peter220950 Posted February 22, 2016 Share Posted February 22, 2016 As a member of the Leamington and Warwick Club I spent much of last week in a vacant shop unit in the Priors Shopping Centre in Leamington, during half term week, to publicise our forthcoming show. (Where I look forward to welcoming and catching up with any visiting RMweb Members in our RMweb Lounge facility at the Show) http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/95733-the-leamington-warwick-mrs-41st-annual-exhibition-5th-6th-march-2016/&do=findComment&comment=2208217 Sadly it means I won’t be able to catch the Minerva launch, but news will doubtless spread like wildfire! The Club were there from Monday morning to Sunday afternoon, with a variety of layouts and a test track, I was operating an O gauge micro for much of that time. The layout was a Nigel Adams DC powered shed layout that had recently been purchased by one of our members. Less than 4 ft long, with three sidings and one point it has to be said that four days of non stop shunting has left me a bit doolally. The point of the post, however, is to record the performance of the loco’s. (Not how many rivets are missing!) Normally for an Exhibition I take two or three times the required number of loco’s needed, to cope with breakdowns, much of the time is also spent cleaning wheels and mechanisms, and all this for a two day Exhibition. For the seven days at The Priors we only used 4 loco’s on the O gauge layout, three in service at any time, just shunting them up and down tracks in and out of the Engine Shed, six hours at a time. The loco’s were an Ixion Fowler, an Ixion Hudswell Clarke, a Minerva Peckett, and a Dapol Terrier. They have all performed with exemplary behaviour, the only real problem being a dropped crank pin on the Hudswell Clark, which somehow has managed to vanish into thin air. Apart from a bit of track cleaning there was no need for wheel cleaning or maintenance of any kind. If the errant crank pin had been found repairs would have taken a couple of minutes, but the incident happened while others were on duty so I didn’t catch up with until 24 hours later, by which time it had vanished into thin air. The general observations are ten out of ten for the Fowler, which never missed a beat, along with its DCC counterpart that ran happily on the adjacent test track. No finger poking, just constant good behaviour without any hesitation throughout. The Peckett seemed a little less happy with some of the slightly less than perfect track joints, and needed the odd poke, so a quick look at the pick ups is probably in order. I did try my own Minerva Peckett out but it really needs a good run in to get it running more smoothly, none the less it’s a nine and a half for Minerva. With a bit of fettling I think it could be a 10. It may even be a bit harsh to mark it down, for the main problem was uneven track, the stalls happened at the same positions, the only justification for this harshness is that the Fowler just rolled over the track all day without issue. Once the decoder and keep alives are fitted to mine it’s unlikely that there will be any such problems. The Hudswell Clarke was running well until the middle crank pin incident, while I was absent, so its activities were curtailed on Thursday, so sadly another nine and a half. It wasn’t really the loco’s fault that the crankpin was lost, otherwise it would have been refitted and returned to smooth and uninterrupted performance. The Dapol Terrier was similarly impeccable in its behaviour, six wheel pick up overcoming any track issues, though again I think it needs a good session to run it in as it had a slight shudder in its gait when running, so for that reason it’s a nine and a half, or even three quarters. (Just downgraded back to nine and a half as I found a water tank vent missing this afternoon!) It will be interesting to revisit these findings on a layout with level track, DCC, fully run in loco’s and a single operator to spot issues such as loosening crank pins in time, then I’m pretty sure the verdict will be at least ten out of ten, if not eleven. All in all an exceptional performance over 7 days of almost constant use by modern RTR, under conditions that were more onerous than most Exhibitions, or casual domestic use. Well done, and thanks to Ixion, Minerva and Dapol, for providing loco’s that demonstrated to the Public that RTR 7mm is reliable, cost effective and well worth considering as a scale, I think we may have convinced a few people during the week. Peter Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
