Chris M

If I want to spend hours comparing my model to an original I will go O gauge and have a class 50 running slowly up and down a short piece of track. In N gauge I run trains through scenery and I like the models to look right but they do not get close up scrutiny because they are running. In this context the new class 50 will be very good. It will be running on rails that are too high through bends that are too tight with a train which is too short (although 8 coaches looks about right to me) and have a ridiculously large coupling between it and the coaches. The coaches will all have a stupidly large gap between them. In this context the loco is very good. I always weather my locos gently, remove the front coupling and add front end detail. Its amazing how many people with model railways even at exhibitions don't do this. What I'm saying is this loco is perfectly fine for an N gauge loco and the use it is going to get. When I look in detail at the Dapol Western or Farish Warship there are a number of issues but they are still fine models and a very goo representation of the real thing.

Thanks.

It's all starting to come together. This is just a draft of course. SVRLad I will let you know when the show magazine is printed.

Starting to get Little Aller Junction ready for the trip to Taunton.....I just hope the weather on the layout improves.

What is SWAG?

Dad's army might have been a good one as a couple of episodes included a train. Also last of the summer wine had an episode of two on a preserved railway. Plenty of inspiration for animation based on the stunts on LotSW.

Even Morrison's have abandoned us N gauge enthusiasts.

I couldn't get to this show but would have liked to. Sounds like it has been successful which is great. The trade mix will be partly down to who was invited but also down to whether trade exhibitors were prepared to take the risk of getting sufficient revenue to cover the costs involved. People criticise box shifters and yet those are the stands that are so popular that they make sufficient sales at these shows. I'm surprised lighting was a problem. You can be sure that lighting in exhibition venues will be variable so surely all decent exhibition layouts should have their own lighting.

Another enjoyable episode. It may not be the best quality modelling but all the teams have achieved a huge amount in a short time. Well done to all. The great thing about the programme is the sense of fun that is portrayed. Including animation in the challenge adds to the fun. It is after all meant to be entertainment.

I'm happy with my Dapol steamies. They look good and the ones with traction tyres pull well. The wires between tender and loco are a pain as is the cardan shaft if they are handled badly. The more they run the queiter they are. Announcements so far suggest Dapol will have fixed many issues on this model.

I can only assume caravan manufacturers make more money than model railway equipment suppliers

Maybe it only takes one shop to create an expectation. I'm interested in purchasing an e-bike. After asking at just a few shops I found I was being quoted the list price at one shop and then offered a discount straight away without any input from me. So, having had a discount offered at one shop I have found myself asking other shops what their best price is. I wouldn't have done that if one hadn't offered me a discount without being asked. Maybe it's the same in the model railway world. Once one model shop has offered a discount without being asked the buyer will expect the same at all shops. A good e-bike is of course considerably more than most locos. .

Must be old. I remember them most in South Devon when my children were young. And before that on WCML. I still think of them as a new diesel loco.

So long as you know the times of the trains I reckon catching a train one or two stops is not much different to catching a bus to the NEC car park and queuing to get out. £16 is a ripoff. It could be argued that everyone going to the caravan show, including those arriving by train have paid towards the cost of car parking in their admission ticket. The NEC is of course now owned by a "business development" company.

I hope people aren't too hard on the Missenden crew when they meet them; it was clearly a bit of a wind up and it did make great TV. I'm sure they are good lads who like a bit of a laugh and played along with the people in charge of the programme. All three layouts were great examples of what can be achieved in a small time if you put your mind to it. I congratulate all three teams on their work. The show also provided some thoughts for me. For my next project I may well follow the programme's lead and pre-make some buildings before I start building the baseboards. That way I can see if I can make the buildings to the quality I want before investing a lot of time in building the baseboards and laying the track. This approach will allow me to concentrate more on the buildings as they will be my sole focus when being made. Also if and when I get round to the layout the build time will be reduced. The second thought starter was animation. Exhibition layouts are built to entertain others and animation is a great means of providing entertainment. Visitors do tend to smile and enthuse when they see good animation on a layout. There are examples of good quality animation at exhibitions but it is still relatively rare. We often don't link animation with serious modelling but I think it is an area that could well do with more thought for exhibition layouts.

I think you will find those who pay for this forum are also the moderators. All things considered I reckon the moderators here allow quite a lot that wranckles them to stay.

It's in a completely different league to the old Farish one. This one does capture the look of the real thing so I say well done Dapol. I still say we should concentrate on the positives rather than the negatives. After all the work they have done I can imagine those in charge at Dapol reading this and deciding not to bother with any more N gauge developments.

I enjoyed it. The winners were worthy. The amount achieved in three days by each team was quite something. I quite liked the way one team tried to break the rules and thought they were the dogs doo dahs but weren't. There are plenty like that in the hobby. Series link is in place.

As the production models are due into the UK by the end of this year and these are decorated samples it is unlikely that anything can be changed now. This being the case I would rather concentrate on how good these are rather than what faults they have. I saw the decorated samples today at Kidderminster and was very impressed. To me they certainly looked the part and I will be very happy to purchase one. People running down the model at this point may potentially damage sales which in turn will reduce the chances of further new models from Dapol. That can’t be a good or clever thing to be doing. So far as I am concerned this is a great model which captures the real thing very well.

I think it's a shame that people seem to want to spend their time picking nits. It's a very nice model and I will be very happy to run one on my layout. I say thanks to Dapol for going ahead with this. The samples I have seen today certainly capture the character of the loco very well.

So the 20% of us who model N gauge are of no interest.

There is an element of risk when paying up front that you will get nothing or be disappointed with the product. The amount of cash required is hardly earth shattering do it isn't a big risk. I think the bigger risk is that if too many of those who promised to fund don't pay up then this project will fail and the chances of any other N gauge loco crowdfunding projects in the future are severely reduced .

That’s gives us about five years to save up then!

The great thing about this layout is that it easily moved and stored

A few more