JSpencer

I ran one Bachmann 4MT for over 30 minutes. And stopped running after it had that hot motor type smell. I could feel the heat coming through the plastic body. I took her apart thinking maybe the chip or the motor. But it was Bachmann's bit of electrical circuitry where the 8 pin plug goes in. Power supply was a Hornby DCC system, although the loco was controlled via blue tooth app only. I have 2 other Bachmann locos (5MT, 9F) with an identical set up, so I will try those to see if they too get hot after 30 minutes. I would imagine, this will happen whether or not the loco is running or simply static waiting for instructions. No stay alive in any of these. The 4MT found a few dirt spots on the layout which the track rubber solved on the first few laps (pick ups are drivers only on this loco).

Yeah I thought it was odd too...

Well I received a second van today. A V16 vs V17 that I received before. The body between them are the same but underframe and roof details differ.

Bachmann have done at least 3 runs of the original CEPs in Green and Blue/grey. The 4-VEPs have only had 1 run of each all blue, NSE (initial run) then blue/grey a few years later that was discounted within a couple of months in a fire sale never to be seen again until recently in later liveries. It is rather odd looking flea bay right now. Green CEP for around £150, refurbished CEP for over £550 non sound!!

Yeah I could do a layout with only Bulleids like as if he became chief mechanical engineer of BR. And thus it came to be for the whole of BR was full with Bulleid diesels, Bulleid Electrics, the west countries growing to cover all regions, the merchant navies on all the mainlines, the Q1s covering all freights, but even all of those would bow before the Leaders.... (Edit : F*in autocorrect)

Perso, I was finding KR themselves to be relatively quiet but as they were at the show over the weekend, it was good to hear something about them. Despite it's flaws, I am tempted to order a second leader....

Thanks for the news. Good to see an update as I thought things were a bit quiet here recently.

I've still a few of those left to build! The palvan was never on my list as a model to build but being in RTR, I can get a few to add my already nice range of mixed BR (and BR coloured) vans. I did recently complete 7 Cambrian kits of SECR types (in SECR colours). All but 1 are now done by Rapido and Bachmann. And I have all the Bachmann/Rapido models, but this still did not stop buying and building Cambrian versions. Are they equal to the RTR offerings? No. Are they cheaper, yes, even with paint transfers etc, I get 2 kits done for the price of 1 RTR wagon. Can they run next to each other or with each other? yes they can. I also complete my kits with full working link couplings something few RTR ones have.

Very welcome news. Looking at the variants that they are suggesting, I'll be in for a few. And what is also good, is that Bachmann now recognise that some modelers need a little more time to save up between announcement (of all new tooling) and availability and that the quarterly news was often not enough time for people to do so. (Admittedly a van is not normally something that will break the bank, however items at the other end of the scale like a refurbished 4-CEP probably sunk a few hearts on how were they going to find the funds for it quickly). Details will be out in May but you can bet Johnny Walker will be amoung them.

Would that be Non DCC fitted or DCC fitted but without sound?

In practice, what you say happens IF the cost of goods is above 150eur, however below that, under IOSS, I have to send a French customs receipt back to the UK shop for them to credit me back the VAT which they (the UK shop) then reclaim from French Customs..... Believe me I have been through this exercise enough times over the past couple of years. On the plus side, sometimes they forget to charge VAT as well!

https://taxation-customs.ec.europa.eu/document/download/7bfb45b8-1f40-48b5-88e0-07960bf7ff9e_fr?filename=TAXUD-2022-00827-00-00-FR-TRA-00.pdf

I agree with who is responsible, but the rules are written whereby the its the sender who refunds and not the customs!

Why? IMHO Bramble is much better than Freelance....

In my case, it went to the E-BAY warehouse and was perfectly and correctly marked out with all the IOSS labels and still some idiot missed it at customs. And because it was less than £140, you have to reclaim it back from E-Bay. The thing is, if I ask for the thing to be delivered to someone in the UK, I pay no VAT at all! In the UK, you can buy it for say £100 with £5 postage. We get £100 + £20 VAT + £9 admin + £15 postage (£144 so far). And if customs miss it, then another £30 on top (admin + VAT) so £174..... This leads to things like a perfect condition secondhand class 33 which would normally sell for £10 or £20 cheaper than new, that ends up costing more than new by almost 40%.... (with no warranty).

Of course, I'll let them figure it out but when I worked for the signal box, foreign sales were 15% of them.

When you buy on e-bay a UK based item outside the UK, even if it is a private sale, E-bay gives you a VAT/Importation charge. And this does not avoid you paying additional importing charges when the item arrives anyway (and a right cow to get the money the back). I've given up on E-Bay now. Waste of time. Rails does sometimes post PO on their own website which is more efficient for me.

To war with the WD version of the van. Mixed with other WD/Military wagons and 2 Rapido SECR brake vans....

An pre-grouping loco on a PO mineral train is quite impressive site. The ones here are Bachmann (seven 1990s versions with big couplings and metal wheels note also the crude brake gear, 2 later ones with better chassis and NEM pockets) all except one from other regions, the rest being Dapol (EKR, KESR and Kent based POs). These Dapol wagons all have metal wheels and NEM sockets but use old Dublo (?) bodies. The brake vans are Rapido. Next Year it will be great to see Rapîdo RCH replace most of these wagons and O1 on the front 😀

Indeed I feel £180 is about right.

It should also be noted that the Rapido GN wagon has "Loco" marked on it meaning it would have been used for loco coal use and I guess would never have quitted the GN. There are GWR and GCR in the first RCH batch which I have ordered.

Depending on their age, I've a mix of plastic wheels with metal axles, metal wheels on split axles (that do not exactly run true) and finally metal wheels with metal axles. While some have NEM sockets and modern wheels, the bulk are 1990s products that I wish to replace.

I am wanting to add more PO wagons of Rapidos, so far only 2 on order in PO colours (along with 11 SECR ones, 2 LBSC and 1WD). Even with the excellent John Arkell book, I have not been able to determine any of the others appearing in the south east. My desire is to replace a dozen old generic Dapol and Bachmann POs with big couplings and plastic wheels....

Grey was used by the SECR from wartime until the end of pre-grouping. Full Wainwright livery stopped around 1911 on goods engines with simplified (not much simplified taking over). From say - 1914 - Maunsell green started to be used (see accurascale P class 178) for a couple of years with only a small percentage of locos were painted before grey took over. So SECR grey would have been around for quite a while into the 1920s alongside SR liveries carrying an "A" suffix number. It would be unlikely that any Wainwright livery loco would have missed a repaint between 1914 and 1921. Invoking rule 1 is probably your only choice I'm afraid.

Not only the Rails 3 packs, but also the additions for LBSC, NE and additional SECR ones can be found in an additional thread here: