price rises - how long can this be sustainable

[JayM481]

To that cost you need to add the cost of the trailer to get it home. 

[austinbob]

A whole different ball game. I'd love to have the space and the cash to do gauge 1 but, for the moment, N gauge will do me just fine. Even with recent price increases.

[davidinyork]

A whole different ball game. I'd love to have the space and the cash to do gauge 1 but, for the moment, N gauge will do me just fine. Even with recent price increases.

Indeed - and presumably that's hand-made so if you are going to compare with N gauge at all it would be with CJM models.

[Snowwolflair]

A whole different ball game. I'd love to have the space and the cash to do gauge 1 but, for the moment, N gauge will do me just fine. Even with recent price increases.

Indeed - and presumably that's hand-made so if you are going to compare with N gauge at all it would be with CJM models.

No, its a Chinese made brass model that has been painted here, which is fairly common in Gauge 1

[davidinyork]

Don't know whether any of you have seen these (both OO gauge):

http://sulzertype2.co.uk/page.php?p=home
http://dapol.co.uk/index.php?route=information/news&news_id=140

Both seem aimed at the modeller who can afford the higher prices* and who isn't happy with many of the current models. It will be interesting to see how well they do, but I would guess that N gauge is too small a market for a 'higher-end' range of mass produced models to be commercially viable.

*although the Class 24 isn't much more expensive than many Bachmann/Hornby models with their price increases over the past few years.

[davidinyork]

A whole different ball game. I'd love to have the space and the cash to do gauge 1 but, for the moment, N gauge will do me just fine. Even with recent price increases.

Indeed - and presumably that's hand-made so if you are going to compare with N gauge at all it would be with CJM models.

No, its a Chinese made brass model that has been painted here, which is fairly common in Gauge 1

Presumably it is still pretty much hand-made though, in China - is there actually any way to mass-produce brass models? I assume it's built up of etched parts rather than being cast?

[Snowwolflair]

Production runs of about 1000 units just like N

[davidinyork]

Production runs of about 1000 units just like N

a lot more work goes into each model though, no doubt.

[Newportnobby]

Presumably it is still pretty much hand-made though, in China

It's going to be very fragile, then.
Think I'd rather have one in brass

[47 years N]

Cheap models can be a curse too. When Lima OO (and HO) was so cheap that we all had as many diesels and coaches as we wanted and more.
I'm sure it was stifling Hornby and anybody else from developing better models. Lima N and the large deltic + small mk1s yeugh.

[davidinyork]

Debating what to do now - am I being too picky, or does it go back?

I know it's a PITA, David, but I would send/take it back. It's maybe not Rails fault but unless it gets back to the manufacturer it won't register as a return.

Yep, that's what I'd decided! Going to take a trip down there tomorrow - I've phoned and checked they have another one in stock. They did suggest posting it back and they'd send another one, but to be honest I want to see the replacement in the shop so that I can reject it if there are any issues with it!

Well, I took it back, and checked there was no cosmetic damage on the replacement (there isn't). They assured me they had test-run it.

Got round to trying it out at home this morning, and yet another minor issue - in one direction, one red tail light is bright and the other one very dim (barely visible if the loco is running slowly). Yes, this is a minor issue but not really acceptable at this price.

I've had the body off and both tail lights come off a single LED centrally mounted on the lighting board, so it looks like it's probably the light pipes misaligned. I'm reluctant to go pulling the bufferbeam and cab interior out due to the risk of damage - anyone know whether they are glued in on this model? It isn't easy to see.

So it's probably either put up with it or send it back for a refund and just don't bother. To be honest it's reached the stage where I think it's probably time to just give up on model trains. Yes, I'm sure I am being picky and others wouldn't have a problem with cracked buffer beams and badly-assembled lighting (and at half the price I might not be bothered either), but at a hundred quid I expect no faults.

[Agrippa]

I would send it back and ask for a refund or fault free replacement
you shouldn't have to dismantle a new loco which might end up in
more damage.

[Snowwolflair]

I would send it back and ask for a refund or fault free replacement
you shouldn't have to dismantle a new loco which might end up in
more damage.

You should not dismantle any faulty model otherwise the shop is fully entitled to refuse to refund.

[Newportnobby]

Sorry to repeat myself, David, but unless it gets back to the manufacturer it won't get registered as a return so that's what I'd do. If Rails don't have one that passes inspection then the choice is yours whether to accept a substandard item.

[davidinyork]

Sorry to repeat myself, David, but unless it gets back to the manufacturer it won't get registered as a return so that's what I'd do. If Rails don't have one that passes inspection then the choice is yours whether to accept a substandard item.

Yes, true. I think that having had two now and wasted a day and twenty quid on the train going down there on Saturday, I'll just admit defeat and send it back for a refund. Clearly Bachmann's quality control is simply not good enough to have any confidence of getting an item without some fault or another. Dapol don't seem much better (although with them it's usually badly-made circuit boards).

Is OO gauge this bad these days? I've not bought anything much in that scale for a few years, but I do have a number of fairly recent Hornby and Bachmann locos (i.e. those from the DCC-socket era) and don't recall having any problems with any of them.