rogerfastlane

The Bachmann comment was based in their own website re dummy locos costing approx the same as powered with a lower margin as they cannot command anywhere near the same price, so there IS price pressure on them. Also many n gauge promised Dapol models for 2018 have been shelved or delayed - again according to their own website. Would love to go to O gauge like my brother in law but space really does not allow. Entry cost for modern new models is prohibitive for younger modellers, so scouring the s/h market is a good way to get going, but even s/h prices seem to be escalating as good quality later n gauge stock is at a premium as the new prices rocket. Many higher end model manufacturers with niche market intentions will be able to enter the market as their set-up fees are not really on-par with high volume producers as they do not invest in hard injection mould tooling or the number of assemblers etc required for these quantities. One SHOULD assume that volume=cheapness, but with the rather limited numbers of UK sales, no real economy of scale is possible and costs are pro-rata. Chinese labour costs are still lower than UK, but add shipping and duty and batch production (rather than continuous) and the limited headroom for retail price and it is these bigger manufacturers that get squeezed. UK assembly MAY be an option and would love to see this done again. Anyone know the real relative costs with UK NI, pension contributions, maternity/paternity leave, paid holidays and business rates plus corporation tax, vs a Chinese manufacturer with few (if any) of these overheads ? 3D printing is a good way to go for low volume but build costs are much higher than injection moulding (IM) so fills a great gap in the rare model market, but will never match IM at maybe 10p a shot for a bare passenger coach body (without tooling amortisation). How does this get to be £30-ish finished? I see a comment or two re-kit versions and do think this could be a way to go. With maybe a ready built and tested loco rolling chassis a painted bodyshell and a set of detailing parts for the modeller to fit and decals to apply, a fair amount of the labour cost could be taken out - though how this would relate to the bottom line is hard to tell as manufacturers do need to keep a decent margin to survive. Electronics at the level of DCC technology is dirt cheap yet the added cost is ridiculously high. These added costs push loco prices sky high and may actually detract from sales. With a smaller increment over DC they might actually shift MORE units as n gauge modellers might actually be able to afford to upgrade while at the current price point they cannot. Similarly for newcomers with little cash to spend - how can they get a toehold in the n gauge scene at the current prices? Love some of the new UK outline models, but the prices and durability leave a lot to be desired. Been buying some US outline models and Kato, Model Power etc are doing some very nice steam era models (and have done for a while) at historically reasonable prices, but Bachmann US prices are also pretty high now. I guess we are paying for the sophistication of the newer models and possibly the lower uptake of the game by the younger generation, so lower overall volumes? A big issue for the hobby and manufacturers - just hope we can "square the circle" to keep UK n gauge vibrant and viable. Maybe need to up my modelling skills and do some more and better scratch building where the labour time is my own and both "free" and satisfying?

Hi, yes, I went to Brixton East before it closed and took a few photos- now unfortunately lost in various moves. There are some great pics online taken before electrification of the lighting and I recall the gas lights there and hung around to see them lit when I took the pics back in the 1960s. Unfortunately still no pics of Brixton station buildings at platform level or the same trackside views of Forest Hill - given the busy nature of the station a strange omission? Hope someone out there has some pics in a drawer soemwhere? A few pics attached of my WIP CAD model of Forest Hill (if I can figure out how to attach...).

Yo Electronic switch cleaner cleaner IPA is often "with water" (w/w) so not 100% and does not work too well. It absorbs water from the air so always close the lid. You can get 99.9% online for ~£6.33/Litre freepost and does not remove rivet detail like wet and dry paper will. Always check solvency on an unseen area first to ensure you don't make an unintended mess of the plastic model or paint finish. You often have to rub quite hard and flood a fair amount of IPA around (leave for a few minutes to soften the paint) to get a result. Underneath any decal/legend it may often be shiny (ok for new decal?) and rubbing will polish the area a little so a refinish will be necessary.

