A British domestic train from Kato? 800 series available from May 2021

Started by woodbury22uk, February 09, 2019, 10:39:55 AM

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Railwaygun

A note from Keith at Train Trax

I was speaking with the Sales Manager at Gaugemaster yesterday regarding these decoders which should have been available when the Class800 were released over nine months ago. Gaugemaster are packaging and distributing these in the UK. He informs me that they have just received a small quantity of the decoders which are being sent to retailers according to the date of their order I am being allocated 14 in respect of my order of December 2020 and my further orders amounting to 50 should be with me in quarter one 2022. The reason for the delay in supplying these decoders is due to the lack of microchips available.

I have checked you order and agree you have prepaid £40.00 but unfortunately there are 32 customers who have ordered before you so I will only be able to supply you when the Quarter one delivery arrives. I have attempted to obtain a supply of these decoders from my Japanese and US wholesalers, but they are in the same position, unable to supply me until the quarter one release.
Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;
Ecclesiastes 2:11

This has been a public service announcement
It may contain alternative facts

Caveat lector

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njee20

And once again we're reminded of how rubbish it is when manufacturers make no real concessions to DCC, and require proprietary parts. "Oh you want to actually use your stock? Tough!".

Kato clearly aren't going to change, given their market is domestic and DCC is apparently far less popular in Japan, but why can't them just fit an NEM socket?!

GlenEglise

Quote from: Chris Morris on December 18, 2021, 07:46:01 PM
All you need is a sign.


There were similar signs at Falkirk Grahamston Station in Scotland when the Highland Chieftain Inverness/King's Cross was a 2 + 9 for a good few years.

Railwaygun

Quote from: Railwaygun on December 25, 2021, 12:56:59 PM
A note from Keith at Train Trax

I was speaking with the Sales Manager at Gaugemaster yesterday regarding these decoders which should have been available when the Class800 were released over nine months ago. Gaugemaster are packaging and distributing these in the UK. He informs me that they have just received a small quantity of the decoders which are being sent to retailers according to the date of their order I am being allocated 14 in respect of my order of December 2020 and my further orders amounting to 50 should be with me in quarter one 2022. The reason for the delay in supplying these decoders is due to the lack of microchips available.

I have checked you order and agree you have prepaid £40.00 but unfortunately there are 32 customers who have ordered before you so I will only be able to supply you when the Quarter one delivery arrives. I have attempted to obtain a supply of these decoders from my Japanese and US wholesalers, but they are in the same position, unable to supply me until the quarter one release.


Good news from Keith!!

Good news, I have just been allocated a further supply of Kato decoders and will be shipping yours in the next few days.
Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;
Ecclesiastes 2:11

This has been a public service announcement
It may contain alternative facts

Caveat lector

The largest Railwaygun, Armoured Train & Military Rail group in the world!

https://groups.io/g/railwaygun/topics

NGF Military threads

https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?board=146.0

My Military Rail Pinterest area
https://uk.pinterest.com/NDRobotnik/

10mm / N armour Threads
https://www.10mm-wargaming.com/

Motto: Semper ubi, sub ubi

njee20

I cancelled my order at 10:30 this morning, guessing that may be his additional allocation ;D

Railwaygun

I'm glad that you made the supreme sacrifice as my chips arrived today!
Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;
Ecclesiastes 2:11

This has been a public service announcement
It may contain alternative facts

Caveat lector

The largest Railwaygun, Armoured Train & Military Rail group in the world!

https://groups.io/g/railwaygun/topics

NGF Military threads

https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?board=146.0

My Military Rail Pinterest area
https://uk.pinterest.com/NDRobotnik/

10mm / N armour Threads
https://www.10mm-wargaming.com/

Motto: Semper ubi, sub ubi

Spanners70

Finally I have some decoders for my 800s. But I've stuck. I've fitted the motor decoder and the headlight decoders to both end coaches. Put it on the track and great dcc control. Reprogrammed it all on the track and it has its ident and movement. But lights.. in one direction both front and back car are white, change direction there both red. How the heck do you get them correct ie one end red one end white ? It's beyond me.....and also cold in the loft to be fiddling !

