A third variant of our popular ‘OO’ gauge Class 86 is now in preparation for release in 2023. In response to public demand, the Class 86/2 will join the recent ‘AL6’ and Class 86/4 in the HELJAN range.
Two versions will depict the 100mph passenger/parcels ‘86s’ in late-1970s to mid-1980s guise prior to the addition of headlights/TDM cables and for the late-1980s onwards with high-intensity headlights and TDM cables. The latter will be available with either Faiveley or Brecknell-Willis pantographs. This all-new model has been produced in response to strong demand from OO gauge modellers of AC electrics and provides a perfect companion to our earlier Class 86s. Eight liveries will be available on general release via HELJAN stockists (see below), with a further special edition of 86235 Novelty in ‘Rainhill 150’ livery available from Gaugemaster stockists as part of the ‘Gaugemaster Collection’.
Suggested Retail Price (SRP) is £254.95. Standard features will match the demanding requirements of today’s OO gauge modeller, including a 21-pin DCC interface, LED lighting with independently switchable tail light function, provision for DCC sound, sprung buffers, highly detailed underframe and bogies and much more.
GM4240304 BR ‘Rainhill 150’ Blue 86235 Novelty GAUGEMASTER COLLECTION ERA 7
#8621 BR Blue 86253 The Manchester GuardianERA 7/8
#8623 InterCity Executive 86204 City of CarlisleERA 8
#8630 InterCity Swift 86238 European CommunityERA 8
#8631 Virgin Trains Red/Grey 86240 Bishop Eric TreacyERA 9
#8633 BR Electric Blue 86259 Les RossERA 9
#8634 EWS Red/Gold 86261 Rail Charter PartnershipERA 9
#8635 Colas Railfreight 86701 OrionERA 9
#8636 Anglia Railways 86260 ERA 9
Engineering prototypes are expected in the UK for review in early-2023. We hope to deliver the first batch of Class 86/2s in late-2023. Look out for further updates on all these new models here and on our Facebook page over the coming months!
HELJAN’s range of high-quality ‘OO’ gauge rolling stock will expand in early-2023 with the release of six coach packs featuring the stylish double-deck car transporters built by Newton Chambers for BR Eastern Region in 1960/61. Visitors to the Warley National Model Railway Exhibition at the NEC this weekend will be the first to see factory-decorated samples of the new models.
BR Maroon Newton Chambers Car Carrier
Featuring a high specification and fine detail throughout, the vehicles will be offered in matching triple packs in BR Lined Maroon and BR ‘Motorail’ Blue/Grey covering their entire 25-year career. Close attention to detail means that vehicles will feature either the original or revised pattern of fibreglass roof lights plus vacuum brake/steam heat and dual brake/dual heating vehicles with the Electric Train Heat (ETH) and air brake equipment added to several car transporters towards the end of their life.
Fine details include separately fitted handbrake wheels, end door details, air pipes, etched train ferry lashing eyes, steam heat, vacuum brake and ETH equipment. NEM couplers and sprung buffers are fitted as standard. Suggested Retail Price (SRP) for the high-quality presentation packs is £229.00.
Heljan Car Transporter BR Maroon
Originally designated as TCVs, the vehicles later became NVV (vacuum braked) and NVX (dual braked) under BR’s TOPS computer system. Unusually, they featured a hydraulically operated central well capable of storing two cars as well as four cars on the upper deck – a 50% increase in capacity over more conventional car carrying vehicles of the time.
When introduced in the early-1960s, the TCV car transporters were used between London, York and Edinburgh in sets of five or six vehicles with a handful of BR maroon Mk1 coaches, hauled by ex-LNER ‘Pacifics’ and later BR green ‘Deltics’, Class 40s, 45s, 46s or 47s. From the late-1960s onwards, they were painted in BR blue/grey and started to venture further afield on ‘Motorail’ services from London and northern England to the West of England, being hauled by Class 45s, 46s, 47s and ‘Westerns’. However, they were closely associated with the East Coast Main Line throughout their career.
#9620 EASTERN REGION CAR TRANSPORTER PACK 1: BR Lined Maroon E96288/289/290E
#9621 EASTERN REGION CAR TRANSPORTER PACK 2: BR Lined Maroon E96286/293/297E
#9622 EASTERN REGION CAR TRANSPORTER PACK 3: BR Lined Maroon E96287/291/294E
Factory decorated prototypes are now in the UK for review and we expect production to start in early-2023 with the first batch of car transporters due in shops in Spring 2023. Look out for further updates on all these new models here and on our Facebook page over the coming months!
