woodenhead

7 minutes ago, YT-1300 said:

A thing that amuses me is folk always jump to Accurascale making items for N, OO, TT etc etc (not singling you out @woodenhead) from my experience Cavalex, Bachmann/Farish and Revolution's items feel overall better quality.  Not denigrating Accurascale in anyway, their products are extremely good, I feel the quality and finish of the others is better.

I agree Farish, Dapol and Peco make stock that can be handled - I've lost a couple of bits off my Co-Bo, it felt more fragile.

It's really important as items get smaller that they can be picked up - there is less area to hold onto so it all needs to be more stable than you can get away with in OO or O.  From what I can see Hornby get this as well, the TT120 stuff looks designed to be picked up.

Obviously we cannot comment on how Accurascale will approach N gauge, but that robustness would mean less dangly add on bits which then reduces the fidelity a little and more in line with what Farish currently turn out.

Just now, Roy Langridge said:

But what is the lead-time for them deciding that N gauge is a go and them announcing something? Probably 18-24 months?
 

Given their new approach of only announcing when closer to delivery, it may be a case of no news is good news. 
 

Roy

It may well be, but the point I was making we just don't know and that makes it hard to make a decision in this case for the OP - It's no good us all going yep Accurascale must surely do a CDA and then the OP waits and waits and Accurascale do nothing or launch a loco, then some coaches, the minerals, HUOs, BYAs etc before getting to the one the OP wants.  It's not a given that the first item out of the N gauge Accurascale box will be a HAA and all it's variants.

Worse I don't think N scale can take the type of typical Accurascale launch, i.e. 19k of class 37s whilst also delivering Mk2 coaches and a whole load of other stuff on the horizon.  Even RevolutioN branched into larger scales and they have found the N scale community not able to fulfil enough to make a class 21/29 viable despite all those class 26/27s sold by Dapol.  The class 321 was also on restricted liveries because some did not cut the mustard with potential buyers.

The one thing in favour of a CDA though is perhaps a lot of the stuff recently in N has been very much of a privatisation era so that would lend itself to a CDA.  With retooled 56s coming some nice Accurascale HAAs would be nice for it to haul, though Farish has just done a load of them which might delay Accurascale doing them unless Farish were getting in before a big launch.

Are N gauge modellers fickle, would we dump lots of Farish HAAs for Accurascale ones - would the difference be enough to do that.  In OO the competition was the aging Hornby HAA with a massive jump in fidelity.  But in N that massive jump is a little more difficult to achieve as there is less detail to show simply because of the size reduction, yes they can be better but can they be that much better.

This part of the forum is quite quiet but there is no specific areas for modular and it's not a layou topic per se.

This chap appeared on my feed, he's using some interesting modules and Kato track to build stuff and it's a proper table top idea.

3 minutes ago, nickb4141 said:

I wonder I’d Accurascale are more likely to go down the TT route than N, but that’s just a hunch, so who knows? Only time will tell!
 

 

It's a difficult one, Accurascale were certainly courting us N gaugers last year but so far no sign of anything, and then earlier this month a hint at TT as well.

Then it depends what they propose and the timescales, where might a CDA be in that timescale, I would imagine if they do enter N it will be a 'when' for the CDA as you say the PECO one is quite old but it might be some time before Accurascale release one in N.  Accurascale have so much to choose from they might go with wagons not currently available first, or coaches or even locos, or they might jump straight in with the HAA and it's variants.

With everything model railways, it's always a case of how long is a piece of string.  Would not having CDA wagons spoil your model railway right now - you know if you are modelling a cornish branch with clay trains, or can you wait 1,2,3 or more years.

@Gilbert What was in this roped off area, it just seems to be an empty space

4 hours ago, nigb55009 said:

Freightliners 66504 and 66505 removed 90018 and 90040 from Crewe EMD yesterday. They were moved to the Freightliner Depot at Crewe Basford Hall. It is intended to

repair both locos before reinstating them to traffic. I don`t if these are the locos which you are referring to.

Well at least the modern DB does sell locos that can be returned to traffic, not like the old EW&S who simply dumped traction in the yards at Toton and Healey Mills and waited for the weather to do it's stuff.

2 hours ago, Gallows-Bait said:

 

The biggest issue for companies is the expectations of shareholders once you become publicly listed.

 

Private companies can also have similar expectations from their owners - 20% margin on everything, "I know you've been doing this years but now I want you to do this instead and stop doing the other thing".

The design of Making Tracks with it's four track mainline theme is quite suitable for a set of 4 DC circuits each with their own controller and just a few section breaks to seperate the trains.

But to show off the best of modern railway modelling and have lighting and sound at it's best you need to be running DCC, also due to the length I am going to guess that AC is a much better solution that DC, rather like the real thing really.

Maybe it needs it's own discreet wifi solution and channel to block out all the interference.

15 minutes ago, melmerby said:

A strange comment.

It's better suited than DC.

Miniatur Wunderland has 16.5km of track and is entirely controlled by DCC with Train Controller using 64 computers, try that with DC.

Not suited to large mobile layouts I think is more appropriate.

Making Tracks had problems at the start of Milton Keynes too, at Model Rail Scotland the massive Eastfield layout was having gremlins all day so much so I hardly saw anything move and never anything within the shed area.

