mdvle
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Posts posted by mdvle
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To me it looks like they've scaled up Hornby's effort rather than the real thing.
Perhaps it is another example where the official drawings differ from what was actually built.
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I'm unsure why doing both together would make it more viable? All the early research and much of the CAD has been done for the N Gauge model so 4mm modellers wouldn't share the cost of this. Similarly I can't see many 4mm models wanting to subsidise the tooling for the N Gauge model....
Steven B.
It wouldn't help the N model.
What it could theoretically do is help Revolution by shifting some of the existing costs that have been incurred onto an OO model.
If an OO model was successful then the research is still valid, and thus the costs for it would be paid for by the OO model.
I also assume that while there would be a cost to alter the CAD that it is less than developing CAD from scratch, so an OO model would pay for at least some of the CAD work that has been done.
That all assumes though that an OO model is successful.
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Weren't the railways fined last year for making too much money from the grain traffic? (I don't quite understand.)
Fined this year for not moving enough https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/cn-fined-for-failing-to-move-enough-grain/article20647807/
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CP has announced plans to order 5900 new grain cars over the next 4 years, with an initial order of 1000 with 500 arriving by the end of this year.
As for the "more grain cars to solve the problem" aspect, the new cars can carry more grain (10% greater weight) and the cars are also shorter, allowing more cars per train - CP is currently limited to 112 cars per 7,000 foot train which will increase to 118 with the new cars.
Also, heads up for anyone interested in the iconic Canadian Government grain cars, the new cars likely mean the end of their careers.
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Heljan's Facebook page has several photos of the pre-production hand assembled Class 50
https://www.facebook.com/heljanas/posts/1921783951217795
No release date yet but suggested retail is £699.00
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Like any of these things there is always lots of talk and angst, and it is extremely easy to click on an online survey. But at the end of the day while some will follow through the vast majority just continue on without change.
What it does do is give GitHub a more solid future given that they were apparently not yet breaking even let alone making a profit, something that anyone considering moving might want to consider about where they jump. Offering free hosting make it difficult to pay the bills if not enough people/companies are willing to take up the paid options.
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Latest Bachmann update shows that they are in production http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/134726-Bachmann-times-summer-2018-product-updates/
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No it isn't. Don't be silly now.
I can guarantee they still sell thousands of train sets through places like Argos and the like. Just Google "Hornby Train Sets" and you will see loads of them for sale from places that aren't model shops.
Modellers think that the average person in the street think like they do. They don't.
Junior wants a train set (or grandad wants to buy him one). They don't go to Hattons, they look online. First place comes up is Argos or Amazon, even Hornby. Bought. Delivered next day.
I have no illusion about the public at large, the evidence is available for anyone to see.
Yes, some train sets are still sold. But nowhere near the numbers that they sold in the past for the simple reason that Junior today wants a tablet, gaming system, or any number of other things.
If Hornby was able to still sell the train set in any significant numbers then they wouldn't be in the financial mess they are in - they are after all with their stock listing and board and all those other expensive items set up as a mass market toy company.
So yes, the tradition is dead.
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Of course if Bachmann and Hornby did copy the new business model, and ditch the full range to concentrate on specialist/flagship models,
without any supporting track and infrastructure, they might become leaner and fitter, but then how long would the hobby as we know it survive?
OK there would still be collectors who never open the box, and modellers who build their own track and wagon kits, who will buy new models.
Or Peco, who appears to have made quite a successful business selling track.
The key point is that if there is an opportunity somebody will create a business to fill the need, so instead of people buying everything from Hornby they will deal with several companies/individuals.
Now admittedly it won't be the hobby as you know if, if your definition of the hobby starts and ends with Hornby, but the hobby will survive precisely because it isn't remaining stagnant but instead is evolving to reflect how the outside world is changing.
But without the Nellie/Thomas style starter sets, where a complete train set can be bought off the shelf, where are the modellers of tomorrow likely to come from?
Hate to break it to you, but that tradition is already dead.
Again though, things change. As a podcaster says, people see model trains on YouTube, think that's neat, and get into the hobby that way. Or maybe through Facebook, Twitter, or any number of other ways.
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I do wonder though how much impact the industry commentators would say that things like the mazac issues, have had on Hornby? But are Hornby an early casualty of the whole industry with bachman scaling back releases and the likes of hattons commissioning models, and more recently model rail commissioning models......or is it a case of the hobby is starting to become unsustainable, at the current prices?
There really is no indication that hobby is becoming unsustainable, it is merely changing as it often does.
What is likely is that Hornby's problems are unique to Hornby, particularly the costs they have that no other competitors do - being listed on the stock exchange brings a whole bunch of costs their competitors don't have.
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whats going on inside that gangway? looks odd.
Better shot on the flyer they just posted to Facebook - intended for gap free running so it's designed to move as the model goes through up to R2 curves
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Funny, I thought this was a Dapol BR Mk1 Coach thread.
Welcome to RMweb, where things wander.
More seriously, the point was to show people where they could talk about the Mk1 Suburban so it wouldn't take over this thread (aka. known as being nice and considerate to people, you should try it).
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1624 late emblem (so as when shedded at Newton Abbot I would think)
Looking online I only see 1624 at Laira and St. Blazey. Was it at Newton Abbot?
Not saying the online sources are accurate but they only 16xx I can find reference to Newton Abbot is 1608.
