Mainline

Some very nice looking locos considering their age, suprisinlgly designed in Coalville - I say suprising as they dont look depressed whereas most of the towns residents do. Unfortunately most run like a dog - if at all.

If you want an old cheap Scot then get airfix, however Bachmann split chassis locos may be getting fairly cheap now. They are mildly upgraded Mainline with better running qualities.

Cheers, Simon

" Some very nice looking locos considering their age, suprisinlgly designed in Coalville - I say suprising as they dont look depressed whereas most of the towns residents do.

Unfortunately most run like a dog - if at all. "

What ! ... the townsfolk of Coalville run like a dog ?

Since the sad closure of the mines back in December 1983 nothing much has happened to make the people of Coalville smile.

Similar to the aptly-named Grimethorpe.

scoot said the following on 03/01/2008 23:32:

A lot of the Mainline stuff has been superceded by Bachmann offerings - there's quite a complicated history, but to oversimplify it somewhat, Bachmann took over the Mainline range. (I know it's more complicated than that!!!)

The Mainline stuff I've had has had looked nice but run badly. I think the body mouldings and detailing were way ahead of it's time (early to mid 80s)

"scoot" wrote

It's better than much of the Hornby range and well inferior to most produced by Bachmann.

On the whole the body mouldings were excellent, but were let down by some indifferent chassis. The wheel standards were poor, which led to derailments as others have mentioned, however the wheels are easy to replace (I've traditionally used Jackson wheelsets) and that eliminates the problem.

However, I'd now only buy them if they were cheap, as the modern Bachmann product is far superior, especially below the solebar.

John.

If by rolling stock you are referring to carriages and wagons etc then I am very happy with those which I have bought -- often superior in performance to modern Bachmann & Hornby.

However , like the locos, there are some bummers ( after all they are quite old now.

Most of the range is similar or identical to Airfix and Dapol ( as they came from the same moulds.

Regards

"Peter Abraham" wrote

Not quite so Peter.

Mainline originally absorbed the Airfix (GMR) range, but when Palitoy pulled out of the model railway market and sold out to Dapol, the latter only acquired the tooling which originally belonged to Airfix.

Kader Industries (the owners of Bachmann) always retained ownership of the the tooling which they originally produced for Mainline, and consequently this didn't pass to Dapol but became the original basis for the Bachmann Branchline range.

In other words there were two distinct Mainline ranges:-

A) the original range tooled by Kader Industries, with the latter retaining ownership & rights to the tooling.

B) the ex-Airfix range tooled elsewhere and owned by Airfix, which became part of the enlarged Mainline range when they acquired Airfix (GMR), and which was subsequently acquired by Dapol, and finally parts of which were purchased by Hornby.

Hope that's reasonably clear.

John.

Roger that!

Peter

Cough, splutter, splutter.

Sorry, my mistake. Didnt translate rolling as wagons !

Cheers, Simon

Has anyone seen a person from Coalville run anywhere. Dont think theres been a recorded instance of a smile either.

Not sure there was anything sad about the closure of the mines. But Snibston apart, look at whats been done in Moira and Donisthorpe compared to Coalville. Leafy glades and wonderful scenery compared to ...

Coalville is still a dump, just doesnt have the excuse of the pits anymore - actually they may have improved its appearence. Only way to improve the 'shopping precinct' would be to flatten it.

Cheers, Simon

"John Turner" wrote

Snip

Snip

And of course the saga was further complicated by Replica Railways which was marked "Bachmann" before Bachmann marketed UK outline in their own right.

I believe the B1 was planned by Mainline but first appeared in the green boxes of Replica and marked underneath as being Bachmann!

DEW

"David Westerman" wrote

Indeed - I omitted that episode to avoid further confusion.

I've not heard that before, but it is course perfectly feasible. There were several irons in the 'Mainline fire' which never appeared under that name - don't ask me to name them off the top of my head though.

John.

The GWR modified hall (Graithwaite Hall) announced by mainline was not available until Replica marketed it in their 'green box' although it is only marked 'Hong Kong' underneath not Mainline or Replica.

Alan