CDA, By Accurascale

[Accurascale Fran]

Hi everyone,

 

As the CDA china clay hoppers are so different in purpose and a little bit different in design, it seemed right to give them a dedicated thread. 

 

We also bring good news on them too, as they are now almost complete production wise and we can share some photos of the production samples with you. 

 

With our original HOP AB/HAA hopper wagons on the high seas and due in stock in late April, it's time we turn our attention to the next batch in our large range of wagons based on these ubiquitous hoppers. Today we can show you the CDA wagons in EWS liveries, which will arrive with their DB liveried counterparts and the HCA hoppers in June, as production nears its end.

 

As you can see in the photos above, our CDA wagons feature a wealth of detail and crispness which signifies 'The Accurascale Way'. A diecast chassis, brass bearings and 26mm pinpoint axles means smooth running and excellent performance on your layout.

 

Particular attention has been paid to the detail differences over the traditional HAA wagons these were based on, such as the equipment at the wagon end, holes in the bodyside on one side, the underframe and of course, the hood/canopy.

 

Given the flexibility of our tooling we can also cater for those wagons as built as CDAs from new, as well as those converted from HAA hoppers, giving the modellers a true variety in their wagon rake.

 

Our livery choice of EWS and DB means modellers have a choice of a lengthy life span of these wagons.

 

Tempted? At a price of just £74.95 for 3 wagons, and 10% off when you order two packs or more, why wouldn't you be? Pre-order yours via your local stockist, or via the following link delivery in June: https://accurascale.co.uk/collections/cda-china-clay 

 

Cheers!

 

Fran 

Edited April 11, 2022 by Accurascale Fran

[mevaman1]

Hi Fran

 

Being based in St Austell, I see these on a regular basis.  The current rake of wagons on the circuit don’t have any EWS branded examples.  
 

Great wagon though.  We have been waiting for a pucker CDA for many years.

[Accurascale Fran]

2 minutes ago, mevaman1 said:

Hi Fran

 

Being based in St Austell, I see these on a regular basis.  The current rake of wagons on the circuit don’t have any EWS branded examples.  
 

Great wagon though.  We have been waiting for a pucker CDA for many years.

 

Aha, thanks for the correction. Updated, and must update my own notes.

 

Cheers!

 

Fran 

[Nick-L]

One question on these. The large ventilator - it looks quite different to photos of the prototype that I’ve been looking at. Any thoughts on this?  Maybe there was variety between batches?

[spamcan61]

20 minutes ago, Nick-L said:

One question on these. The large ventilator - it looks quite different to photos of the prototype that I’ve been looking at. Any thoughts on this?  Maybe there was variety between batches?

 

That looks like an equipment cover to me (not an expert) in which case it's probably covered by this:-

 

* Two style of door operating equipment covers, with some later styles featuring 'mix and match' versions!

[Accurascale Fran]

Hi @Nick-L,

 

Well spotted! This is something we asked the factory to look into before shipping them out. 

 

Cheers!

 

Fran 

[GBRf66701]

2 hours ago, Accurascale Fran said:

Hi @Nick-L,

 

Well spotted! This is something we asked the factory to look into before shipping them out. 

 

Cheers!

 

Fran 

Hi Fran,

 

Do you know if this has been corrected by the factory on the production batch?

 

thanks

[McC]

8 hours ago, GBRf66701 said:

Hi Fran,

 

Do you know if this has been corrected by the factory on the production batch?

 

thanks

the CDA hasn’t left the factory yet so we’re looking into the details. 

[Torbay Express]

31 minutes ago, McC said:

the CDA hasn’t left the factory yet so we’re looking into the details. 

Hopefully you get a quick resolution.

 

Must say that on the whole these look delicious.  In fact, they look that good the only thing missing to bring back fond memories of the originals is the clanking and squealing of the prototype on the China Clay Branches, plus snatch of instanter couplings.  Better not start a discussion on DCC wagon sounds, speed variable based on a wheel sensor.......

 

Another masterpiece......By the time you get around to ECC versions, we will of course require centre headcode Cornish 37/0's and 37/5's, and the odd Class 50!  Then of course, any 37 became fair game as privatisation loomed, until Sheds took over!A money making machine would also be very useful...... 

 

[Halvarras]

Up until very nearly 5 years ago the 1980s were not a favoured modelling period, mainly because I used to watch Warships and NBL 2s on the clays - however the chance find of a mint Bachmann/Kernow 37207 'William Cookworthy' in full Cornish Railways regalia changed that, and of course things progressed from there (as they do).....anyway, as a result I am currently working on a project which has increased my knowledge about CDA wagons, and I made an interesting discovery.......