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But that approach wouldn't really work on GWML, at least, because you can't really electrify to Swindon, then have a pause, then Bristol, pause, then Cardiff. The smallest section worth doing would be Airport Jn-Reading, for suburban services, then really you've got to go at least as far as Bristol to be worthwhile.
Certainly more difficult in the current non-loco railway, but then again nothing says you need to necessarily use the wires as soon as they are put up. Even if it takes you 5 years to get to Bristol you have done so in a way that is more self sustaining and thus can continue on for the next however many decades to get the job done for the full network.
The alternative is the "big bang" approach of try everything at once which has failed quite well with parts of it now cancelled and no further plans contemplated.
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Perhaps its a combination of things, including whether there is that much of a market. Easy to buy lots of short steam era goods wagons, but a modern good wagon with its length starts to cause issues in OO that don't always exist in N.
Also need to consider the time frame involved and what may happen between now and then - not just obvious things but even how the current trade war over steel will play out - and with a full payment up front discount less/no ability to put through a price increase.
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Not a straightforward conversion, and the resulting loco, while relatively successful, always looked like a Heinz.
What were the visual differences if one were to contemplate an attempt?
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Very interesting and well worth reading, as it goes back to the origins of the current problems.
An interesting quote from section 1.5
The Department awarded the contract, worth £8 billion over seven years, to Govia Thameslink after it scored the highest of five bidders for its proposals on service quality and put forward the lowest cost to run the franchise.
Maybe others can explain differently, but to me those 2 "wins" in the franchise bid are contradictory - getting better service quality usually means higher expenses, which would seem to go against having the lowest cost.
I also find this in 1.10 a bit disturbing
Gatwick Express services are performing the worst, with the number of trains arriving within five minutes of the schedule being as much as 10% lower than other routes at certain points. Gatwick Express is the smallest part of the franchise, with 46,000 or 4% of services. Govia Thameslink told us that when there are service problems, other, longer distance and less frequent trains are sometimes given priority over Gatwick Express trains, under an established industry process agreed by Network Rail with other operators, since passengers can use other trains to reach Gatwick Airport.
While technically true, how many passengers are a) aware of the alternates to Gatwick and b) how practical when dragging luggage is it to then try and use a commuter train and c) can they still meet the time constraints given planes don't wait. If I was Gatwick Airport this would infuriate me as the whole point of Gatwick Express is to get travelers to the airport, and if Gatwick Express is going to be the first service "thrown under the bus" then it isn't a service my customers could rely on.
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Don't know when it ended by lime was used in Canada - see p108 bottem left (last page of article on shipping lambs) - http://www.exporail.org/can_rail/Canadian%20Rail_no512_2006.pdf
This thread elsewhere indicates steam was used in the US http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/11/t/71979.aspx
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The bold is the selling price, the crossed out is the Recommended Retail Price is my understanding.
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Quality Control found an issue, fixing it means a delay
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From the Ellis Clark Website :-
We are now pleased to announce the next Darstaed finescale coach project, exclusively for sale only through ourselves, the Mk1 Suburban.
These newly tooled coaches will be priced at £169 and are now available to pre-order through the website, by email or over the phone.
We are hoping for these coaches to be available quarter 4 of this year (2018)
These coaches will be available from ourselves in maroon (lined and unlined), crimson, and blue.
The following coach types will be available to order:
Composite
Composite (with lavatory)
Brake Second
Open Second
Second
Second (with lavatory)
These coaches will be available at a price of £169 each.
There are Photographs on their website,but I have forgotten how to upload to this Site.
A section appeared on RMweb a couple of weeks ago, not a lot of content yet perhaps because few have realized it's there http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/134362-darstaed-7mm-finescale-o-gauge-br-57-mk1-suburban-coaches/
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Why did those go so well but so many others do not, including many outside the rail industry? My opinion, FWIW, is that 2012 had a very clear remit, knew that significant changes were going to come and allowed for them in a strict change control process, and it had a running start, because many of the schemes, away from the stadia themselves, were long standing and just dusted off to be done much earlier than they would have been. The difference between that and with GWIP, which seems to have had an evolving remit even after construction started, and with T2000, which was plagued by planning enquiry after enquiry, let alone evolving and brand new technology in both cases, could not be starker. But it does not explain the delays to the North West electrification, which should have been pretty routine (not helped by contractual problems), as should those for the ECML minor OLE upgrades and other works for the IEP's.
Certainly a key way to have success with any long running project is to have a management that is willing to say no unless there are very good reasons to change things - and the related other side of management willing to listen to those speaking up to indicate when problems arise.
But, particularly with electrification, I wonder if a significant part of the problem is the all or nothing approach government seems to take in order to work with needed election cycles.
Perhaps a better method would have been to start on a smaller scale, and then when the institutional knowledge had been attained then just continue building out each year by X miles / or Y £'s. It would have taken longer, but you would have gotten there in the end for less money instead of the current mess.
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Scaletrains has announced a 4180cf Airslide Covered Hopper https://www.scaletrains.com/collections/rivet-counter-4180cf-airslide-covered-hopper
Dapol Class 22
in Dapol
Posted
Dapol's Facebook page says following now being sent to stockists
4D-012-004 D6325 BR Green No WP Disc H/C
4D-012-006 D6327 BR Blue SYP
4D-012-008 D6332 BR Blue FYE
4D-012-009 D6322 BR Green SYP Disk H/C