Oxfordrail Wagons

[garethashenden]

It would be nice if Cambrian got on with the LSWR Van and Brake van.  Too much fussing with this "modern" stuff.  After all the real British Railways era ended on January 1, 1948.

I think you may have got the date wrong. Wasn't it 1 January 1923?

[Dunsignalling]

I think you may have got the date wrong. Wasn't it 1 January 1923?

You are all wrong, it was 9th July 1967.

[OOgaugeJaf]

I really think Oxfordrail are going to make a big impact on the RTR market. The big bonus is they have their own factory and in complete control of their production. Not awaiting slots in some other factory. The prices will reflect the in house manufacture. I do hope they tackle items on wish lists others are not. They will have the Adams on the shelves of the model shops well before Hornby.

[Loconuts]

I really think Oxfordrail are going to make a big impact on the RTR market. The big bonus is they have their own factory and in complete control of their production. Not awaiting slots in some other factory. The prices will reflect the in house manufacture. I do hope they tackle items on wish lists others are not. They will have the Adams on the shelves of the model shops well before Hornby.

In your DREAMS

 

Loconuts

[The Stationmaster]

In your DREAMS

 

Loconuts

Various ways of looking at this but in some respects I think you might well be right.  Clearly they are trying to establish themselves as a player in the main r-t-r market (witness display at a toyfair rather than a model railway event but then assuming that is the right market although they appear to think so).  Then they are equally obviously trying to be a bit different in some of what they will offer - the rest remains to be seen and we don't yet know what it is so it might well be more in someone's dreams rather than a known reality.

 

All we can do is wait and see but we know they seem to be intent on being price competitive and there seem to be plenty of folk around to welcome that more than many other things as a factor in their hobby spending.  The big question then remains if - after their initial splurge - they can be any cleverer than anybody else on keeping a lid on ex-factory prices from China when 'their' factory will be under exactly the same economic regime as any other toy maker in the country.  A delve around the 'net can produce some very interesting things

[PhilJ W]

Hornby has just raised the bar quite considerably IMHO with the J15 so it will be interesting to see if their Adams Radial carries on the momentum.

[Phil Parker]

Various ways of looking at this but in some respects I think you might well be right.  Clearly they are trying to establish themselves as a player in the main r-t-r market (witness display at a toyfair rather than a model railway event but then assuming that is the right market although they appear to think so).  

 

They have appeared at Toyfairs for years under the Oxford Diecast banner - presumably because there is much in the range that we don't see such as the diecast roller coaster cars sold to theme parks and similar. The railway stuff has gone along for the ride so far. Mind you, when I saw them at London, I was fighting over the wagon with Ben Jones and Trevor from Cheltenham models so they are seeing the people they need at this point. Trade fairs are just that - places to do deals with the trade. You can't do these so easily at a model railway event as the trade are busy trying to take money.

 

Assuming that Oxford Rail aren't looking to sell direct, a stand at a model railway show would be a loss-leader to showcase product and nothing else. At the moment, there is only a single pre-production wagon to show off, hardly a stand filler at this stage even if they did want to appear at a show. Maybe by Warley when there is a range to put in front of people it might be worth the cost.

 

[250BOB]

I wondered if Oxford Rail might be getting its own title/heading soon, alongside  the larger manufacturers, similar to that which newcomer Minerva Models have got.

 

Just a thought...???

[Adams442T]

I wondered if Oxford Rail might be getting its own title/heading soon, alongside  the larger manufacturers, similar to that which newcomer Minerva Models have got.

 

Just a thought...???

 

I guess that Andy Y wanted to slot that in perhaps because Chris Klein (Ixion) is a known producer of Railway Products, and a new 0 gauge range is something a little more unusual.  I do agree though that Oxford Rail is undoubtedly going to come up with the goods, and perhaps deserves its own slot, a la DJModels.

 

Ours not to reason why..............................................

[Ozexpatriate]

I wondered if Oxford Rail might be getting its own title/heading soon ...

I do agree though that Oxford Rail is undoubtedly going to come up with the goods, and perhaps deserves its own slot, a la DJModels.

All in good time I think Gents.

 

There's no hurry.

[Robin Brasher]

The Oxford representative visited the Swanage Station shop a few days ago. I think he did a good job trying to sell the wagons. He told the manager that the wagons were cheaper than Bachmann's and were the sort of product holidaymakers would buy on impulse. He also said that the trade discount would be greater than Hornby are giving. The station shop used to sell Oxford Diecast 1/76 scale cars and they sold well.

[The Stationmaster]

The Oxford representative visited the Swanage Station shop a few days ago. I think he did a good job trying to sell the wagons. He told the manager that the wagons were cheaper than Bachmann's and were the sort of product holidaymakers would buy on impulse. He also said that the trade discount would be greater than Hornby are giving. The station shop used to sell Oxford Diecast 1/76 scale cars and they sold well.

Interesting that it seems sales talk is based on comparing things with the opposition, rather like party politics!  And beating Hornby's trade discount is hardly revolutionary as it stands at the moment - the worry would be if they were going to match it  

 

However it does perhaps show how Oxford see themselves positioning in the market - not as a niche manufacturer but hoping to join the mainstream and definitely using price as part of their strategy.  One can but wonder how they will manage to maintain that sort of differential as they too suffer the increases in costs associated with manufacturing in China - presumably being a relatively small concern they are happy to accept a much lower margin than the others?  It coul be very interesting to see the state of the model railway market in a few years time if they manage to establish themselves.

