Czech Railways

[PaulRhB]

1 hour ago, NHY 581 said:

Thanks Paul, 

 

I've emailed a tentative enquiry to sound them out. 

 

Rob

 

 

Steve is on here and the results are good quality, they can take a while to go through the process but I’ve had multiple plates plus three custom jobs done over the last five years. 
Here’s one of the custom jobs

 

Up to the quite large plate on the teapot

 

[Hobby]

1 hour ago, NHY 581 said:

I've emailed a tentative enquiry to sound them out. 

 

If it helps several years ago they did some ones for me, for my Czech NG locos, several classes, so they have the fonts, trouble is I don't know what size the SG plates will be!

[Hobby]

1 hour ago, NHY 581 said:

I've emailed a tentative enquiry to sound them out. 

 

If it helps several years ago they did some ones for me, for my Czech NG locos, several classes, so they have the fonts, trouble is I don't know what size the SG plates will be!

[Railpassion]

Forgive my ignorance, but does anyone make a 742 in HO? 

[NHY 581]

1 hour ago, Railpassion said:

Forgive my ignorance, but does anyone make a 742 in HO? 

 

 

MTB is your go to, RP. 

 

 

https://www.mtb-model.com/pages/product_vypis.php?lang=en&id=&meritko=H0&page=

 

 

Rob

 

[NHY 581]

Morning all. 

 

Update from Narrow Planet. 

 

They currently do not have the capacity to
consider bespoke etching beyond the custom products listed on their
website.

 

 

Rob. 

[PaulRhB]

I guess with the success of the plate range and the Kerr Stuart project Steve is a bit too busy! 
That mtb page is dangerous! ;) 

[roundhouse]

2 hours ago, PaulRhB said:

I guess with the success of the plate range and the Kerr Stuart project Steve is a bit too busy! 
That mtb page is dangerous! ;) 

Very much agree. I do fancy one of the bogie railcars as we have spent much time in them over he years. However they dont run to Dobris. The upcoming class 714 diesels did with the 4 wheel trailers.

[PaulRhB]

16 minutes ago, roundhouse said:

However they dont run to Dobris

Gauging run Ian 😉

[Hobby]

I don't know anything about them but this is a link I've been given from that forum, also they have corrected me on the Czech name for them, they're called 'řadové tabulky' (plural) or 'řadová tabulka' (singular) which might help if you choose to do a Google Search!

 

https://www.bankovi.cz/tabulky/lite.htm

https://www.bankovi.cz/

[NHY 581]

Evening all  

 

Back to Blighty now. 

 

Just for the information of anyone attending Prague and doing some "shopping", I popped into Pragomodel. I was pushed for time and did so on my way to Prague H.L. with my wife and daughter. This was not my first visit to Prago having previously purchased locos from them. We've previously had no issues there. 

 

I had intended to pick up a 742 for sure but was pleased to see they also had the MTB 820 and both the Roco M152 and MTB equivalent and decided to get one or the other, even though Mrs NHY was happy for me to get what I wanted.  My money was erring towards the 820 but the M152s were causing a real problem. 

 

However as I was looking in the case, the owner was speaking to a female who popped her head into the shop. I asked to see the 742 and it was taken from the case while he was still speaking.  Unbeknown to the owner, my wife is Czech and had not spoken up to this point except in English.  As the test track was set up, my wife quietly translated what had been said by the owner.  She told me he had asked the female to tell us in English that there was nothing for free there. Really ? However, when my wife asked in Czech for the loco to be test run on my behalf , the penny dropped and nothing was said. 

 

However, she was far from impressed as she asked a couple of questions on my behalf. She found the owner rude and abrupt which certainly didn't get any better when we enquired about the forms needed to claim back tax as we are not in the E.U. Not a deal breaker but nice if we could do it. 

 

The owner made such a fuss about being unable to find the forms and was generally unhelpful, visibly irritated, apparently lumping  us  in with Russians who had previously visited the shop and also sought to claim taxes back. 

 

I decided to buy just the 742 and nothing else despite having a list of items which had been expanded when I saw the railbuses. 

 

The attitude of the owner basically cost him somewhere in the region of upwards of  £400, if not more.  

 

In short, we won't be visiting Prago again. We are due to return later in the year to the Czech Republic and instead will part with monies at either AMB or Ben Zerba. 

 

Rob. 

[Hobby]

When I first visited them over 20 years ago I was impressed, but the past few times I've found nothing of interest and had the same feeling of not being wanted. I now go elsewhere, though I haven't been over for a few years!

[warbonnetuk]

Menzels Lokschuppen & Töff-Töff GmbH in Germany are MTB stockists. I sourced my MTB 810 and 010 trailer from them

 

Dan

[roundhouse]

In Prago I have found one bloke to be a bit off but the other younger one to be fine, not that we have been for 4 years now.

 

Ben Zerba always very friendly and helpful but they dont appear to stock MTB for some years.

 

With regard the MTB class 742, just be careful if you take the body off. When refitting it, there is no slight board overhang to protect the surface mount LED headlight (unless its been mmodified on newer releaeses). If the body doesnt go back on in the right position it can knock the LED off. Luckily I was able to solder on a new one but its very fiddly to do.

Edited May 7, 2022 by roundhouse

[NHY 581]

4 hours ago, roundhouse said:

In Prago I have found one bloke to be a bit off but the other younger one to be fine, not that we have been for 4 years now.

 

Ben Zerba always very friendly and helpful but they dont appear to stock MTB for some years.