Hi, I have also recently become hooked on US Railroads and there is a phenomenal amount of data available online for free. Most of the RR companies have dedicated enthusiast groups with free published data, photos and histories - as have specific locomotive, coach and freight car types. There are also great Kalmbach (and others') publications at reasonable prices documenting all eras of US Railroading available on Amazon Books - try to buy from UK sources or shipping + duty can make "cheap" books very expensive. Youtube is an invaluable source of original railroad company, archive and enthusiast videos. I have stuck with n gauge (n scale in the US?) because I already have UK experience in this gauge and think that the generally larger US freight cars, coaches, locos and trains need the extra room available in (nom) 2mm if running prototypical train lengths. Often you read of confused "scale" information, but if running HO no problem (?), but in "n" people often confuse the sizes, so US n scale (this should really be n gauge - eg 9mm track gauge) is 1:160th scale - the same as most European modelling, while UK is 1:148 scale, This means that for the same prototype, the UK model would be about 10% bigger than the US. Of course few rolling stock models translate for use across the Atlantic so not really an issue. The US loading gauge is generally much bigger than in the UK so locos and rolling stock are much higher and wider there - obvious from the pre-war images of the Coronation Scot visit to the US vs the Royal Blue () - just to confuse the modeller! US Railroad models are available from a few suppers in the UK new and several second hand and the private vendors seem to do particularly good deals as US outline models appear to be a niche market (unless brass models that are very expensive everywhere), but if you go to ebay and use ebay.com as your search engine, you get full access to US vendors - often substantially cheaper than UK but beware of the shipping and duty charges. I buy about 25% from the US and 75% from the UK - using the dotcom site for models or parts that I cannot easily get in the UK. Private US vendors seem as good or better than the UK and when I have had minor problems they have been very generous trying to resolve and had a few great conversations via ebay with the vendors about the hobby and original railroad history. I got into US modelling through reading about steam loco development in "The Steam Locomotive a History" by David Ross (Tempus Publishing) - incidentally, in my opinion a very well written book - and found out that American development is quite undervalued by most UK railway history writers while my photography interests were stimulated by O.Winston Link's images of the last steam on the Norfolk and Western. As I also like American blues & folk, these have a lot of railroad songs and sounds associated with them, as well as the railroads providing one of the main routes for people migrating from the South up to Chicago where the electric blues started. Also a fan of noir movies, there are often great background shots or even parts of the story closely associated with railroads and they were filmed and used as plot drivers from Buster Keaton's "The General" (1926) to Hitchocks "Strangers on a Train" (1951) and more, so an endless supply of enjoyable historical source material contained in some compelling movies. Although fascinated by the steam era, I can see the appeal - particularly of war-bonnet Santa-Fe - diesels and the different (for us) infrastructure, scenery and rolling stock. There were many more companies running in the US until much later in the day before Amtrak took over (compared to the big 4 & BR) so there is a massive range of options in terms of prototypes, although as some respondents have already warned, a lot of model manufacturers just badge locos for different lines and often these are wrong in quite major detail features, so worth checking with the prototypes first to see if the railroad you want to model and buy-for is actually available and locos/rolling stock reasonably correct. Spares may be an issue for US prototype models in the UK, though Gaugemaster can get many parts you can often go direct to the manufacturers like Atlas, Bachmann etc via their websites and spares are often available though sell out quickly for old models and then become super expensive or just not available at all, so buying any second hand loco can be bit of a lottery. Kato do sell some parts direct from Japan and really set the standard for running quality, though some finishes look a little "plasicky" the detail is often very good . Model Power make very good models as well that have also gained a good reputation, while Rivarossi can be quite cheap, look pretty good but the older motors were not that durable. As the US market size is around 10x that of the UK and the level of disposable income is much higher in the USA, the number and range of models is amazing and the modelling standard can be phenomenal. Although I do tinker a bit I do use mainly RTR and do some repairs/refinishing and on that basis you can certainly get quickly hooked. Layout plans still in my head rather than on the baseboard due to imminent move - hope you get something running and enjoy the jump to American Railroading.

Just seen that Hornby are in financial difficulties again and looking for a further bail out. Sales have been poorer than expected and manufacturing costs are rising. Target younger customers are not that interested in railways so not bringing enough new blood into the fold. I also just read in the n Gauge Society mag that Dapol will not be introducing any further dummy locos as the cost is nearly the same as powered ones due to the amount of manual labour required to affix the detailing parts. Chinese manufacturing costs have risen substantially over recent years so things are looking rather bleak for UK outline model railway manufacturers. I saw a youtube vid of Atlas still manufacturing in the USA so it IS still possible to make and pay western workers, but with a much bigger target customer base in the USA compared to the UK, possibly this does make it viable. Hard to come up with a solution, but maybe Dapol should offer their locos in kit form? Take out the bulk of the labour cost and bring the price point down to allow modellers to buy more often and the money paid does not go offshore. PECO still make model kits for rolling stock at great prices, but the range is rather limited and finishing difficult as they do not seem to include decals (why not?) DCC etc adds big costs to the model railway hobby when this should be really cheap, Electronics cost VERY little to produce but seems to be a cash-cow for manufacturers who use this to offset their poor profitability on basic plastic injection moulding and assembly. DCC cost should be a very minor addition (say £10) with another £5 for a small loudspeaker for sound. Where will British model railway manufacturing go? With Bachmann and Dapol + Hornby all struggling to get new models into the market and make a profit things do look rather bleak. Big Tinplate O gauge does OK at the top end of the market but this is not where most UK railway modellers are focused. I hope Hornby survive but they need to reduce operating costs and this usually means staff and range of products - a downward spiral. BTW why did Hornby drop the superior and less obtrusive "buckeye" coupling in favour of the old Triang one? In the US miniature buckeyes or similar are used on all gauges and seem to work fine and look better. If you are going for fine model detail sticking on a large obtrusive coupling rather loses the point. Any thoughts by you guys out there? We are the customers that these manufacturers rely on but they don't seem to have a handle on how to sustain their businesses in the current climate.

