I've just discovered that an interesting video about the live steam Mallard is available from the Scalextric-USA web site(which incidentally has more features than the home, UK site)
The video lasts about 3 minutes and includes archive shots of A4s.
Have a look by clicking on the link at
Dave W.
"David Westerman" wrote
It's been available on my shop computer for weeks! ;-)
John.
Out of interest, anyone know whether these are selling well or not(based on pre-orders)- well, I hope.
Quite impressed by the video...as a committed diesel/electric modeller, even I am tempted into steam by this...though the price-tag is scaring me off. I think it's value for money, but just don't have the spare £500!
That's well over CDN$1,000! And it needs its own track. Controlling its speed and braking looks a bit hit-and-miss; I suppose it takes practice.
"Ian Bartlett" wrote
The GBP500.00 price tag is for the loco, controller and oval of track if I understand the situation correctly. Subsequent releases of A4 models (assuming they actually happen of course) will be priced around GBP300.00 - the difference being the cost of the control gear.
Interestingly enough we're not needing to discount these to sell. Seems they're going to be in very short supply in the run up to Christmas and people are fighting over then at full RRP.
Whether that sort of demand is sustainable is questionable, but personally I still reckon they're a commercial blind alley. High initial demand, rapidly tailing off to virtually nothing.
John.
Not a smart move, if true.
-- Brian "Style advisor to the seasonally-challenged"
In message , Brian Watson writes
It's not true.
It needs its own controller, but it will run on any OO/HO track.
Not true, but it needs its own controller connected to the track its running on, so if you run it as part of a mixed fleet you will have to put in cab switching.
Keith
The smart move would have been to make it DCC controlled.
Make friends in the hobby. Visit Garratt photos for the big steam lovers.
Oh dear. Incompatibility - the bane of many a good idea.
If Hornby had thought it through and used an existing DCC system (prominently badged "Hornby", of course) with the steam locos, they would probably have attracted a lot of new business to it from users of their existing range of locos.
Still, as these sets are apparently selling - or at least being ordered - like hot buns, I suppose credit is due to Hornby for what might turn out to be "phase 1" of a fully-compatible steam-powered range.
-- Brian "Chuff! Chuff! Poot! Poot! A model railway exhibition can do that to a person"
I imagine the biggest problem is getting enough wattage to the loco to boil the water without burning out any conventional or DCC-equipped locos on the same piece of track. I'm sure Hornby have thought this through before reaching their final decision.
The problem is to provide control of the largish current needed for the boiler, it would need a decoder designed to cope with the current and the hot environment, they have avoided that problem by doing the control off the loco.
DCC boosters are well able to provide the power required and it would not affect other locos on the track. Keith Make friends in the hobby. Visit Garratt photos for the big steam lovers.
Project for someone with lots of money ;)
Snipped
At the present time, despite R & D costs for Scalextric motorbikes (and Live Steam of course), Hornby themselves, do have lots of money. Let's hope that they plough some of it back into solving this DCC incompatibility problem.
And yes, I do know that others would prefer that they spent their money on other developments :-)
Dave W.
David Westerman
Claughton, please! :-)
-- Enzo
I wear the cheese. It does not wear me.
Do they have a specification sheet for the thing?
"Mark W" wrote
Try the Hornby website.
John.
I don't have the sort of money to even think about it ;)
In message , Andrew Sollis CVMRD writes
A "Claughton". So-called because the first one was called "Claughton". IIRC, they were 4-6-0 types.
No.
The London and North Western Railway. Well before your time.
The message from John Sullivan contains these words:
"Sir Gilbert Claughton" - a director of the LNWR
The Claughtons were the mainstay of the WCML until the Scots were built in 1927.
Some were "rebuilt" as the Patriot class.
"David Jackson" wrote
That's stretching it a little bit if I may say. The first two Patriots (at least in the BR numbering series 45500 & 45501) were *notional* rebuilds of Claughton 4-6-0s, but in reality little more than the driving wheels were used in the rebuilds, which was an exercise in creative accounting more than anything.
John.
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