Chamby

Also check out the Hornby Duchess thread #920, there’s a video of SWS with a Mr Soundguy installation.

And some will do a bit of both... I’m still going to have to have a go at hand building that single outside slip and the double-left-hand 3-way turnout.

. Yes I have fitted one into a WD 2-8-0. You pretty much have to gut the tender of all internal gubbins and then significantly open up the holes in the base for the sound to escape. It is easy to do though on the WD because Bachmann use a fairly soft plastic that is easy to pare. The vibration produced by these speakers is significant and I have had to turn the volume right down to prevent rattle and sound distortion. The bass produced is excellent, however. When run alongside a sister WD fitted with the same sound file but a 28x40 cone speaker, the EM2 has a gruffer chuff but less hiss, it seems to lose some of the higher frequency sounds. I think the 28x40 produces the more balanced sound in a single speaker configuration. I have not tried a twin speaker installation yet... I suspect that an EM2 in the tender and sugar lump in the locomotive would be an impressive combination, but obviously there would be only a few models that could accommodate this fitting. An alternative, given that our ears are less sensitive to the source location of bass, might be to install the EM2 in a companion wagon, this would work if you are running trains in a fixed rake. But I haven’t tried that yet. I’m sure that Charlie/Biff can provide more info!

Well I must say.... I'm REALLY impressed. Yesterday afternoon around 4:30pm I ordered some of those nice new PECO Bullhead points from AGR. At a competitive price too. They arrived in Cornwall just this morning! I've never used AGR before but Anthony seems a really nice chap and he clearly made an effort to catch the post for me yesterday. Many thanks!

. There are a number of video recordings available if you google Duchess of Hamilton. I have posted a pic of my provisional sound installation in #907 of the Hornby Duchess thread. It’s not my optimum install but sounds good enough for now! Phil

Yes the coal can be easily removed. So can the coal shoveller, with a little care, to help create more space for a sound installation. The tender design does not really lend itself to a 28mm round speaker as suggested by Hornby, it is not easy to create a sealed sound chamber from the tender body owing to the large holes around each wheel. So the simplest fit is to use a speaker with its own sound chamber. For now I have used a Zimo twin speaker with 3D-printed resonance box, simply stuck to the bottom of the coal load with black-tack. I'll work out a way to replace this with my preferred 28x40 speaker in due course. I have cut a hole in the coal compartment floor under where the coal pusher fits: the floor is very thin and easy to cut into. If I choose to replace the pusher in future it will cover up the hole again. This hole allows the sound to better exit the tender, and aids fitting. The set up works well, though I'd like a bit more bass which is why I'll probably fit the bigger speaker later. Phil

. Hattons are currently out of stock, all their initial supplies went to pre-order but they are taking back orders. Smaller retailers can supply, as evidenced above. I’m looking forward to see how well they sit alongside my existing C&L trackwork. Phil.

What happens to all the faulty loco’s that are returned to retailers, or fail their test run prior to despatch? Do they get returned to the manufacturer and credited or replaced? And if so, what do the manufacturers do with them all? I suspect that in the past I have been sent stock that had previously been returned, certainly I have had stuff where the wheels show signs of previous running (more than a quick test) and the model has not been quite right. Such things do put you off the retailer involved... Just wondering what the industry protocol is!

We can’t have it both ways. If we want models that are truer to the prototype, then we also have to run them on layouts with more prototypical curves for them to look right when running. The manufacturer has to make a call between flangeless wheels in a fixed chassis, or a trailing bogie that swings ludicrously out from the side of your model on the tight radii we demand. Neither looks right and with a swinging trailing bogie, the cab hangs out on a bend just as much anyway, with the added dislocation from the bogie. The fact of the matter is that the radius of our model curves creates the problem that the manufacturers have to work around. Which is why there will always have to be an element of compromise in our hobby.

I have been wondering the same. I don’t think there is a perfect match out there but I have compared the suppliers sound samples with you tube videos of the real thing. There is an element of personal preference and judgement required on this one. SW Digital list a Duchess sound file, but it is a generic compilation (so not an actual recording) and I haven’t heard it. Olivia’s Trains list an available file but give no information or sample. You Choos also do one, They have a sound sample of it you can listen to, the whistle is nice but the chuff is a bit too staccato, to my ears at least. The Locoman Black Five seems to offer a closer sounding chuff, to my uneducated ears anyway. Video available on You Tube. I might stick one of those in 46256 for now, until a higher fidelity recording of the real thing comes along. Phil

I wonder what price retailers will be selling them at? RRP is £32.50 each (November RM review) but with FB code 75 finescale points at just £12.50 for identical geometry, that is a big premium to pay, especially when you multiply this up for a whole layout.

