Minitrains WW1 stock delays

[invercloy]

Hi all, Brian G has provided the following text outlining the current state of play with the new Minitrains stock (Brigadelok etc). For info...

"The new Minitrains 1914 stock has a major delivery hiccup.  The shipment from China to Germany is now not expected until towards the end of May.  This also gives the Society Sales Team a problem as we have more than 60 orders and we are endeavouring to write to everyone to keep them in the picture.  So if you hear of any problems anywhere let Brian Guilmant know please."

[clayliner]

As one of 'Brian's Little Helpers' I can confirm that this is the current situation - indeed, last Thursday we sent another e-mail to everyone for whom we have an e-mail address just to let them know what is happening. Of course, the longer the delay the more orders stack up so it's going to be a case of all hands on deck when the stock does finally arrive - next week we will probably try to address as many envelopes as we can in anticipation but beyond that there's not much we can do.

So it's just a matter of patience, folks - but hopefully it will be worth the wait in the end!

David.

[Tony Coultiss]

Hi all, I am not surprised that there are delays with the WW1 Brigardelok, as they have got it totally wrong! It still lookks a nice model, but I challenge anyone to find a prototype with those boiler fittings.

Sorry to be a 'rivet counter' but the hose housing should be on the rear sandbox (dome) and the actual dome looks rather small to me.

Cheers,

Tony

[engerth399]

Hi
The Feldbahn on the Sandstone Estates line has the hose around the front dome - not to say it's original but it's there.

Peter

[engerth399]

Meant to add the Frankfurter Feldbahnmuseum have a 1914 Borsig example with the hose around the front dome.

Peter

[Krizzy]

Google some photos of WW1 Feldbahn locos you will see the hose pipe is wrapped around either the front or rear sand domes. So does it really matter as long as the model runs well.

Roger

[invercloy]

No Roger, there are more important things in life to worry about :) plus a moveable item such as a hose could surely have been stowed almost anywhere on the loco at one time or another...

[JulienW]

No Roger, there are more important things in life to worry about :) plus a moveable item such as a hose could surely have been stowed almost anywhere on the loco at one time or another...

As a quick flick through "Heresfeldbahn" and "Heresfeldbahn Der Kaiserzeit" will attest...

[garrywhiting]

Indeed,  the photographic evidence, both internet sourced and from books shows locos with the hose on the front sand dome and locos with the hose on the rear dome, and of course locos with no hose and no hose support on either dome.

It is almost always unwise to state that a detail such as this is "wrong",  somebody somewhere will find evidence to the contrary

Garry

[clayliner]

For those who may not have seen it I am taking the liberty of repeating the latest email message from Brian G. two days ago:

"Hello to all.  Current orders for Minitrains 1914 now total

[clayliner]

Just to update folk who have placed orders, the latest info from Brian G is that the first consignment has now arrived safely in Wimborne.

As I have said elsewhere, I don't know for sure what has arrived but we were told that the first delivery would probably comprise sets, individual rolling stock items, track packs and controllers - but not individual locos. As sending out part orders isn't really a good use of limited resources those who have ordered single locos, with or without other items, will need to wait a little longer until the locos arrive. This, as I recall, applies to about three quarters of the 70-odd orders received to date - with a bit of luck we may be able to get the others in the post this Thursday. So if your chums receive their goodies and you don't then this is probably the reason!

David.

[gallopingalice]

My BrigadeLoc arrived today and runs very smoothly even over Peco N gauge 9" rad insulfrog points at walking pace using the Minitrains pwm controller.
Well chuffed!
richard 6080

[Retiarius]

My Brigadelok ambulance train set arrived on Friday, a beautiful model.

[clayliner]

Well, folks, the good news is that we managed to get pretty well all the orders sorted and parcelled up today. (There may be one or two still in the pipeline where there were loose ends we couldn't quite tidy - apologies if it's your order which didn't quite make it into the post, but be assured there was a good reason.)

Apologies, too, that it has all taken so long, but for reasons outside our control, as I'm sure people understand. Had we known how protracted an exercise it would prove to be we might have set up the systems a bit differently, but hopefully most people will get a rough approximation of their order (a quick spray will probably give the required colour). And of course the longer the delays the more the orders have continued to pile up - it would have been more manageable if we had been able to fulfil orders more or less as and when they came in.

Anyway, The Boss is now away for a couple of weeks so I'll have to find other things to do on the next couple of Thursday mornings... maybe even do some work on the B&W?

David.

[Donald Packham]

Having received promptly my black loco, which is as good as most people are saying, I would like to convey my thanks to Brian and the team of packers who work so hard on Thursdays to satisfy our requirements. We tend to take their efforts for granted as we do the efforts of those who produce the 009 news and organise events. Well done all of you!