What was the strangest bit of RTR N Gauge you've ever seen...?
My favourites have to be the Lima Class 31 in RENFE Green and Yellow livery, their German V100 in BR Green or blue and the Graham Farish Class 56 (any livery)... :)
For me it has to be the Lima Shunter in BR Blue livery. Why they ever thought it would be a good idea to produce such a terrible loco I'll never know! :smiley-laughing:
In a similar vein, there is a US switcher that appears in Dutch NS livery masquerading as a class 2200. I bought one in holland thinking it was an interesting one off, but recently saw and won and one another one on eBay. Like BR's 20s (which they sort of resemble) they usually worked in pairs or even threes/fours.
The models however, look nothing like the real thing, and grafar's class 20 would've been a better lookalike. I'm not sure who makes the model, but it runs much better than a farish (Poole) class 20.
If the Lima loco is the one I'm thinking of then it's based on the American, Plymouth Locomotive Works MDT 40T.
http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/plyMDT.jpg
The main thing with the Lima one was that it's massively out of scale. It's almost useable as a H0n model
A lot of Lima stuff was way overscale to accommodate the pancake motor bogie, especially the 31 and Deltic. Kind of a pity, because the quality of the moulding was excellent - way better than the newer GF stuff.
Bernard Taylor actually grafted a set of Lima roof grilles into a Farish 55, with amazing results.
Does the MicroAce Nankai Rapi:t Series 50000 Kansai Airport Express qualify? ;). The design is outragious but I love it! :D.
Quote from: D306Whistler on February 04, 2011, 07:13:58 PM
Does the MicroAce Nankai Rapi:t Series 50000 Kansai Airport Express qualify? ;). The design is outragious but I love it! :D.
Quite a stunning train that whistler, I notice from another thread you have one, not that I'm jealous of course >:( >:( >:(
;)
(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5257/5417044610_eec98647fe_z.jpg) (http://www.flickr.com/photos/class40andtransportfan/5417044610/)
Hymek & Nankai Series 50000 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/class40andtransportfan/5417044610/) by class60008 (http://www.flickr.com/people/class40andtransportfan/), on Flickr
Sorry I couldn't resist ;) :smiley-laughing:.
What a strange looking train! ;D
Wow, that should be a James Bond supervillain's personal train.
Aye! You see, I told you the design was crazy! ;). All in all, when I first saw the trains on YouTube (and in a JRS Bulletin mag) the cab looked like a Le Mans Racing driver's helmet that was bolted onto a train body that was converted from a space-station walkway. But since then, the design has grown on me and I love these trains :D. Very futuristic considering they were built in 1994/1995 when Kansai International Airport was first opened in 1994 ;).
Against your Kansai, I play my EF55... ;D
(http://i1218.photobucket.com/albums/dd417/Claude_Dreyfus/IMG_3896.jpg)
This is another Micro Ace model of a type of loco introduced to the Tokaido line in 1936. The streamlined front and lining on the nose gives this a real art Deco feeling. The EF55 was used on express services, however being a small class - only number three examples - were replaced by the 1950s. The fact they needed a turntable did not help - despite having two cab ends (the other being a standard design flat front)...think of it as a 1930s class 91; without the push-pull. By the way, EF55-1 (which is the basis of this model) was retained for tourist trains by JR Eastern until only a couple of years ago before retirement to a museum - I think it was as late as 2009.
Just as a further aside on the Rap:t; this was one of the very few trains to be designed by an architect - the same guy who designed all the stations along the route. Sadly, no photographs can do the depth of the dark blue livery any justice.
Thats a nice classic machine, well advanced for its day and years ahead of the most of the world as the UK only had the London Underground trains that were electric apart from the old trams and the trollybuses. The rest of it was steam. Germany was only just making the first gen diesel railcars in the shape of the "Flying Hamburger". Now if the EF55 did have push/pull equipment, I don't think steam traction would have lasted as long as it did and there would have probably been fewer diesel locomotives built apart from areas where electric traction is not viable/or prohibited from high risk areas such as gas works or oil refineries where a spark from the OLE or third rail could cause a fire or an explosion.
The UK might have been mostly steam, but up here in Geordieland we had electric trains in 1905. http://www.lner.info/locos/Electric/es1.shtml
The London, Brighton & South Coast Railway had a full public service of the electric trains in 1909.
Switzerland had the Krokodil which started running in 1919. The USA had the EP-2 'Bipolar' on the Milwakee Road which also started in 1919. The Pennsylvania RR had the GG-1 which started running in 1934.
There were many other electric railways as this page first published in 1935 will show. http://mikes.railhistory.railfan.net/r066.html
Wasn't the worlds first public electric railway the Volks Electric in Brighton? ??? 1890's?
Sorry mate, I didn't know they even existed. In addition to my last post, I meant to say that "the rest was mainly steam" but I missed "mainly" out which I kind of made a fool of myself there by advertising my own ignorance :-[, but ah well we are only human! ;).
The only reason I know about them is because I spend far too much time on the interweb. ;D
Quote from: BROADTRAIN1979 on February 17, 2011, 06:21:24 PM
I dressed up as a deltic the other day while line dancing in tescos 8) got a great audience and the police turned up but, it was the wife who said dont stand so close to me ;) ;D ;D :NGF:
:smiley-laughing: ;D ;D :thumbsup:
One of my favourite songs from the 80's ;). You cannot beat the legendary songs as most of the modern rubbish is not worth listening to.
