Warbonnet

Hi everyone, As you may already know by now, our highly anticipated Tara Mines wagons were due to leave our factory in China a couple of weeks ago for their long journey to Dublin. In fact, they did leave the factory, and headed to the airport for their first of two flights. Unfortunately, nature took its course and as a result of a ‘Super Typhoon’ hitting the model railway manufacturing region of China, our delivery of Tara’s was delayed. All flights were cancelled, and as a result our consignment missed the connecting flight from Beijing. As a result of the storm itself, the fall out and damage caused to local infrastructure, getting them out of China was impossible for a number of weeks. China's logistics channels is also amid all the Christmas market stock leaving the Far East for Europe, so it is currently logistics silly season and getting a new slot on a plane proved quite the challenge. The good news is that we have finally secured a way for them out of China after much searching around, phone calls, emails and annoyance of several logistics managers. The not so good news is that there was no space available by air, and instead they are travelling by sea. This means that they will now arrive in approx six weeks time. Apologies for this delay, but sadly nature is something we can’t legislate for in this instance. We will keep you up to date and will have more news when we have it. We are just as disappointed as you are, and we really wanted them here for the three day show in Raheny in October, but it's just the way it goes. As compensation, we will have plenty to see at the show, including an additional new model announcement on Saturday, October 27th, so make sure you come and see us! Thanks, IRM Team (Fran, Patrick, Richard and Stephen) (this has been emailed to all Tara Mines customers we have email addresses for ahead of publishing here.)

Hi Noel. It is hauled only. the end coach is an observation coach, not a DVT. Thanks, Fran

Hi everyone, Just to give you an update on this; we're still working on it. With the Christmas rush it's proving difficult but we should have some proper news on this over the next couple of days. Apologies for this and thank you all for your patience. We're doing everything possible to get it sorted. Cheers, Fran

Thanks lads, means a lot!

Hi everyone, Our first Accurascale model, the HUO hopper, is up for the award of Hornby Magazine's 'best OO wagon / coach' of 2018. It would be great to give us a vote should you think we're worthy! The closing date is Oct 1st and there are some excellent prizes on offer to everyone who places a vote! https://hornbymagazine.keypublishing.com/2018/09/13/hornby-magazine-model-railway-awards-2018/ Cheers! Fran

Hi Kevin, We understand that but the other option would be a retool of the chassis which would likely incur a significant price increase I'm afraid. We can investigate it nearer the time of production but we have plenty of other stuff to get through first. Cheers, Fran

Well I am a man of my word if anything

Hi everyone, To compensate for the disappointing news about the Tara delay due to the super typhoon, here's the first engineering sample of the ploughs from the factory in China. The factory has painted it in NIR blue for some reason! Overall there is a lot to like but some changes required too. These will be conveyed back to China and changed before we received decorated samples. Please note that fit and finish isn't up to the usual standards of a fully factory finished model, that finesse comes later! Cheers! Fran

Not a bad idea Chris, it might cheer us up too as we’re feeling pretty down about this delay tbh. All going well we might have something else to show tomorrow...

Ran all the way to Heuston like that too. Just goes to show how strong the ICRs are, despite getting called 'plastic'. Good to see that the driver was okay.

Hi everyone, Bit of a Tara update. As we reported last week, the Tara’s were due with us this week. However, nature has taken its course and as a result of a ‘Super Typhoon’ hitting the model railway manufacturing region of China on Sunday our delivery of Tara’s has been delayed. This is down to the storm itself, the fall out and damaged caused to local infrastructure. We’re currently looking to get a timeline on getting them on a flight out of China but it looks like it’s going to be delayed by a few weeks at least before everything is back up and running smoothly. We are also amid Christmas market stock leaving China, so its logistics silly season at the moment and getting a new slot on a plane could prove quite the challenge Apologies for this delay, but sadly nature is something we can’t legislate for in this instance. We will keep you up to date and will have more news when we have it. More info here https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2164496/four-dead-southern-china-after-typhoon-mangkhut-authorities-were https://edition.cnn.com/2018/09/17/asia/typhoon-mangkhut-china-hong-kong-intl/index.html Cheers, Fran

Hi Noel, it will of course. Need to get the chip in there somehow!

Subtle as a brick Robert! Keep those votes coming in lads, poll closes on Wednesday so let us know! The chip will be in the roof, leaving this lovely interior to remain unspoiled

Thanks for all the votes so far everyone! So far it seems that most people want to source them from us. We will leave the poll open for a week and make a decision based on the results. Keep voting!

Correct Noel, there will be a switch under the van to switch them on and off too. Fran PS. I never said you did.

No problem John! We will have them for the ploughs when they arrive, but I can't see us selling out straight away so they should be available for a while after. We'll order enough to cover now and have some in stock to last us a while if that makes sense? Cheers! Fran

Hi Noel, The chips are to give the end user an option to have control over the lights without picking them up and also to turn off the tail lights at one end (the van immediately behind the loco should have no lights on). It also gives a user control over turning these lights on and off during shunting movements. As some feel that they do not need these in their vans as you say, we are offering them DCC ready to cut down on this expense. The purpose of this poll is to state if you wish to buy your decoders for your plough vans should you want them direct off us, buy them elsewhere or decide you dont want them as you do not use DCC or just do not want that additional control so we can gauge how many to order. It's not the place for a wider discussion on the merits of DCC v Analogue etc, so if we could keep it on topic it would be much appreciated. Cheers, Fran

Hi everyone, Just a quick question regarding DCC decoders for the plough vans; the cheapest we can possibly do them for is €25 per decoder direct. Are you interested in buying them or will you bother at all? They will be a top of the line, reliable decoder from ESU. Let us know in our poll! It is open for the next 7 days. Cheers! Fran

We were wondering how long it would take someone to notice those...

As if!

@WRENNEIRE will be able to help you out. Drop him a message.

Our much anticipated Tara Mines wagons have left our factory and are now making their long journey west! We will have them in stock in just over one weeks time, meaning you should have them on your layouts towards the end of next week. Exciting times, and the production samples certainly made an impression at the Stillorgan sale yesterday, with plenty of pre-orders being placed ahead of their arrival. I know we say this about each model so far, but these are going to be really special, and have turned out lovely, definitely our finest wagon yet. They are well over the halfway mark in sales, so make sure you don't miss out on them before they go. Order now for delivery next week https://irishrailwaymodels.com/collections/tara-mines

Wow, that’s superb!

Now that is lovely Dave! It looks great with that logo.

Set of handrails for a 141 please Dave!