 

With regard the MTB class 742, just be careful if you take the body off. When refitting it, there is no slight board overhang to protect the surface mount LED headlight (unless its been mmodified on newer releaeses). If the body doesnt go back on in the right position it can knock the LED off. Luckily I was able to solder on a new one but its very fiddly to do.

 

 

Morning Ian, 

 

A quick query. Did any of your MTB 742s come with etched plates ? 

 

Rob

[Neils WRX]

Just remembered to order a 820 trailer from Menzels….

Quite surprised how much things have gone up in price.

Must get round to ordering a 714 as well.

 

Thanks,

 

Neil

[NHY 581]

Not wishing to take this thread off on a tangent and whilst I appreciate that Menzels is in Germany,  everything, not just toy trains, has rocketed in price in the Czech Republic since our last visit in August 2020. 

 

It is no longer the cheap destination that it was, not just in Prague but in the rest of the country, even extending into the rural parts we frequent. 

 

As we waited to catch our homeward flight at Prague airport, I noted the arrival of that most traditional of Btitish exports to the country, stag parties. As they trooped by, clad in their national costumes of various dresses and named T-shirts, I  thought they would be in for a shock, not just if they get on the wrong side of the Czech Police but also in the price of beer and food in the Capital. In many cases three times what we had last paid and pretty much exactly the same as at home if they went to the tourist venues. We didn't by they way, sticking to our "locals only " haunts. 

 

But as I say, everything from fuel to fruit and veg, from building plots to second hand cars has increased dramatically in cost. 

 

 

So yes, be prepared to pay more should you visit. 

 

 

Rob. 

 

 

[roundhouse]

11 hours ago, NHY 581 said:

 

 

Morning Ian, 

 

A quick query. Did any of your MTB 742s come with etched plates ? 

 

Rob

I will have to look in the box next time I am on the loft as loco is in the stock trays

[Neils WRX]

On 07/05/2022 at 02:58, roundhouse said:

In Prago I have found one bloke to be a bit off but the other younger one to be fine, not that we have been for 4 years now.

 

Ben Zerba always very friendly and helpful but they dont appear to stock MTB for some years.

 

With regard the MTB class 742, just be careful if you take the body off. When refitting it, there is no slight board overhang to protect the surface mount LED headlight (unless its been mmodified on newer releaeses). If the body doesnt go back on in the right position it can knock the LED off. Luckily I was able to solder on a new one but its very fiddly to do.

Interesting looked at my 742’s one of those also has the top headlights knocked off. Must have happened when I fitted the DCC chip.

 

Another job on the to do list….

 

Thanks,

 

Neil

[Neils WRX]

On 07/05/2022 at 09:54, Neils WRX said:

Just remembered to order a 820 trailer from Menzels….

Quite surprised how much things have gone up in price.

Must get round to ordering a 714 as well.

 

Thanks,

 

Neil

The DMU trailer turned up last week and I’ve ordered another one!!

 

 

 

Thanks,

 

Neil

[SimonBoulton]

I've got a question about Czech coach liveries, when did they first start using the Green and White colour scheme? 

Many thanks, 

Simon 

[JBr]

On 06/06/2022 at 14:40, SimonBoulton said:

I've got a question about Czech coach liveries, when did they first start using the Green and White colour scheme? 

Many thanks, 

Simon 

 

Second half of 1990s.

[Nick_Burman]

Question, what would be the best scale for modelling Czech railways, HO or TT? I have developed a soft spot for TT scale of lately, especially with PECO's new track range. It seems to be an interesting scale, good for those who are short on space and thus cannot fit an HO layout while being larger than N scale (and thus better for the eyes). Price-wise both scales seem to be the same, however TT seems to be more Mitteleuropa-centric, with some offers (like Soviet/Russian wagons) which are hard to find in HO or simply doesn't exist.

 

Cheers Nicholas

[roundhouse]

We have the TT scale ' Smrzovka' layout and the HO scale ' Dobris' layout. Both have their own thread on the forum.

 

When we started modelling Czech railways in the mid 2000's TT had way more available although a lot of it was cottage industry resin ready to run or kits. There were plastic coach kits but they required quite a bit of work to get them to the correct length. In HO scale there were even fewer models but that has massively changed over the past 15 years and I would say that there is as much if not more HO scale these days. There are now some very nice ready to run models in both scales allowing both to be fitted with DCC and sound. The older TT scale resin models will be much harder to fir DCC but we have stuck with DC on this scale as its much harder to read the numbers on the locos and the numerous 4 wheel railcars.

[CloggyDog]

9 hours ago, Nick_Burman said:

Question, what would be the best scale for modelling Czech railways, HO or TT? I have developed a soft spot for TT scale of lately, especially with PECO's new track range. It seems to be an interesting scale, good for those who are short on space and thus cannot fit an HO layout while being larger than N scale (and thus better for the eyes). Price-wise both scales seem to be the same, however TT seems to be more Mitteleuropa-centric, with some offers (like Soviet/Russian wagons) which are hard to find in HO or simply doesn't exist.

 

Cheers Nicholas

 

I initially though H0 for Nové Město na Nedostatku, my Czech micro project (started about 5 years ago) but found that pretty much all the stock I wanted could be had in TT with the bonus of fitting more railway in the available space. 

 

I like TT - large enough to still get that detail modelling 'fix' but small enough to save space/fit more in the given space. 

 

And a lot of the cottage industy kits are still listed as available and relatively cheap - LPH and SDV plastic MU/coach/wagon kits, resin kits and etched/laser-cut detail from the likes of ES Pecky. Buying from the UK is now trickier, some suppliers aren't accepting new account or orders from here now :(

 

Link to my layout thread in my sig, and/or pick-up this month's Continental Modeller for a nicely-illustrated write up ;)