What did you order or the post deliver? (Worldwide Models)

[cteno4]

Alistair,

 

Bummer, hope you have a speedy recovery here. Any kits that can be sent into quarantine with you to work on? Nice sankei building? Loco detailing? Get well.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[ED75-775]

@railsquid, @cteno4, thanks for the messages of support - I'm not doing too badly right now, it's now just a waiting game. Fingers crossed that I test negative on Thursday and that my family will allow me to rejoin them that evening (officially I'm not allowed out until Friday, but I'll have seen enough of my room by then to last me a while!).

 

While I don't have any kits secreted away in here, I do have some N-scale stuff to work on, and there's that broken hopper support to glue up this afternoon. If I ever get round to building a N-scale layout, I might have to try a Sankei kit or two, everybody seems to say good things about them!

 

Squid's 110.3 also reminded me of two things, 1.) my grandfather used to own a Märklin model of one which I loved playing the horn and station announcement sounds on, and 2.) I happen to have seen no less than three of these locomotives IRL during a family holiday in Germany. Sadly, they were in a scrapyard, and I wasn't in a position to take a decent photo of them as we were onboard a Cologne-Paris Thalys service which at that moment was passing over a viaduct just out of Cologne. I also happen to remember that day as a preserved V 200 had turned up at Düsseldorf that morning while we waited for the train to Cologne...

 

Alastair

[roadstar_na6]

11 hours ago, ED75-775 said:

Sadly, they were in a scrapyard, and I wasn't in a position to take a decent photo of them as we were onboard a Cologne-Paris Thalys service which at that moment was passing over a viaduct just out of Cologne.

Then you probably drove past infamous scrap company Bender. "Bendering" a loco has become a synonym of scrapping a loco in Germany actually 😄

Edited December 11, 2022 by roadstar_na6

[serotta1972]

This should be the last P42 and looking forward to the ALC-42’s. This is one of the nicer looking Operation Lifesaver liveries.

[serotta1972]

I got a Lionel Postwar Christmas Train Set from 1945 - it’s in great condition for something that is almost 80 years old. The details on the freight cars are amazing. I need to find my O gauge track so I can run it. 

[ED75-775]

Well, this arrived during my Covid isolation period, but I've been meaning to post a photo of this out of the box for some time:

 

 

The preserved Czechoslovakian State Railways 498.1 class locomotive from Märklin (item nr. 39498). Honestly, I have to say that I love this locomotive. Headlights turn on slowly just like the real things would - and the number boards on the headlight are an awesome feature! - it runs nice and smoothly as a Märklin should, and the detail level is just phenomenal. Plus it comes with all the digital gimmickery you could ever want, from operating sounds to that potent smoke unit and even a virtual driver's cab accessible from certain Digital controllers (note: I tested the turbogenerator sound and it doesn't sync with the headlights... wonder why I thought that. Oh well!)

 

Only tested it once with some Museum cars around my layout, in fact it's currently parked up until tomorrow for some more running!

 

Alastair

Edited December 25, 2022 by ED75-775

[railsquid]

Some random Mintrix Bundesbahn tank wagons were looking for a new home via Yahoo Auctions:

 

Minitrix Mobil-Kesselwagen (4-achsig) by Rail Squid, on Flickr

[railsquid]

A Tomytec trammy transaction took place:

 

[bill937ca]

My T3 set arrived from Japan. 

[Aleks]

When is Los Altos Train Day?

[disturbman]

@Aleks wrote in the wrong thread?

Edited January 4, 2023 by disturbman

[marknewton]

On 12/10/2022 at 9:33 PM, ED75-775 said:

Aha, Commonwealth Oil No. 2! Which part of the Wolgan Valley Railway are you planning to model, Mark? I've got an article in an old back issue of Australian Model Railway Magazine stashed in the garage about one guy's modules recreating part of that line.

Well spotted , Alistair. I also have that issue of AMRM for reference. My club's proposal for modules is based on the scenery representing "generic inland Australia", which I think will exclude the soaring bluffs of the line's descent in to the valley. But the photo I posted was taken at the crossing loop at Deane, which was located on the ridge above the valley, on the top half of the line. I've visited that location a couple of times, it's fairly flat and open country around there. So a module based on it wouldn't require 37kg of rock castings or 1,743 gum trees. There is a small weatherboard building to house the lever frame and staff instruments, a tank stand, coal stage and water column.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

Edited January 7, 2023 by marknewton

[bill937ca]

My T3 book "Tatra T3 1960-2000" arrived today. It's written in Czech apart for a two page English summary at the back.

[railsquid]

Some more DR Dostos:

 

Kuehn P-Wagen-Set (Steuerwagen 50-50-25-13-155-6) by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

Kuehn P-Wagen-Set (50-50-25-13-135-6) by Rail Squid, on Flickr

[railsquid]

Staying on the DR theme, an E242:

 

Brawa E242 (E242 112-1) by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

Part of a second-hand batch acquired a while back, but has been languishing in the backlog pile due to being a hesitant runner. Turned out that someone had dumped several teaspoon's worth of grease inside the bogies and once cleaned up is working reasonably well.

[serotta1972]

The Kato ALC-42’s also came in today.  Very nice looking engines and much more vibrant compared to what were used to from Amtrak. Can’t wait to run them. I have yet to see one in person. 

