mdvle

And newsletter 113, with 112 being skipped, with their big N announcements of Canadian stuff, plus the HO Canadian RDC runs https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Rapido-News-113---Huge-Hosehead-Product-Launch.html?soid=1101318906379&aid=MAjvdcOdnw4

Suspect though that anything that creates more traffic is going to conflict with the goal of having a wide open countryside feel to the layout. It might instead be a case where there is a need to build a basic version of the layout - no fiddle yard yet, just a loop of track on the back - and try running trains and see if it does what he wants.

Tangent has announced the 7th model in their General American tank car series, the General American 1948-Design 8000 Gallon Welded General Service Tank Car. Available in GATX Hooker "Wilmington 1953+" (lettered for caustic soda service), GATX Lease "Original 1948+", Undecorated. https://www.tangentscalemodels.com/general-american-1948-design-8000-gallon-welded-general-service-tank-car/

Rapido today announced their next run of RDCs, the RDC-2/3 in Canadian roadnames as well as more RDC-1 (including the CPR "hockey mask" scheme). https://www.rapidotrains.com/products/ho-scale/diesel-locomotives/ho-scale-canadian-rdc Preorders due October 7th, eta July 2020

Rapidos major N scale announcements. Canadian - 10 Car Set - $700 Canadian - 3-Car add on (coach, manor, chateau) $220 Canadian - Prestige sets (Chateau, Chateau, Park) $220 Canadian - Skyline - $75 Unlike the HO they are doing both original and HEP, available in VIA and CP. https://www.rapidotrains.com/products/n-scale/complete-trains/the-canadian GMD FP9A - $170 / $280 - CN(1954/Stripes), CP (Block/Script/Pacman), VIA, Algoma Central https://www.rapidotrains.com/products/n-scale/diesel-locomotives/n-scale-gmd-fp9a LRC Coaches - $70 - VIA, Amtrak https://www.rapidotrains.com/products/n-scale/passenger-cars/n-scale-lrc-coaches F40PH-2D (original and rebuilt) https://www.rapidotrains.com/products/n-scale/diesel-locomotives/n-scale-f40ph-2d https://www.rapidotrains.com/products/n-scale/diesel-locomotives/n-scale-rebuilt-f40ph-2d [edit] NOTE: Pre-order and delivery dates have been staggered to allow for saving of the necessary funds. F40PH-2D - preorder October 7th 2019, eta May 2020 (original), June 2020 (rebuilt) LRC Coaches - preorder October 7th 2019, eta March 2020 Canadian - preorder January 13th 2020, eta September 2020 FP9A - preorder March 17th 2020, eta August 2020

I wonder if this may be a reason why they seem to be trying to find a way to keep the current line? First thought is that if you don't need to run trains on the line, then as a seawall only the costs should be much lower. The problem though I would guess is that it likely can never "just be a seawall", the nature of the existing pedestrian walkways along much of the line means that even with the railway gone your costs are going to have to include making sure it remains people safe, because with trains gone then people will start walking the old ROW. The most obvious aspect to this would be that NR can't just walkaway from the cliff issue, because there will still be people at risk.

I suspect the key word in that statement is "policy", which is a very different concept than actually doing anything in the physical world. So it may not mean that Defra would become responsible for the sea defenses if the railway leaves. I suspect there were a lot of issues that IKB faced, a lot of skepticism and push back. And like now, there would have been a lot of people who felt that mankind could master and control the natural world, though I have no idea if IKB was one of those people. We however have both the advantage of 150+ years of hindsight to base our opinions on, as well as 150+ years of time to lose the knowledge of all the little details that influenced the decisions of the time. For example, my recollection is that one of the contributing issues to the failure that happened was that the pedestrian walkway on that section was deliberately lower because of the houses along that section. Fair to say that was likely a decision forced on IKB (or whowever was responsible in later years if it wasn't original).

When you are doing your stuff of operational interest, do you still want the mainline traffic running past at speed? It seems to me that a possible drawback of this design is that it doesn't allow the mainline trains to continue going in loops at the same time if you need to use the mainline to do any of your operations... If that is acceptable / what you want, then great. Otherwise maybe replacing the branch with an industry / goods facility that can be shunted without blocking the mains would be something to contemplate.

Regardless of what we may now know/consider, the route in question has functioned as a railway successfully for over 150 years now. The fact is that the experts have provided a lot of valuable feedback on this issue and it isn't a question of accepting their input at face value - it is obvious to anyone willing to look at the issue objectively that: 1) any solution *must* continue to serve the population of Devon, which in this case means it must serve the south coast of Devon and the population centres of Torbay / Newton Abbot / South Hams 2) there will only be money for 1 rail line through Devon given the population of Devon, which means given 1) that the Okehampton route is not viable. The issue, and the reason why the "experts" on here get so frustrated, is that people continue to pretend that the money issue is not relevant, and while you can certainly design a model railway on that basis in the real world money matters. I believe the issue is that the railway simply cannot walk away from the rail line, and thus will remain responsible for the infrastructure whether it is used or not.

