Allegheny1600

I will give this though! Searching for a British outline steam locomotive that may equal typical Roco quality, I feel this has to be on the radar; https://accurascale.co.uk/collections/gwr-7800-manor-class/products/copy-of-7801-anthony-manor-gwr-7800?variant=38775683481785 RRP £216.66 A relatively similar model from Roco might be this; https://www.modellzentrum.de/Modellbahn/Roco/Roco-72108-Dampflok-Rh-209-BBO-II-1-87-H0-.htm?a=article&ProdNr=Roco-72108&p=1037 Price was €369.90 but out of stock. It’s a few years since this was made. Same number of drivers and carrying wheels but in 2-6-2 formation rather than 4-6-0; https://www.roco.cc/en/product/245028-0-0-0-0-0-0-002001-0/products.html RRP €329.90 This all makes the Accurascale Manor an extremely good price, fingers crossed it can finally match Roco quality, reliability and refinement. I do hope so.

Simply because the Bachmann 9F is nowhere near the model that the Roco 52 is! Okay, let’s do steam outline models. The only British outline Pacific that could even come close in specification to any comparable Roco Pacific might be the Dapol “Black Label” A4. I’ve never had one but I did take an interest at the time because I hoped they might usher in really high quality British steam outline models. RRP £399 https://www.Dapol.co.uk/shop/black-label/black-label-valanced-a4 Roco class 012 Pacific RRP €424.90 https://www.roco.cc/en/product/251838-0-0-0-0-0-0-002001-0/products.html NOTE: SIX axle drive! This means there is a cardan shaft between tender and loco transferring power between the two. I assure you this is a superior model.

Bad comparison. Just because they are both 2-10-0s doesn’t mean they are in any way comparable. Try the price difference between the most recent Bachmann class 47 and say, a Roco SNCF CC72000 - the French model chosen as its also an iconic six axle diesel and this version is quite a new model. Bachmann top spec 47 - £369.95, discounted - c.£320 (Cheltenham) Roco CC72000 - €314.90, discounted - c.€283 (Menzels) https://www.Bachmann.co.uk/product/category/153/class-47-4-47435-br-blue/35-414sfx https://www.roco.cc/en/product/247467-0-0_1000_0-2-0-0-0-002003-0/products.html Even if you drop £30 for the tinted windscreens on the class 47, the Roco model still compares very favourably.

Now available at “Tony’s” (undoubtedly, other retailers are available) https://tonystrains.com/store/trains/locomotives?locomotive_type=897&utm_source=HO Scale Customers&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=BLI HO PRR E6 4-4-2 Atlantic (W5L2tV)&_kx=fEnjtcYhcFyefVl9U2GNRN-ZerrFVhiT3GwfskxiJW8%3D.UNmZMW As detailed on the Broadway-Limited website; https://www.broadway-limited.com/paragon4prre6atlanticho.aspx

I found the most shocking example of brand loyalty to be when Maerklin/Trix announced and produced another H0 scale class 66! If you want a reasonably priced one, Mehano do a pretty decent model, if you want an all singing and dancing version, ESU do it. There’s also a Heljan one but I think that fell apart by the wayside. So, why do yet another version for a similar price to the superior ESU version (which will run on three rail track if required)? Answer: some people really will only buy it if it comes from their favourite maker! Incredible but there it is. I have seen shops in Belgium and Germany that only stock Maerklin and nothing else - it beggars my belief that such shops exist but they do.

Have you checked out all the links in this topic? There are most/all of the main decal manufacturers there but they’re scattered throughout the topic, I guess I should get around to putting everything into the first post! HTH, John

Hi Chris, I actually like the idea of open space between buildings! I know there are some prototypical locations where everything is crammed in all on top of each other - that more or less my idea of hell! There is an idea taking off in some American circles (I know!) about so-called “negative space” , the idea being that open ground is often seen in the prototype but rarely modelled. So, by introducing actual open ground, one makes the model more realistic than otherwise. I simply can’t recall if your area represents open space or crammed in though, sorry. Also, you have my sympathies with regard to SWMBO, she likes everything packed away in cupboards or drawers and I cannot find anything when she’s tidied up but I “always leave a mess”! The explanation that I know where things are never cuts it so I have to have my own space that she cannot touch! Ha, ha! Cheers, John