81A Oldoak Posted February 23, 2016 Share Posted February 23, 2016 Very interesting and thank you Peter. I feel that our little ones have just passed a very stiff Ofsted inspection. Do you need a replacement crankpin screw for the Ixion Hudswell Clarke? If so, please send me a PM with the details. Meanwhile, I suggest you put the platelayers to work. Regards, Chris Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter220950 Posted February 23, 2016 Author Share Posted February 23, 2016 Chris, Many thanks, they really did have a tough time. I worked on a similar 00 layout last year and even with DCC there were numerous breakdowns and a huge amount of stalling, .and they were locos with more wheels to pick-up with.. I had previously thought that modern loco's were like modern cars, and didn't require running in, but I suspect this was also a factor with the Peckett and Terrier, as they are both only a couple of months old, with no real track time, so I will give them a few hours on the Club roundy-round. The DC Fowler was just unbelievable, and made me wonder if the DCC one really needs the 'keep-alives'. Once again thanks for bringing your models to market, I shall continue to kit build, but there's plenty of room for both, roll on the next! Peter P.S. I will PM you regarding the crank pin, it's not my loco, but it's the least I can do to source a replacement for the guy that lent us the layout and a couple of loco's Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 What a great, positive OP! Truly a joy to read O Scale is really booming in this Country, & although there are some who feel that R-T-R is somehow "dumbing down" the scale, stuff like this shows where the future of 7mm lies, I think - affordable locos that run well from the off, rather than lots of kits that end up never finished, let alone capable of moving!! For those of us who grew up detailing OO R-T-R in the 1970/80's, this sort of thing is our logical progression. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Nth Degree Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 Very interesting report Peter! It may interest you to know that they are all manufactured in the same high quality factory, which gives me personally very high hopes. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 Very interesting report Peter! It may interest you to know that they are all manufactured in the same high quality factory, which gives me personally very high hopes. Is your promised Febuary Announcement nearly upon us? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hartleymartin Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 The issues with 0-4-0 locomotives is the same for RTR and Kit/Scratch built. Chances are that DCC with the stay alive capaciters will largely resolve things. I do wish that Ixion had put a flywheel in their Manning Wardles. The subsequent models with flywheels all operate much more smoothly. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Nth Degree Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 Ha! Thanks for keeping tabs! Unfortunately there has been a three week delay at the design and tooling engineering stage - not helped by the Chinese New Year. As mine is a bogie loco a whole new motor mount, cardon shaft design and geartrain has been required, not to mention PluX22 integration. Oh, if only for the simpler life of the 0-6-0! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Mike Bellamy Posted February 24, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 24, 2016 Ha! Thanks for keeping tabs! . As mine is a bogie loco a whole new motor mount, cardon shaft design and geartrain has been required, not to mention PluX22 integration. Oh, if only for the simpler life of the 0-6-0! Thanks for that additional information - so now we know it must have at least 8 wheels and not 4 or 6 and so it will have to be bigger that the previous offerings from Ixion, Minerva and Dapol - but your business is called 'The Little Loco Company' . . . . something not right there Whatever it is I wish you good luck - coming from the same factory and based on sales from the other 3 manufacturers mentioned above I'm sure it will be successful - but a huge gamble with your personal finances to get to this stage . . . . Mike Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
davefromacrossthepond Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 Glad to see the results were pretty much 3 for 3. Thanks for posting your "real world" findings. After doing my best to avoid 7mm, I finally broke down and purchased a Dapol Terrier. It looks, to use a word, wonderful. Now I just need to get my hands on some track! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
81A Oldoak Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 For obvious reasons, I am very pleased with this post. The designer and factory we use in Hong Kong is no secret. It is Helixon (HK) Ltd and Ixion has been with them since their and our early days. Indeed we have grown and prospered together. Helixon's first project for Ixion was the Coffee Pot 2-2-0 steam railmotor in 0n30. It was a very complex design and Helixon's design and engineering solutions were very clever and neat, winning their spurs for them and cementing our relationship. Helixon is also a good employer. When we were doing our due diligence to consider partners for Ixion we were very impressed on our visit with the state of the factory and the good working conditions and terms of service for the staff. It is no sweat shop and this ethical aspect of the business was very important to my Ixion partners and me. Thanks for that additional information - so now we know it must have at least 8 wheels and not 4 or 6 and so it will have to be bigger that the previous offerings