[GCS]

So I wasn’t going to get the Fleischmann ICE-T originally due to the price but a very good deal thanks to DM Toys changed my mind 😂

 

I’ve got to give it to Fleischmann as well, the detail is pretty astonishing, better than Kato dare I say it…

 

Has anyone else got an ICE-T, any opinions?

 

Guy 

[disturbman]

32 minutes ago, GCS said:

 

I’ve got to give it to Fleischmann as well, the detail is pretty astonishing, better than Kato dare I say it…

But does it run? 😁 I'm joking, but a member as reported getting several brand new Fleischmann models with dead motors.

Details have been getting pretty good all around, at least on new toolings. I'm usually baffled by the detailings on Chinese N models, particularly the quality of the printed details and the fineness of some of the detailings (like handrails and such) which are imo above the quality seen in Japanese models.

I also have a new Piko locomotive that has great details, and runs well too. Which brings me back to my initial sentence, the motor is often still a problem with European manufacturers.

[GCS]

13 minutes ago, disturbman said:

But does it run? 😁 I'm joking, but a member as reported getting several brand new Fleischmann models with dead motors.

Details have been getting pretty good all around, at least on new toolings. I'm usually baffled by the detailings on Chinese N models, particularly the quality of the printed details and the fineness of some of the detailings (like handrails and such) which are imo above the quality seen in Japanese models.

I also have a new Piko locomotive that has great details, and runs well too. Which brings me back to my initial sentence, the motor is often still a problem with European manufacturers.

It runs great in both directions, very smooth and quiet. Sounds like I’ve got lucky then 🤣

 

I got lucky on the price for this one and it’s a train I’ve wanted for quite a while but generally Continental Europe pricing is a bit crazy, I’d love to buy more but Kato / Tomix sets are far better value.

 

Guy 

[Yavianice]

the engine is very bad but otherwise it's a solid model. It's best with magnet couplers because these stick couplers are annoying to deal with.

[disturbman]

4 hours ago, GCS said:

I got lucky on the price for this one and it’s a train I’ve wanted for quite a while but generally Continental Europe pricing is a bit crazy, I’d love to buy more but Kato / Tomix sets are far better value.

They are definitely more expensive, but as a wise person once said: "You have to look at those prices in their own context." But I have the same problem as you, I rarely can justify that kind of prices.

[GCS]

3 hours ago, disturbman said:

They are definitely more expensive, but as a wise person once said: "You have to look at those prices in their own context." But I have the same problem as you, I rarely can justify that kind of prices.

Luckily there isn’t that much out from Fleischmann that I want now, if they produced a new ICE 1 or ICE 3 then that may need to be an instant buy… 🤔

[jappomania]

Hi Guy

I agree with @Yavianice

DM-toys price is not bad , but it's another member of "around 400€ club", ET403 MU, AVLO IDH, ICE3 Arnold Europa - blue stripe , ETR 610 family Arnod (when the add-on set will be available 😠) etc.. and that's what is required today for modelling EU trains

I hope not, but let us know when you discover the price and availability of spare parts, DC motor first, mine (old release) has been stopped for 5 years because it was sold out and at the end I sold it like junk for spares (bad choice, it was a good base for kitbashing the ICE-TD, but is gone...), another friend have one BR601 and one steam loco on repair (2 years warranty is still active, he's lucky..)

 

ops.. if you wanna pay less there is the TGV still available at better price compared with other EU trains

(ehm I just bought yesterday another one, but used and I hope in good conditions like declared on the auction, it was the only one still missing... 😋)

 

ciao!

Massimo

 

[jappomania]

20 hours ago, GCS said:

....

 any opinions?

 

Guy 

 

Hi Guy,

ehm... too short 😊

 

the second add-on set is just not present in the photo or still missing? 🤔

take a look because finding add-on sets when it will be all sold out become a nightmare like for japanese trains

(add-on for TGV PSE rulez...)

 

ciao!

Massimo

Edited January 26, 2023 by disturbman

[Yavianice]

5 hours ago, jappomania said:

ETR 610 family Arnod (when the add-on set will be available 😠

Should be very, very soon, the fancy SBB in new color will be the first to release.

 

5 hours ago, jappomania said:

ICE3 Arnold Europa - blue stripe

This is like one of the worst model Arnold has ever made lol. Nobody should buy that train.

 

5 hours ago, jappomania said:

mine (old release) has been stopped for 5 years because it was sold out

actually finding spare parts was not too difficult. The engine for the ICE-T was still readily available if you knew where to look. But now (ever since Fleischmann went belly-up a few years ago) it seems to have been much more difficult to get spare parts; I expect it to be really hard in the not so far future. However fortunately there are now 3rd party alternatives for stuff like engines (also for the ICE-T) which makes an exchange relatively easy and not too expensive (Micromotor, for example).

 

4 hours ago, jappomania said:

take a look because finding add-on sets when it will be all sold out become a nightmare like for japanese trains

Fortunately for Guy the second add-on set is still available. I think many people are put off by the high price and prefer to stick with the older version for less money instead. BTW I noticed a strange phenomenon over the last few years that EU brands deliver a set in a very small quantity, and then do a second release half a year/a year later. Making it very confusing to get a straight answer whether the model is still available or completely sold out. Not so sure why this would happen; I thought model trains of the same model number are all ordered and produced in bulk rather than a first really small batch and then a larger batch? 

Edited January 26, 2023 by Yavianice