RateTheFreight

I’m in the same boat. Would absolutely love one or more not just for their domestic potential but the ability to model SAR too. I’m sure I’d heard somewhere on the grapevine that one of the manufacturers had been to scan them but can’t find any formal reference to that. g

Great news for the continued investment & faith in the ever expanding OO9 market. Who’d of thought 5 years ago we’d be in this position. Hopefully this means a RTR NGG16 Garratt is a distinct possibility! g

I’ve taken the plunge and pre-ordered a blue 08. My model railway journey started with a OO layout in my parents garage. It had minimal scenery, no fixed location or timeframe but provided countless hours of joy of watching anything & everything running round with the odd bit of basic shunting too. As I got older I could appreciate the base concept of grouping running sessions around models from the same era but the same pure joy of watching trains go by never dissipated & even became therapeutic during exam stresses etc of my teenage and early 20’s years. Since then I’ve aspired to build all manner of ‘proper’ layouts dabbling in everything from N gauge to OO9 to coarse scale O gauge (which I still love & collect) but have never got round to it despite buying copious amounts of stock. I’ve had plenty of time & resource to do something but never have which tells me something. As someone who works on the railways I have an interest that spans railway history & so struggle to focus on one particular era which in turn I think has contributed to not building a ‘proper’ time & place based layout. Don’t get me wrong, I love seeing the skilled work of others & all that goes with it (although I’m not a fan of rivet counting) however I’m rapidly concluding that even if I could do that, it wouldn’t satisfy that same thrill I got from that early garage layout. That might cast me as someone not serious about the hobby however I’d argue it’s very much a hobby of each to their own hence my love of coarse scale o gauge tinplate. I’ve now got my own young son and have concluded that the space I have isn’t big enough for OO but could be for the ‘track mat’ style layout in TT which wouldn’t be far off what I grew up with. Perhaps he’ll become interested in it or perhaps he won’t in which case I’ll have something basic I can enjoy with a hopefully ever expanding range. Gregory

For anyone who has pre-ordered something from the range & has also joined the club, at what point does the 15% discount mentioned kick in? I’ve attempted to pre-order an 08 but so far there’s no sign of the discount being applied. G

I might have missed it in the previous 30 odd pages but has anyone any thought as to the lack of Southern region locos or stock mentioned in any of the initial phases of launch? I’d of thought a WC/BoB, coaches and something like a Brighton Belle set might have fitted the range nicely. Perhaps they’ll come at a later date should demand keep the range going (which I personally hope it does). g

Membership to the ‘TT’ club is currently free instead of £30 for a limited time for anyone interested. G

Apologies if these have been answered before but is there a list of lengths for the locos, coaches and planned 4 wheel box wagons? Likewise, is the 610mm/2ft min radius curve refer to commercially available OO track & pointwork (is it 4th radius?). They all look stunning, particularly the locos with the amount of metalwork. I imagine they have a nice ‘heft’ when handling too! Very tempted for a micro project/shelf layout. G

Evening all, Were there any routes whereby you’d of feasibly seen the last days of the GWR steam rail motors coincide with the introduction of the the first batch of ‘gwr’ diesel railcars? If the dates of my basic research are correct it would have to be circa 1933-35. As an aside, would any of the rail motors have been kept as backup for any mechanical failure on the railcar front or had most been converted to auto coaches by this stage? G

Afternoon all, For the purposes of a micro layout and because I’m a fan of older EMU’s how prototypical is it to run the likes of a 2Bil, 2Hal, 2Hap, 2EPB etc in two car formations? I gather they normally ran in greater combined formations but are there examples of regular services that just used 2 car formations? some of the books I have on the Tyneside electrics indicate they perhaps did but I’m less sure about on Southern territory. TIA G

Afternoon all, hopefully someone is able to help. What’s the largest ‘A4’ (or ‘A3’ of anyone knows where to find one) dimension wise people have found. I managed to get some that are 28 x 38 cm but could do with something slightly larger. Welcome any suggestions be they traditional box files or storage boxes ideal for this type of modelling. G

Out of interest which loco hauled the inaugural service on the line? Might it get a starring role in the proposed closing festivities? G

Just purchased one having been a fan of Kato products for a while now. I’ve always been interested in the Harton Electric Railway and whilst I appreciate this loco bears no more than a very very very passing resemblance to #1 or #2 given mine will be running round very tight radius Kato track in a box file and I’ve always been a fan of things that look right to me in spirit than rivet counting detail I’m sure I’ll be happy. In the absence of any RTR small electric locos I’m happy to create a micro n gauge electric railway with atmosphere that will keep me and my little baby boy entertained!

