Tales from The Room of Doom. Dipping a toe in various bucolic backwaters.

[Yorkshire Dave]

Yesterday saw three sound fitted Manning Wardles arrive.

Yesterday evening saw three sound fitted Manning Wardles tested........

All eighteen wheels cleaned, treads and backs.

1x Bombay immediately bunny hopped down the the track at slow speed in forward. Given over an hour in both directions on the rollers. No change. Back in box. Going back.

1x Bombay travelled less than 12inches, shed crank pin. Locked up. Replaced crankpin. Reasonably smooth but tad noisey. More running in needed.

1x SE&CR. Reasonably quiet but noticeably surging in forwards at slow speed. Run in for a couple of hours. No change. Probably going back but further running in planned for today.

On a positive, the sound fine is good but the enthusiasm for these lovely looking locos is starting to go.

Sorry to hear of your continued tales of woe and it appears your saga is destined to become as long as Homer's Illiad and Odyssey combined. I can fully understand the waning enthusiasm.

Like yourself when I purchase a new model locomotive or rolling stock item I expect it to run flawlessly throughout the speed range without bits dropping off or screws loosening themselves with any tinkering being superficial (weathering, extra details) to create the prototype I require and effectively personalise the model.

From my observations poor running seems to be an affliction with British railway modelling throughout time and way back in the 1980s this was one of the reasons I gave up modelling British outline, got rid of the lot and went over to Continental outline as at the time Roco, Fleischmann and Liliput running qualities (and detail) were far superior. Added to which I was modelling LBSCR, Southern and Southern Region and could not get the locomotives, rolling stock and EMUs without resorting to major conversions, scratch or kit building.

I have noticed over the intervening 40 years or so things did appear to improve with better running qualities and a wider choice of prototypes but it still did not tempt me back into British outline until today. I made a partial return albeit with secondhand Southern Region EMUs and electric locos, and yes, not much has changed as the Dapol class 73 was a shocking runner with poorly designed pickups. During these intervening years I built up various skills to allow me to tinker with (and build) models which enabled me to fit a more robust pickup system to the class 73. However, at the end of the day I still prefer to purchase a flawlessly performing RTR locomotive rather than build a kit or carry out an operation to improve running qualities.

It does make you wonder why manufacturers continually mess about with some of their fundamental designs such as pickups and gearboxes as even models in the same manufacturer have differing pickup designs. If they have a reliable design why not use or adapt it? From experience I've noticed the design of Roco pickups and gearboxes in their electric and diesel locos hasn't significantly changed over 40 years and similarly with their steam outline models. It appears they found a reliable combination, stuck with it and adapted it for different models while retaining the reliability and running.