Hi Mark, You’re welcome. I’m just glad that my memory is working! I’ve just done an internet search and found this, which may assist you; https://tcsdcc.com/installation/ho-scale/1107 Sounds like you got an excellent deal on your decoder. Cheers, John

Hello Mark, I will somewhat dangerously assume that you are talking about the “Ready to Roll” model? If so, I think that all you do is remove the screws from the coupler boxes, then the coupler boxes themselves complete with actual couplers and that should release the bodyshell. I make this assumption on the basis that you appear to want to simply plug in a decoder rather than hardwire it. I cannot recall that Athearn made a blue box SD50 or SD60 but if they did, you should only need to “pop” two parts of the body that extend down from the walkway and clip over “pips” on the metal chassis. Couplers again may need to be removed. Hope that helps, John

My good lady says that I was interested in my hobby before she came along so she supports it in that regard. When I was building the layout in my link, it started off as “your layout”, once she’d had input with weathering buildings, presentation and so forth, it became “our layout” and possibly that ensued that I could bring it with us. Now we’re here in Greece, once our new house is built - she INSISTS that I have a big railway room. That’s pretty good I think! Like others here, we don’t “do” these artificial, commercialised days to “prove” we love each other because we demonstrate it every day.

I have a mild interest in this company for a variety of reasons, I was lent the book by Naglemakers* by a very good French friend, later I obtained my own English language copy. It’s a wonderful book but it’s packed well away and I can’t access it now. *was Naglemakers the author of the book or the originator of the train? My German modelling colleague is very keen on the Rhinegold train so I’m kind of forced to follow something different to that! Finally, you can actually get one C.I.W.L. coach in Greek livery/lettering in H0 and given my location, that’s of great interest to me but it’s so expensive! In fact, apart from the somewhat crude models from the 1970s, all C.I.W.L. Vehicles appear to be very expensive, maybe this is why they are not very well followed in the UK?

Hi Dr G-F, Those are two beauties! Well done, I’m only slightly envious. Cheers, John

Hi Chris, Wowee! That’s some dedicated cutting out there, well done. I don’t know how you do it, practise, I guess but whenever I’ve tried it, I can never make two cuts the same. Bravo Sir, John

Don’t you mean Wales?

An “angry” button!? I absolutely love the “standing in an over-excited puddle” button btw.

That’d be a laugh!!! (Contrary to popular belief, ze Germans do have a sense of humour, best proof of that being they love Allo, Allo) Also, contrary to popular belief is that the USA won WW2 - Hollywood even had it they broke the Enigma codes!! Hilarious!

Hi mate, That looks like a gorgeous wagon, well done. May I ask - is that actually a “seconds” wagon? You know, the type that is known to have some kind of damage so is at a reduced price. I ask because I thought €49 an excellent price and of course, the box states “2nd choice” which is often found in Europe to mean factory second! In which case, the small amount of damage is not only to be expected but if it were me, welcomed as it gives a huge reduction in cost. Cheers, John

Hi, I have a variety of Roco and Mehano vehicles in my collection, the Mehano may not be such high quality as the makes you mention but I find them adequate for a “layout” train. Most of my stuff was bought a few years ago and I still baulked at paying £25 for a Roco well car - they’d be at least that secondhand now! seeing your location, you should be able to visit Arcadia Models in Shaw, Tim often has s/h items in as well as good stocks of new stuff but I don’t know which manufacturer’s he stocks now. Then, I’d query Anoraks and Contikits to see what they have. It’s a shame about the IGRA models being all plastic as I wanted a couple myself, having seen many of this type of wagon at Hamburg Harbourg, I wonder if they could have lead shot or something hidden within the under frame? Cheers, John

Those class 333 diesels are very, very similar if not identical* to the Danish class MZ ‘Nohab’ and are a European built SD40-2 (or SD50/SD60). I believe some have also been exported down under, presumably due to the similarity to the original American product? * so close that Roco simply reliveried their Danish models into Spanish ones. Cheers, John

