Nova Scotian

I looked through a number of preserved/heritage railway websites in the run up to Christmas. Was looking to purchase something for my father for Christmas, and wanted to support a preserved railway, but also find something "special". I was not successful; far too much of the merchandise is poorly planned, "photos" sent to a Chinese manufacturer for a generic (and ugly) product. I wish they'd formed partnerships with local artisans to design unique and special products that reflect the region their in, their history, their railway. I checked six or seven, and about another ten didn't have online shops. I know e-commerce railway product shops isn't going to save them, but I want to do something. Supporting small business, local, and a preserved line would be a double win - as well as something that's actually meaningful. Did I miss something/somewhere?

These look great and at a fantastic price. Sent to my partner who responded: "Pick a gauge". I have OO and HO, but am sorely tempted by O as they're impressive, and N by being able to actually fit in a layout... The gaugemaster sets are a decent price with track and controller; they would seriously tempt me as an impulse purchase. Kato mechanisms have a fantastic reputation in North America, I think expectations will be high

That's excellent news. When travelling again won't kill my parents, I will be journeying to the land of the east to get a little bit FLIRTy, and probably take the kids on the North Norfolk Railway

Are these more reliable now and settling in, or still disappointing?

I've been there!

I've seen coaches with large patches of paint peeling away, with at least surface corrosion underneath. Could be worse. Also semi-regularly one or two renaissance coaches pulled off and left in a siding - made me question the reliability (but have no insider info to know whether it was planned to leave them there or not!)

Sorry to raise an old topic from the dead... but an opportunity to purchase a Dapol 56 on the cheap has arisen for me. What was the motor in these like? There's a post above suggesting not very good. I can tolerate pancake motors fine, I have some Lima for my kids, I add some weight, oil properly and it growls rather than screeches. But I don't want an absolute lemon (like some Lima I had!). Any insight? It's a Dapol box, but don't know what year it was produced. It actually looks pretty good; looks like a 56 and in pristine condition at a good price.

Theoretically under various FTAs we would have open procurement. I can't think of a way that Via could get around that, but there's likely ways. Agree you'd want a North American product - and also agree that Siemens would be the natural choice. Throw in some of their motive power too; a bunch more Chargers for use outside of the corridor. Agree re. your comments on debt load. There has to be a breaking point, somewhere, on how much we borrow, but with interest cheap and the need so pressing it'd be good to use it for societal and environmental good (by society I mostly mean railfans...). Perhaps Siemens could be persuaded to build in US, and undertake fit + finishing and all maintenance in Canada? There's lots of facilities knocking around (IRSI's old facility in Moncton is currently manufacturing freight cars...), but there can't be many tooled up with the skilled workforce available for modern, stressed skin, laser cut etc, and the market surely can't support more than one major manufacturer (Bombardier)? So, sounds like you and I should write a letter to Via suggesting this - maybe Transport Canada too. Find some money kicking around somewhere.

Rather than repairing/replacing piecemeal, there must some economies of scale from a large order; would be good covid-19 recovery for manufacturing, as well as "green" transit. Though how many railcar manufacturers have modern, off-the-shelf sleeper car designs ready to go? Observation/dome?

Not sure I appreciate being labelled a conspiracy theorist... What we have some from some other small runs is that extra parts are run for the batch, that are kept by the manufacturer or a third party as spares. It's possible given the size of the batch those spares will run out and not be re-run, but at least to begin with there's a pool of spare parts created. I don't think it's reasonable to expect a thoroughly well stocked spare parts chain of bushes for X04s the way the industry is structured now, but there should be a basic supply of spares expected to last a period of time following production. Those spares are not a money maker for the manufacturer; they cost to produce, and are a relatively low value and fiddly good to store/select/dispatch, but without you could have some very unhappy customers. Those spares do not appear to be listed by Hattons (unclear whether they have them or not - but if they have them why would they not affect a repair on that unit to resell at a higher price), and they are not listed with the third party spares companies that state they either have Heljan product, or will have Heljan product. I certainly do not believe it is incumbent upon the factory to produce those spares; is is the role of the manufacturer (as an easy example, Hornby) to contract appropriately when ordering the batch of production that it would include non-assembled parts for spares (if not already held). The complication here might be the Hattons/Heljan relationship, as one would not normally make the demand of a retailer to hold parts, but in this case where it is an exclusive product where is the line? I have taken us off topic, and apologize. I was intrigued by a model being sold at a discount by the original commissioning retailer as damaged (mechanism) rather than being repaired - and from there went on a hunt for spares availability. Still don't think I'm a conspiracy theorist though...

