Caddy

Quote - "the model was never reviewed and never launched" Chris, I realise that it may not be possible but as a lover of model railway history, are you able to reveal the identity of this model? I am really intrigued!

I wrote to Hattons complaining about my last few orders being delayed in dispatch and received the following reply. Looks like the UK next day orders are the priority and as I fully agree that DHL are fast and reliable - BUT here in Brisbane 90% of the time they hand the parcel over to Australia Post for final delivery and they are neither fast or reliable !!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hello Stephen, Thank you for your email, I apologise this has not left us as of yet. We do try to get our orders out the door as fast as possible and I can see yours has now been picked and should leave us today. The only orders we treat as a priority are UK next days as we can say for certain that we can get orders to our customers on a next day service here in the UK but all other orders are treated the same and fairly which are picked and dispatched in order of being placed. The £23.00 price is one DHL has allocated due to the size and weight of the order, also DHL are a very fast and reliable service. I hope this clarifies matters for you but if you have any further questions then please feel free to contact us. Kind Regards Michael Robinson

Yep, DHL delivery to Oz is now 23 pounds, used to be 17. What is disappointing is that recently - the last 6 months or so, they never seem to be able to get an overseas order away within 24 hours. meaning that even if you order on a Monday via DHL you rarely get it before Monday or Tuesday the following week. This is partly of course because most orders are handed over to Australia Post for final delivery - extra 2 days! I've started having the orders available for pick up at DHL Brisbane Airport, lucky I'm only 40km away. But please Hattons can you give us value for our 23 pounds by getting the orders away quickly. Winging over with, back to playing trains..................

Please do....................................

Thank you Quarryscapes, that mechanism looks lovely, bit like the Hornby J15, can't wait, think I may weaken and get a GW one and repaint it ......... Whatever the rights and wrongs about rivets and washout plugs, the loco sure beats the old Triang 3F converted into the Dean Goods with a few pieces and tender from the old Airfix "City of Truro" kit!!!!!!! I think John Flann wrote an article in the old Model Railway News about that conversion. Almost tried it myself but had better things to spend 50 shillings on. Mind you the old Exeter Model Centre used to sell repainted Triang 3F's with just new dome, chimney and altered tender axle boxes and call them Dean Goods, I think the Trade Descriptions Act may have come into that one............ Cheers everyone

Tim Thanks for the information re running qualities, most useful. I don't think weight will be a problem for me as long as it can cope with a couple of Hornby Colletts or 5 to 10 wagons I'll be happy. And I'm really not bothered about washout plugs, reversing levers or whether the drivers cap is the wrong shape................... Like you, just have to be patient for the black one............. Cheers

Hello John Sadly I agree totally with you. I gave up on my 02, a loco I was so looking forward to and have 2 M7's in service again both running superbly after many years now and soon to be joined by the new Hornby 0-4-4T. I know others have had no problems with their 02's but I have a layout running to timetable requiring many smooth starts and stops and shunting moves and the 02 I received was just not smooth or reliable enough. Hope to be over at Kernow again early next year - perhaps I can find one there that suits after a good test run. I really do want one for the gate stock when it arrives.

Don't panic just yet, just received this email from Greg at Kernow after checking my card details were still current, well they were first ordered in 2011! "We are awaiting the second (and hopefully final) set of samples for the Gate Stock soon. Assuming they are approved and a production slot is available, delivery should be about 4-6 months from now." Still time to save the pennies........... Must just remember to keep breathing..............

North Devonshire.pdf This is one of the few colour photos I remember of the North Devonshire with hand built track and the beautiful, scratchbuilt Eaton Mascot Hall prominent. Also some lovely old Exley or Hamblings GWR suburban coaches, an old Airfix station building and a Bilteezi engine shed. In fact for 1960's modellers this is like a snapshot in time.

Well they can't transport me, I'm already here......................

