Dapol: ENHANCED UK PRODUCTION

[Stevie DC]

http://www.dapol.co.uk/image/data/News%20Items%20and%20press%20release/UK%20Production.pdf

Very interesting and hopefully a very beneficial and profitable venture for them. 

[RailGooner]

Good luck to 'em.

[Drakken]

Guessing there will be a price increase but I'm happy to pay that little but more when I can if this is the way they are heading 

[Ditape]

Nice to see a Major player investing in UK production,the more the merrier, good luck to Dapol for taking this step.

[njee20]

Wow, a bold move indeed. Good for them.

[Tank]

Great to see.  I'd pay a little more as well for UK production.

[Drakken]

Great to see.  I'd pay a little more as well for UK production.

I haven't got a lot of disposable income but I think I'll wait and purchase my small rake when I have the funds from Dapol 

[keithfre]

V. good news, thanks for posting!

[leachsprite4]

Fairplay to them, I hope it works out well for them.
Graham

[Bob Tidbury]

It didnt say N gauge OO gauge or O gauge
Bob Tidbury

[austinbob]

But we live in hope!!! In any event we're not gonna see UK built N gauge any time soon I suppose.
Looking forward to it happening some time though.

[Bob Tidbury]

They could at least do more wagons and possibly coaches to start with they allready do some wagons in the Chirk factory and now they have two units w will keep our fingers crossed.
Bob Tidbury

[Snowwolflair]

About time too, they have finally done their sums and realized some of their models will be cheaper made here.

As they build up experience the will get faster, cheaper and their quality will soon exceed China at a lower cost.

However, its not all molding, its the finishing, assembly, painting and printing that also makes a model.

[Ben A]

Hello all,

My understanding is that they are taking it - quite sensibly in my view - one step at a time.

They already have some tools at Chirk, for the old kits, and I believe have had the tooling for their containers in N and 00 sent from China.

The containers are a good way "back" into UK manufacturing - moulding, painting, printing, packaging but no complex running gear, electronics or motors.  And most importantly, no fiddly assembly required.

Once these have been mastered then it may be that slowly more and more models, of increasing complexity, can be made here. 

When it comes to finished RTR with lots of separate detail parts then China remains very hard to beat in terms of both labour costs and available skills, but this may change as wages there rise and if Sterling continues to perform poorly.

Cheers

Ben A.

[Newportnobby]

I wish them every success. The loss of the Chinese New Year would be a huge side benefit