I think the airwaves get a little crowded when all the people turn up, later in the day as things thin out I'll bet they have a lot less trouble operating.

I too thought it was CGI to begin with.

Too perfect!

Don't they say a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

Whilst we all expect Accurascale to enter N gauge, I would guess Cavalex might be a little reticent with their HAA seeing as they were usurped with the OO HAA and the class 91/Mk4.

If you want to model something now and you can obtain Peco CDAs - why not, you can always sell them if something better comes along, otherwise you might have a long wait.

Do you mean this chap?

56 minutes ago, StuAllen said:

 Just arrived, back of the queue is nearly round to hall 6

Glad I didn't go then, after Milton Keynes last year no thanks.

However, well done to Key, big crowds are what they needed to pay for this and big crowds they have got then.

1 minute ago, rob D2 said:

Do you think Lewis heart is still in it ?is it my imagination or is he outperformed by George a lot now 

He’ll be playing little part in the car development now beyond input. It’s clear he won’t be gunning for the title as the car is too off the pace so all eyes on 2025.

Then there is the mental challenge, he’s no longer as focussed on winning and I reckon that’s a mentality that has to be practiced constantly to keep sharp so he might be taking a different approach and caution might be straying into his mindset.

None of this is good if you ask me.  Hopefully he gets his focus back next season, if he stays in Vettel mindset he should retire.

2 minutes ago, OnTheBranchline said:

Keeping Lewis would have been cheaper… 

But he’s a lot older and dare I say it, he’s becoming Vettel.

This would open a massive door though for Sainz at RB.

3 minutes ago, Mol_PMB said:

Oh, don't all start speculating, they're just teasing us. There's an obvious reference to a Class 58 on the whiteboard too!

Ha ha, who's seeing things now lol

Someone care to explain the 7mm Titfield....

Not fair, all the best small shows are in the wrong half of the country!

7 minutes ago, rodent279 said:

That seems like a laughably half @$$ed solution.

The fact it has been running two weeks would suggest WCRC have found a loophole and intend to use it to force the ORR into an exemption.

The Mk1s provide a retention toilet and the Mk2s the door controls - such a pity they could not be contained in one coach, but I expect they will push to be allowed to have passengers back in the Mk1s from some new risk mitigation regime they cobble from this lash up.

38 minutes ago, Obi-Jiff Kenobi said:

Apparently Sauber/Audi (Saudi? Auber?) are still very keen to lock Carlos Sainz in to the other seat from next year. Would he risk potentially wasting his best years waiting for Audi to get fully on the pace, or is he more likely to hold out for a Mercedes seat on the basis that they have less far to go to return to the top?

Mercedes seem to be stuck - they went the wrong way, spent one and a half seasons trying to make it work before going the Red Bull way just as Newey began to go the Mercedes way.  The car is still slow comparitive to the McLaren and Ferraris, RB is still leagues ahead and I don't see Hamilton thinking he made the wrong choice in heading to pastures new.  I get the awful feeling they are now really targetting 2026 to get back up front when the regulations change again and they'll just tweak away at the current car to get on a par with McLaren and Ferrari, RB might implode I guess but they've a long way to fall before the stop winning races.

Sainz should have stuck with McLaren, but that door is firmly shut now.  Mercedes is the only viable option unless he does indeed spend a couple of seasons waiting for Audi to get a chance to put their real car onto the track.

Who'd be a racing driver without a seat, it's going to be a hard life lol.

Wonder where Danni Ric will end up though when he's dumped unless he suddenly finds his form again.

6 minutes ago, Mike 84C said:

 Hope this helps and  " well done the Welsh Government" for really  helping the heritage railway movement from which Wales derives a not inconsiderable amount of income and employment.

 

I think it's a little more complicated than the Welsh Government simply wanting to abolish coal, I think if it simply was an opencast mine working with it's neighbours in a sustainable way it might have survived a bit longer.

The last site was operating without a licence and there was a concern the land it occupied was not going to be fixed and made good for future use.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-67564413

Just now, John M Upton said:

And people still want her and Boris back.....

Not to mention the orange one.

14 minutes ago, 37114 said:

No idea I am afraid, I guess a bit of headline marketing. Nice to see 37108 smartened up, it has been a coat of many colours for years and it looks to have had a load of missing bits put back on it. Also it looks like it is on the move from Crewe to the Great Central Railway so imagine was a way to spread the cost

Also way to go when trying to make a show about general modelling not be focussed on trains when the centrepiece and the centrepiece model are both railway.  How about a boat or even a fighter plane as a centre piece - something different and a statement that it's not just model railways. 

But perhaps the main draw is model railways and Key just needed the 'model world' bit so as not to tred on Warley's toes as as model railway show, this show was certainly being spoken of before Warley cancelled their slot.

Apparently DB has started scrapping the dumped 90s at Crewe.

What is the pre-occupation with shows at the NEC needing a centre piece - what purpose does it serve?

You can't buy it, you can't watch it run and it must cost one of the sponsors a fair wad to transport it there and back.

That could be prime selling space, another model or a cost reduction somewhere to make the show cheaper to operate.

I know it was a Warley thing, but I sometimes wondered when things are tight, why?