from Ixion, Minerva and Dapol - but your business is called 'The Little Loco Company' . . . . something not right there Whatever it is I wish you good luck - coming from the same factory and based on sales from the other 3 manufacturers mentioned above I'm sure it will be successful - but a huge gamble with your personal finances to get to this stage . . . . Mike Mike, There is a way you can help to reduce the commercial risk... Chris Helixon was the obvious choice when Chris Basten and I set up Minerva. You can see some of Helixon's other work on their Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/helixonhk/?fref=ts The Manning Wardle was a limited run brass model and was designed and built in a different factory hence the different motor and transmission. Regards, Chris Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Nth Degree Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 Thanks for that additional information - so now we know it must have at least 8 wheels and not 4 or 6 and so it will have to be bigger that the previous offerings from Ixion, Minerva and Dapol - but your business is called 'The Little Loco Company' . . . . something not right there Whatever it is I wish you good luck - coming from the same factory and based on sales from the other 3 manufacturers mentioned above I'm sure it will be successful - but a huge gamble with your personal finances to get to this stage . . . . Mike It's called Little Loco Company because the models are smaller than the prototypes Sometimes a project can be more about money. I have three passionate 7mm modelling partners who have all bought into the ethos of Little Loco, along with a preservation society to whom Little Loco will donate a considerable sum to their restoration project. As the strap line in my signature below says, we are supporting our railway heritage with our models. Yes, it's a financial risk, but I hope that people will see the enourmous benefits in a purchase and feel comforted that they have helped bring back to life a part of history that could otherwise have been lost. I must also say that Chris Klein has been an immense help in this project, with tireless amounts of advice and support. Without him it would have taken twice as long to get half as far, so thanks again Chris! This is a distraction from the topic at hand, so apologies. As you were, gents! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Mike Bellamy Posted February 24, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 24, 2016 Thanks to Steve and Chris for their comprehensive replies and it's pleasing to see manufacturers / suppliers working together for mutual benefit and of course not forgetting the financiers in the background. A very interesting link Chris to Helixon - nice to see the 'Coffee-Pot again, and I also recognised products from Haskell and Wuiske which by coincidence are imported into UK by EDM Models. http://www.ngtrains.com/Pages/Haskell/haskall.html See you in 10 days time . . . . . . . . Mike . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 ...not to mention PluX22 integration. Oh, if only for the simpler life of the 0-6-0! Uh-oh.. now I'm worried, as I've never heard of "PluX22 integration" is it dangerous??? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeg Posted February 25, 2016 Share Posted February 25, 2016 Peter, I have an Ixion Fowler with DCC and no it does not need a stay alive, mine will crawl on speed step 1 and take 40min to do one circuit about 100ft so I think that proves the point! the chip is a Zimo 645 (I think). regards mike g Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
peter220950 Posted February 25, 2016 Author Share Posted February 25, 2016 Peter, I have an Ixion Fowler with DCC and no it does not need a stay alive, mine will crawl on speed step 1 and take 40min to do one circuit about 100ft so I think that proves the point! the chip is a Zimo 645 (I think). regards mike g Mike, I quite agree, having seen the DC version alongside my DCC one with keep alives I did wonder if they were really necessary, the only thing I have actively seen them doing is its party trick of running over 3 sheets of A4 paper laid along the track, and having it still chugging away after its been put away in its box. It restored my faith in running 0-4-0's and as you note the slow running is impressive. Not sure why it's so good over uneven track, I assume it's a very compatible combination of weight and wheelbase that is just right. Indeed the keep alives meant that I had been running the Fowler for a day on my layout before I noticed the slight buzz over one of the points, which it transpired had the frog incorrectly wired, and it was just running over it and shorting it out! Unless the Peckett has one dirty pick-up (which was a possibility I didn't explore) it occasionally stalled on the same track that the Fowler ran well on. I will try it on DC on my layout to see how it reacts before I fit the chip, but as I noted above it was a bit unfair to criticise it for stalling on uneven track. - An hour or two running in might see things bedded in better. Peter Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.