ModelRail USTC 0-6-0 Tank Loco Project USA

[brushman47544]

Latest update:

 

Interesting that MR109 supposedly has not arrived yet someone posted above they'd received it!

 

In view of the numbers with payment card issues, I think it's a safe bet that the numbers made of several models is way in excess of the "minimum" 500 for a limited edition.

Edited September 16, 2016 by brushman47544

[Nearlymen]

OK. Since Kernow kindly provided us with figures again this week it goes like this :-

Processed in the last week MR101 - 5, Mr102 - 3, MR103 - 29, MR 104 - 121, MR107 - 18, MR108 - 5. This gives an Average over a six day week of 165 divided by 6 gives 27.5 a day.

 

Outstanding Orders 984, divided by current daily rate of 27.5 gives 36 days, or if a 6 day week then 6 weeks to clear the above (Around the end of October).

 

Of course this is just a rough estimate based on the current rate of processing which is down from my initial estimate last week due to show commitments/flooding and nasty customers phoning up (Shame on you !). Plus doesn't include multiple orders or the arrival of MR109 or MR110 (which must have happened earlier this week if an earlier posting is correct). I expect with the release of next weeks figures that things should improve since Kernow have no Model Shows this weekend thus I expect to clear will return to Early/Mid October.

 

OH and out of Curiosity I've asked Model Rail on Facebook How are the orders prioritised, Chronological, alphabetical etc as it seems a little haphazard to me. Anyway we'll wait to see what the answer is, so in the meantime its...Carry on Grin and bear it !

Edited September 16, 2016 by Nearlymen

[Fireline]

 

Got to give Kernow their due. Got a phone call Wednesday saying my card details were out of date. Two out of my three orders arrived yesterday. They are cracking little locos, but I hadn't realised that the two green versions would basically be the same shade of green. I am likely to part with one of them now, and go back and order a different one.

 

Well done to Chris and all concerned. You've produced a properly good model, one to be rightly proud of.

Edited September 17, 2016 by Fireline

[Mark Hamlin]

Loving my USA tank. Very smooth runner given its tiny wheelbase.

 

It was a pleasant surprise how easy it was to get the body off for installing my Lenz chip.

 

I think an etched brass replacement for the hinged front footplate (?) plate would really finish this off!

[barrymx5]

I found Kernow's update of 16 September very useful. Since I feared my card details were out of date since I ordered in 2012, I rung and got a very helpful person who took my new details and my SR version arrived the next day. Very smooth runner as analogue so now run in and ready to chip. Well pleased.

Edited September 19, 2016 by barrymx5

[barrymx5]

I found Kernow's update of 16 September very useful. Since I feared my card details were out of date since I ordered in 2012, I rung and got a very helpful person who took my new details and my SR version arrived the next day. Very smooth runner as analogue so now run in and ready to chip. Well pleased.

[Robin Brasher]

My USA tank has arrived from Kernow now so good things happen to he who waits. Mine is 30064 which is preserved on the Bluebell Railway and is the most popular one. I missed out on the Hornby Acho version that is now a collector's item and is very expensive.

 

I have run mine in and found out how many coaches it would pull. It pulled 15 Hornby coaches ( 4 Mk1s and 11 Maunsells) on straight track but this went down to 10 coaches on the club track with 30" curves. The club layout is on the first floor of the stables at Godlingston Manor, Swanage.

 

The performance is about the same as the Hornby Adams Radial which is good for a small locomotive.

 

[brushman47544]

I have run mine in and found out how many coaches it would pull. It pulled 15 Hornby coaches ( 4 Mk1s and 11 Maunsells) on straight track but this went down to 10 coaches on the club track with 30" curves.

 

That's good, but I wonder how it would cope with say 50+ banana vans as used to leave Southampton Docks? Does anyone have that many to test it???

Edited September 21, 2016 by brushman47544

[PhilH]

That's good, but I wonder how it would cope with say 50+ banana vans as used to leave Southampton Docks? Does anyone have that many to test it???

 

 

Don't think the USAs would leave the docks with 50+ banana vans, would run out of steam and water by Northam! That's a job for your Hornby S15...

[brushman47544]

Don't think the USAs would leave the docks with 50+ banana vans, would run out of steam and water by Northam! That's a job for your Hornby S15...

 

Didn't suggest they did, at least not the way I was taught English. I just asked if the model could cope with 50+ banana vans as (trains of 50+ banana vans) used to leave the Docks.

