British N Gauge steam has departed.

[Roy L S]

That's good to hear. A better tender to loco connection and less delicate valve gear would be good too.

The loco to tender wires have been an issue. I now build my own stronger ones. Its always the soldered joint that goes.

Whislt less delicate valve gear would be a bonus I would not want to see it at the cost of having thicker or wider valve gear. I much prefer delicate but not too big to strong but horribly over scale.

I think  plenty of people will be encouraged that the whole portfolio of Dapol steam locos will be upgraded over time, I am sure revamped 14xx and 45xx would be pretty popular. For me the prospect of a coreless motor loco-drive A4 is an really exciting prospect, hopefully with speaker for sound in the tender too 

I would endorse what Chris has said, two particular weak spots that it would be good to address on tender-locos would be a more robust power-transfer between loco and tender and just as importantly stronger valve-gear, the "monkey metal" currently used is too soft, it is far too easy to bend motion out of shape on current models, and even done just once it can be game over.

Roy

[Adam1701D]

That's really helpful.
Are you going to help people who have already brought/pre-bought the model ?
Bob

We are working on a remediation plan and this will be announced once we have completed our investigations.

[Bob G]

That's really helpful.
Are you going to help people who have already brought/pre-bought the model ?
Bob

We are working on a remediation plan and this will be announced once we have completed our investigations.

Great stuff Adam. Retrospective work costs a huge amount of time and money, so very pleased that Dapol has chosen to go this route.
Bob

MODs - this info might need to be moved to the M7 thread.

[Bigmac]

That's really helpful.
Are you going to help people who have already brought/pre-bought the model ?
Bob

We are working on a remediation plan and this will be announced once we have completed our investigations.

i hadnt realised you are connected with Dapol. What is your position there please ?

[Adam1701D]

My title is "Graphic Design Manager", which covers generating the livery artwork for new releases. Being a small team, we all muck in where necessary -  for example, I have several new tooling projects in N on the go.

[Bigmac]

My title is "Graphic Design Manager", which covers generating the livery artwork for new releases. Being a small team, we all muck in where necessary -  for example, I have several new tooling projects in N on the go.

Thank you.

[Elvinley]

That's good to hear. A better tender to loco connection and less delicate valve gear would be good too.

The loco to tender wires have been an issue. I now build my own stronger ones. Its always the soldered joint that goes.

Whislt less delicate valve gear would be a bonus I would not want to see it at the cost of having thicker or wider valve gear. I much prefer delicate but not too big to strong but horribly over scale.

I think  plenty of people will be encouraged that the whole portfolio of Dapol steam locos will be upgraded over time, I am sure revamped 14xx and 45xx would be pretty popular. For me the prospect of a coreless motor loco-drive A4 is an really exciting prospect, hopefully with speaker for sound in the tender too 

I would endorse what Chris has said, two particular weak spots that it would be good to address on tender-locos would be a more robust power-transfer between loco and tender and just as importantly stronger valve-gear, the "monkey metal" currently used is too soft, it is far too easy to bend motion out of shape on current models, and even done just once it can be game over.

Roy

That was me that said it needs to be stronger. Chris is happy with it the way it is. I don't think it looks that good or is strong enough.

As I see it, these are the issues with Dapol steam:

Tender to loco wires snap.

Valve gear metal is soft and thin.

Cardan shaft disengages very easily.

Pickup can be poor when relying on bearings to pick up.

Tenders sometimes amplify the noisy motor sound.

Motors get hot.

Wobbles

Extremely delicate.

Cheers,
Ian.

[Elvinley]

For fairness these are the issues I have experienced with Farish:

Not always enough pulling power

Very occasional valve gear locking especially on tender drive locos

Some locos rely on bearings only for pick-up and become erratic due to oil entering the bearings.

Pick-ups not always adjusted properly.

Cheers,
Ian.

[Hightower]

A bit off topic,  but communication from Dapol is vastly improved since Adam took up his job there.

[Adam1701D]

A bit off topic,  but communication from Dapol is vastly improved since Adam took up his job there.

Thank you. I work from home so am not always privy to what may be going on at HQ. We may not always have an immediate answer to questions but try our best.

[longbow]

Dapol is switching to a loco-mounted motor for the upcoming WC/BB and Mogul, which will do away with the Cardan shaft and give scope for a more robust electrical coupling between loco and tender.

[ntpntpntp]

Shaft drive done properly works fine and gives great performance with a decent sized motor in the tender and plenty of weight over the driving wheels for haulage. I have examples by Arnold, Minitrix, and Roco.  None of those have huge unsightly shaft sockets or a shaft which comes out too easily, nor do they have dodgy electrical connections. However I do think a lot of the problems people have with Dapol shaft drive and broken connections is down to poor handling.