ruggedpeak

Ken and Heather at John Dutfields are of course local to Cavalex, both being Essex based. They have a couple of these waiting for me when I return to the UK 😁

It probably is random given the sheer volume of locos and orders they need to sort, plus their systems and processes may not be designed to handle a sudden, unusual and massive influx of pre-ordered product. Anyone who has worked in retail at Xmas, especially in the olden days before internet shopping will be able to visualise how frantic things probably are at Rails right now to get the orders out ASAP. Someone trying to filter and prioritise orders by postage is someone not picking and packing. Then there are the practical issues of space to store then sort and pack the quantity, getting the delivery company to uplift what will presumably be a substantial increase in daily volume etc etc. Such is the volume that they might be implementing a more efficient system to get through the orders, such as doing one SKU at a time to clear them rather than wasting time going through, moving, opening and handling different boxes for different models. The Cavalex 56's are a huge success, delivering desperately needed cash into all the supprting retailers' hands at a time when Hattons are closing down. That Rails and other retailers were able to take on major pre-orders and support this product is a huge positive and vote of confidence in Cavalex and the hobby. The postage thing is annoying but possibly a victim of the model's success.

Taking the MBC up to L'Isle means travelling through a very different landscape to that of the Nyon to La Cure line, here it is flattish plateau above the lake before the Jura rise out of it. To get to L'Isle, a pretty village with a chateau in the centre and waterfalls and a spring at the edge of the village, you have to change at Apples. The connecting service was a 2 car EMU, comprising a current generation Stadler driving unit at one end and an older but modernised Bt driving car at the other. This is quite common on the MBC and the units are compatible and sometimes run in a 3 car configuation with a Stadler centre car as well. Seen at L'Isle on 26/01/2024: The village pond by the station: The Laiterie still operates, and the station is immediately behind it:

A spoil train for the MBC was brought in by Re 421 387, here seen following its consist which has been taken into the exchange sidings by a shunter. on its way to the sidings to collect empty spoil wagons for the return trip, if you look closely at the green hopper wagons just beyond the end of platform 5 you can see the standard gauge track overlaps with the metre gauge. The hoppers are standard gauge. Just a yellow bar on the track prevents overrun. Close up:

Took a trip to the big Hornbach DIY store at Etoy on 26.01.2024, followed by an explore on the MBC from Morges for possible Jura hiking start points. The MBC (formerly BAM) is a metre gauge from Morges in Vaud. A brief history is here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bière–Apples–Morges_railway The line starts in the standard gauge station at Morges, on Platform 5. Between it and the main road are mixed gauge sidings and a gauge transfer ramp. Standard gauge freight wagonss are put onto metre gauge 'trucks' and taken up the MBC. When I was there loaded spoil wagons left, heading towards Apples. Several hours later they were back at Morges to be taken off their trucks and returned to the standard gauge. There were 3 or 4 sets of spoil wagons. Apparently a cement works and army base are supplied the same way, with military vehicles being taken along the line. The gauge transfer is a mechanical process using a ramp, standard gauge wagons are shunted up a ramp, inside the ramp is metre gauge track with the trucks on. There is a mechanism on the trucks that allows the standard gauge bogies to drop into place. Similarly they lift off the trucks as they climb the ramp, and I was able to film this process. The MBC locos push most of the wagons along the ramp and then stops short, before hitting the ramp! The standard gauge MBC shunter then hooks on and drags them so they are entirely off the trucks. It is a noisy but effective process! You can watch it from the platform. The action is mainly as the bogie rises up the ramp, you can see the wheels life out the bogie. As the bogie rises up the ramp you can see where it departs from the truck, and the truck stops moving, there is a trip cock or similar on the truck that then gets caught by the trailing/second wheel of the bogie and knocks the truck along. I would guess the locos are attached to the wagons and not the trucks at this point. Spoil train waiting to depart up the single line as the service from Biere arrives at Morges MBC Ge 4/4 numbers 21 La Morges and 22 La Venoge provide the traction: Detail of the trucks: The shed for the trucks - there are far too many trucks, they need a bigger shed! Detail of the ramp, metre gauge at ground level coming in from left: Impressive to watch as a normal part of freight operations.

