Elvinley

Looks great. How come the distant has a red spectacle glass instead of yellow?

Lost my first spring today. I suppose one out of twenty isn't too bad.

They are working really well, and no sign of any springs coming adrift on the ten I have fitted from the multi-pack.

I bought a multipack and have installed the magnets in my track. I have had no problems with the couplers at all so far and they are a lot of fun to use. The magnets can be hidden easily too with strips of ballast and weathering.

An update on this one. The loco does seem fine this time around. It is quieter after a lot of running in and runs smoothly. This one isn't getting hot either. It seems that there are a lot of problems with this loco judging by other posts apart from mine, but hopefully I got lucky with this one.

I've done the unthinkable and bought another Britannia from a friend. This one runs better than my last one. I took your advice Al, and removed the keeper plate to lubricate. It is running in right now. The tender is getting warm after a few mins so I am letting it rest after about 10 mins of running.

Good old Gaugemaster refunded my money when I returned the Brit. Not the cheapest shop (atlthough one of the cheapest for the Brit) but good customer service!

It's a nice looking loco but the picture make it look as if the detail is not massively greater than that available in UK outline N. It also has an RRP of about £125.

A better picture here. http://www.atlasrr.com/nloco/nshay2.htm All the gearing works also. This can be purchased from one online store for about 83 quid.

I bought a few Lifelike locos in the past for chassis cannibalising and although the running was very good, the bodies were nothing special and certainly not as good as modern UK N in terms of detail. They ran very well and had plenty of weight in them, but again I am not sure they are that much better than modern UK N diesels in terms of running.

 

No contest in terms of price!

 

Couplings - we are starting to get there with Farish and Dapol supplying buckeyes which are much less obtrusive. If/when an NEM version of the microtrains type coupling becomes available then shunting should be much easier.

 

Cheers, Mike

I haven't noticed Farish supplying Buckeys? I know Dapol do, but they cannot be coupled unless you lift one over another which is pretty useless unless used in a fixed rake.

I'm not sure, but take a look at this beauty: http://www.modeltrainplace.com/images/uploads/letteredshay.jpg and yes, that is N gauge.

Last night a friend of mine brought round two American diesels mabe by Lifelike. To see them close up and working was incredible. It is true that they put our stuff to shame. They are silent, totally smooth runners and even the couplings work properly and are inobtrusive. They are also able to be operated by magnets for proper shunting. They cost him £17 and £20 on Ebay. Might be the way to go.

Thanks for that. I just wasn't sure which one it was, since it was the first time I'd coupled anything to it. But yes, I'll try that...

It's just the slight height difference that causes the problem. With NEM couplings it is a doddle to fix.

Apologies for offending you, but I ain't psychic so I wasn't to know your experience or the conditions you run your trains under

Fair enough Mike. I'm not offended, it's just that the usual stuff that we do with our new locos doesn't stop Dapol engines from dying!

Funny that! All you need to do is give the coupling a bit of a bite and it will bend it enough to couple properly. Either that or use some pliers.

It should work reliably for a damn sight longer than a year when that price! Of course it's debatable a loco's lifespan, but I'd contend that a having a loco last a lifetime is not unreasonable. Of course, reasonable standard maintenance is needed there!

 

But the sceptic in me would say manufacturers need some failures in time to get some repeat sales...

 

Hope you have no trouble getting your cash back - I'm sure you won't have any bother.

 

Cheers,

Alan

Hope not Al. I sent it back to Gaugemaster today. Hoping to get it changed for a (Farish) B1, as they are great locos. I have one in early BR black already but the LNER one looks too good to resist.

It is such a shame about the Brit. My friend has a similar situation except his was like mine straight away. His came from an Ebay seller who luckily had another one. His new one hasn't really been run yet, just tested.

To say I am p'd off about this is an understatement. I should never have trusted the reviews. Talking of reviews, in Model Rail they reviewed both B1s side by side and their review sample of the Dapol one was even faulty.

I would encourage everyone who has a Brit to run it a lot before their guarantee runs out.

Out of idle curiosity is that the wires coming astray, or actually getting hot enough that they unsolder themselves....?

 

Cheers,

Alan

No just coming adrift.

Mike, I am not a newcomer and I use top quality Gaugemasters. Of course I oil my locos properly and run in as described. I have no derailmants in general as my track is properly laid. I have been involved in the hobby for at least 30 years and have never seen anything like the problems that occur with Dapol. To me they are the Ladas of the model railway world except that they are not cheap.

I will say that I have had less trouble with their diesels, but have still had 2 Hymeks die. One melted its bogie. I have also had class 73 problems with split gears and wires coming unsoldered.

Two other good things Dapol did were the Autocoach and giving Farish a kick up the backside and motivating them to come up with new and better locos and coaches.

It's really bad and I wouldn't be surprised if the fumes were dangerous, certainly made me cough profusely. I have made the promise to myself never to buy Dapol again after this. Two locos have failed this month. The Brit and a Hymek which I sold on ebay as a non-runner due to having bought it second hand. The amount of failures I have had over the last few years doesn't bear imagining!

I think the only really good thing that has come out of Dapol in N are the fantastic Gresley and Collett coaches and some great wagons. I wonder how the 00 crowd will recieve the new locos in that scale and whether they will be as forgiving.

When a new loco is purchased for over 100 pounds it should work and work for years period.

My Britannia just went up in smoke filling the room with fumes. I cannot believe the bad luck I have had with Dapol and I am definitely not going to buy another loco from them. Either I am incredibly unlucky or no one else actually runs their locos, (although I have a friend who has had the same thing happen to his Brit and other locos) I will be on to Gaugemaster first thing tomorrow.

UPDATE: After cooling it now runs again. The tender had got red hot after half an hour running time.

May I ask why you actually need to get it off at the moment? Surely you've not ran it for 50 hours already have you?!

 

Cheers, Richard

No not quite! I wanted to check the oil situation as I don't always trust factory oiling.

I will try again, but the smokebox end will not come loose at all.

Please read the first post in the topic. This is covered there.

Tried again, but it wouldn't budge.

Glad someone found this out. Dapol should put something on their website about this. I am sure there will be a lot of baffled people.

I was very happy with my Brit until I came to follow the oiling instructions. You have to remove the bogie and pony and then remove 2 further screws to get into the loco. Having done all this the body would not come away. I had to stop before any damage occured. Has anyone else tried to do this and had any success? Dapol stress the importance of oiling so it will need to be done. Oiling this loco should be easier than this