Atlas Summer - preorders August 21st Comet II Coaches / Cab Cars - Metro North, NJT, MBTA, Horizon Passenger Cars - Amtrak Phase III, Phase VI X-29 Box Car - Detroit Toledo & Ironton, Pennsy, C&O, Nickel Plate, CGW, L&NE 89'4" Flat Car - APL "Linertrain", BN, FEC, GN, SP, Trailer Train, WP 3 and 6-bay Cylindrical Hopper - Hooker Chemical, Potacan, UP, Westroc, GN, Illinois Terminal Articulated Auto Carrier - NS "Horsehead", SF, TOAX, BTTX, NS 53'6" Wood Express Reefer - Nickel Plate, Northern Refrigerator, REA, American Refrigerator Express, Soo LIne, WP, American Refrigerator Transport Quarter-ton Military Vehicle http://download.atlasrr.com/0619MCPDF/Summer2019MSRPOnly.pdf

Atlas Summer announcements - preorder by August 21st NEW - Master 14 Section Pullman Sleeper - $72.95 - N de M, NYC, Pullman (C&O, IC, RI, UP, Pool) Master GP40-2 - FEC, CP, Conrail, CSX, CSX "Operation Red Black", UP, BN, NS "Operation Lifesaver, Boston & Maine Master H15/16-44 - NYC, New Haven (Post McGinnis), Rock Island, Jersey Central, Milwaukee Road, Long Island "Dashing Dan", Pennsy, Southern (AGS), UP Master 1932 ARA Box Car - NYC "Demonstrator", Maine Central, Central of Georgia, MP, N de M, Linde Air Products, NC&STL, Nickel Plate Master 50' GARX Reefer - Chicago & Eastern Illinois, C&NW, Rio Grande, N&W, Toledo Peoria & Western, IC, SP Master 3 and 6-bay Cylindrical Hopper - Potocan, Cancarb, Conrail, Westroc, Rail Logistics, Hooker Chemical, GN, Wabash Master Articulated Auto Carrier - NS "Horsehead", SF, TOAX, BTTX, NS Master 36' Wood Reefer - Agar Packing, Lange Creamery, Nuckoll's Refrigerator, Dold Packing, NY Despatch, Pittsburgh Provision & Packing, Rex Canned Meats, Schwarzchild & Sulzberger Lard Master 50' Single Door Postwar Box Car - NYC, CN, C&O, MP, N de M, NP "Savings Bonds", Reading Master FMC 5077 Double Door Boxcar - Camino Placerville and Lake Tahoe, Seattle & North Coast, UP, Union Railroad of Oregon Cararama Construction Vehicles - Volvo Tipper A40D, Volvo Bulldozer L150C, Volvo Loader L180C, Volvo Excavator EC210 http://download.atlasrr.com/0619MCPDF/Summer2019MSRPOnly.pdf

Atlas Summer announcements, preorder date August 21st NEW - NACC 50' Smoothside RBL Box Car - D&H, Ashley Drew & Northern, Dakota Minnesota & Eastern, Mountain Pine Lumber, Sexton Foods, QOCX, Whitehouse Applesauce NEW - 53'6" Flat Car - Conrail, ICG, Minneapolis & St. Louis, Rock Island, SP, UP NEW - X72 Box Car - Conrail "US Savings Bonds", PC, CN, York Rail, Conrail, WP NEW - Bay Window Caboose - C&NW, Conrail, Frisco, KCS, Milwaukee Road, Rock Island, UP "Steam Program", UP GP40-2 - FEC, NS "Operation Lifesaver", CP, CSX, CSX "Operation Red Black", BN, Guilford, UP S-2 - Maine Central, CN, Erie, Chicago Great Western, SP, Lehigh & New England Articulated Auto Carrier - NS "Horsehead Logo", SF, TOAX, BTTX, NS, FMC 5077 Double Door Box Car - Camino Placerville and Lake Tahoe, Seattle & North Coast, UP, Union Railroad of Oregon 53' Container - American Highway, CSX, EMP, Matson, Robinson, UPSU, Universal Trainman 50' Stock Car - Wabash, NYC, Pennsy, GN, Chicago Burlington & Quincy, Wabash http://download.atlasrr.com/0619MCPDF/Summer2019MSRPOnly.pdf

More of a general comment not specific to this layout, but something anyone building a layout could consider is (on the assumption that the layout builder isn't interested in handlaying track) is to see if someone else would be interested in making some custom trackwork.

It doesn't matter where the inland route ends up, as soon as it is done the Dawlish seawall becomes redundant as a rail line and the countdown timer starts on its closure - there simply won't be enough money to run / maintain 2 mainlines through Devon. Thus the Dawlish and Teignmouth residents are best serviced by an alternate line that at least remains reasonably close to them.