New into the man cave are a batch of N gauge wagons from Peco as part of a collection of new tooling. For many many years N gauge modellers have had a staple diet of Peco Wonderful Wagons, with tooling that was first cut as I recall in the late 1960’s or early 1970’s. Those wagons formed the bedrock of countless layouts and collections and at the time were excellent. More recently the tooling has shown its age, not so much in the wear and tear, but due to other manufacturers bringing a better looking and performing product to market.
The wagons come in small plastic clear boxes with a card insert and a moulded base to which the wagon is tightly held by a plastic clear strap. For retailers there’s a peg board tag attached which folds out of the way if not required. The base has placements for three different wagon wheelbases, so this possibly indicates other new tooling for the future. All of the packaging is recyclable, the boxes will be brilliant in the workshop for keeping bits and pieces for projects, or for carefully cutting for glazing for other models. Way back in time, playing Mr Benn the shopkeeper, we occasionally used to get asked to take products out of the packaging to let customers see them. With this strap fixing, which is also used on some of the 009 range, that isn’t possible. Not likely to be a big problem but worth bearing in mind if you get one out of the box, once the strap is cut, that’s it, it’s not going back on.
In the eight wagons sent there are three body varieties, two seven plank types and one five plank, these sit on one type of chassis, all new tooling. All three types represent RCH 1923 bodies and wooden chassis.The RCH standards were an agreed set of minimum standards, which allowed a high degree of commonality with the main railway companies as well as from independent builders such as the Gloucester Wagon and Carriage Works and Charles Roberts.
So underpinning these models is a new 9ft wooden chassis, which is a significant improvement over the previous Peco model. The earlier version of the under frame Peco used was in fact a 10ft wheelbase and as mentioned was introduced approximately fifty years ago. As such it is a product of its time, though the detail on it is pretty good. With a quick comparison the most obvious change is the revised and correct 9ft wheelbase on the new (2019) tooling. The wheels are metal tyred on pinpoint axles, and the axles are held in place by two lugs on the wagon centreline.
This is an interesting design point as the original design relied on the ends of the axles, as do contemporary Bachmann Farish wagons. This approach allows the axle and wheels to have a small amount of vertical movement, so whilst not suspension, it will undoubtedly assist with the ‘roadholding’ of this stock. All chassis’ of the review items were square sitting on a flat glass surface. The appearance of the wagons isn’t significantly compromised by this design feature. The early design brake gear was moulded in one piece so brake lever and V hanger were moulded in one piece and not quite in line with the wheel sets. The new chassis is far better in this respect with a separate brake lever allowing the brake shoes and push rods to be in line with the wheels, these are to the correct orientation reflecting wagons with bottom fitted doors. There is also a representation of the side door spring on the new chassis, missing from previous versions. The brake lever is separate however the lever guard where the ratchet sits, is not quite as refined as the Farish equivalent. W irons and springs are much better defined than on the original chassis with the correct type of oil axle box fitted. Also of note is the metal tyred eight spoke wheels of these new wagons. An immediate improvement over the plastic wheels of the past with their ability to collect dirt on wheel treads in particular. These new wheel sets should reduce that effect massively.
NR-7006P 9ft 7 Plank Open Wagon Colman’s Mustard (End Door)NR-7008P 9ft 7 Plank Open Wagon Lunt (End Door)
Side detail on the chassis is very good, with the iron work well represented. Where the chassis is painted on the prototype this is also coloured on the models, the Colman’s Mustard and ‘Lunt’ livery wagons being outstanding in this regard. Works plates where appropriate are printed and reflect the relevant shape and representative writing, Gloucester and Chas Roberts plates being notable on these samples. Buffers are well detailed having the correct proportions and ribbing to reflect RCH standard types. Couplings are the the traditional N gauge ELC type and they are fitted into an NEM335 coupling pocket, all sample examples worked well and reliably on test.
NR-7007 9ft 7 Plank Open Wagon Shirebrook (endNR-70099ft 7 Plank Open Wagon Middleton (side door)
The wagon body immediately strikes you as a quality moulding, all edges are crisp and well defined with clearly visible strapping and bolt head details. internally the drop doors are featured as are the inside of the side door. There is no internal strapping depicted, that’s not unusual, (across the scales) and I believe is required to allow the tooling to release the wagon body.
Peco N Gauge 7 Plank End Door Wagon
The end door variety is a type not released in the Peco N gauge range previously, and is a welcome addition to the body style available. End stantions on both end and side door variants are timber with the appropriate top taper. For both the end door and side door variants the wood stantion are correct for these private owner liveries, the T section metal end stantion generally identifies a railway company (big four) built wagon. The headstocks are the correct width, slightly wider than the wagon body, and have cut aways to allow the chassis moulding and buffers to fit the body.
