Warbonnet

Well everyone, it we're at 90% - 10% in favour of a 2018 programme announcement, but there is still a few days left. so you never know what way voting could go! Now, to plan the announcement should voting dictate it!

The Oxford Mark III was announced in 2016 and IRM was in existence before this date. Irish variations were confirmed to be on Oxford's radar after this date. Models such as these take significant time to plan, research and design. There is an email confirmation published on this forum from the Oxford spokesperson sent to a member confirming their intention to do an Irish version.

They were Noel, in fact they were going to be project four, including EGVs and push pulls (including the driver control car). But not now. As I'm sure you can appreciate I cannot say any more as there is a lot of commercially sensitive information behind it.

I got two. But I don't think it's fair I comment now that technically I work for the opposition. Best thing to do is check out the rmweb page on them, from the last 4 or 5 pages to see peoples reaction to the models when they arrived into their collections...

Their publishing date is Feb 1st, but the digital edition came out today, unbeknownst to us!

Another thing that is bringing down the prices too is that we now have full control over the product to the factory, and no fee for a third party agent like we did with bubbles and ballasts. That's how we can do the Tara, a larger bogie wagon, for €79.95 for a pack of two, cheaper per wagon as the ballast. (edit, what bosko said!)

Hi Tony, The difference is price is purely down to volume. Tooling for a new model is a massive outlay (literally, tens of thousands) and we can only spread that over a couple of thousand models produced. As the British market is a massive one in comparison, we are able to product more of a particular model and therefore, spread the cost of tooling over a much larger production run. Ireland will always be a small volume interest. Thanks, Fran

Hi folks, Well, since the cat is out of the bag in one of the magazines, we've decided to bring the first Accurascale announcement forward to, err, now! Our first model for the British market will be the 24.5-ton coal hopper wagon, which later received the TOPs code ‘HUO’. A total of 5,263 wagons were built by BR from 1954 for transporting coal and coke throughout Britain until their withdrawal in the 1980s, with many entering private use at collieries upon retirement by British Rail. The model, which is of the 1/148, lot 2069 pattern, has just finished tooling and an engineering sample is currently en route from our factory in China. The surviving prototypes were surveyed at the Tanfield Railway, near Stanley, County Durham in mid-October 2017. Following the survey, highly detailed CAD was produced locally and reviewed by wagon experts who had first-hand operational and survey experience of the prototypes when in service. We would like to thank the Tanfield Railway for the assistance we received and have made a donation to the railway to help with preservation of railway heritage for future generations. Flows which utilised HUOs include coke from East London to Wellingborough, Kirkby- Staythorpe, Killingworth to Stella, Kincardine, Stella North / Stella South / Dunston / Blyth, Thorpe Marsh Tunstead Works - Smaledale Works and Hessle Quarry to Hull Wilmington. They were also synonymous with coke flows from South Wales coking plants to Barry Docks. Our rendition of the HUO will feature the correct offset brake hanger arrangement and the following high level of specification, enjoyed by the customers of sister company IRM, whose Irish outline models are the most highly detailed on the market: · Sprung buffers with spindle, self contained and Oleo types all being catered for, depending on prototype · NEM coupling housing · RP25.110 darkened profile wheel sets · Factory-fitted wire handrails · Extra fine factory-fitted detail plastic parts · Individual lettering and markings from real wagons for authenticity · Built to scale tolerances to allow easy conversion to EM and P4 standards The HUO will go on sale in Q2 2018 in packs of three, with pre-TOPs, TOPs and private owner packs arriving on a staggered release basis throughout 2018 in a variety of liveries, such as BR freight grey and private owner wagons. They will also feature individual markings and detail faithful to research of the real wagons. The first release will see four different packs of three individually numbered wagons in BR grey with pre-TOPs markings so the modeller can build a 12-wagon train without duplication. Prices will be £59.95 for each pack of three wagons. In addition to the HUO, the various buffers used by the wagons throughout their lives will also be offered as separate detail parts for the detail-minded modeller. This will be sold in packs of eight for £2.95. This will be the first in a series of detail part packs offered by Accurascale for modellers. Both the HUO and the buffer detail packs are available to buy exclusively on the Accurascale website direct or from the Accurascale stand at various UK exhibitions from the second half of 2018. Orders will commence on February 1st.

