Class 50, Class 59, prototype HST, Battle of Britain will be shelved for now

[Chetcombe]

Sadly the real world, is just too hard for some people to handle.

Hopefully you don't run your household finances on a wing and a prayer?

I'm sorry, but I have no idea what has provoked your response. Regardless of the reason behind the announcement (and I am certain that it has nothing to do with my household finances!), this is a company that has consistently failed to deliver and when it does deliver, it delivers an inconsistent product and poor customer service wrt repairs.

The only 'wing and a prayer' is whether their product works out of the box or not.

[Ben Line 457]

This is not good news but alas also not entirely suprising.

What gets my back up personally is the time its taken to get - or should I say not get - to this stage.
Trawling the internet just now I find a post by Karhedron (it was on another Forum - but I won't mention that here.....your secret is safe with me!) in Feb 13 showing CAD images from dapol for the 50's.
So there has been over FOUR YEARS of press releases, general hype and jam tomorrow statements around creating interest and expectation.

I assume - as I'm guilty of it - that a number of people have held off buying a Farish 50 because the Dapol one is 'just around the corner' and expect the same is true for Spamcans too.

I thought the whole point of CAD design and to some extent having manufacturing in China was to get product to market faster? In excess of four years is a joke but to be blowing their trumpet about forth coming product for that length of time to is shameful.

[Bealman]

I haven't got anything on order from Dapol, but the situation looks a bit sad to me.

[47033]

While I am disappointed about the news of the class 50 it's not the end of my world.

Jamie

[Roy L S]

While I am disappointed about the news of the class 50 it's not the end of my world.

Jamie

In all honesty there was nothing I wanted in the list from Dapol so it doesn't really affect my future choices.

What I do find harder to accept is that after so many years with these models no further forward and quite possibly not beyond the original CAD, their comments are still sufficiently ambiguous to suggest that they might still do them one day thus in effect still laying "claim". The BoB/West Country and Class 50 are surely two highly popular models in any scale so while possibly a canny tactic it is not likely to endear Dapol to those who have been waiting patiently to now be told that a product isn't a "not" but a "maybe some day, maybe not".

Roy

[TomE]

In the case of the BoB/West Country, 6 years in the waiting. Brexit is just the latest glib excuse for marking their territory without making good on their announcements.

Dapol's credibility with this N Gauge modeller has just fallen through the floor faster than Sterling!

Tom.

[Richard G Dallimore]

I have been accused of being a Dapol apologist elsewhere, but lets be clear here the writing has been on the wall for N gauge with them for a few years. This pre dates brexit and is more internal philosophy and move to bigger profit O gauge. The class 50 was announced so many years ago it should have been told way before brexit. This loco would have generated years of profit, it's a first gen diesel that ran main line until very recently if not still, runs on umpteen heritage lines, has warn loads of liveries. Dapol will for the next few years be producing O gauge steam era vehicles, even O gauge diesel won't get much of a look in.

They seem to have forgotten most of their club members are N Gauge and that has bought them a lot of money and loyalty over the years.

[TomE]

In the meantime, if these models are going to be such good sellers and profitable, there is nothing stopping another manufacturer producing the models that Dapol has postponed

Except why would another manufacturer take that risk when Dapol have left it's status so ambiguous? If Dapol have no intention of taking these models any further in the next few years they should cancel them and return these types to the market so that someone else could decide to pick them up in confident knowledge they will not face duplication.

The fact remains that Dapol have had 6 years to get their act together over the BoB/WC, and they've failed to do so, stringing those of us who have waited along in the process. Blaming Brexit is the latest excuse to dissuade other companies from looking at these types because they might decide to come back to them at a later date.

Tom.

[koyli55002]

Just had a slightly wicked thought - that there now seems to be more than one way of reducing the "backlog" of releases.
Of course, option 2 will not necessarily endear them to their N gauge customers ?

[Rabbitaway]

What is all the fuss about

Dapol have made a business decision based on protecting their company's future

If the delayed / cancelled models are viable others will either directly produce or test the market via crowdfunding.

