KATO/Peco 009 Ffestiniog Railway Small England Prince

[Dillon]

I’ve recently purchased Prince from the KATO/Peco Welsh narrow gauge stock, and I’m impressed by the model, the details are 10/10. I’m planning to use this model for future convention operations and personal public events, I hope more 009 models are being made by KATO.

 

Also planning to purchase the rest of the England Engines.

Edited November 13 by Dillon
Added more tags

[NeMo]

Kato already produce a sister class, the Large England class, which you can obtain through the usual channels.

They're intended to be used alongside Peco's range of 00-9 models, so I don't think Kato will be producing any rolling stock themselves. Bachmann also produce some suitably scaled models though you may to swap couplings to make these work with the Kato model. The Kato model has Rapido couplings fitted, but does include standard Peco 00-9 couplings somewhere in the box. Swapping them over takes a few seconds.

 

Mr Kato is a huge narrow gauge fan. At the International N Gauge Show in September he was showing a teeny-tiny 00-9 model of the locomotive 'Oscar' that uses a tiny mechanism! The real thing will be running on the Sekisui Main Line around one of the Kato factories in Japan.

 

I imagine we'll be seeing more Kato 00-9 sooner or later! There's already a range of 00-9 Unitrack on sale which works the same way as the N scale stuff but has a more realistic distance between the sleepers.

[Dillon]

On 11/17/2024 at 1:49 PM, NeMo said:

At the International N Gauge Show in September he was showing a teeny-tiny 00-9 model of the locomotive 'Oscar' that uses a tiny mechanism!

Yes, a 009 scale of Oscar was show at JAM as a prototype, we’ll mostly getting Oscar next year. I know all the KATO/Peco stuff, really hope next year release would bring more fun.

[mr bachmann]

Prince is a great smooth performer , take its train up hills - this is we’re Bachmann and Heljan fail , Heljan do not like tight curves . Kato also do the prince chassis but this is without tyres and suffers on haulage .

 

[Beaver]

On 11/21/2024 at 4:39 PM, mr bachmann said:

Prince is a great smooth performer , take its train up hills - this is we’re Bachmann and Heljan fail , Heljan do not like tight curves .

 

British modellers do not like traction tyres at all. Many will not buy a locomotive if it has traction tyres. For Bachmann or Heljan 009 to use them would be commercially a very bad idea. Kato use them on their 009 locomotives because they need them to sell in the Japanese market. When British modellers wish to use significant gradients or heavy trains on a layout the usual accepted solution is to make the locos heavier by stuffing in extra weights. Heavy locos have more grip without losing power pick up points, at the cost of wearing out more quickly.

 

Heljan Lynton & Barnstable models needing large radius curves is entirely reasonable and realistic considering the real thing. Long, low locomotives built for a line with sweeping curves through rolling hills, not a twisty mountain route. There is no way they could be designed to run on small radii without significant compromises such as cutting away parts of the frames to let the pony trucks swing far enough. The result would look horrible and be completely unnecessary given how British modellers are willing to go to great lengths to fit realistic large radius curves into a layout design.

 

The Prince chassis sold as a separate item cannot have traction tyres as without the tender wheels to provide extra pick up points, all four wheels must be live for reliable operation. You cannot rely on only one wheel each side for pickup. The user is free to add as much extra weight as required into whatever body is bought or scratchbuilt to go on top.

 

It is unwise to dismiss commercial product design decisions as 'failure' without considering the market, that is the people, the product is designed for.