Couplings are fitted to the chassis and there is no cut away or compromise on the headstock to allow vertical movement for them. Planks are well defined without there being a significant mould line with the top two planks reflecting a slightly deeper height than the lower five, this is included across the ends of both end and side door body styles. No top capping strips or clips are on these wagons, so they reflect a pre war, new wagon or one that hasn’t seen significant amount of wear and tear.
Side and end external ironwork is exceptional in the finesse for all the elements with bolt heads represented in a subtle fashion. The wagon sides are of particular merit as they are so thin, giving a really prototypical appearance. So often open`N gauge wagons have a very noticeable and unprototypical thickness to sides and ends, these are well ahead of the pack in that respect. None of the samples exhibited any inward bowing of the sides. One part not represented on the end door wagon is the top end door roller bar. I don’t mind that as its an easy part to fabricate with a piece of wire, and I think moulding it in place might have compromised the overall appearance.
NR-7005P 9ft 7 Plank Open Wagon NCB (End Door)
The liveries of these wagons is to the top quality we have become accustomed to from Peco over the years. Base colours of the wagons are opaque with no blocking of any strapping or plank detailing. The lettering and logo’s printing is clear, crisp and opaque too, especially the white over red of these samples. Of particular note is the shading extant on the Lunt, Shirebrook and Colmans Mustard examples.
These obviously require several passes to print and the depth of the print isn’t apparent, leaving underlying details clear of paint build up. On some of the wagons with painted corner plates, there is a sliver of the wagon base colour showing on the very apex of the right angles. Running a paint brush across that edge in a vertical motion would resolve that easily. Internally the wagons are unpainted with the satin black plastic base colour showing.
NR-5004B 9ft 5 Plank Open Wagon BR
The RCH 5 plank open, is like the 7 plank opens above fitted to the new Quality Line chassis, identical to those fitted to all other wagons discussed here, and details are as described above. The body is well proportioned and matches the overall dimensions for an RCH body. The overall tooling matches the standards of the 7 plank wagons earlier, the body correctly representing a standard five plank design with equal depth side planks. Again of note is the commendably thin sides and no inward bowing from mould release cooling. In British Rail unfitted grey livery the tare weight, wagon weight and running numbers are all clearly legible and opaque, on the correct black background. In terms of livery the headstocks should be black as per the chassis.
NR-7019P 9ft 5 Plank Open Wagon Pinxton (End Door)
In summary these wagons are an excellent and welcome release into the N gauge market, which sometimes is seen as the poorer relation in the hobby for new product releases. They’re well engineered finely detailed and exceptionally well finished. In an ideal world the brake lever and door spring could be finer and better defined, however its not beyond the possibility for someone to either 3D print a replacement or do a custom etch if you really want to make these ‘pop’. With each of the private owner wagons having crystal clear individual numbers I wonder if there’s a market for individually numbered three packs as we have seen from Farish in N gauge and other manufacturers in OO. With an N gauge colliery diorama/micro layout in the planning stage, I am really looking forward to using these and seeing what they scrub up like with some weathering, and perhaps a few details such as dropping a centre plank, to make a ‘London’ variety.
An overview of Planet Industrials Kerr Stuart ‘Victory’ class locomotive. The example I received had a couple of minor problems. The parcel having taken a few knocks the next18 DCC blanking plug had become dislodged, and one of the slide bars. Both were an easy fix, and despite those minor issues I really like the model. There will be a more traditional blog review later.
I don’t need to mention the current (October 22), cost of living rises in the UK to anyone. If you’re awake you’ll be all too aware of the impact of Brexit, Ukraine etc etc on national and world economic and geopolitical history. I use the word history rather than events, because these are going to be ‘history’ and we’re living it right here and now.
This past week we’ve seen another new product announcement, a three way collaboration between Locomotion, Rails of Sheffield and Heljan. Almost immediately there were the usual calls of its duplicating a kit, its way too expensive, and others probably. after reading those two threads I was already rapidly losing interest. Taking the duplication first, pretty much every Uk RTR locomotive or piece of rolling stock, across the scales duplicates a kit, so we’re not breaking new ground there. Locomotion in particular commissions models of items in their museum collection, an excellent way of bringing further revenue into the organisation, and certainly raises their profile amongst the modelling community where I imagine the bulk of their sales actually occur.