If produced by others we may get better models as we all know Dapol QC is poor

[Chris Morris]

I can't see why people are annoyed with Dapol.
They clearly intended to make these models and a fair chunk of time and money will have been taken up getting to where they are today. They can only order tooling to make new models when they have sufficient cash to do so. They have obviously taken a long hard look at things and realised that, with the current circumstances, they can't see a viable return on their investment if they were to go ahead with the tooling for these projects. The drop in the value of sterling against the dollar following the Brexit vote will have been a significant factor.
I would suggest that the Dapol management are just as sad about these cancellations/postponements as we are.
We can see that Dapol are investing in other scales. If this provides a better return on investment than N gauge then they are doing the right thing for the business. Indeed the management have a duty to the shareholders to make as much profit as possible to give the best possible return on the money invested in the company by the shareholders.
This could be the harbinger of the UK outline N gauge model railways changing forever, at not in a good way.
It will be interesting to see if much manufacturing comes back to he UK. I hope it does. It will take some years for this to happen as setting up production and sourcing components in a country where this isnt business as usual will be a significant task.
I wish Dapol well for the future.

[Snowwolflair]

A few general observations.

The pound is where it should be and not over valued which is what it was, so don't expect that to change soon.  The lower value of the pound might just keep us all employed.

Dapol have not marked their territory over the BoB, 50 or 59 as they have said they are out of the game, and for some considerable time.  If someone started a BoB now Dapol would not be able to respond and would certainly not take the risk of double sourcing.

So who is up for it is the question but they have to get underway soon.

[Richard G Dallimore]

I can't see why people are annoyed with Dapol.
They clearly intended to make these models and a fair chunk of time and money will have been taken up getting to where they are today. They can only order tooling to make new models when they have sufficient cash to do so. They have obviously taken a long hard look at things and realised that, with the current circumstances, they can't see a viable return on their investment if they were to go ahead with the tooling for these projects. The drop in the value of sterling against the dollar following the Brexit vote will have been a significant factor.
I would suggest that the Dapol management are just as sad about these cancellations/postponements as we are.
We can see that Dapol are investing in other scales. If this provides a better return on investment than N gauge then they are doing the right thing for the business. Indeed the management have a duty to the shareholders to make as much profit as possible to give the best possible return on the money invested in the company by the shareholders.
This could be the harbinger of the UK outline N gauge model railways changing forever, at not in a good way.
It will be interesting to see if much manufacturing comes back to he UK. I hope it does. It will take some years for this to happen as setting up production and sourcing components in a country where this isnt business as usual will be a significant task.
I wish Dapol well for the future.

We have been waiting and been promised these models for a very long time, they should have been tooled long before the current financial problems. This is why I have broken with my usual stand point of defending this small British company. The writing has been on the wall for 2 to 3 years for N gauge at Dapol if not a bit longer, way before Brexit. I have unfortunately seen this coming from my association and friendship with some past and present at Dapol.

[koyli55002]

How long before any re-runs of remaining N gauge stock also go down the "indefinitely postponed a.k.a cancelled" cul-de-sac ?

[woodbury22uk]

How long before any re-runs of remaining N gauge stock also go down the "indefinitely postponed a.k.a cancelled" cul-de-sac ?

I do not think that is likely to happen. In the last few weeks Dapol have identified rerun/new liveries for HSTs, Class 67s, and Mk3 coaches, and issued catalogue numbers and livery details for them. Essentially all the established tooling provides a route to improve income as long as the marginal cost of production can be fully recovered with profit in the selling price.

For anyone expecting an early return of manufacturing to he UK it is worth reflecting on what this would mean for say a Mk3 coach. First assumption is that the tooling "belongs" to Dapol and can be moved to the UK. Secondly that the moulding machines available in the UK can use the tooling. Then there is the actual manufacture, printing, assembly, quality control, packing and shipping, all of which involve UK personnel with some dexterity or other skills. The shipped item then has to be received at the UK distribution point and be sold and shipped to a retailer who expects a reasonable margin for his services, and takes the Sale of Goods risks. We may complain about prices for China made items today, but I suspect they still offer better value than UK manufacture could hope to achieve in the foreseeable future.