Thanks Dunwurken, I have noticed in previous supplements other little errors that had crept in, They really should let one of us older readers have a proof read first! I have still to receive my RM for June, hopefully next week. About the other matter, my intention was actually an offer to send some articles from the early 1950's privately to TERRYSVR, not to publish them here but re the copyright issue, I checked on the DACS website and Copyright Aid and I quote: "In the UK, copyright in the actual typographical layout of the published editions only last for 25 years from the end of the year in which it was published. In other words reproducing the magazines or parts of the same by scanning them would not pose any problem" If anyone has other thoughts could they please clarify the situation. I'm too old for clink and too broke to pay fines, and then who would look after the fish and run the trains................

Remember it very well, but those of a certain age always will. The railway began in Edinburgh where Ken Northwood resided during the late 1940's. Several other well known modellers including John Charman and P D Hancock were also involved in it's early days. The aim was always perfect running and Ken's "Eaton Mascot Hall" was a magnificent loco. After his retirement, Ken and the North Devonshire moved to the West Country. As well as the Railway Modeller, the layout and its stock appeared in several other publications. Next week, I am happy to scan and send some copies of early articles if you would like?

The length of this thread and the way it has wandered off into various realms of dark knowledge seems to highlight but one thing to me, that even now, during the second decade of the 21st Century, with all our digital and scientific advances, we are not able to build a small model railway loco that will work well enough and with enough consistency to make the intended consumers happy! Reading this and other threads it all seems to be a matter of pot-luck if we get a "goodie" or not. Certainly due to design, construction and/or quality control some models seem to have a much higher percentage of duds, but in the end it is just luck! For me it is the running that is paramount so these days unless I can fairly well have at least a 90% chance of obtaining a good runner I am not parting with my hard earned pennies, and sadly the new Hattons 14xx seems to be barely making a 50% rating. I did purchase an O2 and BWT. The Beattie when warmed up and with clean wheels is passable, but the O2 was sadly a total waste so until DJM come up with a more consistent design for their small locos. I am afraid their 14xx and J94 can remain on the shelves. The Bachmann USA tank seems to be a much more consistently good running model. Mine is very smooth and quiet and with all that valve gear and the very short wheelbase must have been a challenge to design well. Perhaps DJM are just trying to be too clever with their designs, get back to basics please. Anyway as anyone following the thread knows I have a nearly 20 year old Hornby 14xx which has a simple motor, simple drive, simple pickups and runs like a Rolex so I am happy. Oh, and if anything goes wrong I can whip the body off in 10 seconds! Mind you I do like the "stouter" chimney on the Hattons/DJM model, any spares please?

I still have the first copy my father bought for me, Volume 2 No. 8 Jan-Feb 1951. Inside the front cover is an advert for Graham Farish with their new Pullman coaches and the Formo flexible track which my father and I used on our railway and it had proper 4mm scale sleeper spacing. Inside the back cover is an advert from Hattons, then at 136 Smithdown Road - I remember it well! Amongst the editorial pages there is a constructional article about building a Great Central Signal box by a certain Peter Denny. Of course CJF and Peter were both members of the Model Railway Club at that time and we know that in time Peter followed CJF to the West Country where their friendship led to more than 20 years worth of great articles in the Railway Modeller. Oh memories..................

As you know from earlier in the thread still very happy with my old 1999 model Hornby 14xx. Changed the centre drivers over to non-tyred ones. Change in running qualities was staggering! Would not swap this one for anything.

If you have been following this thread, you will see a few pages back I posted a video of my 18 year old Hornby 14xx. It has always been a good running loco and was even better after I replaced the second pair of driving wheels which had driving tyres fitted, with another pair of plain wheels. It is well balanced, travels very smoothly through points and works equally well off plain or feedback controllers with its very basic motor and drive arrangement. I have so far experienced 2 DJ models, the O2 and Beattie well tank. The well tank started well but has become very noisy lately whilst my O2 was one of the rogue ones. Being in Australia, I tried to work on it myself and am still trying! I am NOT convinced with these gear coupled DJ models mechanisms and I certainly was not going to fork out another 100 quid for the 14xx. Why anyway, when I have a superb running model which to my eyes looks like a 14xx, acts like a 14xx and reminds me of a lovely holiday in Dorset all those years ago! To those awaiting the new Hornby release, or should we say re-release, "good on you" - you will not be disappointed and you'll have enough money left over to buy any super detail parts you want, another pair of plain driving wheels and a new Bachmann autocoach to go with it. Makes sense to me.