Then we look at the pricing, just over £200. I’m not finding this an excessive price for a limited edition model. If we look at big players and then the smaller manufacturers, this isn’t an excessive price gouge by any stretch of the imagination. For example the base level price of the very promising Cavalex class 56 is going to be around the £190 price point, the RRP for the Bachmann class 37 is £240, just picking two contemporary examples from the recent releases or ‘to come’ categories.
How does this connect to Lance Mindheim’s piece on a one turnout layout then? Well certainly in the Uk the hobby is quite loco centric, and there’s quite the emphasis, if you believe the commentators, that the cost of a locomotive and stock for it to pull, is making this a rich man’s hobby. I’m not going try and make any argument that £220 is cheap, it isn’t.There’s always the cost of other hobbies thrown into the argument too, quite often golf. Probably not the best example, as no one mentions the cost of the vehicle you ‘need’. Why have I added a car? Well when was the last time you saw a dude dragging his bag of golf bats and umbrella down the high street on his way to the gig, or manhandling them onto the bus? So golf, is never the best example for comparison. Music? if you want to get an acoustic guitar from new, for something nice you’re going to be north of £100 to start, and then you can go on the inter web and read just how bad whatever axe you’ve bought is and how much better a far more expensive instrument is. Still at least you can get it on the bus, and play it without needing a couple of hundred acres of grass to go with it. Remember the £100 glass ceiling for locomotives, where did that go? Cycling, fishing, watching football etc etc whatever you compare to railway and railroad modelling, its not hard to find new stuff that’s way more expensive than trains. Conversely, like the railway hobby, it’s quite easy to not have to pay out third world economy sized sums to get satisfaction and enjoyment.
What’s the point of this ramble? Well Lance makes a good point about the benefits of a one turnout layout. And there’s a simple parallel to the cost conundrum, if you have a one turnout layout there’s a big cost saving. It’s ok, you can stop rolling your eyes at the back of the class, I know its not that simple, and Lance is perhaps fortunate in that his chosen prototype allows him to make that point. When you look at Lance’s layout it’s clear that there’s much more thought in the concept than is immediately apparent at first glance. Compared to UK prototypes North American railroads and equipment are larger, and operations and signalling much different. Whereas there’s still contemporary single freight car loads switched into industries in North America, there’s way way fewer in the UK, in fact I can’t actually think of one at the moment. There is of course a wagon repair facility that might considered, perhaps that may become the ‘contemporary’ modellers GWR BLT where a section is chosen with just one point, and presented to show just that area. I’d be interested in seeing that, especially how on/off scene joins were managed to give an engaging presentation.
Going back a few years of course would allow for us UK modellers an opportunity to choose an industry and model it with one point, and perhaps a catch point to protect the running line. Reading Lance’s blog its apparent that the mindset is very different too. The area of this one point layout is roughly 12ft / 2 metres in length and 6 inches depth.
Shelfie 2
That’s quite the footprint for some of us in the Uk, that’s about the footprint of Shelfie 3 or two of Shelfie 2 end to end, so in visual context Shelfie 2 above is roughly half Lance’s footprint. Where I think Lance’s design and concept works is in the simplicity of the use of his space. Whereas Shelfie 2 above is over compromised for what its meant to portray. The courage of Lance’s design is the use of space, arguably, it’s very brave to use all that space for modelling so much ‘nothing’. `that’s where it really scores on the visual appeal and realism though.
Shelfie 2
Shelfie 2 above isn’t really what you’d see in real life, its a pastiche. Don’t get me wrong its a nice layout, I learned a lot from it, it works well and people enjoy operating it and seeing it, but the compromises are its negative aspects. Fitting it into Lance’s footprint it’d ‘work’ better especially in the visual elements. and may be better served with a fraction more depth in the baseboard. The other option of course would be to change scale, and make sure you don’t fall into the smaller scale, same footprint, fill it with crap, trap.
Costwise however Shelfie is relatively economic, it only needs one engine in steam, so the exhibition complement is three locomotives, one operational and two spares. Because its freight and coal the only stock required is about fifteen wagons and two brake vans, they pretty much fill the layout if deployed at once. The layout infrastructure, track, point motors, lighting, baseboards would be much the same for a longer version but it might still not have that capture that Lances layout does. The one point layout in both Lance’s example and transferring it to a UK scene has a definite cost benefit. Assuming a disciplined use of modelling funds then only a few locomotives are required and a handful of freight cars or wagons are needed. That’s where arguably you can ‘afford’ the nice models especially if you’re established in the hobby in some format. Sell old stuff and replace with fewer better examples if you’re not minded, or skilled enough to upgrade existing items.