Fab to have all that space even if needs a bit of tidying! I'm modelling on Ikea Mosslanda shelves at the moment!

Accurascale retailers are still showing them available for pre-order and may have some stock as they will have ordered an allocation which is not yet sold out on pre-order. If you are seeking a particular version then pre-ordering or moving very quickly when they arrive is advised.

Excellent new Mol, looking forward to this 😀

It really doesn't work on a 37. Looks ok on coaches but not on a 37.

Impressive. I think the Cavalex guys referred earlier to delivering two truck loads to RoS.

Most Ebay sellers of Accura locos who aren't official retailers are doing so with 'no returns accepted'. I've seen one dealer offering 30 day returns, but if you buy on Ebay you will have to resolve yourself if there is an issue, as normal. I am hoping the apparent oversupply of 37's on Ebay means prices will come down as reality kicks in. It does appear a lot of locos were bought to turn a profit as there can't be that many people who have suddenly decided to change scale/time period or give up on modelling in the last few months! That will then make it worth buying and taking the risk, same as any other model. The other issue is that most of these Ebay ones have probably never been run or tested as they were bought to sell on, so the seller probably has no idea. I've yet to see an AS 37 where they say it is tested and running etc, which is normal for 'proper' secondhand items rather than 'brand new in box' arbtitrage items. Worth pointing out some AS 37's are still in stock in some proper retailers, Colletts have some DRS ones IIRC.

Fantastic concept and execution, and like others it is great to see a modern image micro like this. For sound, I wonder about a big speaker underneath or at the back might work really well with the locos pulling out, rather than the speakers in a loco. With a bit of insulation around the edges the sound would come out of the front, ideal for 37's and 68'as. Just a thought.

Has anyone got a 56019? The render images had it with the small Railfreight logo on the cabside, but just seen a retailer photo and it does not have the RF logo on it. Can anyone confirm if it has the RF logo - I am keen on RF liveries with the logo. Thanks.

Yeah, but 15,000 of those 37's went to Ebay resellers who are now trying to offload them as they thought they were limited production runs!! Will be a long time before the 'brand new' or 'as new' supply of 37's dries up on there. In the BRM interview there was one comment that was of interest. Hornby are going to have some locos permanently available in the range, so that they will always be some core models available (hopefully in shops and not just direct online). This is sensible for Hornby and the hobby as the pre-order malarkey is no use for new entrants to the hobby or the casual purchaser. Clearly some proper thinking going on in Margate.

Use deepl.com for translation of text or the latest version of Firefox will translate the live webpage quite effectively.

Excellent news from Accurascale. Two technical clarifications if I may, having read the T&C's (and apologies if I've missed the answers elsewhere): 1) does this extend to models bought "As new" or similar on well known auction sites from unofficial 'traders' (those hoping to make a quick buck but not understanding your pre-order process!!) 2) Can analogue locos be used safely with a 'Relco' type high frequency cleaner? Thanks.

I think Hornby's online ordering system was put in by the previous management or the one previous to that, and I suspect the cost/hassle/risk of trying to replace isn't worth it at the moment. They are clearly selling stuff, but agree not being able to batch things is annoying. However others have I believe have reported on here getting postage refunds via Customer Services when they have had items sent separately from the same order.

Talking of journo's this month's BRM has an interiew with the new Hornby Head of Brand, Maryn Weaver. Sounds like a more coherent product range and not getting in a tizz over the competition are on the cards for the future.

Whilst I get that the mainstream media don't understand the hobby, that is part because if a story comes up and they want more info they will trawl the relevant specialist press. The question I would ask (as I don't know the answer) is whether model railways has any meaningful specialist business press reporting on it? Who offers business commentary on what is going on that they can tap into? There was certainly no specialist business sector financial reports from agencies as it is too small and is seen as a small subset of the toy market when I used to have access to business reports. The average journo will be unaware that Hornby is fighting in the train sector against a string of effective new entrants, this is not a dormant or dying market. But since no one actually reports on it, and meaningful market data is scarce, it is little wonder the MSM don't get it right. The model train industry has done well to get in front of punters via TV etc, but business wise it is perceived to be a tiny backwater for a certain demographic. No one seems to be pushing the business angle that is a vibrant and diverse market of X size and worth exploring further. Just a thought.