I think the five year waiting times and ‘land grabbing’ has made the customer base cynical.

Exactly our thinking Jim. We're learning that the two markets are completely different, but we're learning fast thankfully!

Thanks for the feedback so far everyone! It's at polar opposite to the British market currently, with their consensus being 'dont tell us till its here', but with so many broken promises in that market it's not hard to understand why they prefer that tactic. Ah Gareth, you love being awkward! In all seriousness though, the plan would be to announce what we are doing in early Feb, and of course keep you updated on each project as it moves to the next stage, basically like we did with the ballasts and bubbles. I think that would work best? Keep letting us know folks, We have set a deadline of Feb 1st for everyone to have their say.

Hi everyone, We have been looking at how we announce future projects and models for Irish Railway Models after receiving a number of requests for information, both by email and by phone. Customers have inquired what exactly is coming this year so they can prepare modelling budgets and plans for the next 12 months. We were looking to adopt a strategy of only announcing a model when we have a production sample we are happy with to cut down on waiting times for new model. So, what is the best strategy to take? Do you want to know what we are going to release this year so you can plan ahead, or do you want to wait for the surprise? Voting closes on February 1st!

I would say so....

I think RTR with a die cast chassis would make the most sense myself. Reminds me of the kit built v RTR thread elsewhere on this forum. But sure...

I had a chat with a prominent kit builder on the Irish scene at the Raheny show last year who stated that if he was to build a kit of a wagon for a punter it’s 30 quid, 20 quid to paint it, and another few quid to weather it. That’s on top of buying the kit in the first place, so yes, RTR is cheaper. But then I might be a tad biased towards RTR for obvious reasons. the way we look at it is if the stock is provided to high standards it means it can be simply modified or detailed in the minimum time, allowing you to get on with building the layout and buildings etc. After all, finding the time to achieve your goals is one of the most difficult things to do.

Did these not come after split frame chassis era? It might not have a DCC socket, but I don't think they're split frame.

indeed, they're also too long for most stations outside the Eurostar route. I remember seeing the shorter 'Three Capital' sets in their GNER days and they barely fit the longest platforms in Kings Cross. Also highly complex mechanically and power hungry. They also couldnt go north of Newcastle due to loading gauge issues. Probably the biggest waste of money of them all was the Nightstar sleeper stock. Coaches and class 92s were built, but the growth of low cost air meant that the service was never launched. Coaches remained unused for many years before being sold to Canada and a lot of the 92s saw minimal use elsewhere and spent most of their lives stored out of use, with some being reactivated by GBRf in the last couple of years for Tunnel freight and the WCML Caledonian sleeper service after a refurb. Still, always thought the Eurostar looked superb in GNER livery. Eurostar 3302 At Doncaster. by Neil Harvey 156, on Flickr

A number of them are currently being scrapped at Kingsbury, while a few are being refurbed to work alongside the new Siemens Valero sets. As Patrick said, they’ve been intensively used at very high speeds and are worn out. They were also incredibly complex (ran off three voltage systems IIRC) including 750 DC third rail which is no longer required due to HS1. i remember the fanfare around them when new, hard to believe so many years have passed. There were a few shorter sets in use internally in France (the former GNER sets) which were stored a few years ago. The above might be one?

Thanks Robert, glad you like them! The reference didn’t come from an official IRM source, so would file it under “wishful thinking”

I'm sure you all know the info in this blog as you all know us so well at this stage, but we've just published our first Accurascale blog outlining who we are and all that jazz . It might be of interest! https://accurascale.co.uk/who-are-accurascale/ Cheers! Fran

Our orange bubbles arrived just under a month ago, and already we've sold just over 60% of them. Thank you to everyone who placed an order so far, it's great to see that they've been so well received! You can read more about the orange bubbles here: https://irishrailwaymodels.com/orange-bubbles-are-here/ Make sure you don't miss out!

We will have a stand at the show and will have IRM goodies for sale on the day (as well as some pre-production models all going well!) Look forward to our trip to the sunny south east!

Hi Dave, York, Peterbrough and Doncaster are also supposed to be good. The Great Electric Train show sponsored by Hornby Mag (I think), Ally Pally are all fairly big shows.

As you may have seen elsewhere, we were in the UK last week surveying another prototype for a future Accurascale model. January is not the time of year to be doing these things! Anyway, here is an exclusive first look of the prototype!