On 14th September 1987 I made my first visit to St Blazey in just over 10 years and found this standing in the yard:

My new familiarity with CDAs informs me that the two small ventilators are mounted on the corners of the same side. However, look carefully at this photo - 375000 has them mounted on diagonally opposite corners.......the nearest small vent is on the 'wrong' side! This appears to be unique to the first one as 375001 correctly has both on the same side - I've just popped down the road and checked!

This discovery - just a few days ago in a photo I've had for nearly 35 years - means I can further confirm that 375000 is still on site at St Blazey, since if I stand in just the right place I can see this same corner with no vent where a vent should be! It is parked with 375009 away from the others in store, partly under cover I think, and I'm wondering why - does preservation beckon?

[nat37670]

2 hours ago, Halvarras said:

Up until very nearly 5 years ago the 1980s were not a favoured modelling period, mainly because I used to watch Warships and NBL 2s on the clays - however the chance find of a mint Bachmann/Kernow 37207 'William Cookworthy' in full Cornish Railways regalia changed that, and of course things progressed from there (as they do).....anyway, as a result I am currently working on a project which has increased my knowledge about CDA wagons, and I made an interesting discovery.......

On 14th September 1987 I made my first visit to St Blazey in just over 10 years and found this standing in the yard:

My new familiarity with CDAs informs me that the two small ventilators are mounted on the corners of the same side. However, look carefully at this photo - 375000 has them mounted on diagonally opposite corners.......the nearest small vent is on the 'wrong' side! This appears to be unique to the first one as 375001 correctly has both on the same side - I've just popped down the road and checked!

This discovery - just a few days ago in a photo I've had for nearly 35 years - means I can further confirm that 375000 is still on site at St Blazey, since if I stand in just the right place I can see this same corner with no vent where a vent should be! It is parked with 375009 away from the others in store, partly under cover I think, and I'm wondering why - does preservation beckon?

 

That's really odd as the prototype, 353224, has them the same side.  The side without the drainage slots. 375000 really is the odd one out.

Edited April 12, 2022 by nat37670

[McC]

As commented above we’re checking into the details at the moment. The major point of samples is to catch details after all  

[JohnR]

Cant wait for the next batch which will hopefully have some in ECC original blue...

[Torbay Express]

On 12/04/2022 at 20:04, Halvarras said:

Up until very nearly 5 years ago the 1980s were not a favoured modelling period, mainly because I used to watch Warships and NBL 2s on the clays - however the chance find of a mint Bachmann/Kernow 37207 'William Cookworthy' in full Cornish Railways regalia changed that, and of course things progressed from there (as they do).....anyway, as a result I am currently working on a project which has increased my knowledge about CDA wagons, and I made an interesting discovery.......

On 14th September 1987 I made my first visit to St Blazey in just over 10 years and found this standing in the yard:

My new familiarity with CDAs informs me that the two small ventilators are mounted on the corners of the same side. However, look carefully at this photo - 375000 has them mounted on diagonally opposite corners.......the nearest small vent is on the 'wrong' side! This appears to be unique to the first one as 375001 correctly has both on the same side - I've just popped down the road and checked!

This discovery - just a few days ago in a photo I've had for nearly 35 years - means I can further confirm that 375000 is still on site at St Blazey, since if I stand in just the right place I can see this same corner with no vent where a vent should be! It is parked with 375009 away from the others in store, partly under cover I think, and I'm wondering why - does preservation beckon?

But with the brake distributor that side, should it also have the canopy mechanism on the front nearest the camera too?  Cannot see anything on the rear side.

[Halvarras]

40 minutes ago, Torbay Express said:

But with the brake distributor that side, should it also have the canopy mechanism on the front nearest the camera too?  Cannot see anything on the rear side.

 

I had to check that, but no, the standard 'layout' for the production CDAs (apparently except 375000) is the two small vents on one side and the brake distributor and canopy mechanism on the other. This would place 375000's mechanism  on the far corner. Annoyingly I did take another photo from the other end but made the mistake of sending it in to a model railway magazine who didn't use it and never returned it - and I've mislaid the negatives (my photo is a photo of a photo!) I live in hope of finding them one day, probably while looking for something else.

 

375000's 'misplaced' vent is above the brake distributor - I have no idea how much clay dust would emanate from this, but we know it gets everywhere and maybe it was realised that the brake equipment could become excessively coated, so the vent was shifted to the other side from '001. On the other hand, considering the general arrangement of the hopper and canopy, perhaps the vent was simply more effective when mounted on the same side as the one on the opposite end. It would help to see the inside of a CDA but they always have their hats on....!

