PenrithBeacon

Although as a taxpayer I fully support electrification, as an enthusiast it can be a disaster. I'm not at all surprised that people living along the GWML are complaining about the intrusive nature of this electrification. It seems to me that it is more of an eyesore than the original 1960s 25kV electrification. NR has made a mess of this. Regards

I caught 66522 at Headstone Lane this afternoon with an unusually short train and in a livery I haven't seen before. The picture is a still from a video. Regards

I have converted one to P4, the brakes need paring down to avoid the flanges. Can anyone advise if the radius on the handrails is accurate as it seems to be a little large to me. Regards

Are you going to market these? Regards

Second star on the left.

Ditto mine Looks nice, captures the prototype well Regards

Or, alternatively, a negative one from you: pot calling the kettle black. Every time a reservation is expressed about this model or SLW you immediately jump in and attack. I think you ought to be open and honest with us all and say just what is your relationship with SLW, for it seems to be a lot closer than you have intimated so far. The SLW Class 24 is very much better than either of the two predecessors, but it is a long way from being perfect and doesn't justify the c£200 price tag. For that money it has to be a lot better than it is. I shall wait for the forthcoming Bachmann model to see how that does. At my age it is probably the last chance to get an accurate Derby Sulzer, but there you go! Re the comments on the diagonal member behind the radiator. This is part of the structure of the locomotive. The loco was designed with a 'Warren Girder' style of superstructure which was intended to support the weight of the Sulzer engine and the generating set. The radiator itself was designed to be behind the diagonal but the grill is in front. A little more research on the part of SLW would have made this clear.

It's very slow, very sophisticated, but slow.

Thanks for that. The problem of course is that British modellers expect the space under the boiler to be free and Oxford must surely know this. Why did they therefore sign-off on this feature? Inexperience perhaps, or the bottom line? The way the new SLW Class 24 is selling I suspect anxieties about the retail price will matter less in future. Regards

I agree about the modelling but I would doubt if any future batches will be modified, it'll just be too expensive. You might just find that any future models won't have this feature though, and I don't understand at all why it wasn't designed out on the 'drawing board' on this model. The universal joint is a surplus item and engineers don't usually like this because surplus items increase costs. Regards

Not sure I'd describe it as 'gorgeous' but it is very distinctive, form following function etc, and they certainly lasted for a long time so they must have been effective. Like the model, like it lots. Regards

I'm ever so glad that I'm providing much needed amusement on RMweb and perhaps the word 'substantially' was a bit OTT but the fact remains that this model costs £200+ and it's inaccurate. Now elsewhere on RMweb people are complaining about inaccurate models which Bachmann and Hornby produce and cost, notwithstanding the price rises, a great deal less than this one. Has it occurred to those frothing about this model that they are giving Bachmann, Hornby and others free range to put the prices of their products up to match? I dare say not, but I'll bet that the senior managers of those companies are absolutely delighted at the shear gullibility of their British RTR customers. £200+ a pop! And for an inaccurate model! Utterly crackers!

I have decided that I'm not going to buy this model. I have also decided, on looking at a few Hasegawa and Tamiya aircraft kits which I still have in stock, that my previous post concerning the limitations of injection moulding and the effect this might have had on the side grills is probably wrong too. I have received an email which conveys the information that a straightforward DC model in P4 will cost over £200, substantially over £200. And yet for a all its virtues the side grills are wrong, dead wrong, and it's an error which is always going to be very visible. This mistake turns what could have been a superb model, well worth the price, into yet another mediocre effort not worth anything much. I'm going to pass on this one. Regards

Did the USA tank ever get to the North-East? Regards

I think the use of the word 'pause' is a political spin. Any project manager would stop a project that is out of control to allow his line managers (and in this case the government also) to decide whether or nor the project should go ahead but with a different project plan and budget. If you like the project would be 'paused' during this period but might be chopped altogether. Bearing in mind the political situation with the election just out of the way and the government open to accusations that it had lied during the election campaign about railway electrification the use of 'paused' makes sense. I can take the point made earlier that successive governments ought to have continued electrification but I think it also has to be borne on mind that the denationalised railway companies looked askance at electrification, they didn't like it at all, much preferring diesels. In fact they didn't like anything that BR did much and retired as many BR employees as possible as quickly as possible. It was only after Hatfield that they started to understand that running a railway requires a different mindset to running a bus company or an airline and in retiring so many men with the experience they had made a serious error.

I've had a very polite response to my email saying that the model will be on sale to the hoi polloi in the middle of December. No mention of price though. Regards

But not in blackberry black! But not in blackberry black!

The discussion on the grills is an interesting one. There are limitations to injection moulding and this matter of the grills seems to have hit one. There is every reason, though, to suppose that etched brass would be able to do this easily, but at what cost? It wouldn't surprise me at all to find that a highly detailed model like this one, at the price at which it is retailing, is approaching the point where etchings are not only required to achieve the aims of the designer and the requirements of the purchaser but can be provided economically within the retail price. It's all a matter of playing off costs and benefits, but I'd bet that that nice Mr Shawplan isn't looking at a post sale opportunity here! Regards

I really don't understand ! This address is the same as the one given above which gives the warning! Anyway enough of this. I've sent an email inquiring about status price availability etc. I'll post when I know.

Thank you for that, I did try it and it would seem that it has Security Certificate issues. Never mind, I ignored the alert and I have to say I like the website. On the subject of the grills, I'm getting the impression that they vary in appearance depending upon the quality of the light. The more contrasty the light, the more prominent they become. Not a subject for 'film noir'? Notwithstanding the price tag I'll have a DC one please, green without the SYP in P4. Having said that I'm by no means exactly certain of the price tag other than it's equal to or more than £160. Regards

There's no mention of the Cl24 on that website or have I missed it. The side grills don't look right to me. Regards

How are the rivets?

Oh dear! Looks ever so clunky.

It's odd that the Sentinel shunter is included as it's already available RTR. I have the Austin 7 in stock somewhere, unmade because of dimensional issues. Regards

I can understand this, but I'd far rather that the industrialising nations used more modern technology! There's an awful lot more of them than us, and while on the one hand I really wouldn't want the BRICs to stay as they are neither do I want them to deliberately repeat the methods of the past to get where we are today. If we continue as we're doing the planet will be a mess in 100yrs time and it won't be able to support the human population we have today, never mind the projected increase. I see an awful lot of suffering and death if this problem isn't cracked, but globally we don't have the institutions to do it. I fear for my grandchildren and their children. Regards