CHARLIE5

27 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

Good afternoon Tony,

 

Regarding friction-fit drivers, I did state 'truly' fit for purpose; but, it would seem, only after the modifications which have been described - pinning, knurling, various adhesives, etc. All of these necessities are known among experienced builders, but what about those using such wheels for the first time? I don't think it's a nonsense at all. I state again, according to many experts, friction-fit drivers would appear to be truly fit for purpose, but only after they've been modified. 

 

I accept my own experiences with them have left me prejudiced - not just wheels shifting on axles, but tyres coming off and never ever having a set which is truly round/concentric. Since I don't employ springing/compensation, the two locos on Little Bytham with friction-fit drivers 'nod' up and down in a manner not seen with Romford/Markits.

 

Since we've had many (quite rightly) telling us of success with friction-fit drivers, are there others out there (like me) who just cannot get on with them? Or, am I just in a minority of one; a prejudiced one? 

 

Regards,

 

Tony.  

Hi Tony,

Personally I have never liked the idea of these.

I was once at a show admiring a superb GWR layout. All loco were kit built and I had a discussion with the owner about kit building. The first warning he gave was not to use friction-fit wheels. He had constructed all his loco  with Gibson wheels and over time all had moved on their axles. He was slowly changing to Markits.

I am aware of some who have had success with the introduction of a pin but this seemed fiddly. Much prefer the Romford nut!

Regards,

Terry

24 minutes ago, RFS said:

Also got my 2-set yesterday. What do people think about the colour? Seems still too dark to me. Here's a comparison in the best light I could manage.

 

 

From left to right - Hornby, new Bachmann, original Bachmann (late) and original Bachmann (early).

 

Difficult to find photos that show the real colours but this one from Mike Morant is significant. There's a very clean loco (it's a rail tour) and the 3rd coach appears to be dark green, but not the others. The Brunswick Green of the loco is useful as a comparison. 

 

And all the roofs are different too!

 

https://mikemorant.smugmug.com/Trains-Railways-British-Isles/SR-and-BRS/Bulleid-rebuilt-MNs/i-DGF6fJC/A

 

So what's the verdict?

I have just received my 2 car set (BR green) and loose third (34-775) in BR malachite green. I agree the BR green is too dark if one assumes the Hornby version is the more accurate. The malachite green is closer but not a perfect match. I suppose this comes down to personal choice but we are still left of the old problem of matching colours when combining stock from each manufacturer. 

On 13/12/2020 at 10:00, CHARLIE5 said:

Spoke to Rails on the 9th (and received email). Mine was dispatched that day and has yet to arrive (sent 48 hour). Rails have had a lot of pre-orders to dispatch. However, the delay is Royal Mail who have published that they have delivery issues. Some parcels are taking 7 days or longer to arrive.

This has just arrived. What a beauty!

Spoke to Rails on the 9th (and received email). Mine was dispatched that day and has yet to arrive (sent 48 hour). Rails have had a lot of pre-orders to dispatch. However, the delay is Royal Mail who have published that they have delivery issues. Some parcels are taking 7 days or longer to arrive.

I have had two orders with Dart/MJT since March, the most recent in May. Both arrived within a week. Postal delivery times have been erratic so I was impressed with the service. Quicker than some others.

Quote

Just had my pre-order for 1P tank 58072 cancelled. I have had a problem with a previous pre-order and purchased elsewhere. I will avoid further purchases from this source until Hattons/Bachmann sort this.

MIne are OK but someone did have this issue when they were first released. See    http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/27340-sdjr-7f/page-8

Unfortunately, I have to sound a note of extreme caution concerning ordering on-line from Falcon Brassworks. Having been a staunch supporter of Samantha, who owns the company, it is with considerable regret that I have to advise members NOT to order on-line from the Falcon Brassworks website.

 

Well before Christmas, I placed an order with Samantha which was partially fulfilled within a reasonable period, accompanied by an apology and a promise of delivery of the other half of the order within a month.

 

However, when something was eventually despatched, it proved to be a duplicate of the first item received; this I returned at my own expense with a request for the correct item to be despatched. Despite repeated reminders, and finally a request for a refund, nothing was forthcoming by way of a reply.

 

I have been forced, therefore, to register a dispute via Paypal, and they have found in my favour and made a full refund. Whilst I do sympathise with Samantha's trying family circumstances, if she is genuinely too busy to respond to e-mail correspondence then she needs to close down Falcon Brassworks.

 

It is with genuine regret that I must advise members to regard Falcon Brassworks with the same degree of scepticism as Coopercraft, and certainly NOT to pay them money via the internet.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

Thank you John

I ordered etches last November and have received nothing.