Oooh! Now we can remove those crude seats and hide the hump under a pile of parcels!

I think there are two separate issues here: initial stock, and resupply. It does sound like some retailers have been shorted on their initial orders, whereas a larger competitor is suspected of having a substantial resupply. If purchasing power provides this sort of leverage, maybe small suppliers need to create some form of collective purchasing mass. It’s called co-opertition... like minded competitors co-operating for mutual benefit. Is there some sort of federation of local model shops or lobby group out there yet? Maybe not including everyone, but those who are able to work together?

The bigger you are, the more you get - what’s wrong with that? A small local retailer won’t need as many as a national box shifter.

It is amazing how much our own views are affected by personal experience with a single order! Clearly, some of us have found things OK more recently and others less so. I have full respect for Hattons being honest with us that things are improving but they are not quite back to 100% (Hattons Dave #1462), now four weeks on from their stocktake. Last month’s meltdown and the lingering after effects must be hurting them financially as well as their reputation, but it does help us to make informed purchasing decisions. Top marks to Hattons for being straight with us, it shows respect for their customers and it can’t have been easy for them this last month. Personal circumstance dictates my own need for guaranteed next day delivery before 1am... that and the recent memory of October’s unhappy experience means that I am still shopping elsewhere for now. But when Hatton’s Dave gives us the 100% all clear and their delivery services are back to normal, I look forward to bringing them back into my preferred suppliers list!

My thoughts exactly. A Stanier Pacific for modellers of the Eastern, Western and Southern regions... yippee!

If you’re converting to DCC, couldn’t you just programme in the inertia rather than go to all the trouble of installing a large flywheel?

The handrail knobs and the presence of rivet detail on the top of the boiler casing suggest it is new tooling.

Wow that looks nice. I assume that this is how City of Bradford would have looked during the 1948 locomotive exchange trials?

Just a comment about the advertising boxes that appear on some of the web pages on this forum. I think it could be done a bit more sensitively, showing respect to each manufacturer and their product ranges. For example, it seems inappropriate to have a Hattons warwell advert appearing on the link to Oxford Rail, when they have a directly competing product. Couldn't you introduce some sort of algorithm or whatever its called, to prevent the more obvious direct conflicts of interest like that?

Received mine today, many thanks to RoS for a prompt delivery. No.8 with twin shields motif. I have mixed feelings about it, tbh. The packaging is excellent, similar to their class 52 and reminiscent of some of the factory built brass stuff I have ordered from Switzerland in the past. Definitely creates a very good first impression of quality, and builds up the expectation. Externally the bodywork is very nice, the shape looks right enough and the paint finish is nicely executed. But I agree with others comments above - turn it over and look underneath, or peer inside the windows and its a bit... errr... Railroad, for want of a better word. So yes, like others I feel the urge to get my paintbrushes to work on the interior, and adding a few people to mask the bulge. It runs nicely out of the box, does what it should over pointwork and tight reverse curves, though will no doubt benefit from the requisite running in period on the club's continuous run this evening. I think those who need one for their period layout will be pleased with their purchase. But I don't think this is a model for RTR collectors seeking the finer detail of high fidelity workmanship.

Possibly people keeping up to date, having acquired the recently released GWR green liveried ones, and selling off their ‘old’ purple ones?

yes you are right, it has now disappeared. I promise you it was there an hour ago! Hattons have been having problems with their listings since their stock take early last month, perhaps there are still some residual gremlins.

Well this is a bit odd... Hattons website is now displaying R3555 Sir William Stanier as sold out on pre-order, but they have more than 10 in stock, now listed at the full RRP of £189.99. Hopefully there’s not another gremlin in their stock control system!

But Bachmann’s wagon packs contain three wagons.... so you need five wagon packs and three wheel packs to avoid having any left over. So maybe the wagon wheels should come in packs of six instead. Oh but wait.. Which means there would still be a discrepancy with the coach wheel packs. Unless they change the wagon multipacks to contain four rather than three wagons, in which case wheel packs of eight would work for both coaches and wagons. Except people would then complain about wagon packs being more expensive if they contained four wagons rather than three. So maybe we just make do with what we’ve got, and keep the odd pair in the spares bin.