chris37422

Mine just turned up. Very nice! A hastily arranged picture with original release 68019 below! The internal packaging to protect the loco has to be some of the best I’ve seen. Credit to Dapol there.

I’ve got both on the way to me anyway, blue issue aside. Makes me a sucker too! Haha Enjoy them! Chris

Sorry I meant the link in their news section, this morning it appears to have updated pics which I was referring to. HTH EDIT: Just looked again and the bit that was on the news section 30/40 mins ago seems to have gone. Feel like I am going mad ha Enjoy your models!

My concern would be more about the blue matching the coaching stock when it’s released rather than the original locomotive. Each to their own, but that’s what I would class as ‘important’ to me. Needless to say they still look good and wont have any issues selling! Bu today’s standards, that’s a lot of loco for £136!

Looking at the pics on the Hattons site just, if they are the production models, the blue appears the same as last time. Can’t quite understand that.

Oh I don't doubt it, was just pointing it out :-)

They’re on the new arrivals page. Title says ‘Sold out on pre-order’ but lists more than 10 in stock

Merry Christmas to Barry, Gill and Tom at Widnes Model Centre. A pretty damn tough year, but you have smashed it with your determination and courage. I'm not sure how much I've spent with you this year (ask Jackie!) but your service to me and my family is second to none. All the best guys, see you in 2021 :-) Chris

Thanks Stephen. Took your advice and got it going how I wanted it to. Sadly, once the body was put back on it reverted back. In the end I just took the chip out and put the blanking plate in. I'm not too bothered about sound at this stage as the layout is still largely under construction. I might revisit one day, although I'd forgotten how much of a faff getting the Bachmann 66 shell off was so maybe not Running ok on DC though. Thanks again for the advice.

Oh and 90027 was one of the very 1st things I had done when the model was released. Just had to!

To be honest, I've never seen/read that article, the info I mentioned came from some DB friends who shared at the time. 90027 was initially selected but then when someone went to actually conduct a physical examination of the loco's, 90027 was deemed to be in worse condition than 90030. 90030 was actually dug out at Crewe and taken over to the shed. Sadly the project stalled/was abandoned shortly afterwards and 90030 has returned to the scrap lines. I think with the work the EMD had on with preparing the GC 90's (90021 included) as well as some of their other longer term projects (90024 etc) as well as their own/GB 92's, there is a backlog of work on already.. For what its worth, the 90's aren't beyond the realms of possibility, but the cost justification would need some contract wins/flows moving over to electric as mooted previously. With regards to 90s, (I think) only 4M25/4S47 is currently booked for the Skoda's from a DB point of view. With regards to XC, I can only state to know about as much as you. I've seen several magazines include it, but at the same time seen several railwaymen discount it. Time will tell I guess...

Not likely to be happening now, sadly. Both were evaluated as you know, 90030 was described as the front runner and amongst many things that need doing, none of them had Q-tron still fitted, not the easiest thing to find these days and pretty much a dig deep pockets job to have made these days I'd imagine. Oh and of course along came Covid… 90021's repairs are back underway and should be back out on freight next year all being well. Likely the best we can hope for otherwise would be new wheelsets for 90018 and 90040 to facilitate their returns.

R3888 appears to have (much like the 50 above) snuck in to the shops and largely sold before release. I was fortunate to be offered one at the last minute by a friend so snapped it up. Even the Mrs likes this one!

Hi All, Numpty alert.... I've recently taken delivery of one of the latest sound fitted Bachmann 66's. Lovely model and very pleased with it (well with how it looks and sounds anyway!) I've put on the track to test and although the sound fires up when flicking through the functions, I cant get the loco to actually move. What am I doing wrong? For info the loco as supplied is on address 3. The controller I'm using to test it is the fairly basic EZ Command Control centre (so naturally the loco's chip has more functions available than the controller does) Grateful for any help received, having a serious brain fart it would appear! Chris

I agree, not off topic at all. Good luck with this, nice to see such a thing being looked at! Chris

Despite it's appearance, there are still quite a few valuable parts to salvage from 90050. Don't expect it to disappear just yet! Thanks, Chris

It was about Class 90's in general but appears to have been deleted for some reason. Don't worry about it for now

Looks great! Got my own 90048 on order from Ben's Respray's. Cant wait to receive!

Not quite sure what you mean exactly about being 'Careful' but ok. Sincerely hope for all potentially involved it turns out not to be the case mind but I guess we'll see...

Here is a probably my favourite picture of 90037 that I have taken. I think it was only ever intended to be a 'Stop Gap' until a combination of spare capacity at Toton paint shop and suitable availability of the rest of the fleet to allow it to be repainted. As with most things in the industry things change quite quickly and the loco has racked up well over 5 years in this 'interim' scheme if you like. it of an update on the 'warm store' loco's. 90018 is awaiting wheelsets and 90021 was originally planned to operate on freight still in FSR livery as part of it's shake down/bed in programme before the GC treatment. Then came along Covid! Will be good when they are back though. Re 90030, DB's intention to run more electric hauled freight should benefit the Class 90's as well as the 92's. I believe discussions and assessments have taken place on all the long term stored 90's at Crewe with both 90027 and 90030 the front runners and likely to be back one day. Crewe have a lot of work on at the moment though so will take time!. As you can probably tell, I'm a self confessed '90 nut' - here is a link to an album of images I have taken over the last 5/ years. Feel free to take a look if you get a chance https://www.flickr.com/photos/cmc1987/albums/72157645602289528

Positive. Both 90037 and 90039 were moved to Toton earlier this week. 37 is for DB red and 39 GC black. Don't know if 90037 will retain it's plates or not.

Now at Toton about to go red....

Probably being added in to stock in batches as the axle boxes etc are glued back in at ranch. r Had 3 goes at 66587, got one now that is acceptable. Not a wobbler thankfully, just adhesive residue to get rid of. Happy enough now.

Agree with many of the points you make Al :-) I suppose the issue with the 66 as an example, the pressure of delivering or near enough delivering ‘The Ultimate 66’ came at a price - damaging the relationship with one of their largest suppliers. This has been discussed time and time again so I wont go there but that was the thinking behind my ‘Manufacturer’s stick to Manufacturing and Retailers stick to Retailing’ comment. I don't want that to come across in the wrong way though, as you say there have been some cracking projects come through from all of these guys bold enough to put their hands in their pockets. We’ve seen many models for which we probably never thought we would and I for one am grateful. Back to the 66 - I own 2 from the first batch and have no real issues with them. The model looks fantastic, and as I’ve said pages and pages earlier in this thread, it’s light years ahead of the Barwell offering. The detail is quite stunning in places and the different variations catered for is unprecedented in my view. That’s where my frustrations lie on a personal level, if you get a near perfect one then you probably do have the ultimate model. I’m still really attached to the ‘One’ livery one so may not be so hasty to not replace afterall.... Best Wishes, Chris

Each to their own of course :-)