I have every sympathy with Sam's circumstances and tried to work around the problems by asking one of the guys on the Dart Castings stand to assist. That was over two weeks ago and I have heard nothing. It is now nearly 9 weeks since I last heard from Sam and I am getting nowhere.

Sadly, my patience is now at an end and I have raised a Paypal dispute to recover the monies.

Mine was badly warped and barely attached above the buffer beam at the back. All of the open cab versions (002,003 &004) seem to exhibit some degree of distortion. This is not evident at post 308. I have returned mine.

In your position, I would not hesitate to cancel the Paypal case - Samantha has already offered me - and at least one other member - a refund for an item ordered that is not immediately available.

 

" I have a personal email address that is connected to my mobile it's sammythurgood@msn.com  .... if anyone would like a refund please contact me on my personal email and I will sort it out".

 

I am sure that if you use the personal e-mail address above to request a refund, it will be forthcoming. Alternatively, if you request an update from the same e-mail address, I would expect you to receive a reply.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

Totally agree. If I had not had a response from Sam this week I would have used this option. Now we know the position there is no need to invoke Paypal. We are not dealing with the likes of Coopercraft here and having had an excellent service from Sam in the past I trust her to fulfil the order. I for one will not be seeking a refund .

Are you suggesting that those that read and post here are the sum total of all the customers the would use Falcon ?

 

I wouldn't suggest to a business owner that they ignore personal communication in favour of just one avenue, that could be very costly.

No I am not. Her comment is addressed to people who have placed an order and have had no response. That is the first objective and that is what now needs to be resolved. What communication service they then wish to offer going forward (possible updates on their website) is then up to them.

Yet again we seem to go off the current issue which is to get the outstanding problems addressed. No wonder Sam gets concerned about posting on this forum.

Good evening everyone. I'm going to start with apologising to you all. This is the first time since Christmas I have seen anyone's messages. I will not bore everyone with the details as to why I have not been dealing with it but as you all know my children come first. I have not had time to set up my computer and it's only the fact RM web is connected to my mobile emails I can see what is being written on this feed. I didn't realise anyone had made an order so I'm sorry it has not been dealt with. I will set my computer up tomorrow and get on with it this week. I have a personal email address that is connected to my mobile it's sammythurgood@msn.com

Please feel free to contact me on there. I will definitely see it but may not come back straight away. I have appointments for my children everyday apart from Friday this week so I shall only be working in the evenings from about 8. I will also see any comments from this post on my emails as well. I hope you understand and if anyone would like a refund please contact me on my personal email and I will sort it out. Once again sorry. Samantha

Great news. I have always had good service from Falcon and Dart Castings and this seemed so out of character. I have emailed Sam suggesting that she just keeps us in the loop by posting updates here. That way her time is not taken up answering individual emails. Hopefully, she will not be frightened away from doing this by the types of responses she has had in the past. Her postings here are now a vital link. I wish her good luck.

 

 

Well the replacement arrived today (Friday) and I have to say that it runs much smoother and I'm now happy with this lovely little model. I must thank Hattons for their prompt service and for despatching the replacement so quickly. I only returned the faulty railbus to them on Monday.

 

I hope other forum members haven't experienced too many problems with theirs. I never thought I would see a railbus produced by a mass manufacturer, so it's good to know that we have other railbus types to look forward to. Can't wait for the Park Royal version!!!!

Glad to hear that your replacement is OK. My replacement had further faults - glue deposits on the body,

poor running and the two body halves would not fit together properly. I have had enough and requested a refund. I do not have the time or patience to sort out Heljan's erratic quality issues.

Received E79962 and E79963 yesterday. E79963 trundles round the test track quite well but E79962 is, by comparison a very bad runner - judders along very, very, very slowly, has some light bleed into the front passenger compartment and suffers from flickering headlights. Replacement for E79962 already on it's way to me thanks to Andy at Kent Garden Rail.

 

Keith

My E79962 arrived in a dreadful state. All the following were broken off - four buffer cables at one end,half relief tank under floor and one sand pipe. If that was not enough it ran poorly in one direction. Returned for refund as no longer available. I am trying again with one from another retailer. I hope I am not making a mistake.

From all manufacturers,this will be the fourth item out of the last five purchases returned for defects. Is there any QC carried out in China these days?

Superb model but I cannot see these Heljan detailing parts lasting very long.

Contrary to all the praise on this forum, I am far from happy with the running quality of my 22. When first run it was very noisy and after about 2 hours running in it improved slightly and it was then put away until I had more time. Today has been the first opportunity to really test it and as the day has gone on it has not improved. The main problem appears to be noise from the gears, it sounds like a Mainline 42 that is past its prime! It is certainly the noisiest loco in my fleet. Am I the only one who has this problem?

Just taken delivery of my 22 and it has exactly the same problem. This is very disappointing given the excellent performance of my two Beattie tanks.