Hi pb-devon. Unfortunately none of the sites show trackside/station platform views of Brixton station at all except the 1st vid (link broken) that I have already seen and it only shows looking towards Victoria from the platform so shows the signal box and Brixton Rd buildings but no station detail. Urban75 seems even more devoid of useful old images and the London Metropolitan Archive shows nothing when searching for this, so no progress. Similar for Forest Hill. I do have the Railway Magazine article on Forest Hill that shows exterior views and have found a few old images online but as previously commented only 2 images of the station appear in searches and neither shows the last Victorian station with any track/platform detail as all too far away or obscured. Anyone with knowledge of actual images out there?

I have been looking at Dapol n gauge locos as I am interested in (mainly) SR/GWR big 4 era. They do look the part. However, I have seen a lot for sale s/h with broken valve gear. Seems that the metal used for these is pretty soft, so that when "right" not an issue, but with any minor accident can cause serious problems - even from new. With the closer-to-true-scale valve gear sections now being offered by Dapol & Farish, the strength of the materials becomes pretty critical. What is worse is that no spares seem to be available so if damaged the loco is scrap. Older models (say from Minitrix) seem to use nickel plated brass and some of the valve gear sections (not the whole valve gear arrangement as I know these were hugely overscale) are around the same as current Dapol - so brass rods have stood the test of time. I can only assume that for cost Dapol have used some form of zinc alloy "pot-metal" that can be cheaply diecast in accurate sections, but unfortunately it does not seem very durable or rigid. Having repaired a few Dapol M7's (burnt out motors) old Farish and Minitrix it does seem that as the definition of the parts has improved, the materials quality has dropped off. Just look at the footplate warping on a Dapol Terrier or the body parts and plastic handrails on many M7's, GWR PTs and others. Nearly all seem warped and even in new photos they are often not very true/a good fit. I love the improvements in moulding quality and detail representation + painting/printing made in the last few years and have acquired many new Dapol and Farish coaches and wagons, but at the >> £100+ price point for many locos, durability and rigidity of parts does seem pretty poor. Having previously been involved in handheld FMCG design and manufacture for many years, I am well aware of cost implications of certain choices, but think that con rods & valve gear should be made in brass and handrails should also be metal, body materials should be (if plastic) a much more rigid - say PC material and/or loaded to make harder and reduce warping/improve thermal expansion properties (for those hot motors in small bodies). As far eastern manufacture becomes more expensive due to falling £ and increased $ price (including oil price for plastics) + labour costs, this has affected many of the N gauge new product roll-outs, with limited sales in the UK due to austerity etc, and lower volume production runs of more prototypically niche designs, modellers deserve better materials quality. I expect assembly costs are a significant component of the manufacturing price while materials will represent a much smaller proportion of total cost and should be addressed to provide better overall product quality and durability commensurate with that price. As several comments on this post mention component issues rather than definition or finish, with others challenging this being a "design" issue, the obvious gap is the materials selection and consistency. I am sure Dapol has many happy customers, but with any product it is necessary to maintain quality throughout the process including (importantly) originally selecting the best materials for the job. Sadly, from anecdotal evidence of the number of broken (mainly) recent Dapol loco models for sale and warped parts in photos it seems the move to ever finer appearance has not been matched by improved materials. I realise that as n gauge has moved from being "toy trains" to accurate scale models that these will become inherently more susceptible to handling and accident damage and a level of extra care will be required from the user, but the manufacturers must take some responsibility in creating models that are "fit for purpose" and maybe spend the extra few pence on materials to make these otherwise fine models durable enough to enjoy for years to come.

While writing an informal local history I got interested in modelling the old Forest Hill railway station in 2mm. Although I have the usual images from the Railway Journal there are gaps in these images - particularly rail-side views. Also very few (I have only found 2) images of steam hauled trains at the station. As this was part of the SR electrification program this did latterly limit the number of steam trains through the station, but there seems to be an unusual dearth of images for such a busy line. Similarly, when writing a further amateur history of the Brixton area, there seem to be no generally available images of the pre-WWII bomb damaged station apart from a few Atlantic Rd/Station Rd/Popes Rd views. Any images would be invaluable and help record these two interesting (particularly FH) stations and help with both local history and some 2mm modelling ambitions. Thanks for any comments/images

Years ago my dad said that when the Brixton Astoria first opened it had a sliding roof for summer "open air" shows, but it soon packed-up and leaked when it rained, so they sealed it shut. Don't know if this is true, but it would make for a fascinating model - modelling the Hollywood Italianesque interior however may be just too much in 2mm-scale. Into the 1980's the "Ritzy" cinema still had "Electric Pavillion" painted in large white letters on the roof and was a great "DIY" cinema running on a shoestring with all night shows and home made food for sale. My parents went to the The Rex (then Scala) cinema on Brixton Hill - closing I think in the mid 1950's and long famous subsequently as the Tarpaulin & Tent army surplus shop - now just a shell I think. Dad played violin and viola in talent contests at the Empress Theatre in Brighton Terrace and the Brixton Theatre - the former subsequently a Granada cinema and remodelled in 1931, then demolished quite recently, the latter bombed and parts amalgamated into the "Ritzy". There were several other theatres and cinemas locally, so good to hear Frankland is getting a period South London entertainment venue.