Chamby

I want to have a lot less ‘stuff’. But there are already things I want to buy that are due out in the next few months, and Hornby and Bachmann have yet to make their 2018 announcements. The omens are not good...

There has been a lot of noise lately about the amount of plastic entering the environment, with growing concern about single use plastics in particular. I am currently building a new model railway and it suddenly dawned on me yesterday how much plastic I am throwing into the bin with little thought about what happens to it afterwards. Product packaging is the obvious one. Not long ago, Peco points came in a cardboard box, but they now come in a heavy duty plastic sleeve... that goes straight in the bin. I used to use cork underlay when tracklaying. More recently I have been using Woodland scenics foam, offcuts of which go straight in the bin. Laying flexible track results in surplus short lengths and plastic sleepers, that apart from a few ‘spares’ kept by - all go straight into the bin. I looked through what was in my workshop bin. Plastic kit sprues, empty plastic paint pots, an empty glue bottle, a broken coupling, parings from wiring the layout, little plastic bags that held screws for fixing the point motors... the list goes on. Yes we might re-use some of it, such as fettling packaging to make or support items on the layout, but everything that goes into the layout will only have a fixed lifespan before it too gets thrown away at some point in the future. All that plasticard and assembled kits that, in time, we will have no more use for. If, as has been recently said, the accumulation of plastic in the environment is the greatest crisis facing our planet, We have unwittingly become a part of the problem. So what can we do about it???

I couldn’t agree more. My modelling interests are driven by a strong sense of family continuity, despite living in GWR country for many years and teenage memories of blue diesels everywhere, I have a strong allegiance to the GC London extension, with memories of my grannies house at the foot of the GCR embankment at Wilford on the approach to the Trent Bridge and her cursing the passing heavy freight trains that sprinkled her washing with soot. Following that allegiance back in time beyond my own memories but within family knowledge has led me to my own focus of interest. It’s almost woven into my perception of family identity now.

Many thanks for the update. I would particularly encourage you with regard to shifting production to the UK, and would be happy to pay a bit of a premium to support such a move. Phil

You would only need to use insulated rail joiners or isolating sections at locations where you want to ‘park’ powered stock for a while. So maybe just two or three locations on a branch line station? Also I prefer to use isolating sections with DC. It’s just like putting the handbrake on when you park up. Using a point to route power and isolate a siding or loop is fine, until you throw the point for another purpose, or in error. Isolating a section is a more deliberate action. Phil

Thank goodness we don’t alll have the same interests... it’s what makes my hobby so interesting. And just imagine the torment if every new release was something that you wanted, but no way can you afford to buy it all! It’s bad enough now ffs.

There’s also a similar problem with the later narrow couplings on 4-wheel LWB wagons, such as the LNER CCT. Couple two together and the overhang is too great for the lateral travel allowed by the coupling, on R2&3 curves. So you have to put a SWB wagon in between or change the coupling type, but it’s not good for novice RTR modellers. Style over substance, I think.

Agreed but it wil not happen until the unifrog concept becomes universally accepted and it is early days yet. Peco moves at a rather slow pace, and the retooling costs will be a deterrent. Also the unifrog will halve their product range... one unifrog replacing both electrofrog and insulfrog ranges. That’s great for retailers who have to stock fewer items, but no real benefits for Peco. Peco will also want to see whether the new bullhead range impacts on their flat bottomed streamline sales, before doing the sums and committing themselves.

FYI: I'm running Norton (On Mac with Safari) but haven't had any Hatton's warning at all. Phil

It must be because additional electrical continuity can be provided from check-rails, through the wheel backs. It seems like Peco are being particularly fastidious about providing the best possible electrical continuity through the frog assembly. Phil.

Bernard, you seem to be saying that its pointless wiring the frog on unifrog points, using the dropper helpfully provided by Peco? The beauty of the uni-frog is that it can either be wired (equivalent to electrofrog) using the dropper provided, or else left unwired so equivalent to insulfrog. Your comment goes against the generally accepted view that having electrified frogs improves running through pointwork. Just asking! Phil

It's what I used to know as affirmative marketing, though that term has come to mean something else these days. Basically, you get targeted with marketing for a product after you have already made the purchase because it is supposed to make you feel good about it. You have just bought something that is current and desirable, that is being brought to the attention of other people - which makes you the cool guy. 'Yay I've got one of those already' (Smug). Sad, but true.