For me there’s two significant elements to this cost question and I feel that a layout design like the example Lance shows, gives us a neat answer. Prices of new high fidelity models isn’t going to come down, and the space fairy isn’t going to turn up with vast tracts of free land either. So if a modeller really wants to have examples of the latest items and run them on a layout, perhaps the thought process of layout design needs to be added to the wallet. Choose a prototype section which you can model using minimum equipment and do it realistically. Key to the example from Lance for me is the effort that has been put into the scenic aspects of the layout. I can imagine operating this layout with its one point, as the appearance would engage me too, taking away the ‘need’ to have much more going on. Almost like slow tv, you take the time to engage with the models rather than watching them flash by and then running the next one past a minute or two later. The capture of the prototype atmosphere is another element too, disused or open space from removed tracks, with that that sort of detail you can use the ‘space’, this is why three turnout inglenook designs rarely light any fires for me. For me the traditional small footprint shunting puzzle inglenook doesn’t work, they are too compromised to engage me, and to a degree Shelfie 2 has similar issues. Note to self, think harder about ‘space’.
Perhaps then the ideal is no compromise! If you want to get the high fidelity stock and motive power, do so. but make it viable by an uncompromising approach to modelling a restricted ‘location’ and a one point layout can offer this. It’d be a brave choice though, Lance’s scene is believable as it replicates real life and operations, and utilises uses the footprint plausibly. I can imagine many easily saying it’s a literal waste of ‘space’.
Finding a contemporary UK scene would be far more difficult, though a few TEA’s and a fuels siding spring to mind, or a couple of the KFA/PFB’s and a handful of vans in an MOD setting. However going back twenty years or so and more, the opportunities for these types of simple operation are far greater to mix simplicity and top quality RTR products.
This year has been a bit of a quiet one for the blog, two layouts ticking over and a busy domestic and work schedule, hence relatively few updates. However earlier in the year I had the pleasure of speaking to Gareth Helliwell from Trains4U in Peterborough. The shop was opened in 2004 as a response to the last ‘traditional’ type of model shop in the immediate Peterborough area closing. Some eighteen years later Trains4U is still going and supplies railway, slot car and plastic kit hobbyists in the Peterborough area with a well stocked walk in retail unit, and an efficient and competitively priced mail order service. Whilst talking about the hobby in general, and him selling me a Dapol N gauge 33, (how does that happen?), Gareth showed me the first tooling shots of the Cavalex Merry Go Round wagons which look really nice. He also asked if I’d like to look at a couple of their T4U/Cavalex warflats for a review on the blog, the connection being that Cavalex were the production partner for the project. I thought they’d make an interesting change, with these wagons being outside my normal sphere of interest and era, but I am finding that my rail interests are quite flexible in timelines and have moved towards more recent times of late.
Trans4U / Cavalex PFB KFA Warflat
The two wagons here are known as warflats and their primary design requirement was to be able to transport military vehicles such as armoured cars and other lightweight vehicles. The choice for the prototype was from the T4U team, wanting to add an unusual but useful and widely utilised wagon into the range of modern RTR rolling stock. The wagons were introduced in the mid 1970’s under the TOPS classification PFB, and were dual braked, featuring both vacuum and air brake systems. The wagons are still in MOD use today but are now solely air braked with the TOPS code of KFA. The model is available in two liveries as the earlier PFB ,and later KFA versions. Each wagon type has three different running numbers to choose from, and the two liveries cross over, so you can run all six in the same train prototypically.
PFB KFA Warflat
The packaging for them is simple and robust. A stiff outer carton and moulded ‘ice cube’ inner tray with close fitting lid holds the wagons securely including the detail pack of air hoses. all appear to be recyclable. With the first look at the wagons they are well assembled with no loose parts the paint and livery The wagons weigh in at 91grams each, the deck being a plastic moulding and the spinal frame underneath of metal. Looking at the running gear, wheels and axles are metal on 26mm standard axles housed in plastic bogies.
Trains4U Warflat
Realistically this is more of an overview than a review, not being familiar with the prototype. Both the wagons are identical in build so its a livery variation that makes the difference. in terms of the detail differences between the liveries there are none and the build and moulding quality is identical over the two models. so in terms of the physical appearance of the wagons these words apply to both liveries.
KFA Warflat
The KFA then is the model I’ll start with, this is in the later livery with the yellow end stocks. The whole body moulding is very cleanly moulded with no apparent tooling slide lines anywhere. Top deck planks are well defined with cutaways for fixing shackles or tie down straps to wagon tie down locations. The end of each wagon has a subtle grip pattern on the tops of the buffer beams. All edges are sharp and on the side beams the wagon label clip for paperwork is well defined.