PaulCheffus

Quote from: Spanners70 on January 20, 2022, 08:29:42 PM
Finally I have some decoders for my 800s. But I've stuck. I've fitted the motor decoder and the headlight decoders to both end coaches. Put it on the track and great dcc control. Reprogrammed it all on the track and it has its ident and movement. But lights.. in one direction both front and back car are white, change direction there both red. How the heck do you get them correct ie one end red one end white ? It's beyond me.....and also cold in the loft to be fiddling !

Hi

From the instructions I've seen one of the light decoders needs to be inserted a different way to the other.

https://www.tramfabriek.nl/kato-800.html

I don't have my decoders yet so I haven't been able to try mine.

Cheers

Paul
Procrastination - The Thief of Time.

Workbench thread
https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=54708.msg724969#msg724969

Spanners70

Thanks for that will try flipping one tomorrow, I got bored waiting and so bought the zimo mx605n set from dcc coastal. Bit more expensive but at least I can run the set instead of them collecting dust !

Graham

still waiting for my 2 sets from Kernow, every follow up gets the same reply, still waiting for the supply.
It's a shame we are all left wanting, if only Kato had done their research on the UK market a bit better we would all be happy.
The sets are lovely, would just like to be able to run them on the layout instead of up and down the test track.

osborns

we have had some decoder sets available for the last 2 weeks. Not sure how many we have left at the moment though.

Steven B

Quote from: Graham on January 20, 2022, 10:00:55 PM
It's a shame we are all left wanting, if only Kato had done their research on the UK market a bit better we would all be happy.

I'd suggest they've done their research quite well - they've produced a reasonably detailed model at a very decent price; Surely what the majority call out for?

The trouble is, the UK is a very small part of Kato's market. I'd guess less than 10% of all the Class 800 units they've made will end up in the UK. The rest will stay in Japan where DCC is apparently very uncommon.

I am surprised that Japanese modellers haven't taken to DCC. With their love of automated toilets and vending machines that sell virtually anything you'd think it would be popular. More so if the majority of the hobby there revolves around Unitrack based layouts that can be set-up and taken down quickly.

Steven B.


Spanners70

Quote from: PaulCheffus on January 20, 2022, 08:37:34 PM
Quote from: Spanners70 on January 20, 2022, 08:29:42 PM
Finally I have some decoders for my 800s. But I've stuck. I've fitted the motor decoder and the headlight decoders to both end coaches. Put it on the track and great dcc control. Reprogrammed it all on the track and it has its ident and movement. But lights.. in one direction both front and back car are white, change direction there both red. How the heck do you get them correct ie one end red one end white ? It's beyond me.....and also cold in the loft to be fiddling !
Flipped one of the end coaches decoder round 180' and now works as it should , thanks for the help !

Hi

From the instructions I've seen one of the light decoders needs to be inserted a different way to the other.

https://www.tramfabriek.nl/kato-800.html

I don't have my decoders yet so I haven't been able to try mine.

Cheers

Paul

Graham

@Steven B, I do agree Kato did their research quite well, in fact for the model itself it is an excellent piece of work, it is just the DCC side which has let them down a bit. Maybe next time they will look at using a standard for the decoder fitting.

GlenEglise

Quote from: Graham on January 21, 2022, 09:24:52 PM
@Steven B, I do agree Kato did their research quite well, in fact for the model itself it is an excellent piece of work, it is just the DCC side which has let them down a bit. Maybe next time they will look at using a standard for the decoder fitting.

Bought the Kato 800 and have had decoders on order since October with Kernow, I know they come in via Gaugemaster.

Honestly, it is a shambles, four months and no decoders!

KATO did well producing the model but totally mis-understood the use of DCC in the UK market.

Regards,
GE (Mr Angry)

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