[PhilH]

Didn't suggest they did, at least not the way I was taught English. I just asked if the model could cope with 50+ banana vans as (trains of 50+ banana vans) used to leave the Docks.

 

 

Nor did I, was just suggesting that they wouldn't cope in answer to your question.

[adb968008]

They are most likely accumulating all 4 into one parcel. It is more efficient to whack out individual locos, but things risk going wrong if you start mixing multi orders with single units. The last thing you want is to be charged 4 and get 1!

How right you were,.. All 4 of mine arrived safely this morning, including MR 110 (DS237)..

 

Patience (and Kernow) have rewarded me...

 

Edited September 22, 2016 by adb968008

[adb968008]

Spot the difference time...

I've got 7 (technically 10) tooling differences spotted just in these 2 views of 30069 vs 30067...(excluding the logo or number)

Fantastic levels of detail, I can spot differences between DS237 and 30064 too....
Bachmanns surpassed themselves on these... even the works plates on 30067 and 30069 reflect the differing works numbers !



It's play time !

Edited September 22, 2016 by adb968008

[Robin Brasher]

Maunsell looks like it is in a darker shade of malachite green compared with 30075 which was on the Swanage Railway. One of the Swanage Railway firemen said that the cab of the USA tank got unbearably hot because the firebox extended into the cab. He said that it did not ride very well because of the short wheelbase but it was used on all the services including the Wessex Belle.

 

I missed out on Maunsell because I don't think it was available to pre-order when the USA tanks were first announced. Otherwise I would probably have ordered that one as it was in the same livery as 30075.

 

I notice that 30064, the BR green one, has got a radio aerial. Last night I tested mine with 43 Bachmann wagons. It pulled them round one circuit of our track at the stables at Godlingston Manor in Swanage before it slipped to a halt over a reverse curve. It continued to slip afterwards so perhaps the slipping wheels had polished the track and the wheels. It looks like model locomotives will pull four times as many wagons as coaches.

[Graham_Muz]

Robin

 

Just for correctness the two upstands on the front of the tanks are not radio aerials but vertical handrails as fitted to some members to some members of the class replacing the inverted U shaped grab rails on the tank top.

Those fitted with in cab radios had the aerial mounted on the cab side itself. 

[JSpencer]

Spot the difference time...

 

I've got 7 (technically 10) tooling differences spotted just in these 2 views of 30069 vs 30067...(excluding the logo or number)

 

Fantastic levels of detail, I can spot differences between DS237 and 30064 too....

Bachmanns surpassed themselves on these... even the works plates on 30067 and 30069 reflect the differing works numbers !

 

image.jpegimage.jpeg

 

It's play time !

 

Maybe my eyes are going but for me it is hard to see the differences in the photos.

 

So far 2 tooling differneces I am aware of on the BR versions:

1/ handrails on the front of the tanks (either straight up or U sahped)

2/ piping just below the left hand side of the cab.

[Paul.Uni]

MR-105 & MR-106 due into Kernow early to mid-October. Info from: https://www.facebook.com/modelrail/photos/a.371681018206.157212.176420418206/10154006462198207/?type=3&theater

[Graham_Muz]

As posted already in the Model Rail livery samples thread, work is in progress on a trio of USA Tanks for my new little layout Canute Road Quay. Number s64 is in early 1948 British Railways livery, the only available green shaded 'Sunshine' British Railways lettering in 4mm are slightly tooo large and in 2mm too small, so I do know it is a bit of a compromise. Number 68 is as pet the Model Rail release and number 72 is in its condition as run by The Southern Railway before she received the full modifications too cab and bunker etc. in July 1948, I still need to add the cab side windows and additional steps that were fitted before the SR introduced her in 1946.

All await weathering.

[Mallard60022]

I've forgotten which one I ordered now and it wasn't long ago either..............................I suspect one will turn up sometime. Maybe I'll have done some wiring by then.....................

P

Edited September 22, 2016 by Mallard60022

[Wickham Green]

 

As posted already in the Model Rail livery samples thread, work is in progress on a trio of USA Tanks for my new little layout Canute Road Quay. Number s64 is in early 1948 British Railways livery, the only available green shaded 'Sunshine' British Railways lettering in 4mm are slightly tooo large and in 2mm too small, so I do know it is a bit of a compromise. Number 68 is as pet the Model Rail release and number 72 is in its condition as run by The Southern Railway before she received the full modifications too cab and bunker etc. in July 1948, I still need to add the cab side windows and additional steps that were fitted before the SR introduced her in 1946.

