stuclark

My 7 car set turned up today as well. I've got to say that for a brand new model, it's not all that much more detailed than the 1980s original, and the huge capacitor clearly visible in each car is inexcusable. But what's getting me most are the pantographs - one of the ones on the 7 car set was broken in delivery and I've had to glue back together, but neither of those, nor the one on my separate powered NDM will actually go up and stay up. They all feel like cheap cr*p, especially compared to the full metal version in the '80s original. Is there a trick to getting these pantographs to work that I'm missing?

I hadn't read the other post about Hattons cancelling pre-orders; but I note on that thread that Hattons were actually explaining the situation and offering appologies. They didn't do that to me; so I still stand by their CS being less than acceptable. As to whether we should have to order directly from Hornby - that's a different argument that *almost* isn't relevent here - it is how the retailer deals with issues which is the subject I posted about...

Hattons took it upon themselves to cancel my Hornby APT pre-order today - they didn't bother phoning or sending me a personal email; I just got a generic one with no detail at all! So I phoned them - the first time they said "oh yeah, we've cancelled it because we didn't get the stock allocation we wanted"; then *went to check something* and hung up! The second phone call, I got someone else who sounded like he couldn't care less. Didn't offer any further explanation - said "no, you'll never be able to order it from us" and was absolutely un-interested in the appalling customer service! My pre-order was made with Hattons the day the model became available for pre-order in 2020 - it certainly wasn't "out of stock for pre-order" when I ordered it; and I didn't place an order directly with Hornby because I trusted Hattons. Turns out that was a mistake! I've now re-ordered directly with Hornby, but I'm now at the back of the queue, and who knows - I may never now receive the model - all because Hattons cocked up!

Having received my catalouge this morning; I can confirm it is no more use at all in working out exact vehicle numbers in each set. The best info we have (because the catalouge doesn't even make this clear) is that the 7 car set is essentially a 5 car set with the addition of a NDM and APT-U vehicles

I'm not saying they are the same thing; but to think that a steam pump which has a 90 inch diameter piston; weighing a total of about 200 tons and able to move over 500 gallons of water in under 4 seconds is a "rustic" toy is very much mistaken. No, the engineering tollerances are not the same, but a lot of the theory is - it's about sourcing or re-making parts where they're not available, and finding expertise to acheive your goals. Kit says there's no one around who worked on the traction systems - that's a great big issue; but ... there are people in the world with enough experience in turbine / alternator sets and associated technologies to be able to essentially re-engineer what exists. The biggest issue with this is money. It would not be impossible (only expensive and complicated) to completely re-engineer PC1 with modern turbines and control equipment. No it wouldn't be authentic, but it would be operational. .... just an item for discussion ... (oh, and as someone who actually drove 4472 when Tony Marchington owned her; I can't understand how the NRM managed to spend quite so much money on the restoration (Tony spent almost £2m restoring her in '99) - serious mis-management springs to mind)

If someone were to donate a couple of million quid, APT-E could run again. From what I understood when talking to Kit at Warley, there's nothing fundamentally wrong that can't be cured with money. Yes, turbines are in short supply, but they can be re-built or re-engineered with enough cash. ...the Vulcan flew again and I've personally restored very large steam (pumping) engines which people said could never work again; so never say never for APT-E Actually, I bet "P train" could run again as well with enough cash...

Here's a somewhat refined version, with transparent background:

This is a very quick and quite dirty clean up; but here's my first 30 minutes of playing with the logo from Kit's picture