Jump to content

Irish Railway Models Launch

Rate this topic


BosKonay

Recommended Posts

Further to Richie's post on the ballast wagon pre-production photos thread, we've posted a blog on the website explaining why we had to place the NEM coupling pockets higher than normal on the ballast and bubble wagons, and the workarounds we've devised to ensure these products are compatible with the couplings on your other rolling stock...

 

https://irishrailwaymodels.com/index.php/2016/09/12/ballast-bubble-differences-in-coupling-height-and-solutions/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
Stephen, Fran

 

The cement bubble wagon project seems to be advancing well, at this stage do you have a rough idea when you hope to supply these next year?

 

Thanks

Noel

 

Hi Noel,

 

Not at the moment, but we hope to have a clearer view by the end of October which we can share at the Raheny show.

 

Thanks,

 

Fran

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...
Many are, since the models were prepaid about October 2015. A nice product but I'll be relieved to finally receive mine :)

 

We appreciate the patience and help everyone has given us in bringing you the first indigenous Irish RTR wagon Kevin. As you know there was a hiccup along the way which has brought this delay, but in the grand scheme of things we're doing better than most RTR manufacturers in delivery times (I have a British loco on order since 2010 for example!) considering we do this in our spare time. However, the wait is thankfully, almost over...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So, to the news!

 

As Patrick mentioned earlier, himself and myself had to fly out to Germany this weekend to meet our Chinese factory representatives to discuss and finalise a number of details. They are as follows:

 

1. The ballast wagon will be going into production next week after Chinese New Year ends with a delivery date of late April 2017.

 

2. The tooling for our Tara Mines wagon will start next week also, which will see our production schedule accelerate dramatically now we are dealing directly with our factory.

 

3. Once the Ballasts lands the bubbles will go to production with a summer 2017 release date.

 

4. We have secured extra production capacity with our manufacturing partner which will see an increase of new models we will be bringing to market. Some of these will be fairly easy to guess while others will come as a surprise to many!

 

That's the news folks! It's been a hugely tiring day but we've reacquainted ourselves with some old friends, made some new ones and have begun our next chapter!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4. We have secured extra production capacity with our manufacturing partner which will see an increase of new models we will be bringing to market. Some of these will be fairly easy to guess while others will come as a surprise to many!

 

Don't go mad now - think of our pockets....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So, to the news!

 

As Patrick mentioned earlier, himself and myself had to fly out to Germany this weekend to meet our Chinese factory representatives to discuss and finalise a number of details. They are as follows:

 

1. The ballast wagon will be going into production next week after Chinese New Year ends with a delivery date of late April 2017.

 

2. The tooling for our Tara Mines wagon will start next week also, which will see our production schedule accelerate dramatically now we are dealing directly with our factory.

 

3. Once the Ballasts lands the bubbles will go to production with a summer 2017 release date.

 

4. We have secured extra production capacity with our manufacturing partner which will see an increase of new models we will be bringing to market. Some of these will be fairly easy to guess while others will come as a surprise to many!

 

That's the news folks! It's been a hugely tiring day but we've reacquainted ourselves with some old friends, made some new ones and have begun our next chapter!

Very good news, indeed!:tumbsup:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So, to the news!

 

As Patrick mentioned earlier, himself and myself had to fly out to Germany this weekend to meet our Chinese factory representatives to discuss and finalise a number of details. They are as follows:

 

1. The ballast wagon will be going into production next week after Chinese New Year ends with a delivery date of late April 2017.

Good news

2. The tooling for our Tara Mines wagon will start next week also, which will see our production schedule accelerate dramatically now we are dealing directly with our factory.

great news

3. Once the Ballasts lands the bubbles will go to production with a summer 2017 release date.

even better news

4. We have secured extra production capacity with our manufacturing partner which will see an increase of new models we will be bringing to market. Some of these will be fairly easy to guess while others will come as a surprise to many!

damn cryptic annoying news, just tell us already!

That's the news folks! It's been a hugely tiring day but we've reacquainted ourselves with some old friends, made some new ones and have begun our next chapter!

