For those who have access to Facebook, a dedicated Save Pecorama group has been set up :

https://tinyurl.com/bdf3tuj7

As already mentioned the 2mm Association sell brass gears, in fact they actually make them!

The problem that's been with the Acetal/plastic gears is that the axle hole is too small, so when these gears are fitted they are immediately under stress!

'Pecorama' only resonates with those who know the tradename 'Peco' i.e. railway modellers.
I wholly concur with the renaming proposal. Make it about the attraction of the gardens and BHLR, have a decent café and tack the inevitable gift shop on the exit as most tourist attractions do. By all means price items with consideration to your dealership but be prepared to sell very little over and above child pressure on parents

Quote from: KevTheBusDriver on November 17, 2025, 07:01:34 PMJust my personal opinion on this - I have never had a brass gear split!

I've never had a Kato or Dapol gear split...


The 2mm Scale Association offer worm gears in Acetal or brass. Their spur gears are all brass. They also offer skew cut gears for meshing with the worm gears which will help reduce wear. As would helical cut worm/spur gear but perhaps that's going a bit too far?

@Will_J I've not seen what your motor bogie will go in. Care to share?

That is an interesting response from @JulianO .

As someone who lives quite close to Pecorama I concur with Julian's remarks.
I've been several times including the most interesting visit with @Nbodger to film an item for the NGF Virtual Show.
I have to say that the senior management and staff were most welcoming and informative on that day.

It is a fabulous visitor attraction in a truly superb location but I too feel that it fails to market itself.

In this day and age printing a few leaflets which are distributed to local shops, pubs, hotels, campsites etc is simply not enough.
And I also agree that the name Pecorama doesn't work. It fails to convey what the attraction is about or, perhaps more importantly, where it is.
Browsing through a rack of leaflets, is the average holidaymaker going to choose the Pecorama one over, say, Paignton Zoo? I suggest not.

I note too that they have a policy of not undercutting their various retail outlets which is admirable but it does mean that model railway enthusiasts, me included, are put off from visiting due to the high prices even though the shop is well stocked and well laid out.

There is also,  in my opinion, the need for a better cafe. The Pullman carriage is lovely but is tucked away somewhat in the rather uninspiring yard between the factory and the shop area.

The grounds are spectacular and the light railway is fabulous so it'll be a great shame to see that all go to waste.
Let's hope something can be done to save it.

As Kev said Never had a brass gear split but admit they are noisier ,a dab of graphite quietens them down for a while but  does wear off .
I think the white nylon gears were also very good I have never had any problems with them ,I have no idea what type of nulln Farish used but was told that those gears were very expensive compared to the black plastic .
I havnt had a problem with the thick black plastic ones yet but I have heard some people have ,time will tell .
Bob

That seems like a sensible thing to do.

We have only been once, and it was in 2008, but perhaps we can be excused as it is a long way from New Zealand.
Based on this long ago visit, I would tend to agree with some of the points raised by Roy L S regarding marketing etc.
We visited as I had an interest in the model railways, but I also felt at the time that the building and display looked a bit tired, and was more taken with the Miniature Railway, the gardens and the wonderful views of Lyme Bay.
I was left feeling that as a whole the place didn't have a clear focus on what it was wanting to achieve, ie was it intended to boost the sale of Peco products, to promote model railways generally, or as a place for a family day out.
I am not a marketer, but my thought would be that the first thing to do could be to change the name. With due respect to the owning family, "Pecorama" seems a bit of a nothing name,and means nothing to anyone not involved with model railways. Locals we spoke to in Devon didn't seem to have heard of it.
Maybe they should rename the whole attraction "The Beer Heights Light Railway," and focus on promoting this along with the gardens and the location. It wouldn't mean they necessarily had to close the shop or the model displays, but I think those would be more of an optional add on for visitors who are interested rather than the casual visitor.

We've only been once in our adult years and enjoyed the day. We also enjoyed our evening when we did a runner from the pub in the village without paying. Not intentionally of course but we did save a few quid 

We did actually go back the next day to pay but there was nobody home.

Quote from: Roy L S on November 17, 2025, 07:25:03 PMI was told by someone more expert than me that plastic worm onto plastic pinion is not optimal as there is more "stiction" (the inability to overcome inherent friction between the surfaces) than using a brass worm onto plastic or nylon pinion gears.

This is probably achievable. All I would need is a plastic duplex gear, which I could potentially have moulded and could be used in multiple future mechanisms. Brass worms in M0.3 are easy to source.

Will.