lyneux

2 hours ago, RedgateModels said:

different levels of tilt between the cars …..

I don't think so. I think it's actually the paint job itself. As can be seen from this photo. Look at the screw positions versus the lines. The question in my mind is whether this was down to vehicles being painted with this discrepancy back in 1979 or whether it was the repaint at Crewe Heritage Centre that caused these to be different (although this doesn't make sense why they would move the line)? The car on the left is the van trailer, the car on the right the buffet. 

The buffet is from a different set than the van trailer and driving trailer so my guess is that different rakes were painted with the stripes in different positions.

Guy

I'm not suggesting that Hornby fit through wiring, but that if we (as modellers) want realism, then we could fit this wiring ourselves (along with modifying the ball couplings to couple up a bit closer!).

I won't be running mine on curves like the one shown as the gap just looks terrible. In fact, I'm wondering whether in that photo the cars are even coupled together correctly?

Guy

Given the design of the shared bogies is totally unique to the APT,  I don’t see how a VEP style coupling would help here.

if you want to through wire, the wire would have to run from coach end to coach end and not through the bogies.

There are (of course!) cables on the real thing connecting the coaches to copy if you so wish…

Guy

Lots more detail shots on my Flickr gallery.

25 minutes ago, Pete the Elaner said:

 

Exactly.

The way it was presented encourages the listener to assume testing in full service, which was impossible.

According to "A Promise Unfulfilled" that I was thumbing through this week, the reason there were three 14 car sets made (plus spares) were: 1 set for passenger service, 1 backup, 1 for testing and refining.

So I don't think they are wrong to say that it is both 'in service' and 'being tested' at the same time. Bit odd, but in the spirit of what was actually happening...

Guy

28 minutes ago, E100 said:

Is that the APT-U coach? Just going off the position of the trailer brake.

Yes. Assume that the lack of tilt is what Kit is referring to as ‘tilt passive’. Presumably part of the testing/commissioning.

Guy

There are shots in this gallery showing two sets at Preston in 1984:

https://flickr.com/photos/41338368@N06/

We were discussing this on another group last night. Looks like neither is a full 14 car set but ~10 car (i.e. half set with minimal set at the other end).

EDIT: Kit, I think you might need to explain to us how you can tell this to be the case and what it means... cheers!

Guy

1 hour ago, 50149 said:

I did and hence the question… but if you have a good link that’d be very much appreciate

Ok, here are a couple I found from 1984 by sticking in the date filter and searching for 370004:

However, I think it's worth realising that later on the sets were pretty mixed up. For example, Hugh Searle (of Mendip stone fame) has a very good album of APT shots on Flickr here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/35476094@N04/albums/72157632832235566

In this album there are individual shots from 1985 comprising stock from several sets in the photos from 18th September which seem to show a working car by car at Crewe:

370001:    48101 DTS

370003:    48103 DTS

370006:    48601 TBF

370004:    48204 TS (modified bogies)

370004:    48404 Buffet

370002:    49002 NDM

370005:    49005 NDM

So that's pretty much all the sets represented in one working except 007 which was only a spare DTS and TBF anyway...

EDIT: A couple of things of note in these photos:

1) 49005 has some kind of inspection hatch with window fitted, presumably to study the pantograph at speed?

2) 48601 appears to be declassified (no yellow stripe).

Guy

After a two year covid-enduced hiatus, we are very pleased to announce that DEMU Showcase will take place this year on 23/24th July 2022 at Sutton Coldfield Townhall in Sutton, just north of Birmingham city centre.

As you are probably aware, we have been looking for a new ‘home’ for Showcase after leaving Burton-on-Trent Town Hall in 2018 due to the space available to hire reducing considerably that year. Unfortunately, in 2019 we were forced to re-arrange the show at very short notice after cancellation by our anticipated new Burton venue and ended up at Greenbank Leisure Centre in nearby Swadlincote.

The Showcase organising team are mindful of the need for stability and to try and find a location that we can call home for a number of years to come. We believe that we have found this with Sutton Coldfield Town Hall. On this basis, we have decided to ‘bite the bullet’ and move the show this year. Unfortunately, the price we pay for this means moving from our usual early June date to mid July. Rest assured, this is a temporary arrangement for this year only and we plan to return to our early June slot from 2023 onwards.

Not only is the Town Hall an extremely characterful building, but it is a mere 2 minutes walk from Sutton train station and only 5 minutes walk from the centre of Sutton Coldfield itself. Sutton Coldfield is well connected to the national motorway network in the centre of the country and only a few minutes off both the M6 and the M6 toll. There is also plentiful parking nearby.