You, and others, might want to periodically check out the Micro-Trains website then. Unfortunately they don't seem to do announcements like the others so difficult to add here. https://www.micro-trains.com/

An important point though is that most of the items, like the 1600, are being made for third parties and it is up to those third parties whether they want Rapido to comment publicly on them, or if they want to handle any commentary themselves. So in the case of the 1600 it may well be that Model Rail wants to be the only source of information on the model.

Rapido have experienced some growing pains, as explained in some of their latest North American newsletters and in particular the recent hiring of 2 more staff and a significant promotion from within. In addition to the other mentioned UK items, they continue to make product for Realtrack and they have the Class 92 for Revolution about to go into production, the KFA flat in production, and I think they are doing the Kernow/Revolution IZA Twin.

Came up on Facebook in a reply about a month ago, Rapido said that they haven't forgotten the UK but don't have anything to say at the moment. Their next announcement is of Canadian stuff, to be done on the 24th via Facebook.

Partially because the A3/A4 both outsell what will be a niche model by about 100x? Because with that many models out there over the last decade+ their is an abundance of choice? But the issue isn't assembly costs. What healthy income? We have an example above where the expectation is that these extra bodies would only "cost" £20 or less. Unlike the above example of an A3/A4, the GT3 will sell in very small numbers and so x people switching from spending £185 for a model to £20 for a shell could mean the difference between covering the costs of the model or a loss, hence the reason you can't just say it is just a negligible cost. And if x is really small then it simply isn't worth the hassle.

Because the original poster said he had a chassis and was only looking for a shell, and thus the resin shell would be fine? The majority of the cost of producing most models - the tooling - is in the shell. In most cases the mechanism is a much smaller fraction of the costs of producing the model, thus for all intents and purposes the cost of buying "just a shell" would be equivalent to just buying the entire model.

My understanding is that LLC is Steve, and Steve alone, so given that who "else" from LLC are you expecting? Our hobby has a lot of small, one person, businesses that all have the same risk - a serious health issue can result in the inability to communicate to the customers if the illness or other issues surrounding it prevent it. No ranting on here or elsewhere (and I note that with a mere 14 posts this appears to be an account created simply for this ranting) will change those realities.

Google News search of "hs1 increases" returned this article from a week ago: https://www.cityam.com/eurostar-warns-ticket-price-hike-high-speed-1-threatens/

Athearn Special Announcement - limited quantity SD70ACe in UP's latest special paint scheme "Powered by our People", eta December 2019 http://www.athearn.com/newsletter/062819/00_GEN_SD70ACe_060719.pdf

Athearn, preorder due June 28, eta May 2020 Genesis - F-Units - ATSF (Cat Whiskers), MILW, MKT, Frisco, WM http://www.athearn.com/newsletter/053119/02_GEN_F-Unit_053119.pdf Genesis - GP38-2 - BN, EJE, Illinois Terminal, P&LE, Conrail http://www.athearn.com/newsletter/053119/01_GEN_GP38-2_053119.pdf RTR - 60' Gunderson Boxcar - Railbox/TTX, UP, BNSF, Southern Railroad of British Columbia, Transportacion Ferroviaria Mexicana, WC, SPSF http://www.athearn.com/newsletter/053119/03_RTR_60ft_Gunderson_box_053119.pdf RTR - 40' 3-Bay Ribbed Hopper - UP, CSX, Conrail, Herzog, NS, RJ Corman, Alaska http://www.athearn.com/newsletter/053119/04_RTR_Ballast_Hopper_053119.pdf RTR - 48' Container - Allied Van Lines, SF, BN, Conrail, BN, American President Lines, CN, SP http://www.athearn.com/newsletter/053119/05_RTR_48ft_Container_053119.pdf Roundhouse - 50' 5283 FMC Double Door Boxcar - Bangor & Aroostook, Golden West, WS, Cotton Belt, BC Rail, Infinity Rail, SP, Minnesota Dakota & Western http://www.athearn.com/newsletter/053119/06_RND_50ft_5283_FMC_Box_053119.pdf Roundhouse - 50' HC Double Door Boxcar - BC Rail, Midwest Car, NS (MOW) http://www.athearn.com/newsletter/053119/07_RND_50ft_Double_Door_HC_Box_053119.pdf

Athearn. Order due June 28, eta May 2020 50' Berwick Boxcar - Railbox, General American, BNSF, NS, Maryland & Pennsylvania, C&NW, Pickens, BN, KCS, Middleton & New Jersey, Nevada Northern http://www.athearn.com/newsletter/053119/08_N-scale_50ft_Berwick_Box_053119.pdf 48' Container - Allied Van Lines, SF, BN, Conrail, American President Lines, BN, CN, SP http://www.athearn.com/newsletter/053119/09_N_48ft_Container_053119.pdf