Steve Purves

11 minutes ago, MoonM said:

Just seen the cavalex Instagram post today on their new Class 60 removable magnetic front interchangeable buffer/coupling ends. Whilst it initially appears a small detail, I think a good idea. I personally found it very tricky to swap the front ends on my class 66 (and hence raising on this thread). Neither of the two replacements fitted properly without some fettling and trimming of the plastic lugs. Assuming this cavalex solution is not patented, I think this would be a welcome update for accurascale to introduce too. Given how neatly accurascale has arranged the fit of the magnetic roof piece to access the decoder, I'm sure this could be tooled for equally neatly. The nem pocket seems independent of the magnetic part so a heavy train won't pull the magnets apart

My only concern with implementing a magnetic bufferbeam would be for those customers who use non-nem couplers. I'm always open to ideas and have a slightly different system on the 60

Regards

Steve

9 minutes ago, ERIC ALLTORQUE said:

So no helix............:)

Aha, we have a video coming soon of our loco's being pushed to the limit, including on a helix, superelevation and long (really long) trains....

Regards

Steve

1 minute ago, 97406 said:

Aren’t locos with two 6 wheel bogies with all wheels driven off the same geartrain technically C-C?

I was having this conversation with our Gareth the other day, the lower case 'o' denoting individually powered axles. We (and all other manufacturers) use the Co-Co (or Bo-Bo) notation of the prototype and not the technically correct notation of C-C of the model. 

Happy to listen to peoples thoughts on it, essentially they are C-C models of a Co-Co prototype. Would this confuse the marketplace more?

Are they technically "F" as all 6 axles are geared together over 2 bogies?

Regards

Steve

I can confirm all wheel drive, all wheel pickup and 825g.

At home I have a (deliberately) badly laid test track, internally we call it the "test track of doom". It's a little over 8 by 4 and has loops of 1st, 2nd and 3rd radius inside (with an s curve of the same rad on the rear straight). Joining them on the front straight is a ladder of set track points back to back. Outside of the lot is a 2nd radius loop with an incline of 1 in 25. The transition to that incline is at a rail joint between straight and curve (harsh) and the summit is a bent piece of flexi track. Rail joints between set track corners and flexi track straights have not been filed. They are rough cut with track cutters and there are some larger than normal gaps in places.

My theory is, if it runs here, it will run virtually anywhere. You cannot design a loco for everyone's trainset but if I build a trainset to a standard "worst case" then I have a benchmark. Everything we make comes via the track of doom and I run a full test sequence and write a report. Our bogies are also checked on a glass plate as part of this test. 

Moving to the 60. This hauled various trains long enough that I ran out of space on this track, I have rakes of stock to draw from, both 4w and bogie and suffered no derailments due the track or lack of traction due to the AWD bogies (Even on the 1st rad loop but we won't talk about that officially). It did this both hauling and propelling. 

IF an AWD loco rocks on poor track, the weight that was on the airborne axle is not lost. It transfers to the remaining axles in contact. Essentially regardless of how many wheels are in contact with the railhead, our loco has 825g of weight available for traction. 

Regards

Steve

2 minutes ago, martin_l_jones said:

My orders (five) now delivered, very pleased, all run in and waiting to order four decoders to let them loose on the layout, have one sound fitted.

 

66415, 66769, 66122, 66004 & 66779, awaiting driver fitment !

 

All have run straight out of the box, no loose parts, no wobble, all cosmetics first class, well done to the team who worked on correcting the original issues.

 

Just have one question about etched plates on 66769, I have a pack with the LMA plates but no etched plates for the the actual Paul Taylor nameplates, can anyone confirm they have been supplied ?

LMA were cast plates on the prototype whilst the Paul Taylor plates were vinyl (complete with fake screw heads)

10 minutes ago, E100 said:

Will 60001 have etched cabside arrows / plates?

It certainly will

In fact all models will, where relevant.

Regards

Steve 

33 minutes ago, Markwj said:

Just sat and watched the announcement video- Steve clearly loves his class 60's (was Steve involved in the graham farish one while at Bachmann). I had no idea there were so many modifications over the years. I knew what the announcement was but they teased so many different locos at the start- very naughty!!

The Hornby model has always been lauded as one of their best but if they have been chucking any old livery on the same tooling then the models have been inaccurate but then I never noticed so is it a huge crime after all.

The Farish 60 predated me but I was well aware of the limited tooling for previous 60 models. 