KFA Warflat
The buffer beams are a notable area of detail, the buffers are sprung, with oval heads. These types of buffer are often left with the ability to rotate on RTR products, but these are kept horizontal and have a commendably thin head to them. Outer edges of the beams have individual loops for tie down and chain fixings which I was very impressed with. Screw jacks are fitted to the underneath of the buffer beam and are fitted with the appropriate hand wheel and modelled in the raised position. They are correctly situated so they’d align with scale gauge track rather than OO but the difference isn’t particularly notable. These do show a mould line on the side of them but you do have to be very close to notice it.
T4U Cavalex Warflat
Standard tension lock couplings are fixed to a kinematic housing on the underside of the wagon. Despite the screw jacks being in position there is no fouling of the couplings under test. The minimum radius I tried was Peco medium radius points both under tension and propelling.
KFA PFB OO Warflat
One thing of note was the side play of the tension lock hooks in the actual coupling, I felt this was a little too loose however I didn’t experience any problems myself but if used on set track its something to keep an eye on. The livery of the buffer beams is the major noticeable difference between the two models. On my sample the yellow wasn’t quite as opaque as I’d have preferred, however with weathering applied that won’t be an issue, and I’d rather it be that way than have the paint too thick and obscuring detail. Individual lamp irons are applied and there’s one hole for the air pipes supplied as additional details. If representing an earlier wagon with dual brake pipework, it will be up to the purchaser to source and fit the additional pipes for the buffer beams. The wagons were ‘through’ piped for vacuum work and would have run with a brake van attached to provide braking power.
PFB KFA Warflat
The under frame of the wagon is very well detailed with fine pipework and mechanism details. The details represent the air brake only type, I’ve not been able to find any accessible detail information to determine how the vacuum pipe was routed for the dual brake version. They don’t appear to be visible on any of the online resources, so unless you’re regularly turning your wagons upside down, not a huge omission to get foaming about.
The NEM coupling mounts are fitted to a kinematic system fixed at the ends of the wagon floors. If using three links the housing looks like it can be removed, but as these were samples, the screwdrivers stayed in their box! The chassis as mention above is a metal casting giving an overall weight of around 9 grams, or about the same as a typical sized iPhone for ease of comparison.
KFA PFB Bogie
The bogies are plastic with a crosshead screw fixing to the chassis. The bogie side frames are one area where I feel the model is let down slightly. The side frames around the axle box is particularly thick, which does occasionally show when the wagons are viewed end on or on a sharp radius curve. I should mention that’s possibly more noticeable for me due to the height my layouts are set at, however in comparison with the Cavalex TEA tanker there’s a notable difference in comparative thickness. Individual brake wheels are fitted to the side of each bogie and the unusual diagonal brake disc configuration is captured using plastic inserts into the individual wheel sets. Running qualities of the wagons are excellent, both wagons running without any binding or wobble from poorly adjusted or fitted wheels. There doesn’t appear to be any hinderance for people wishing to put either EM or P4 wheel sets in the bogies there looks to be more than adequate lateral clearances, with no brake gear to foul.
Livery application is excellent for both wagons. Apart from the minor yellow opacity issue on the KFA, all paint is applied neatly with no ‘overspray’ or bleed marks.
The printing of the data panels is excellent across both versions with all but the smallest writing clearly legible, and matching locations from on-line pictorial references. If you wish to model the wagons loaded there are 3D printed vehicle chocks available too designed specifically for these wagons.
In summary then these are very good models of an interesting and long lived prototype. Its the first opportunity I’ve had to look at a product from the Cavalex team, and overall its a very impressive model, well built, well detailed and decorated. Used widely across the UK for moving light weight military vehicles, they can be used in full length military trains or one or two of these wagons and other suitable stock such as VEA or VGA type vans. The longevity of them from the mid 70’s to the current day, and only two significant liveries gives modellers a good excuse to add something a little different to the fleet without spreading the boundaries of plausibility!
A week back 10/10/22, Hornby announced they were in the new TT 1:120th scale market.
Earlier in the year Peco introduced a range of products both track and buildings, a few of which are sitting on the review shelf here.
Heljan also threw their hat into the ring with the fascinating prospect of a high fidelity class 31, and the potential of an 08 and J94. With the Hornby announcement both 08 and J94 were listed as products in development and Heljan have subsequently taken the decision to withdraw from the TT market due to the potential of duplication and the obvious negative impact that could have on sales. Of interest was Rails of Sheffield, also copying the same withdrawal announcement onto their Facebook page. I do wonder as Rails have commissioned their own products and limited edition liveries, if perhaps they were considering entering the market and hadn’t yet shown their hand. Needless to say all the above have nearly filled the internet with froth and wibble, so I’m very fortunate in having a little area of clear space here! Its understandable that Heljan, Rails and perhaps others are not considering entering this new scale, the cost of developing a new model across the scales isn’t far apart, so entering a new scale with duplications in ranges, could hamper the development of all ranges, Hornby’s included.
