On the brink of giving up

[railsquid]

When I see these threads, I always think what is it I'm doing wrong??? I don't seem to suffer one tenth of the issues some modellers apparently do so what am I doing different...   

If forum postings are an accurate guide, 95% of problems are suffered by just 5% of modellers so what causes that uneven distribution of issues??

It can only be either the users themselves (handling, usage, storage, maintenance) - or retailers (alleged cases of reselling returns, postage/couriers used).

Umm, I did wonder at one point if I was doing something wrong (as I prefer to err on the side of finding fault with myself first as that's the easiest issue to fix), but various forum posts have confirmed systematic flaws in the designs of certain locos (in my case: Farish split gears, Dapol electrics) which just don't happen in a comparable fashion with other brands...

If we could work together to determine what the common themes are, we could all learn what to do/not do...

Be as lucky as PLD?

[Bealman]

Don't give up, Nick. Enjoy your Easter - then come back to the problem. 

Feet up and a couple of  mate.

[railsquid]

Wot Bealman sez 

[JasonBz]

At least with the first half of the OP I can see where the frustration comes from....Its almost like N is meant to be overlly hard to make it work right.
I have heard substantiated hearsay that one manufacturer's idea of QC is to simply let people send failed locomotives back....

Over the years I have modelled in OO, EM, P4 and O gauge - All have them have challenges to be sure, but not the same frustration levels as I seem to find in N. As it is at the moment, all my N stuff is in a box while I decide what to do with it......

[grumbeast]

Hope you had a relaxing easter, I concur with what's been said here, take a break, or concentrate on your working locos for a while.

Some people have said switch to other countries offerings, I wouldn't recommend that, I'd say ADD other countries, why restrict yourself

That said when you think about it, these are tiny engineering marvels and they sometimes go wrong, what isn't said as often is so do the real thing!  so maybe it should be concomitant for us to maybe soften our attitude about reliability and failure.  I know its frustrating (I have over 100 locos now from all over the world and have my fair percentage of requiring maintenance / need to be fixed) but I find thinking about the real thing helps me cope with this.

Just my tuppence

Graham

[daffy]

And it's a good two pence worth Graham. 

All hobbies have their imperfections and maintenance needs, and when electronics and little items are involved, the problems will often be magnified. Add the fact that many here are older than 21  and the problems of eyes, hands, fingers and brainwaves that don't always, like the locos, work like they once did, become more of an issue.

So for me, if I have a loco failure, it's a pain and I get annoyed with it and curse the heavens that this hypermetropic, clumsy, pensioner (almost) can't fix things as easily as he used to, but at least I'm not modelling Z Gauge.

And there's always the folks here to bolster me up and give me clues as to what I need to do.

[Steamie+]

Nick i agree with all that has been said about taking a break from it all, even dare i say from the forum for a week or two, clear your head and relax, then come back to it with a positive view on things and those little loco problems won't seem half has bad.

They are models after all and why should you or anyone else have to put up with poor quality nowadays, but alas that is the why of this throw away world we live in now.

Take it easy and relax mate, have a few beers and chill out, and we will see the old Nick back to full enjoyment again.     

[Nick]

Thanks to everyone for the support.

I did operate the layout over the weekend, after SWMBO gently removed the axe from my frenzied hands, and talked me down from the ceiling... (Her advice was the same as several of yours - use the reliable ones). Well, fortunately nothing actually broke this time!

Also, I finished programming my signal presets and started designing a timetable. You can't break a timetable. It breaks you... Crikey, it's a complicated thing to do, and I haven't even finished yet.

[Nick]

I have heard substantiated hearsay that one manufacturer's idea of QC is to simply let people send failed locomotives back....

Sadly, at one point it was worse than that. A few years back, I heard directly from someone unquestionably in a position to know that at least some spares would not be available until there were service returns to scavenge them from. I hope that's not the case any more, and I'm in no way suggesting that it is!

[Nick]

04 crank pin is under two quid from br lines..
153 - the bogies just pull off so no idea what you did to destroy that..... however you can buy a replacement from dcc supplies
Cant help with the dapol steamer the halls have been hit and miss...

I'd been round the BR Lines loop - Bob didn't have any. But I'd already tried to refit the pin with no longevity to the result.

The 04 and the Hall are going back to their respective manufacturers/service agents.

A bogie for the 153 arrived yesterday, but when I went to fit it this morning, it was the wrong one!! AARRGHHH!! In all fairness, Fiona from DCC Supplies sorted out the problem out PDQ and had a replacement out for despatch within two hours of me ringing her, so that's absolutely fine.