[petethemole]

As they own their own factory in China, they have an advantage despite increasing wage costs and local/national taxes; they don't have to contribute to another factory owners' profits and they don't have to compete for production slots. Hence their financial margin is lower than Hornby's. Obviously I'm unaware whether Kader charge their subsidiary Bachmann UK for a built-in profit margin at the production stage, but it wouldn't surprise me.

 

Pete

[Combe Martin]

I was in a local model shop today and paused to look at a cabinet full of Oxford vehicles.  They seem to have difficulty in knowing what scale they are though.  There were a lot of boxes containing small models about 1 -1 and 1/2 inches long, typically post and fire vehicles, vans and small lorries as an example.  The box said the scale was 1:76.  I would have said they were too small to be OO gauge but too large to be N gauge.  

 

In the same cabinet were boxes of larger models, I mean physically bigger (eg of a small fire engine) not models of MUCH larger vehicles.  They were about 4 inches long, but the boxes still said the scale was 1:76 .   Whether they were OO gauge I don't know, but it looks like Oxford are having difficulty here. 

 

If I was depending on Oxford to get things right I'd be a bit worried !.

[phil gollin]

.

 

Oxford models are pretty good to scale, and for their price VERY good.

 

They do a wide range of "OO" scale models (1/76th)  and smaller ranges of "N" (1/148th) and "O" (1/43rd)  and some other odds and ends  -  see ;

 

http://www.oxforddiecast.co.uk/

 

( They also do 1/72nd Carama. )

 

 

.

[PhilJ W]

I find Oxford are pretty near on target with regards to scale, a lesson some other manufacturers I can think of should heed.

[Roy P]

I was in a local model shop today and paused to look at a cabinet full of Oxford vehicles.  They seem to have difficulty in knowing what scale they are though.  There were a lot of boxes containing small models about 1 -1 and 1/2 inches long, typically post and fire vehicles, vans and small lorries as an example.  The box said the scale was 1:76.  I would have said they were too small to be OO gauge but too large to be N gauge.  

 

In the same cabinet were boxes of larger models, I mean physically bigger (eg of a small fire engine) not models of MUCH larger vehicles.  They were about 4 inches long, but the boxes still said the scale was 1:76 .   Whether they were OO gauge I don't know, but it looks like Oxford are having difficulty here. 

 

If I was depending on Oxford to get things right I'd be a bit worried !.

 

If you have a look at Hatton's website you will see the Oxford diecast vehicles pictured alongside a steel rule. Arm yourself with the dimensions of the real cars and vans they portray and your worries will soon disappear. 

 

Examples;

 

Original Mini scales down to 40mm

Mk1 Cortina = 56mm

Vauxhall Vectra =58mm

Land Rover "Disco" 3 = 63.8mm

 

For comparison

AEC RM = 110mm

"Borismaster" = 147mm

The 40ft box on the back of a truck a rather obvious 160mm (plus a big tractor unit!)

 

The Hattons images show that the recent crop of 1/76 road vehicles are actually pretty good scale wise.

The difference in bulk between an average family car and a large commercial vehicle (or a railway vehicle) may come as a surprise but I hope nobody has to find out the hard way!

 

RP

[250BOB]

I was in a local model shop today and paused to look at a cabinet full of Oxford vehicles.  They seem to have difficulty in knowing what scale they are though.  There were a lot of boxes containing small models about 1 -1 and 1/2 inches long, typically post and fire vehicles, vans and small lorries as an example.  The box said the scale was 1:76.  I would have said they were too small to be OO gauge but too large to be N gauge.  

 

In the same cabinet were boxes of larger models, I mean physically bigger (eg of a small fire engine) not models of MUCH larger vehicles.  They were about 4 inches long, but the boxes still said the scale was 1:76 .   Whether they were OO gauge I don't know, but it looks like Oxford are having difficulty here. 

 

If I was depending on Oxford to get things right I'd be a bit worried !.

 

Judging from the replies above, do we need to be worried.?  I sometimes look at these models and think the same thing on occasion....BUT, I havent done any proper measuring.

 

So are your thoughts based on anything other than perception, like me.???  OR......is it us that are wrong, and Oxford right...???

[Combe Martin]

My point was that there were 2 sets of models that were of different scales, which may be right, but the boxes for both said the scale was 1:76 

[railroadbill]

Being up in the loft (putting a ply facia along the edge of one of the baseboards, or should I say I'm in the process of putting...)  so I had a look in my box of boxes,  I've got 2 of the Oxford BSA motorcycle combination models, very nice they are too, but the box for one says correctly 1:76 and the other box says n scale. The models are the same size, and actually 1:76 (phew).     You had me worried and I had to go and measure them. 

That's the only time I've noticed the error, probably got more Oxford diecast than say cararama.

:-)

[Ozexpatriate]

Wagon and box illustrations are now on the Oxford Rail website with larger photographs of a wagon on MREmag.

[BG John]

Shame it's a 1923 RCH wagon. No good for use with the LSWR liveried Radial, or any use to me!

[teaky]

Shame it's a 1923 RCH wagon. No good for use with the LSWR liveried Radial, or any use to me!

You mean "... not a 1923 ..." ?

 

May be OK for the BR liveried version(s) though.

 

Nice looking wagons despite the inaccuracies.

[mikeharvey22]

Wagon and box illustrations are now on the Oxford Rail website with larger photographs of a wagon on MREmag.

Appears to be no risk of buffer locking when the wagons negotiate any curve.

[No Decorum]

Appears to be no risk of buffer locking when the wagons negotiate any curve.

That's a very tactful way of putting it.