Also different is the marketing approach from Hornby, with them going direct, rather than sales via a dealer, high street presence.This is interesting on two fronts, it has the potential of restricting the market in that other manufacturers and retailers may decide that if there isn’t a critical mass in the market place with TT being widely available ‘on the high street’, there’s little point in developing accompanying ranges.
Peco TT
Peco have taken a very astute way forward in using wooden laser cut kit technology here, thus reducing the financial burden which injection moulding tooling would add to the new scale. They have also invested in tooling for the track ranges, and in the event of the scale not gaining commercial traction in the UK market, that track range sits well in their portfolio, and would sell into the existing European market at the very least.
Warley in a few weeks time is going to be an interesting show in terms of trade announcements. As the headline act in the exhibition circuit its a good place and time to grab a headline. Its possible that some of the other smaller agile manufacturers and commissioners may show their hand in developing new products. Accurascale have already commented via social media that they aren’t contemplating the new scale, and others like Rapido, Cavalex,RevolutioNBachmann to name just four off the top of my head haven’t yet passed official comment that I’m aware of.
As far as Hornby’s direct sales approach goes its not hard to see the value of it to Hornby, it sort of makes it a captive market. That can have a benefit in that it could drive the majority of TT sales into the Hornby bank account, so good for the shareholders, and Hornby’s bottom line. Obviously retailers would be excluded if we understand the business model announced so far. There’s been plenty of wibble saying this approach won’t work, but the general public won’t have an appreciation of the subtleties of the tie in to the retail trade for other components. I’m very conscious of the way the Low Cost Airlines tore up the travel market twenty years ago. At the time there was plenty comments that people wouldn’t book direct etc etc, but very quickly the public did adopt these new business models and decimated the travel agent industry on the high street, and internet development has radically change business and communication practices, part of the reason I can write this here and you read it!
Hornby have clearly spent a large sum of capital in the development of this range, and we can expect a large amount of advertising to give the range traction both inside the hobby, and to appeal to the public to visit the Hornby website to purchase the products. Over the past few years, even prior to the current economic and political turmoil the world is in, supply chain issues and delays in manufacture have affected all the key players. In the presentation this is addressed with the assurance that there will be a regular flow of product to be available. This supply chain is vital, particularly track. Whilst Peco have introduced flexitrack and the large radius points they’re not the elements that will be required by the public when entering this hobby. I do wonder with Heljan stepping back with an intriguing TTFN sign off, if the industry will wait to see how well the new sale takes off? The online only aspect cuts down the visibility of the scale, particularly on the high street, and if you include ‘box shifters’ web presence and magazine advertising, potentially cutting out those high profile attention grabbers too. The 3D printers such as Modelu may well see an easy niche market to trade in, but its possible that the larger players will step back and see if Hornby is ‘right’, before cutting tooling of their own to currently ‘support’ Hornby’s new marketing drive and product range. There’s little point in range duplication at this point of the development due to the costs involved and limited idea of the scales acceptance by either the public or the established hobby.
Do I think this a good move in the hobby? Overall yes I do. I’ve often thought that TT would offer meant others like me the balance between capturing scenery, and being able to model ‘more railway’ more effectively than either N or OO/HO can provide in the space available. In response to this I have pre ordered an 08 in BR blue as a trial, to see the effectiveness of the new scale. I also have some of the Peco products to build and try out too. The Hornby presentation makes note of the scale and space available conundrum, and the pricing of the models looks reasonable compared to other RTR products, and I think the points are well presented. If the scale works commercially I could see it becoming my primary modelling scale, particularly for the Forest of Dean project I have in mind.
Modelu 1:120 TT figures
The big question though is have Hornby judged the market right? Do they have a robust supply chain and flow of new and ‘existing’ product to support a new scale? I hope they do, its a good news story that the hobby is seen as being able to accommodate a new scale, and a major player is putting a huge amount of money and effort into this new direction. If it takes off it’ll be an excellent boost to the hobby and for Hornby. If it doesn’t go well, it has the potential of significant damage to the Hornby business, and potentially to the overall hobby in the retail sector. Hornby have rolled the dice, lets see what numbers come up!