From an American perspective, we see similar experiences as cited above in the Lima shunter in BR colors quite a bit (or used to as it may be).
There's this Lima D.341 in New Haven colors which, is actually, kind of cool. Although the price (and the current exchange rate of the USD to the Euro) make it far too pricey as a novelty:
http://cgi.ebay.com/LIMA-206-E-Look-FIAT-D341-BO-BO-NEW-HEAVEN-USA-SCALA-N-/230489228353?pt=Modellismo_Dinamico&hash=item35aa3a8441 (http://cgi.ebay.com/LIMA-206-E-Look-FIAT-D341-BO-BO-NEW-HEAVEN-USA-SCALA-N-/230489228353?pt=Modellismo_Dinamico&hash=item35aa3a8441)
My other 'favorites' are the Minitrix U30CG - which although only ordered and run by the Sante Fe, appear in the liveries of both the Pennsylvania and Burlington Northern! Well, at least its from the right country!
If the Lima New Haven loco is too pricey, how about this masterpiece of Eastern European N gauge:
http://www.litomysky.cz/n/imm/Dscn1273s.JPG
It's actually the only slovakian N gauge RTR model ever and was produced by Piko of former Eastern Germany from about 1970 to 1985. The true beauty of this construction results from squeezing a main line diesel chassis under a shunter's body.
If you're ever to Berlin just enter an average model railway second hand shop and you'll get this one at about a tenner or so.
QuoteIt's actually the only slovakian N gauge RTR model ever and was produced by Piko of former Eastern Germany from about 1970 to 1985. The true beauty of this construction results from squeezing a main line diesel chassis under a shunter's body.
If you're ever to Berlin just enter an average model railway second hand shop and you'll get this one at about a tenner or so.
I've noticed this strange looking beast before! Actually, they're seem to be several unusual Piko trains that I'd almost be interested in having since they are so unusual! There's a stream lined diesel loc that is quite strange looking, but alas, seems to go for about 50 on the eBay which is too much just for a 'novelty'.
I agree Piko is quite an interesting field for a collection especially due to strange choice of prototypes. This was mainly the result of having no financial support for the construction of new chassis so all diesel and electro bodies were squeezed on the two or three existing ones.
Another favourite of mine according to weird models is the soviet Co'Co' electro with its really strange cab design.
See the entire collection here: http://www.piko-n.com/frame_all.htm
If you're interested in starting a collection you should consider german ebay I promise most will not go for more than 20 and by no means any diesel or electro (but possibly some steamers, several versions are quite rare) will go for 50.
http://modellbau.shop.ebay.de/Piko-/30662/i.html
Of note is after not being into N gauge for more than 20 years Piko just at re-introducing a range of modern N gauge locos which will of course be of completely different construction and up to standards. http://www.piko-shop.de/index.php?vw_type=warengruppe&vw_view=detail&vw_id=272&page=0
Ooh ooh, I like this one http://www.piko-shop.de/index.php?vw_type=artikel&vw_id=11367&PHPSESSID=0d3440tnvehg4pg7onluphsgv0
and this one http://www.piko-shop.de/index.php?vw_type=artikel&vw_id=11365 looks awfully like the one Owl has in green ???
haeckmaen - Thanks for the links! Really interesting site. YES, that CCCP locomotive was the 'strange beast' I was thinking of above! Very unusual! There's a 'nostalgia' part of me that finds this old, East German Piko era somewhat fascinating. It really would be an interesting area to collect. It would also be interesting to see if I can afford any more additional sources of 'funding'! :smiley-laughing:
Also, I have one of the new Piko products. I got the SNCF "Sybic" loco. Its really, really well done as you say! I think its a great sign that they are returning to N after 20 years!
Graham Farish's Deltic Prototype is the most ilogical RTR model in my view. All new tooling for a model they can only do in one livery and with one identity. I'm not complaining, like, Its a beautiful model.
Quote from: Vulcan on April 06, 2011, 10:40:03 PM
Graham Farish's Deltic Prototype is the most ilogical RTR model in my view. All new tooling for a model they can only do in one livery and with one identity. I'm not complaining, like, Its a beautiful model.
Forgive me for saying this, but what's so special about the ruddy DP1 anyway? :)
I mean, why can't we have (say) a Fury, or a W1? Even a P1 or P2 has more options... and a 47xx would be a large class in comparison. :)
Sorry for the rant, I now return you to your normal topic.
Quote from: Sailor Charon on April 16, 2011, 06:19:57 PM
Quote from: Vulcan on April 06, 2011, 10:40:03 PM
Graham Farish's Deltic Prototype is the most ilogical RTR model in my view. All new tooling for a model they can only do in one livery and with one identity. I'm not complaining, like, Its a beautiful model.
Forgive me for saying this, but what's so special about the ruddy DP1 anyway? :)
I mean, why can't we have (say) a Fury, or a W1? Even a P1 or P2 has more options... and a 47xx would be a large class in comparison. :)
Sorry for the rant, I now return you to your normal topic.
Because they had already done the design work when they did the OO version as a special commission for the NRM, so it was relatively easy for them to do.