Hi Jam and Ben Thanks for the interest and for posting. I think it can be summarised as James' shelf layouts are at one end of the modelling spectrum, mine at the other! I definitely think a combination of the scenic quality that James can achieve and the modular concept is a great idea and would love to see what is achieved. In terms of scenery and Bens' comment, with my twin track modular concept there is only 10mm from the sleeper edge to the rear wall, and with anything other than straight track the overhangs of normal length locos and coaches use almost all of that space so there is no room for 3D scenery. I have maxxed out the use of the available width with two tracks, points and crossings and the requirement to operate full size rolling stock. This means scenery is 2D painted only. Even a ground signal can be tricky to place. I have designed it so that I can run long stock like a Class 70 and Mk3's over all the tracks without clearance issues. Obviously using only short wheel base stock, a single track or straight track only etc will permit much greater scenic flexibility and opportunity as per James'. My shelf layouts are the most basic possible (and I definitely do not have the scenery skills to replicate 'Wrecsam'!) using whatever track I have to hand. As I live in a small flat with a child and both parents mostly working from home on multiple computers and screens means there is no room for anything significant in terms of layout. As per the first page and the Anyrail designs, I was looking for variety in operation and running over scenery or accuracy. The ultimate goal is a series of Mosslandas that can be joined together in various ways to form a long single straight run along the hall/landing of the flat (a sort of interior version of my previous COVID garden layout built on scrap decking boards - again not a masterpiece but it worked), operational variety provided by changing them around and hence the modular connections. Mosslanda's are perfect as they are solid, don't flex and are knock proof. They are heavy at 7.5kg for the long ones but that is the price of robustness.I keep mine up here to get them out the way, on top of the bookcase behind the models! That's a yet to be opened Mosslanda at the back, they just stack on top of it. My original inspiration was this chap's homemade modular Hon30 layout. I really liked this as you get variety. As I didn't fancy the carpentry it was a case of waiting to see if something came along that could be the basis for something similar: In an ideal world one of the layout makers might come up with a product that is a basic laser cut ply kit that does this with standardised positions for connections etc. Hint hint 😉

Having commented on the clarity and wisdom of the High Court's Judgement re WCR, and wishing to inject some levity I see this from the recent judgement on whether Walker's Poppadoms are crisps or not for VAT purposes. This response to Walkers lawyers arguing that they must be Poppadoms as that is what it says on the packet.... "Judge Fairpo said: “Nominative determinism is not a characteristic of snack foods. Calling a snack food ‘Hula Hoops’ does not mean that one could twirl that product around one’s midriff. Nor is ‘Monster Munch’ generally reserved as a food for monsters.” Absolute frickin' genius, M'Lud. Walkers lost. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12984349/Walkers-Poppadoms-crisps-popular-Indian-starter-judge-rules-brand-tried-class-product-food-snack-save-millions-pounds-VAT.html Space Invaders. Wotsits. Skips. French Fries. Discos. Niknaks. Quavers. The potential for this Judgement to go down in Judicial folklore was huge. 'Nominative Determinism' is my phrase for next week. Definitely throwing that in a Teams meeting.....

Quicker to do a Sam's Trains and crank up the voltage - that'll soon find any issues in the loco and your domestic wiring 🤣 Just need one of these bad boys

For anyone how hasn't contacted Accura, they have a proper system that logs and tracks customer service 'events'. This is why Accura were immediately able to address the issue I raised within minutes, and why when others post 'incomplete' explanations of their experiences Accura are able to provide the missing detail. It does work, I experienced a slight glitch mostly due to a 3rd party and which Accura responded to immediately.

I didn't realise the ORR offered CDL fitting services 🤣

Seems sensible, the coaches don't seem to fit their business model and required expensive alterations, plus there was a willing buyer. No business invests in equipment it no longer needs or for which the investment is not economic for them.