All await weathering.

 

I've spotted one minor discrepancy with 'out of the box' No.68 : it's got the Southern whistle rather than the original version they all carried into B.R. days .................. not visible from normal viewing distance of course !

 

......... in fact not visible at all when I looked again : Sorry I was WRONG on that - new spex on order !

Edited September 26, 2016 by Wickham Green

[adb968008]

I've spotted one minor discrepancy with 'out of the box' No.68 : it's got the Southern whistle rather than the original version they all carried into B.R. days .................. not visible from normal viewing distance of course !

One of the differences in my two above..(post 565) . Is the whistle... 2 different types..

 

Such a subtle small detail..., hardly noticeable but still replicated.

 

The detail differences i observed are:

 

1. Different whistle

2. Different safety valves

3. Looks like a sanding cap, next to the water tank hatch on the left side tank on '67

4. Extra pipe work between the two domes on '67

5. Extra pipe work below the cab on both sides (x2)

6. Step vs platform on both sides covering the smokebox steam pipes (x2)

7. Grab Handles vs vertical pipes on the tanks (x2)

 

Looking at 30064 vs DS237 there's differences in paint finish around the buffer beams and the safety valves.

(although I haven't bought it, the USATC version is completely different, with a different cab, bunker, steps etc).. That is also used on the LMR and NCB versions also)..

Edited September 22, 2016 by adb968008

[JSpencer]

One of the differences in my two above..(post 565) . Is the whistle... 2 different types..

 

Such a subtle small detail..., hardly noticeable but still replicated.

image.jpeg

 

The detail differences i observed are:

 

1. Different whistle

2. Different safety valves

3. Looks like a sanding cap, next to the water tank hatch on the left side tank on '67

4. Extra pipe work between the two domes on '67

5. Extra pipe work below the cab on both sides (x2)

6. Step vs platform on both sides covering the smokebox steam pipes (x2)

7. Grab Handles vs vertical pipes on the tanks (x2)

 

Looking at 30064 vs DS237 there's differences in paint finish around the buffer beams and the safety valves.

(although I haven't bought it, the USATC version is completely different, with a different cab, bunker, steps etc).. That is also used on the LMR and NCB versions also)..

 

Thanks, I might have to go for 69.

[Nearlymen]

OK here we go again. With this weeks figures (posted on facebook today) it goes like this :-
Processed in the last week 327 (not including MR109 or MR110). This gives an Average over a six day week of 327 divided by 6 gives 54.5 a day against last weeks 27.5 a day ( I suspect this increase is due to no model shows last week)

Outstanding Orders 658 (not including MR109 or MR110 not enough info to give an accurate figure on those), divided by current daily rate of 54.5 gives 12 days, or if a 6 day week then 2 weeks to clear all (Around the beginning  of October).

 

But I suspect that the rate of getting models out the door will again drop to around the 27.5 figure per day in the coming weeks as there are more model shows scheduled on the kernow website , so to clear all as a rough estimate I feel is still the middle to late October (but including MR109 – MR110 would slow that up further) This doesn't include multiple orders etc..

Of course this is just an estimate based on the current rate of processing for my own amusement since Model Rail’s website still says ‘Maybe up to 28 days’….hmmmmmm... bit cheeky that !!!!! . 

 

I would just say I have no connection with either Model Rail or Kernow and I just use the published figures to work out an estimate of delivery timespan for those like myself who are patiently waiting. But hey …they might turn up tomorrow !

[TheQ]

It's a great effort Kernow are putting in, they seem to deliver very quickly once you've given them your latest card details. this model seems to have been a remarkable success.

[adb968008]

After a bit of drama today ( I went to the loft only to find the neighbours builders had knocked a brick thru the wall and on to my layout burying my Bachmann Prairie L150 in dust and cement whilst knocking the glazing from my canopy and several supports off, in several places (it's a 4 piece Peco one laid out e2e, thus protecting what was below)  scattering wagons and crushing the roof of a Hong Kong tram, so my planned running of my new USAs got canned) ! Sigh.


I did however take a couple of comparison pictures of my HO vs OO USA tanks... Oh so unfair to compare, but it shows size matters ! Am awaiting the Roco S160 to be released next.

 

 

The yellow J94 stands out a bit doesn't it :-)

 

 

Edited September 23, 2016 by adb968008