The younger generation like to collect virtual items in virtual worlds, bought with virtual currencies. Some collect likes on social media. Our hobby requires real money, physical space, practical workmanship and patience. Bit of a mis-match innit.

Yep, the Cookie Monster is gonna get you ...

So you’re saying that the blacked out Hornby catalogue is the latest iteration of 2001’s monolith? An interesting concept.

Well I guess if collectors never open the box, then at least they don’t have to worry about Mazak rot, dodgy motors or derailing bogies like the rest of us.

Rails have now revised the price of some of Hornby's more recent releases. Some of 'The Last Day' series and Duchess of Atholl have already acquired the 'bargain' lozenge. Not a huge discount on offer compared to some loco's, but obviously they need more of an incentive to shift the stock. The higher price point would appear to be not working for them.

Today I encountered my first glitch with the new bullhead points, on the tenth one of these I have installed. Nothing serious but one to watch. Having electrically tested the point before installing it, I was somewhat frustrated to find that once laid and ballasted the unifrog was electrically dead, whichever way the point motor was switched (It was wired to be a live frog). Further investigation under the board showed that the electrical fault was within the point itself, as electrical continuity was fine up to and including the 'dropper' wire from the frog. Also, one of the wing rails was found to be electrified, but not the nose or the other wing rail. The frog is actually a 3-part assembly, comprising the nose and two separate wing rails. These are electrically bonded using the same wire as the dropper, linking the three components together (see photo). Somehow the bonding must either have failed, or maybe it was just not properly bonded in the first place, but touching when tested earlier. As the point was already laid and ballasted, rather than lift it I decided to solder a fine wire from one wing rail to the other, running it under the frog itself - easily done as the underlay is woodland scenics foam. Happily, this has also restored power to the frog itself, so fingers crossed that it is a full and permanent fix. A quick dab of track colour paint and the extra wire becomes visually discreet. Phil.

Well that didn't take long. R3553 Duchess of Atholl is now on the Rails 'Bargain' list at £149.50.

It also means two more things... Someone in the marketing department made a boo boo and underestimated the capabilities of RMweb sleuths There is a Hornby lurker on these forums, reporting back to base... I would be surprised if they are changing their plans though. It’s a bit like shutting the stable door after the horse has already bolted.

I have used curved streamline points (code 100) in similar circumstances without issues. I don’t have a Bachmann 40, but Hornby’s 40, Bachmann’s 37 and Heljan’s HS4000 all run through fine.

You could always buy a single length and try it for size, for less than £5. (It’s what I did and it answered all my questions).

Hornby also sell direct to the public, in direct competition with Rails and Locomotion. It is NOT illegal. The point I am making here is that co-operation can work, and brings benefits to all parties. Volkswagen and Ford compete ferociously with the rest of their ranges, but collaborated to produce the Sharan/Galaxy seven seater. The EU didn't declare that illegal either. The equivalent for us might be Hornby and Bachmann collaborating to produce an improved spec GW 4-6-0... one might produce a Manor, the other a Grange. One might upgrade their Hall, the other their modified Hall. The important thing is that a large chunk of the tooling fixed costs would be shared. In these days of rising costs and price sensitivity, the outcome would only be beneficial to all parties. Phil

So by your definition Rails and Locomotion have behaved illegally then, with their Duchess of Hamilton and the Black 5 commissions? You do the red one and we’ll do the black one... that sounds like co-opetition to me. It’s a win-win-win situation, with more choice for the customer, better value for the commissioners and extra volume for the manufacturer.

Yeadons register shows 102 Sir Frederick Banbury arrived at Leicester Central shed in May ‘49 and remained there until September ‘57 (apart from 4 months allocated to Neasden in 1954). Doncaster’s official record shows 60082 Neil Gow as the first A3 to receive the official blue livery and ‘cycling lion’ emblem in September ‘49. ‘Sir Fred’ however was not renumbered from 102 to 60102 until May 1949, so would have spent at least it’s first year at Leicester wearing LNER green. Coachman advises that 60102 was repainted to Brunswick green in August 1951... this is the same month that the new livery came into force, so it would have been one of the first A3’s to receive it. This suggests that 60102 was wearing blue for a little over two years, all shedded at Leicester.