Regarding the covid situation, If the last two years are anything to go by, we anticipate that mid summer gives us the best possible opportunity of running a show with little or no restrictions. Clearly however, if the situation changes we may be forced to restrict numbers and comply with any other regulations that might come into force.

We look forward to seeing you this summer in Sutton!

There are several pics on Flickr of 004 in later years.... search is your friend! Seems to have black surrounds from (at least) 84 onwards.

Guy

Looking at the new releases, R30229 looks to be a 7 car set including the circa 1986 experimental coach but without the black window surrounds.

These detail differences are were about 6 years apart weren't they? So basically 'never happened'.

Guy

Is £300 worth of sound decoders not unreasonable for a £1000 model?

Guy

I meant to post this a few weeks back… some members of DEMU’s London Area Group were privileged to visit Boxenby in person last year. Massive thank you to Alex for hosting us. The layout is even more impressive in the flesh… photos just don’t do it justice. Look how excited we look…

Guy

Starting to come along very nicely there Alex and Will.

Really glad to see you making progress… keep up the momentum chaps!

Guy

This is topical as I am currently detailing up my 45/0 too.

The Bachmann 25 suffered from the same problem, and I took inspiration from the modelling on Kylestromes workbench thread to make my own in brass (it was very easy by the way!):

Guy

5 minutes ago, Wolf27 said:

Should have bought a second powered NDM when they came out. Just sayin’

You fanboy you... 

(couldn't find the irony smiley)

I'm in the same camp: I have a 7 car set on order and wasn't planning to buy another NDM.

The video gives a mixed message to be honest. Most of the time, a single NDM seems to manage very well with a few isolated problems that don't seem to be repeatable. E.g. at one point the power cars are swapped and the 'fresh' NDM seems to be fine.

But it doesn't really bother me from watching the video. If my set struggles, I'll add weight to the NDM and see what I can do to improve the rolling resistance of the rest of the set (e.g. bearings, removing all those bloomin' pickups etc). Most modellers should be used to fettling stock to eliminate sketchy running. Fettling the running is par for the course if you model finescale OO, EM or P4.

Guy

For heavens sake. Watch the video. It seems fine with a single NDM. What are people worrying about?

Guy

Hi Steve,

I'm working on new signals for Oldshaw.

I was looking at the fibre optic connection above. It looks different to the one you outlined on page 8 of this topic. Would you mind explaining how you do this or point me in the direction of a previous post (I couldn't find one when I searched) that explains it?

EDIT: ignore my request. I think I found the answer a few pages back with your 3D printed connectors. Always difficult to navigate long threads on RMWeb!

Many thanks,

Guy

Tick tick tick…. End of the year nearly. Any news on these?

Guy

An old meme but spot on…

Ok, it’s software not trains but I think it still applies!

Guy

Having been on both sides of the fence, I have to agree with both Kit and Rich.

But in the case of the APT, I’m definitely with Kit!

I blame the project managers for claiming it can be done more quickly…

Guy

I was almost tempted to get one of the /0s that you are doing with the car headlight, tweak and repaint it. But maybe I should wait... 

Guy

16 minutes ago, Accurascale Fran said:

It's great to hear you're happy with your PTAs, and we hope you continue to enjoy them for many years to come as we know you are very passionate about the the prototypes and that area of operation. We'll see if there is anything else in that particular area and era we can provide in RTR form in the future that might be of benefit too. I know our first offerings of 37s dont suit that area for you, but perhaps we can help with a future run in time  

Thanks Fran!

Not so though... one of these would do nicely. (Image courtesy of Hugh Searle on Flickr):

Guy

22 hours ago, Accurascale Fran said:

Unfortunately we have heard in dispatches that a competitor has been playing silly too, and putting information about us into the public domain through backwaters that simply is false.

That's shocking news Fran!

At the end of the day, your models speak for themselves! I'm very happy with my Yeoman PTAs and reasonably happy with the ARC ones (  ).

The one thing I would say is that even with the very nice hi-res pictures that you supply through forums like this of pre-production models, it's inevitable that some issues still don't get picked up until after delivery. How you act after-sales is just as important for your long term reputation as your excellent pre-sales transparency and engagement.

Looking forward to the 37!

Cheers,

Guy

On 10/06/2021 at 22:14, Accurascale Fran said:

it is very important to remember that first and painted samples are hastily assembled and part of the process of singing them off is to test and to ensure fit and finish is good. In this case it is not and it is on our list for improving and the production models will be much better.

On 10/06/2021 at 22:14, Accurascale Fran said:

Regarding the CDAs, improvements are currently being made to the hood at the factory.

Hi Fran and MCC,

Just wondering, has the hood been tweaked and does the mould line now look better on the production version? Do you have any pictures of this to show us?

Cheers,

Guy