Thanks for the kind words, if you are ever passing through Brisbane please come and have a look..............

I purchased one of the first run Chinese made Hornby 14xx locos at the old Thurleigh Models in Wincanton in November 1999 whilst my wife and I were living in a small village in the Blackmore Vale. It has always run sweetly but in 2010 I fitted a second pair of plain driving wheels in place of the tyred wheels and since then it has been brilliant even over my less than perfect track. Now after 18 years of loyal service it just keeps getting better and better. In all that time it has hardly ever been off the track and I think my wife would divorce me if I was to replace the old "Wincanton" loco! Please have a look at the video I posted on youtube, sorry for the quality, hard to drive and photograph at the same time!

Thanks Didcot- that was fast, please let us know how she runs on the layout.

Way back in November 2011 when I ordered my K1004 set I decided to amend the timetable on my layout to incorporate the set. As a stand in for a "few months", I happily butchered some old clerestories I had to make up a "stop gap" set. Well they have been in service for nearly 5 years now!!!!!! I do apologise to any modellers of a more sensitive disposition if they look at the attached photo but I love my set 30 and who knows it may yet see me out. Mind you I never thought I would live to see an Adams Radial, USA Tank and O2 running on the layout. Just have to keep breathing......

Mine finally arrived today. What a magnificent model, surlely a candidate for "Model of the Year". Well worth the four year wait. Well done Model Rail, Bachmann, Kernow and everyone else involved. And, even over my less than perfect track it runs like a dream. Made an old fellow very happy. I know we have had loads of photos, but just had to add mine. Excuse me, think I'll go and play trains..................................

Up until a month or so ago I agree that DHL used to hand over the parcels to Australia Post, I thought it was probably because we live outside the Brisbane metropolitan area, half way to the Gold Coast. Anyway for my last two orders the goods have arrived via DHL themselves. I asked the driver who said that they were now delivering themselves all the way between Brisbane and the Gold Coast. I have no idea what the situation is in WA but hope the same happens for you. It has shaved another 24 to 48 hours off the time with DHL delivering.

Had another superb Hattons/DHL experience last week, ordered the new Bachmann Ivatt plus a coach on Thursday evening Brisbane time, arrived Monday morning 10.31 am via the little yellow van. Brilliant service and I love following the tracking! I do hope any review of the couriers at Hattons keeps the DHL option! Nice to see Richard Davies here on RMWeb and for the record I have been a happy customer since 1960 when I lived near Orrell Park Station. Used to catch the 46 bus to Penny Lane in those days before the street name boards kept disappearing! Came over to Australia in 1972 and have continued to use Hattons as my preferred supplier.

Had an exceptional Widnes to Windaroo experience last week. Ordered a Hornby Class 71 and a couple of wagons early Tuesday morning Queensland time, asked for DHL delivery option. Hattons obviously got the parcel away quickly and the little yellow van pulled up outside here at 11.44am Friday morning. Because we are outside the Brisbane area, usually in the past DHL have handed the parcel to Australia Post for the final delivery but not any more. They are delivering themselves all the way to the Gold Coast now. There is about 6 UK pounds difference for using DHL but worth every penny if we have service like this. PS - the Class 71 is a lovely runner as well................ Well done Hattons, Hornby and DHL

I had this trouble also - blame my 30 year old baseboards and my less than perfect tracklaying. I whipped the front bogie off, little bit of filing just over the coupling box, bogie back on and fantastic. Runs better than a watch! Well done Oxford, whats next?