The mineral wagons are on the water and providing everything goes smoothly with customs I should have them available for Telford, however please note that the weathering for some items will be done here which will take a further couple of weeks.

There have been some decoration issues with the autocoach, and unfortunately we shall not be able to offer the 1922 fully panelled livery, however all other decoration schemes will be available to view at Telford. Production has been planned for the middle of October, so availability should be the latter part of November.

On a more serious note, because of long lead times and MOQ issues with electrical components the DCC fitted autocoaches will not be manufactured this year, and no date has been set.

We look forward to seeing old friends and new at Telford for the Guildex 2010 exhibition on 4th/5th September.

We are pleaed to announce full details of our BR 16 ton mineral wagon range, which you can find on our Models page.

The wagons will be available for delivery from the middle of August, and are available to pre-order from today. We're also hoping to have a number of weathered versions available at the Telford show. We're initially offering a box set of two differently numbered wagons, for an introductory price of just £79.90.

If you would like any further information, please contact us.

We are now back from Hong Kong after visiting our vendors and have the following update.

1. The British Railways standard 16 ton mineral wagons have been approved for production which will commence shortly with expected delivery here early to mid July of the first series with 1950’s decorations:

(A) LHT730050 Diagram 1/108 welded body with Morton brake
(B) LHT730150 Diagram 1/114 welded body with Morton vacuum brakes and instanter link couplings
(C) LHT730350 Diagram 1/109 riveted body with Morton brakes

Two identical wagons with different numbers will be packed together at an introductory price of £79.90 (incl. VAT).
 
The wagons will be fitted with Finescale wheel sets, however both Course scale and Scale Seven wheel sets will be available.

We shall also be offering weathered wagons similar to the picture of B258683 (rebodied diagram 1/108) at a cost of £108.10 (incl. VAT) per pair

2. The Great Western autocoach is still at the decoration stage and after lengthy discussions we shall regrettably not be able to offer the 1922 fully panelled and lined livery, however I do hope to have fully decorated samples of the 1930/40/50's during May and will publish pictures on the website once to hand. I do not have a delivery schedule yet but I am hoping to have some available for Telford in September

We shall be attending the ALSRM show at Reading on Saturday May the 8th.

We will be attending the London Festival of Railway Modelling, 27th & 28th March at Alexandra Palace.

We are hoping to have the final samples of the mineral wagons next week, when we'll publish some photographs. We'll be adding further detailed descriptions of these, and details of their prices and availability, over the coming weeks.

We look forward to meeting you on stand number 56 at Alexandra Palace in a couple of weeks!

Update: We will be attending the 'Bristol 'O' Gauge Group Exhibition' (www.bogg7mmshow.com) this Sunday - 31st January - at the UWE Conference and Exhibition Centre, Bristol. Information on the location etc is available on the show website. Why not come along to see (and hear) our models for yourself!

We now have a page on our website where you can read some of the reviews that our models have had in the railway modelling press. Go to the "Press page" for more information.

As a further development of our website we are currently working on an online shopping facility, so you will soon be able to buy our models directly from the website. We're hoping to have this facility available by early February.

Here is a sneak-peek of our next project, the British Railways 16 ton mineral wagon.

Both the riveted diagram 1/109 and the welded body 1/108, including the batch of 100 Vacuum fitted 1/108's will be produced; ideal freight stock for our B.R. decorated 74xx locomotives.

During the 1970's rusted out bodies with good chassis were rebuilt with new bodies without the top flap to diagram 1/099, and this version will also be produced, being suitable candidates for the diesel brigade.
 
Later plans will include the vacuum fitted 108 and 109's with 8-shoe clasp brakes.

These fully finished ready to run wagons have sprung metal buffers and couplings as standard and a three-point suspension system is built in. We are considering offering a limited product build to scale seven standards, and would be very interested in feedback, so let us know your thoughts.

On the locomotive front a further shipment has arrived, so later this week I shall be able to complete the outstanding orders.

The DCC fitted production is in full swing, with production samples available for me to inspect this week.

We shall be demonstrating a DCC fitted locomotive at Telford.

The 'Soundguy' Keith set up the recording session on the Bodmin and Wenford Steam Railway with the kind permission of Richard Jones, the General Manager back in October last year, unfortunately on the day allocated he was not well so he showed me how to use the recording equipment.

With the help of engine driver Courtney (pictured on the left), and our stead 6435, a most enjoyable time was had from Bodmin General to Bodmin Parkway and then on the return journey 6435 hauling 5 coaches had to work very hard out of Parkway on the ruling gradient of 1 in 40 for 2 miles.

With the recording complete it was back to see Keith for him to make sense of what I had done. I must say this guy really knows 'his onions', but I will let you decide when you visit our stand No. 25 at Guildex and judge for yourself.

Andy at 'DCC Supplies' has been instrumental in organising the best decoder for the job and his help and advise on DCC matters is second to none.

The DCC fitted locomotives have been delayed through issues with the soundcam. After much consultation and testing with both Andy and Keith we have decided to eliminate the soundcam by fine-tuning the decoder to produce the four chuffs per revolution.

Production is underway, with anticipated arrival in UK during October, after which we shall fit the decoder and speaker, and then thoroughly test the locomotives before sending them out.

Get prepared for putting some water in the boiler and stoking up the fire !!

I have just returned from the Orient after several meetings in China with our vendors.

The first task was to inspect all six decoration samples to approve paint and insignia detail and placement. Paint colours are approved although the shine level was too high a gloss on certain parts like the tanks and boiler fittings, these areas will be corrected in production, and a standard of finish has been set.

There were a couple of small errors on two of the insignia, however new samples were quickly prepared which I approved before I left.
Production was underway. I saw several die-casting tools in operation and many plastic injection mouldings of various components, some on their way to the paint shop.

Assembly standards have been set up with completion of the six DC versions by the end of next month, so I am having a small quantity air-freighted to ensure some will be available for Telford.

Just before I left England I checked out the sound sampling, however we found an issue with the sound cam that has to be redesigned to include two contacts instead of one used by most manufacturers of sound decoders. This issue has affected the PCB that also has to be redesigned and subsequent delay for all DCC fitted products, although I should have a fully operational sound locomotive to demonstrate at Telford, where all decoration variants will be on view.

The final samples are due this week, after which pictures will be added to this section showing the different decorations.

All engineering is now complete and approved, the first stage of production, injection moulding, casting and PCB manufacture has started while the motors are currently being built, balanced and tested. The standard DC versions will be completed first while the DCC products will follow on a month later, with the upgraded PCB, three smaller PCB’s for the various light functions, sound cam, speaker and additional wiring. The sound/motor decoders will be installed here and these locomotives will be 100% checked for performance. 

I was planning on having a stand at the summer ‘0’ Gauge show at Halifax, but unfortunately I need to be in the Orient inspecting and approving assembly and final production which should be complete by the middle of June.

Providing everything is correct and quality standards are met, products will be shipped and received here in UK during July.

Our first stand will now be at the Guildex Exhibition, Telford on September 5/6, where you will be able to view the complete range.

Richard Webster