I checked gaugemaster and peter's spares - Gaugemaster has Heljan O gauge spares, but not for the A3/A4 and also no service sheet for them. This is a 750 GBP model. We've seen what Hattons have done (not done) with OO 66 buyers - and they're doing it here too? I get that parts supply for small runs is hard, and having some trained to repair them is harder - but at the very least someone should be able to order spare drivetrain parts for this model and attempt a repair themselves. On a 750 GBP model. This isn't some 50 quid trainset loco that's seen as disposable. I'm astonished.

That's so odd - why wouldn't it be still within warranty to be sent back for repair?

I would only want to be in a sleeper for that distance!

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/lima-HO-Train-Collection-Including-Rare-SA-Blue-Train/251707695638?hash=item3a9af2a216:g:dY8AAOSwzOxUWZk4 Assume $2 = 1GBP So they're thinking 150 GBP for some old track, but not old enough track... Or am I missing the rarity?

Yes, apologies; my original post I had been mistaken in already thinking it was DCC, rather than being DCC ready. I edited, but could have done a better job. It does have traction tires, but like the electrotren 0-6-0T this seems like a good candidate for a pugbash, or even a better starting point for the whole steampunk thing. I wasn't sure on VAT, shipping etc (though it looked free/cheap?), and obviously post January things could change...

Trix mentioned somewhere else on forum, went for a poke around. Apparently a dcc-ready starter set available for 100 euro https://www.maerklinshop.de/en/detail/index/sArticle/2/number/T21530?__country=28 Even for a modern dcc pugbash that wouldn't be awful given the track, dcc-ready, rolling stock etc. Or use as is.

LMS Suburban special edition pack for 140 GBP. http://www.burevalleymodels.com/p/9483/R3397---LMS-Suburban-Passenger-Train-Pack Cheaper by about 10 quid than anywhere else. Cheaper than the RRP of the non-special edition that's down a coach.

I know this isn't the main point, but that article is a little on the "incorrect" side. Canada has a monarch, not a President (Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is Queen of Canada). William MacKenzie was the Prime Minister.

This is quite surprising; Alberta has some eyewatering rates (BC and SK are keeping it more contained in comparison). However SK has what appears to be some unpleasant community spread (lots of cases where they can't identify the source). MB is ramping hard, mostly Winnipeg.

Importantly they have one in Markham. I had wondered above whether this would work, but I know with my Barclays account (personal) in the UK I still have to present myself in person for certain changes/updates.

Don't tell me they lost ~15,000 orders because they have an old version of excel?!

Did you try Transferwise and some of the others that offer business accounts across different jurisdictions? I don't know how they navigate the requirement to present onesself to the bank...

This is a tough one, because if I remember correctly for a non-resident director to set up a bank account the director (signatory) has to present themselves at the bank with ID. That's a difficult one in a COVID-19 world. In the old days one went to somewhere like HSBC, which has branches in Canada as well as the UK. Very little presence in Canada of UK retail banks and vice versa, but HSBC is an exception. In the brave new world companies such as transferwise have business accounts and can set up bank accounts in multiple locations through their service. I don't know the details of it though (I use their service purely for personal currency transfers).

I get the argument, it's just depressing that there's been a steady, targeted decline of service since the early 90s, including the shocking state of some of the class 1 railroad in the maritimes. Check out the CN cap-ex plan, $30 for NS and NB combined for this year, out of $2.7bn. It's embarrassing, and we'll see whether it's dangerous or not too. Then VIA is stuck using tracks it doesn't own, ancient rolling stock, stations that are devoid of any character greater than an industrial estate, servicing communities that aren't connected by other means (eg. rail/bus/intercity bus interconnects are very poor). Thanks for sharing all of this. Very interesting and it's much appreciated.

I thought the reason it needed to be turned was the observation car (s) needed to be at the back? Or do they plan to run one at the front and one at the back? Dropping many of the renaissance cars seems like a step back in service quality - I know they're small for the loading gauge available here (and had corrosion issues), but they're strong, well insulated, quiet and, as you note, accessible. The chronic under investment in rail infrastructure and service, especially passenger, east of Mont Saint-Hilaire is depressing.