mills in March 1967 and appears on page 32 of his book 'From Lostwithiel to the China Clay Rails' (ISBN 978-1-78155-542-2, published 2016) - one of my all-time favourite railway books and thoroughly recommended for photos of 'Alfred' and 'Judy' at work inside and just outside the docks, as well as a unique record of the china clay branches, many just after closure with the rusty rails still in place.

 

Also worth finding is 'Railway Bylines', Volume 2 Issue 5 (August/September 1997) for an article on Par Harbour by D. Penberthy* which includes a wonderful collection of b&w photos of these locos at work and rest.

 

I remember walking under this low bridge in 1966 with the rails still in use and adequate headroom. The area this side is now a free car park for Spit Beach, reached by passing under the bridge (still on the right-hand side as shown) and turning right along a stretch of the South West Coast Path. However at some point the steel girders were replaced by much deeper concrete beams and ducking is now very necessary! The dries on the other side of the road have been derelict for the last half-century but demolition in recent years has removed all bar the end ones - that at the St Austell end appears to have been repurposed as a warehouse and the one nearest the docks remains surrounded by security fencing but so far untouched for some reason.

 

*Was Jethro's mate a railway enthusiast then?!

[RapidoCorbs]

A lot of photos taken during the 1960s and 70s show the locos working with what I believe are BR Diagram 1/051 china clay wagons as well as GWR O13s (with end doors).

At first glance they are very similar designs.

Edited November 10, 2023 by RapidoCorbs

[Ruston]

2 hours ago, Captain Kernow said:

Although these squat Bagnalls are very distinctive and more or less instantly recognisable with the Port of Par, I suppose that other limited height scenarios can be imagined

 

Certainly. There was the Courtalds works, at Holywell, that used a Peckett, known as the Flying Bufferbeam, that I think was even lower then the Par Bagnalls. It worked a line that passed under the Chester to Holyhead line so the low bridge at Port Of Par wasn't unique and this sort of set up could be applied to all sorts of fictional layouts.

[Halvarras]

PS just to clarify, the branch line converted to a road mentioned in the intro ran from St Blazey yard past the east end of the docks, along the back of Par Beach (so I cross it regularly!) and over the hill via Pinnock Tunnel to the docks at Fowey. It closed as a railway in June 1968, having never had a passenger service, and reopened as a private road directly connecting Par and Fowey docks the following year. The gradients either side of the tunnel were steep enough to require St Blazey to have a couple of '42xx' 2-8-0Ts on its books. 

 

I was going to apply some Railtec headcode transfers to a pair of Dapol Class 22s this evening but I appeared to have become rather distracted...... 😃!

Edited November 10, 2023 by Halvarras
No, I did mean 'Dapol', not 'call'. Jeez.

[LBRJ]

4 minutes ago, Halvarras said:

PS just to clarify, the branch line converted to a road mentioned in the intro ran from St Blazey yard past the east end of the docks, along the back of Par Beach (so I cross it regularly!) and over the hill via Pinnock Tunnel to the docks at Fowey. It closed as a railway in June 1968, having never had a passenger service, and reopened as a private road directly connecting Par and Fowey docks the following year. The gradients either side of the tunnel were steep enough to require St Blazey to have a couple of '42xx' 2-8-0Ts on its books. 

 

I was going to apply some Railtec headcode transfers to a pair of call Class 22s this evening but I appeared to have become rather distracted...... 😃!

I would just add that it wasn't seen as being a branch line though; it was (and still is, albeit rather truncated now) the Fowey Main. The original CMR ran from Newquay to Fowey.

Incidentally Pinnock tunnel is (or was) the longest rail tunnel in Cornwall.

 

Very rarely for me, I may have acquire one of these just because....

I used to sometimes ride my push bike under the bridge, that must be reason enough? ;)

[NHY 581]

1 hour ago, Michael Hodgson said:

 

Price seems a bit steep for an 0-4-0ST. but it's probably fair, given that its not likely to sell as many as they would of 4472, I suppose they have to recover their tooling cost over a more limited number

 

 

It is fair, Michael. Price is something that does crop up in relation to Rapido products, but unfairly in my opinion. 

 

These delightful little chaps will retail ( full RRP ) at £139.95 DCC Ready or £249.95 DCC Sound. 

 

By comparison......Dapol's forthcoming  Hawthorn Leslie is currently priced at full RRP as follows; 

 

DCC Ready

£126.36

DCC Fitted

£164.16

DCC Sound

£266.36

 

Hornby's forthcoming Peckett W4s are only available DCC ready @ either £120.99 or £127.49 depending on which of the three versions you go for. You can add ( conservatively) £120.00 plus fitting to obtain a DCC Sound version. 

 

 

Agreed the DCC ready version is more expensive than the competition based on full RRP but arguably not overly so and the sound fitted model is bang on the money. 

 

These will sell very well and do well for Rapido.  I'm sure there will be no need for Rapido to lower themselves to flogging models of the  L&NER equivalent of Trigger's broom.........

 

Rob

 

[montyburns56]

There's some pictures of them here

 

 

[Dunsignalling]

52 minutes ago, NHY 581 said:

 

It is fair, Michael. Price is something that does crop up in relation to Rapido products, but unfairly in my opinion. 

 

These delightful little chaps will retail ( full RRP ) at £139.95 DCC Ready or £249.95 DCC Sound. 

 

By comparison......Dapol's forthcoming  Hawthorn Leslie is currently priced at full RRP as follows; 

 

DCC Ready

£126.36

DCC Fitted

£164.16

DCC Sound

£266.36

 

Hornby's forthcoming Peckett W4s are only available DCC ready @ either £120.99 or £127.49 depending on which of the three versions you go for. You can add ( conservatively) £120.00 plus fitting to obtain a DCC Sound version. 

 

 

Agreed the DCC ready version is more expensive than the competition based on full RRP but arguably not overly so and the sound fitted model is bang on the money. 

 

These will sell very well and do well for Rapido.  I'm sure there will be no need for Rapido to lower themselves to flogging models of the  L&NER equivalent of Trigger's broom.........

 

Rob

 

Overall, the Port of Par twins are one of the smallest standard gauge 0-4-0ST's. Hornby's approximation of them with Bill and Ben came out somewhere between S Scale and O Gauge!

 

I'd guess that getting everything necessary for good running and reasonable haulage capacity properly hidden away in 4mm will require more effort and perhaps greater mechanical sophistication than with most of their ilk.

 

TBF, an RRP less than fifteen quid in excess of that being asked for something (arguably) "easier" therefore doesn't seem unreasonable...

 

John 

 

 

Edited November 10, 2023 by Dunsignalling