The GCR livery has always been an attractive pre-grouping livery IMO. with regards to the model in GCR green but with L&NER does anyone have any idea what timeframe it would have appeared like this? I’m naturally assuming post grouping but intrigued how long it would have lasted before a re-paint into LNER livery. As a side, whilst acknowledging they ran ex Marylebone would they have appeared on the non electrified Met route taking over from electric traction at Harrow or later Rickmansworth? G

Didn’t someone propose an N2 many moons ago in N? I’d love one personally especially in GNR livery.

I’m currently reading the excellent ‘Harton Electric Railway’ by Hatcher and it’s a fascinating system. I’d not heard of it before I randomly stumbled across it through a YouTube video of it in the 80’s. it’s amazing that the company showed such foresight to invest in an electric railway. It looks an excellent system to model albeit as a non kit builder the RTR offerings are slim. I did however think it could be a loose option for my proposed G scale garden railway as the below LGB electric loco if repainted seems to have a passing resemblance to #E2.... Greg

Thanks for the feedback folks. I think regrettably kit building (esp in N) is beyond me. I suspect other manufacturers are wary of producing anything Bachman have done in OO EMU wise for fear of eventual duplication. hopefully we’ll see something one day but for now I suspect I’ll have to try and fit in OO. g

Evening all, Apologies if this has been asked/discussed before. I’m looking to build a small end to end layout and ideally would love to use southern region EMUs (EPB, MLV, HAL,etc) but am debating scale. Given my size constraints N gauge would make much more sense however the rolling stock id like to use seems only available in OO. Has Bachman ever mooted the idea of scaling down its OO Southern EMU/DEMU offerings into N? Can folks see it as inevitable at some point? If I thought there was a realistic chance they might I’d be tempted to wait appreciating this still could be years. The situation isn’t helped by the Class 411 seeming to be pretty rare at present and the forthcoming Class 319 being too modern for my tastes. thanks in advance. G

Evening all, I have the kernel of an idea in mind for a small end to end layout in OO for which the main focus would be the operation of 2-car EMU’s or DEMU’s (3rd. Rail) but with the ability to run something else (i.e small loco hauled freight, single car parcel unit or MLV, etc). Aside from Croxley Green (already researched) I’d welcome any suggestions of interesting stations on either the Southern Region or the electrified sections of the North East for which 2 car EMU/DEMU operation was prototypical for me to research further. Whilst I’m not looking to replicate a real location exactly I’m hoping to take the best parts from suggestions to make my own hypothetical location. thanks in advance. G

Afternoon all, Does anyone know the origins of the Quarry Hunslet name ‘Cackler’? It strikes me as an unusual name and presume it had some meaning behind it. On a wider note there seems to be some other interesting names given to the various variations that made up the group of locos particularly ‘King of the Scarlets’, ‘Holy War’, ‘Nesta’ , ‘Rough Pup’ etc. Again any information anyone has on general origins for the names of the Quarry Hunslets would be of interest. G

There’s going to be 30 of them. Exciting times ahead for us! https://www.railopsgroup.co.uk/news

Hello, Having been reading the delightful book ‘Glasgow Trammerung’ I noticed an interesting picture showing a small electric loco hauling a freight train on the system in the Govan area bound for a shipyard. Does anyone have any further information on the locos or the use of freight on the Glasgow system? many thanks in advance. G

Thanks for the info Mark, I think I’ve seen you discuss them on one of the tinplate Facebook groups. That’s a great collection! Out of interest, should I ever be lucky enough to own an original (the reproduction ones do look lovely too and I’m a big fan of modern tinplate) are the motors AC or DC (ie would I need to purchase a step converter?) Greg

Evening all, I’ve been enjoying watching various YouTube videos of Standard or Wide Gauge tinplate layouts that seem to pop up particularly around the festive season. One thing I am curious about is whether the generic diesel electric locos produced by the likes of Ives and Lionel were actually based on a prototype of any sort? I know from a gauge perspective it doesn’t necessarily correspond to anything but they seem an unusual design for the era made. I do like the fact that the likes of Ives churned out these locos and accompanying coaches in different liveries, the ‘grey ghost’ being my favourite so far. its also heartening to see how well made these were by the fact they seem to operate well despite being 100+ years vintage. Greg

I finally caved and ordered Lucknow and will have to build a small end to end for it to run on. One thought it did have in terms of a layout theme was somewhere near the Chance &Hunt factory in the Black Country as I’ve a number of wagons. Dad’s from Tipton took but am I safe to assume these would have run in the area? G

Out of interest does anyone know the reasoning behind the Individual naming of the class? A quick glance at the list seems to show there was no consistency in theme, some being named after historical figures, others after places in the Empire and some mythical beasts thrown in too! Looks a lovely model though! G