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Goodbye China?

Hi all . This was on the Pat Hammond site today!!! Also it is not to late to vote in his top ten poll. Rebuilt West Country's and Battle of Britain's are only two votes behind. All the best Steve

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Goodbye China?

Following the virtual exodus of model manufacturing from Britain over the last 15 years, we could shortly see its hurried return. With the strengthening of Chinese economy, the rising cost of transport and fear of the Chinese Bird Flu virus, Britain's leading model companies are considering returning their production base to the UK.

While one still has an empty factory in Kent another company is said to be searching for suitable sites within easy reach of the Midlands motorway network on which to build a new factory. One spokesman said that the urgency of the situation was not only caused by the fast spread of the virus in China but also the need to harness what is left of the tool making skills in Britain before they disappears for ever.

Is this history repeating itself? We are reminded that in the last year of production, Airfix were in the process of returning their production to the UK. This was due to the communication problems they were experiencing as a result of the distance they were away from their production base in Hong Kong. The final models in the Airfix GMR range were made in Britain.

Finally, readers worried about possible contamination of current models by Chinese Bird Flu virus are assured that, since the discovery of the outbreak, containers leaving China have been fumigated and we are assured that this will have no ill effect on colour pigmentation but could actually improve the appearance 'weathered' models.

Enjoy what is left of April 1st. All the Best Steve

Reply to
The Parkys
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Reply to
Steve Fackrell

Yeah.....as if it's likely rebuilt WC's could be knocked of the top spot!

~Fil

Reply to
Fil Downs

I assume the rapid rise of the J35 to the top of the poll is also an April Fool? The Live Steam Hymek obviously is!

Reply to
John Ruddy

In message , Fil Downs writes

Despite the steam reversers, the unrebuilt ones were better.

Reply to
Clive Coleman

In message , John Ruddy writes

The Hymek's or 7000s had Stones boilers, if you doubt the live steam I would take a bet on how many seconds you could hold your hand over the steam pipe.

Reply to
Clive Coleman

I didnt doubt that the Hymeks had boilers - lots of early diesel classes did. They just didnt use them for propulsion.

Reply to
John Ruddy

In message , John Ruddy writes

I don't remember propulsion being mentioned.

Reply to
Clive Coleman

Nitpick: D7000-D7044 had Stones boilers; D7045-D7100 had Spanner boilers. (Source: MT/25 Diagram Book)

Tim

Reply to
Tim Illingworth

Hornby's Live steam range is revolutionary in that it uses Steam as a means of propulsion, as opposed to Electricity. A Live Steam Hymek would use Steam as a means of propulsion, which of course the prototype did not do.

Reply to
John Ruddy

"John Ruddy" wrote

Why's that revolutionary? Bassett-Lowke & Bowmann in the UK, along with numerous of the early European manufacturers got there before Hornby - by many years!

John.

Reply to
John Turner

Were they using OO scale??

Reply to
John Ruddy

And electricity as "fuel" to produce the steam?

Dave W.

Reply to
Dave Westerman

"John Ruddy" wrote

Absolutely not, but N-scale steam was developed 20+ years ago in New Zealand (from memory) and reported in contemporary issues of Railway Modeller.

John.

Reply to
John Turner

"Dave Westerman" wrote

All a bit contrary really - everyone these days seems to generate steam to produce electricity. Trust Hornby to get it the wrong way round! ;-)

John.

Reply to
John Turner

In message , Tim Illingworth writes

Not only was I trained on both, but can say without any doubt that the Stones was vastly superior to the spanner. The Stones being a water tube boiler and the Spanner a fire tube boiler. I know you're not interested but I just thought I'd add it for the sake of completeness.

Reply to
Clive Coleman

Dave,

The GMT group in Manchester Model Railway Club were doing that over forty years ago in 10mm scale - featured in the MRNs of the time, and they also built in remote control to their system. So the idea is not original. The main difference with the 10mm scale setup was that they used centre third rail as a current source since 10mm scale stock normally doesn't have insulated wheels/axles, and they were also able to pass more current through the centre rail/both running rails. The actual boilers in the locomotives were used.

Jim.

Reply to
Jim Guthrie

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