:)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Patrick, Stephen, Fran & Richie do you intend continuing with the crowd funding model for the Tara's and new models planned? Funding models up front from your own resources is one hell of a financial risk, MM Cravens were beautiful models but took one hell of a time to sell out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Patrick, Stephen, Fran & Richie do you intend continuing with the crowd funding model for the Tara's and new models planned? Funding models up front from your own resources is one hell of a financial risk, MM Cravens were beautiful models but took one hell of a time to sell out.

 

Hi John, thank you for the question! IRM has always been 'externally' funded. We've never crowdfunded any of our releases, but we did open the order book early on the Ballasts to help guage demand (and cashflow) and likewise the Bubbles. Unlike crowdfunded projects you may have seen, the production of our models are never dependant on a target level of presales or 'crowd' support.

 

We plan to bring the Tara mines wagon to market, opening the order book at the very earliest once they are en route, and we have a number of 'surprise' models due in 2017 also :)

 

Hope that helps :)

Stephen

Edited by BosKonay
typo
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

Hi folks,

 

Just to let you know, ballast wagon pack 1 has sold out on irishrailwaymodels.com. These sets had sold-out previously, but came back into stock as several customers took up the option of swapping some of their purchases for packs 2 and 3 when they were announced.

 

If you are still in need of pack 1, Mark's Models have an allocation. There's a hand-painted sample currently on display at Mark's Models' Hawkins Street premises, too.

 

In other news, I spoke to the factory earlier and we're still on course for delivery in April. The countdown has begun! :)

Edited by Garfield
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

We took a trip to the recent Model Rail Scotland show in Glasgow where we met, amongst others, the legendary modeller and former editor of British Railway Modelling Tony Wright. Tony was impressed with our now slightly battered and well travelled pre-production samples and offered to take some professional grade pictures of them for us. We thought we would share them with you.

 

At the show we met with Hornby Magazine, Model Rail magazine, Rail Express magazine and Railway Modeller. Keep an eye out in all of the above for updates!

 

Production of the ballast wagon is well underway in China, with tweaks having been made to the model based on feedback on the model pictured. Pack A is now sold out!

 

There are still refinements being made to the bubble before it arrives in the summer.

 

image.jpg

 

image.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looking good Fran. Really looking forward to getting delivery of a rake of ballasts, and later the rake of bubbles. I was able to inspect one of the ballasts close up recently (thank you) and it has stunning detail when you see it in the flesh. Especially underneath. Please post here before any coverage goes to print in the UK mags as I no longer read hardcopy print media, but will buy a physical mag if I know there's a piece in it on IRM. I'm sure you've mentioned this before, but I can't remember or find the answer, are the ballasts weathered or pristine? I know you posted a weathered example here but can't remember if that was an intended finish sample. Thanks.

Noel

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looking good Fran. Really looking forward to getting delivery of a rake of ballasts, and later the rake of bubbles. I was able to inspect one of the ballasts close up recently (thank you) and it has stunning detail when you see it in the flesh. Especially underneath. Please post here before any coverage goes to print in the UK mags as I no longer read hardcopy print media, but will buy a physical mag if I know there's a piece in it on IRM. I'm sure you've mentioned this before, but I can't remember or find the answer, are the ballasts weathered or pristine? I know you posted a weathered example here but can't remember if that was an intended finish sample. Thanks.

Noel

 

Thanks Noel, glad you enjoyed the closer look. All our news gets posted here as well as in the mags of course (we've been lucky to receive great support and coverage from them so far!) so you won't miss out. One publication does want to do a sit down interview with us in the near future and we will give everyone a heads up when it happens.

 

The ballasts and bubbles will be pristine when they arrive.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Smashing pics gents. It's nice to see the little detail differences in both chassis. It's gonna be a big year for the hobby and a great start to it with the ballast's. A big shout out to Richie for the paint jobs.

 

Rich,

 

Cheers Rich, we're on the home straight at last! :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

Terms of Use