The James May experience

I don't think this subject has been covered in the group but if it has please accept my apology.

Our son and I watched James May's programme attempt on the 10 mile record for a OO loco journey.

They did mention the stolen batteries but nothing of the sabotage attempts.

I thought the idea of the portable battery and the stick was a great idea.

My point is, finally, do you think it was reasonable to expect these loco's to travel 10 miles, in one day, in the wet, outside on 'new' un- cleaned track ? I thought the 395 did well to get 7 miles !

Chris

Reply to
Dragon Heart
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Way back around 1975 my local hobby shop (Model Crafts and Hobbys, Featherstone St. Wellington, New Zealand) Set up a Marklin Z gauge loco and coaches on a small oval. They set it going and ran it 120 actual miles non-stop over about 3 days before it stopped. The record was I believe reported in the Guineus book of records and also in the Ma catalogue the following year. After the run the loco was oiled and fitted with new brushes, was sold to an aquaintance and when I last heard was still operating. That could give unrealistic expectations for Hornby and Bachmann, but you can certainly expect better than seven miles.

Greg.P. NZ

Reply to
Greg.Procter

Here a reference to this record

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Ermin

Reply to
Emmo

Think at one point a view of it was shown upside down and it appeared to have collected some fibres around the front bogie.

Easy to think of these things in hindsight but maybe a portable vacuum cleaner would have been a good idea to remove any last minute windblown debris or sand from the track seconds before the trains approached.

G.Harman

Reply to
damduck-egg

"Greg.Procter" wrote

I would most certainly have expected more than seven miles for an item (Hornby) being sold at a premium price.

The only concession I would make in that respect was that the track was wet, and that would certainly influence the amount of dirt collected by the unit's wheels. It would not provide any excuse for the motor burning out after such a comparatively short distance.

John.

Reply to
John Turner

Depends why the motor went; if it was because of excessive drag from the bearings... There was a lot of sand and other abrasives around the track, plus the damp mud/grit from the rain. All would do a mechanism no end of damage.

With hindsight, they may have done better with 10miles of thin roofing felt strip to hold the track off the path debris, then lay the track on that, or some other similar method to help keep the dirt out.

The program looked like they hadn't really thought it through properly, whereas some of the others in the series had far more effort in the planning.

Without the rain, and the massively delayed start, they may have made it.

- Nigel

Reply to
Nigel Cliffe

: : The only concession I would make in that respect was that the track was wet, : and that would certainly influence the amount of dirt collected by the : unit's wheels. It would not provide any excuse for the motor burning out : after such a comparatively short distance. :

Do we know why the motor burnt out, I would suggest that it was external influences rather than design or manufacturing reason, considering that Hornby have been using this programme to promote their products on the run up to Christmas (if it was a fault of Hornby design or manufacture then I would have expected Hornby to keep rather quite about the programme...), I only saw a little of the programme but at one point they seemed to be laying track on sand or something similar (to act as a levelling compound), hardly a fair test for any - relatively - open and exposed to dirt gearbox!

Reply to
Jerry

: : With hindsight, they may have done better with 10miles of thin roofing felt

COUGH Have you never seen roofing felt close up, most is covered in sand, it's what stops the tar from melting from the suns rays, same reason why gravel is put on flat top roofs!

: strip to hold the track off the path debris, then lay the track on that, or : some other similar method to help keep the dirt out.

Waxed paper/card might have done the job.

: : The program looked like they hadn't really thought it through properly, : whereas some of the others in the series had far more effort in the : planning.

Judging from the ones I bothered to watch, I don't think so. Looked like the same typical production values of Top Gear, crap. :~(

Digression: Heard a nice definition of current Top Gear and it's presenters the other day, "Top Gear, it's The Last of the Summer Wine on wheels, Foggie = Clarkson, Cleg = May, Compo = Hammond"...

Reply to
Jerry

You obviously haven't :-(

Try looking at the other side, or at other types of "roofing felt". Not all roofing felt is created equally.

MBQ

Reply to
manatbandq

Long ago in the mid 70s Polaroid gave away a free train set with one of its instant cameras. Probably polatoy any how I put an oval of track in the window and did the display around it. |It ran round from (am to 5.30 pm every day for 4 weeks and we never had to push it once. Mind the outside loco wheels where about half the size of the inside ones when we took it out

Reply to
Trev

"Jerry" wrote

You could well be right, but with both the 'Javelin' and Bulleid Pacific in such a relatively short distance I don't think it was a particularly good advertisement for Hornby, although they may have taken the view that any publicity is good publicity. It worked to the extent that we sold one of the 'Javelin' emus today as a direct result of the programme.

Do we know who made the 'Warship'? None are in current production so it seems likely that may have been a second-hand loco.

John.

Reply to
John Turner

It has been mentioned by someone who was at the event that the valve gear on the Bullied Pacific had been bent by some heavy handling so that could have hastened it's demise. And don't forget that the Javelin had a lot of extra weight added to it's body (like a craft knife!) and they did say that it was modified to run faster than normal.

Fred X

Reply to
Fred X

Who supplied the track and what happened to it at the end, was it left for people to help themselves?

Hozz

Reply to
Hozz

Some at least has been offered on a well known internet auction site. The one seller i came across was honest about the origin,mentionioning it had been used once in the making of the programme.

I had wondered myself as in one shot boxes were being unpacked in pouring rain and I would think they would be too soggy to be repacked.

G.harman

Reply to
damduck-egg

End view suggested it was an old Lima model... Would traction tyres have helped, or hindered, I wonder? Cheers Robt P.

Reply to
Robt P

Would traction tyres have lasted 10 miles ?

Reply to
Dragon Heart

The Warship was Oz Clarke's own loco !

You must remember the 395 was only a prototype at that time.

I must agree with Nigel Cliffe's comment that they hadn't really thought it through properly. The LEGO house programme I saw tonight for example HAD to have more planning as it HAD to be structurally sound.

From his Top Gear appearances James May appears to be a good mechanic so why did he not anticipate these problems.

Could you get 10 miles of track inside the O2 arena ?

Chris

PS Regarding Jerry's comment about "Top Gear, it's The Last of the Summer Wine on wheels" I have to agree, unfortunately Cleg ( Peter Sallis ) is the only one left ( just ) in the series. Just shows how far the BBC has fallen when after we got rid of Clarkson they brought him back !

Reply to
Dragon Heart

...

Are you sure? I thought that the Warship (with the Southern coaches) came from the shop, and that it was the Bulleid that was Oz's loco.

Reply to
David Biddulph

"David Biddulph" wrote

I wondered that, but assuming that was the case I still assume it was a 'used' model, which could have been quite old as they've not been available for a while from any manufacturer.

John.

Reply to
John Turner

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