This weekend the hobby lost one of its greatest influencers, Iain Rice. So why might that be a motivation? Well Iain was a prolific writer and modeller across the hobby, not only here in the UK but its fair to say world wide too, and a good part of that without the internet. As I sit here in the man cave a quick look around, and I can see the clear influence he’s had on me, (and will continue to have) as a modeller, and to a degree writer.
Shelfie2
Just a glance at Shelfie2 above, or Albion Yard, Shelfie1, Shelfie3, Shelfie4 all have that unmistakeable influence running through their very core. I’ll return in the future to Iains writing and influences on me, and the hobby as it was I’d suggest the largest influence by one individual so far.
I don’t think that’s too big a claim to make, in a very media aware world the term influencer is often seen comparatively as a short lived, bright burning light, and perhaps of little significance. The header image above in a single shot tells part of my story and Iains influence on it. The locomotive is an etched kit by Impetus from the early 90’s. The book, written by Iain for Wild Swan, (another hobby legacy connection) gave me access to skills, written and illustrated in an engaging way, so much so that I wanted get stuck in. Motivation, pure and simple! I did get motivated, driven by wanting to achieve similar results, the locomotive is the first etched kit I ever completed, its got that light railway Rice connection too. Without the books, magazine articles and talking to him at various shows, my journey would have take a very different path.
This post isn’t about me though, it’s just a quick few thoughts on a really nice guy I had the pleasure to know a little, and was humbled when he told me he read the blog, and included a small piece on Albion Yard’s presentation in one of his books. I’d spoken to him early this year and knew he wasn’t well, but he’d agreed to have discussions about a writing article that unfortunately won’t happen. He leaves a massive gap in the hobby, but an even bigger positive legacy that has changed the hobby by far for the better.
I hope I can speak for many of you readers and followers of the blog when we recognise our loss in the hobby of course is nothing compared to that of his family and closest friends, and to offer our collective deepest sympathies and best wishes at this very difficult time.
Well it’s a Sunday, and this is brutal. I’m putting together Ratio’s ARP signal box kit, and it’s brutal! Not the kit as such, though there are some ‘clunky’ elements to it, but the core prototype design, as a building it’s savage!
Ratio 554 ARP components
Just looking at the components hammers home the functionality of the prototype design. King Charles III, previously known as The Prince of Wales, referred to a proposal for the National Gallery as ‘What is proposed is like a monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much loved and elegant friend’. And that was for a sympathetic, allegedly, makeover of the National Gallery.
Peco LK-201 Highland Signal Box
The previous signal box I built was the Peco Highland Signal box above, a lovely laser cut wooden box with plenty of natural charm.
When you place the two next to one another, you can see the pure utilitarian function of the ARP box, and whilst not a change to an existing building as the National Gallery proposal was, it’s hard not to perhaps consider these as carbuncles of signal box design!
Ratio 554 ARP Signal Box
It’s clear from the kit that Ratio have done two things, designed a simple kit to assemble, and used the utilitarian nature of the ARP design to reduce the number of components. The frustration of this kit for me is the windows, and in particular the framework. It’s way too thick. There’s some good illustrations here of ARP design signal boxes, and it’s easy to see the difference between the kit windows and the prototype. Clearly being able to mould the walks and windows as one piece is a good cost saver for Ratio, but is has compromised the authenticity and look of the model.
As you can see from the image above I’ve taken a brave pill and removed the framing, and will subsequently work a way to replace the frames with a finer looking framework. It’s a sort of modification that would suit an etched replacement really well. The other element which let’s the model down is the signal box name boards. Both are integral mouldings on the end walls, thus meaning removal for longer or shorter location names. The chimney position looks odd too being at the front of the box rather than at the back. That’s something I’ll look at prior to final fix.
Ratio 554 EP model
What is provided matches the engineering prototype really well, see above and as mentioned it’s a simple kit, seven components make up the core structure, and a further twenty or so complete it! Having been critical of a couple of areas, it’s worth mentioning that the overall capture is excellent, and the brickwork renditioning is second to none. This one will repay careful painting in due course.
Because this is a man cave build, I’ve obviously not followed the instructions. This is because the new windows will need quite a bit of fettling to get them right. And subtly changing the build sequence will accommodate that.
Putting this together in a way to gauge the volume and suitability for Shelfie 3, I’m struck by the physical size of this box, it’s actually quite a large structure.
So that’s the core structure loosely assembled and in less than an hour. The whole kit (unmodified), I reckon would be an evenings work, plus painting time, for a beginner, that’s a good start!
My hope is that taking inspiration from the likes of Geoff Taylor, and Geoff Kent with their undoubted abilities to capture all sorts of architecture, I might get a far better looking signal box at end of play. Microstrip and Limonene, game on!
Albion Yard 
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