The biggest joy for me to put across on the video was to share the timeline of class 60, allow people to possibly learn a thing or two and be able to make their own mind up. 

Like you say, some are small and some are larger differences. Lima actually had 2 of the 3 roof options, just not the later one. For the first time, we are able to correctly produce any class 60 with the right bits at any point of its life. Hopefully our information will allow people to draw their own conclusions about what is important to them. I will be producing another video soon with all the models and all the details relevant to each once we have the exclusives in the public domain!

Regards

Steve 

1 minute ago, Melton Works said:

Been a really bad day... just come home from my Daughter's inquest. I may take you up on that to cheer myself up 👍🏻

Sorry to hear that, Take a donut and savour it. When everyone is fighting about model trains it pays to think about the bigger picture. Modelling however is a good release...

Best regards

Steve

all wheel drive and all wheel pick up. My models here weight 825g (sound fitted). I've not maxed them out on haulage yet, they comfortably take 35 PCA's up the 1in25 on my test track. They will easily do more but that will be the content on a future video!

Just now, Melton Works said:

Knew it....

Go on, treat yourself to a Donut to celebrate!

5 minutes ago, TravisM said:

For the love of god why?  Of all the diesel and electric loco's that are screaming out to be done (08/09, 40, 67, 81-84 to name but a few), why pick a Class 60?  I for one won't be buying one.

What's to say some of those also haven't been picked, along with some other things mentioned in this thread (and others) and are being worked on at a similarly speedy pace? I can think of a good half a dozen that are underway and will be revealed when the time is right. The time is right for the 60 today, but there's much more to come!

Best

Steve

16 hours ago, adb968008 said:

 

now @Steve Purves your probably thinking you can breathe easily… but… you missed the yellow lugs on the body side … so 99/100. 

😀

Only kidding, However did my toothcombe miss anything ? 
 

But seriously this Accurascale 66 is delivering the promise not quite fulfilled by Hattons and makes this model everything it should be.

 

 

Funnily enough, they are on the artwork and were requested but they would have ended up being a "handpaint" on each model. I erred on the side of caution and told the factory to leave them off this time!

In all seriousness, a great assessment and if anyone knows a H66, then its you!

Many thanks

Steve

2 minutes ago, Covkid said:

Great news for modellers and collectors of the contemporary era.

 

Surprised that Accurascale are doing the original factory fresh version with the two piece driver windows as I don't think they ever made it it into revenue service like that.  IIRC ASLEF stated the drivers couldn't open and look out of the two piece windows, hence drivers sides being replaced. 

 

It does show Accurascale's full history package, and to be applauded.

Best of all my wallet is safe !! 

 

The first 12 certainly went out to play with the twin window, exposed buffer planks and covered MW door. Mod State 1 was to alter these amongst a few other bits. 

The first 001 feature to go was the twin exit silencer. If you have the twin exit you need all of the above.

Regards

Steve

I know what it is. 

It's

Still a few hours to go....

On 25/05/2024 at 11:58, Mophead45143 said:

A fantastic, if somewhat inevitable announcement! :) It does seem insane that it has taken this long for the HTV in particular to be made ready to run, given how common they were in the BR blue era.

 

I am curious about the artwork for these though. So far the HUO's, MDO's and forthcoming MCO's are all in light grey. Some of the artwork illustrations for these forthcoming models however use a much darker grey, notably the HTV pack G (below).

 

<cut>

 

These look to be much darker than in any photos I have ever seen of the real wagons, which look much more like the grey already used by Accurascale on their other minerals and hoppers. Is this how the models will actually look, or is this an error in the artwork? 

 

Pack F has a mixture of shades.

 

 

Regards,

 

Cameron

 

 

11 hours ago, brushman47544 said:

Am I correct when looking at the Accurascale website that there is no bauxite HTV set that is correct for the 1970s? All the sets appear to have the later OHL flashes on the ends that dates them from the mid 80s onwards. Or were there not bauxite HTVs that early?

Allow me, as project manager, to expand a little on these points!

With regard to the colours as shown on the artworks, the light grey will be the same as used previously. I have included one with patch painting in a pack with differing shades of grey to represent a set of wagons later in their life... "Ready for weathering" as it were. The actual shades are much closer than can bee seen on the artworks as I had to exaggerate the differences to help the factory see the differences. They will, in reality, be much closer and will be shown on the decorated samples. The earliest wagons represent "ex works" before much regional variation was applied, the higher the packs, the more patches and variations can be seen. 