 

[Accurascale Fran]

Hi everyone,

 

As above, the eagle eye of @Nick L spotted our ventilator was well, quite misshapen and did not capture the look well at all. So, we went back to the factory and asked them to change it, which they have done! It has now been tweaked to the original measurements, something which got lost in translation in the original design brief stage. 

 

 

 

 

Now the issue has been resolved, the CDAs have been redone and will now ship next week. We apologise for this slight delay, but we think it's well worth it to get the final models spot on so they can be enjoyed for many years to come.

 

 

In recent times we have had some "interesting" comments sent our way online that it's "unprofessional" to show pre-production images as it's not the finished product. We found this thought process somewhat strange. We always said from the outset we would show our processes from beginning to end, so you can enjoy every step and we provide transparency as much as possible on progress and take you along on the journey. 

 

Showing the samples of these wagons allowed you to see something was amiss; something we had a "wood from the trees" moment with. This meant we were able to take the feedback on board, and rectify. If it wasn't for Nick's observation they could well have arrived with the original ventilator. Thankfully the factory acted quickly on the instructions of our project manager to sort the issue and come up with a much better solution. They have turned all this around in a matter of a few weeks which is extraordinary work. 

 

If it's okay with you guys, we will continue this way, show progress and be transparent about any issues that may pop up along the way, and of course show the solutions and talk through the processes. 

 

We now look forward to these arriving in July!

 

Cheers!

 

Fran 

 

 

 

 

[Graham108]

11 minutes ago, Accurascale Fran said:

 

In recent times we have had some "interesting" comments sent our way online that it's "unprofessional" to show pre-production images as it's not the finished product. We found this thought process somewhat strange. We always said from the outset we would show our processes from beginning to end, so you can enjoy every step and we provide transparency as much as possible on progress and take you along on the journey. 

 

In the IT world it's called things like User Acceptance Testing, Operational Acceptance Testing or even Beta Testing. The operative word is 'testing' to make sure something is correct before it gets released to a larger audience.

 

I see absolutely nothing wrong with this approach being followed in this instance. Whilst we all appreciate the quality of things coming out of the factories based on your knowledge and experience, you can't be expected to know everything (can you?). 

[Accurascale Fran]

Thanks @Graham108, we 'should' know it all I guess, but we are human too! We feel it's important to be transparent, show the fault in question (especially if people are waiting on them to arrive) and take the steps to rectify it if needs be. All part of the process!

 

Cheers!

 

Fran 

[adb968008]

4 hours ago, Accurascale Fran said:

Hi everyone,

 

As above, the eagle eye of @Nick L spotted our ventilator was well, quite misshapen and did not capture the look well at all. So, we went back to the factory and asked them to change it, which they have done! It has now been tweaked to the original measurements, something which got lost in translation in the original design brief stage. 

 

 

 

 

Now the issue has been resolved, the CDAs have been redone and will now ship next week. We apologise for this slight delay, but we think it's well worth it to get the final models spot on so they can be enjoyed for many years to come.

 

 

In recent times we have had some "interesting" comments sent our way online that it's "unprofessional" to show pre-production images as it's not the finished product. We found this thought process somewhat strange. We always said from the outset we would show our processes from beginning to end, so you can enjoy every step and we provide transparency as much as possible on progress and take you along on the journey. 

 

Showing the samples of these wagons allowed you to see something was amiss; something we had a "wood from the trees" moment with. This meant we were able to take the feedback on board, and rectify. If it wasn't for Nick's observation they could well have arrived with the original ventilator. Thankfully the factory acted quickly on the instructions of our project manager to sort the issue and come up with a much better solution. They have turned all this around in a matter of a few weeks which is extraordinary work. 

 

If it's okay with you guys, we will continue this way, show progress and be transparent about any issues that may pop up along the way, and of course show the solutions and talk through the processes. 

 

We now look forward to these arriving in July!

 

Cheers!

 

Fran 

 

 

 

 

Brilliant.

 

Wouldn't it be nice if all manufacturers did this, and show appreciation like this too.

 

No one wins when its wrong, win win all round.