Hi Sam, Thanks for your reply and thanks for the gen on both makes of BR05 - that is a loco that I would have liked to add to my fleet - one day! It would be a nice to have model rather than part of my focussed fleet. The Bachput 2-6-0, I would agree with and that’s supposed to be one of their better models! Sorry to hear about your Piko ICE3, apart from a ‘coggy’ motor which I replaced with a Mashima, mine runs very well. I agree about all your other points only I will add that I too, had a Heljan Nohab in my Danish days, it was rubbish and as for what I’ve read about their very nice looking 0-8-0 diesel, well it sounds really bad. In my opinion, Heljan are a bit of a joke in the euro market. Finally, yes! An awful lot of these problems (but not all) are due to being made in the Far East. The second major problem is the bean counters “cheapening” models by putting cheap and nasty motors in for example or refusing proper quality control. Sorry! I’ve dragged the subject away from your original post. Cheers, John

Hi Sam, I think that I am in a very similar situation to yourself, my apologies for being crotchety previously! I also am very tempted by some of today’s forthcoming items, it is appealing to see the standards being advertised and I really hope such models can live up to their promises. I think they will as the people concerned are not Dave Jones types. My previous problems with UK 00 steam outline models have been main driving wheels that don’t run true, huge loco to tender gaps, lack of traction and general poor assembly/finish. I once checked out four or five different examples of a Bachmann pannier tank in my local hobby shop and the shop owner and myself rejected every one. That day I took home something red and black instead. That may have been 10 years ago now but twenty years before that, I would never have had such a problem with German stuff. Having started my modelling career in the 1970s with secondhand 1960s Triang and Hornby stuff, learning how to dismantle them and make them work as well as possible before moving onto European stuff by the mid 1980s and yes - stripping some of these down and rebuilding them, I consider myself reasonably competent as a modeller. I don’t like having to dismantle models though, I only do it as a necessity and I shouldn’t have to do it as a matter of course which seems to happen to 50% of my 00 models. Hence why I have only two RTR 00 and two kit built locos remaining and they are split GWR and SR. You can imagine which models are appealing to me now. Hence, I am keeping my fingers tightly crossed that models from the new smaller UK outline makers are the ones to watch rather than Hornby and Bachmann - hopefully they too will pull their socks up and ensure at the least some proper quality control. All this is not to say that European H0 models are always perfect, far from it! I have read on German forums that latest Trix models have arrived with bits broken off, the first new Piko steam locos had many problems running on digital control, poor paint work/graphics on some Roco models and so forth. There have always been problem models, some can be solved easily, some not. All I know is that, of my 100+ H0 euro collection, any problems have been easier to fix than equivalent 00 models. By the way, my collection of American H0 is probably slightly more reliable even than my euro collection but that’s likely due to the higher concentration of diesel locomotives there.

If it were me, I’d buy a couple of the items I would need for the projected layout and see how much I liked them. I would take it slowly. Don’t go rushing in and trade everything you already have, for one thing if you purchased most of your current stock when the prices were around £25 per loco, they will be quite old and not actually worth that much. Few people want “old” models and they may continue to give you good service if you still enjoy them. FWIW, I do still have some British 00 stock that’s relatively modern and while they’re quite nice, I find the running quality is not up to quality of modern H0 standards. Other pundits will disagree I’m sure!

I remember the magazine you refer to, I probably had a few copies. IIRC, it had a mostly blue cover? Then there was a similar more recentish one with a red cover - this latter did go quarterly but still fizzled out. I’m quite sure the former editor still builds and exhibits layouts. I helped him once but his name escapes me! I once had every copy of CM (up until I left the UK) and while I still like it, I must agree with TTDB above even though I know they can only publish what they receive. I think CM’s success is due to it selling around the world, I know it’s read down under and I think I’ve seen it in Europe, the number of articles from European modellers indicates that. I don’t know if it reaches across the Atlantic though, anyone? Does anyone know of any other English language global coverage modelling magazines?

I caught my neighbours cat, Amelie in an uncompromising position yesterday, she’ll never learn to ride this as her feet won’t reach the pedals! She’s always got a bit of a “caught in the headlights” look about her but she’s adorable.

Hi Mike, it surely is!!! Lol!