On the HTV side of things, as has been noted, we have gone with the rebodied HTV for the first tranche of 'fitted' models. The 5-rib HTV will be following shortly after, and with it a whole host of "early" fitted vehicles, its's just simply impossible to do everything at once and factoring exclusives we are already over 40 individual wagons! Aside from this, the artworks are shown as "representative" and some corrections have already been made. There are going to be a few rebodied HTV's in the packs with early flashes - these will be updated in due course. 

Regards

Steve

56 minutes ago, 34theletterbetweenB&D said:

Five minutes inspection of Bachmann's construction plan on their two 0-4-4T's will reveal how it should be done: all metal construction above the driven wheels, lightweight tackle (coreless motor, DCC socket) and all plastic construction to the rear of the coupled wheelbase. Result: centre of gravity within the coupled wheelbase, resulting in stable traction pushing or pulling, uphill or down. (I  am a little surprised there hasn't been more noise about this from the Southernistas.)

As the engineer behind the aforementioned 0-4-4t's in my previous life, I should think any Accurascale 0-4-2t (or 0-4-4t for that matter) should be more than capable!

Just a heads up, there's a new model shop opened in Melton Mowbray. Located in Bowley Court they have a unique combination of model railways and pet products!

He's a stockist of Accurascale, Bachmann, Farish and Hornby plus other bits.

No connection other than a customer!

Also, if you're in the area I reccomended to visit "Micks Toys" on Windsor street for an eclectic selection of diecast and trains and there's also a new secondhand bookshop in the Mall with a wide variety of stuff and a good selection of railway books!

13 hours ago, Accurascale Fran said:

Hi @Cheekyharry,

 

Many thanks for your kind words and thanks, but the stars of this show are @Steve Purves, @Pixie and of course the staff from Hattons on the original design. I just get the brilliant job to tell you all the story with it.

 

I'm delighted that everyone is enjoying their locos though!

 

Cheers!

 

Fran 

It's been a pleasure to be able to work on the 66. Wouldn't have been possible without support from the whole team, as it was my first Accurascale project it gave me an idea of the Accurascale way! It's paved the way for the next project, and the next and the next. I think there's some pretty epic stuff to come and I can't wait to show them  off!

Oh, and there's run 2 to reveal too soon enough!

Steve

28 minutes ago, adb968008 said:

looks like someone was out secretly photographing my last Accurascale delivery

Like I said to you before...

We will keep making it as long as you keep buying it!

27 minutes ago, Miss Prism said:

Photos of tank tops are like hens' teeth, and to be honest, I'd never noticed the joint in the boiler feed pipe before. I've no idea whether the orginals were round or rectangular. (The pic on the right is a preserved loco.)

 

 

I have double checked and round seems to be the norm. I'm sure it's shown as round on the Swindon drawing too

Regards

Steve

Might even go and give the EPs a Christmas run round the test track. 

There has been one plying it's trade on Making Tracks too if anybody has spotted it?

Merry Christmas all!

25 minutes ago, Miss Prism said:

 

Some 1854 and 2721 locos were fitted with topfeed boilers at various times. These would have had small covers, with the feed pipes going down over the boiler (similar to those on e.g. a Dean Goods), although I'm not sure how they were then routed from the injectors. The feeds may have been routed via the backfeed clacks in the cab, but that is a wild guess. The cab of 7714, the only surviving backfeed loco, may or may not provide some clues.

 

Although 7714 is the only back feed loco, 5764 in the engine house at Highley has a boiler with both backfeed and topfeed bushes. Just those in the cab are blanked. I'm not 100% on the origin of this boiler mind.

Some of the boilers also had feed holes in both the backplate and on top, the LT one at Highley has this. You can clearly see where the backfeed clicks were as there is blanks fitted and a hole in the cladding. 

If you mean the overflow, which is the bottom pipe from the injector, then yes, there are 2 routes. As built they ran through the footplating and down to behind the cab step but later (BR) had the routing around the edge of the footplate and down to the cab step externally.

Our model will have both options for both options!

Just a note of correction really, side feed wasn't a thing on a pannier. For loco's without topfeed, water was fed in to the backplate through clacks located next to the water gauges. notably earlier LMS tank locos tended to have feed to the side of the boiler, ahead of the tanks. 

As has been stated, it wasn't a trivial change but it did happen.