 

Edited May 11, 2022 by adb968008

[Halvarras]

I know that "how on earth did that happen" feeling - I spent 17 years co-coordinating the production of vehicle brochures for the UK distributor for one of the smaller car manufacturers and took pride in ensuring accuracy and presentation - it was difficult to get every tiny detail right every time but my most epic of fails (by some margin) was approving a brochure for print for our biggest-selling model with a white square on the front cover where the company logo should have been! Despite its prominent location it was missed by the agency who created the artwork, myself and the half-dozen company departments who received pdf copies to check their content - thankfully the printer picked it up just before it went to press - the final 'fresh pair of eyes'. I can only assume that concentrating on the mass of detail in the content led to one of those 'wood for the trees' moments @Accurascale Fran refers to above!

[Michael Hodgson]

Easily done.  I was one of three people who had proof read a railway history book in addition to the joint authors themselves before publication.  In the final printed version we later found three minor errors (two mis-spellings and a photo reference quoting the wrong page number).

[adb968008]

34 minutes ago, Halvarras said:

I know that "how on earth did that happen" feeling - I spent 17 years co-coordinating the production of vehicle brochures for the UK distributor for one of the smaller car manufacturers and took pride in ensuring accuracy and presentation - it was difficult to get every tiny detail right every time but my most epic of fails (by some margin) was approving a brochure for print for our biggest-selling model with a white square on the front cover where the company logo should have been! Despite its prominent location it was missed by the agency who created the artwork, myself and the half-dozen company departments who received pdf copies to check their content - thankfully the printer picked it up just before it went to press - the final 'fresh pair of eyes'. I can only assume that concentrating on the mass of detail in the content led to one of those 'wood for the trees' moments @Accurascale Fran refers to above!

I did worse,

When putting software proposals together you like to rinse and repeat as the service offerings are usually 80% similar, and 20% bespoke.

 

So after months of putting a proposal together, I submitted it, to the Canary Wharf offices of a major global bank. This after a dozen sets of eyes, including legal, finance, services etc had read it internally online and signed off. The customer however instead chose to print it.. and hey presto, inside page 2, hidden from view online but showing up in print was the cover page and contents page with logos of that major banks no1 competitor, which showed in the footer of each page therafter, whom our proposal had been copied from to use as a starting point…

 

fortunately their recipient sponsor was someone whom we had worked with on that prior proposal at the other bank too, and saw the funny side of it showing up in his new role at this new bank. (Fwiw we did win, at both banks and several others afterwards until 2008 changed that market). Lesson learned, Ever since, I copy text, rather than the document as a starting point, and leave templates and .dots etc behind… but it could have all gone 8 figures south… 

Edited May 11, 2022 by adb968008

[No Decorum]

Computers were not my job but people used to get me to help them out. One in particular asked me to do a lot for him. One of his requests was to design a logo like a rubber stamp to put on a leaflet. Being a little fed up with him, I put a cheeky comment into it alluding to his lack of height. He was delighted – it was exactly what he wanted. Someone given the job of getting them printed caught it and respectfully asked if he really wanted them printed like that. Laughter all round.

[Nick-L]

22 hours ago, Accurascale Fran said:

Hi everyone,

 

As above, the eagle eye of @Nick L spotted our ventilator was well, quite misshapen and did not capture the look well at all. So, we went back to the factory and asked them to change it, which they have done! It has now been tweaked to the original measurements, something which got lost in translation in the original design brief stage. 

 

 

 

 

Now the issue has been resolved, the CDAs have been redone and will now ship next week. We apologise for this slight delay, but we think it's well worth it to get the final models spot on so they can be enjoyed for many years to come.

 

 

In recent times we have had some "interesting" comments sent our way online that it's "unprofessional" to show pre-production images as it's not the finished product. We found this thought process somewhat strange. We always said from the outset we would show our processes from beginning to end, so you can enjoy every step and we provide transparency as much as possible on progress and take you along on the journey. 

 

Showing the samples of these wagons allowed you to see something was amiss; something we had a "wood from the trees" moment with. This meant we were able to take the feedback on board, and rectify. If it wasn't for Nick's observation they could well have arrived with the original ventilator. Thankfully the factory acted quickly on the instructions of our project manager to sort the issue and come up with a much better solution. They have turned all this around in a matter of a few weeks which is extraordinary work. 

 

If it's okay with you guys, we will continue this way, show progress and be transparent about any issues that may pop up along the way, and of course show the solutions and talk through the processes. 

 

We now look forward to these arriving in July!

 

Cheers!

 

Fran 

 

 

 

 

Where can I send my details to claim my prize??! 😁

[ERIC ALLTORQUE]

On 12/05/2022 at 10:47, Nick-L said:

Where can I send my details to claim my prize??! 😁

Ha careful,a pat on the back might be the last thing you want in this case,the slightest of them will be no lightweight,Just be happy with thank you,keep an eye on them though,well spotted.