Tag Archives: oxford diecast

General, Model News

First Oxford Rail Adams Radial tank on the way.

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Oxford Rail, the new brand of The 4mm scale road vehicle manufacturer Oxford Diecast, announced last November their intention to enter the UK 4mm 00 scale ready to run market, with initial an ex London & South Western Railway (LSWR) Adams 0415 class 4-4-2T Adams Radial Tank and a range of 1923 PO wagons (which perhaps would have been better being the 1907 version not currently already produced in RTR form). Within weeks of their announcement Hornby also announced that they were already producing such a model and theirs is currently due in January 2016.  Oxford Rail have this week released images and samples of the first version of the locomotive in their range reference number OR76AR001 as number 30583 in British Railways Late Crest livery and stated that they are due to be available from Monday 23/11 next week.

I have not yet seen a physical model in the flesh and fully accept that judging such a model from only the pictures released by Oxford Rail here along with the image below, that is courtesy of Tony Wright / BRM Magazine / Andy York / RMweb / (although their sample does appear to have a bent piston rod and one of the tool boxes is not sat square on the running plate), does not possibly give the full story, so this post is not a review just a few initial thoughts.

The Oxford Adams radial 30583 picture courtesy and copyright of Tony Wright / BRM Magazine

The first thing that struck me is that the front face of the model does not appear to be quite right, which might be due to what seems to me to be a lack of taper on the chimney, slightly high positioning of the smokebox number plate and the silver painted possibly slightly overscale appearance of the handrails, stanchions and also the smokebox dart (perhaps if they had been left unpainted they might have looked finer?).  But I would have to reserve final judgement once I have had a chance to see the actual model in the flesh. From a construction / tooling perspective there appears to be some prominent mould lines along both the boiler, chimney and also the cylinders and the dome does not appear to sit as flush to the boiler as perhaps it should. Also the motor assembly (including a flywheel),  that drives the rear axle,  is located forward within the smokebox end of the boiler resulting in the motor casing being visible under the boiler at the front which should really be daylight above the frames.
Other details such as cab backhead, pipework, underframe brake gear etc. look to be to the fine standard we have come to expect from recent Ready to Run models.

There were a number of detail difference between the last surviving three locomotives such as front frames, slide bars, Adams / Drummond boilers (with differing domes and safety vales) which were swapped betweenthe three locomotives over time, and rear radial wheel diameters etc. Oxford Rail have stated that they are tooling for all this differences and from my initial check the combination of the variations appears to be correct for 30583 in the livery being produced.

We shall have to wait and see how these models look and perform in the flesh and compare with the albeit slightly more expensive Hornby model in due course.  We will of course be able to pay our money and make our own choice.

 

General, Model News

Oxford Rail further details on Adams Radial and announce RCH 7 Plank wagon

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Back at the start of November last year the 4mm scale road vehicle manufacturer Oxford Diecast, launched a new brand called Oxford Rail and their intention to produce an ex LSWR 0415 class 4-4-2T Adams Radial Tank. They have today released further details about the model, with samples due in April, and also announced their first item rolling stock, namely a range of Railway Clearing House (RCH) 7 Plank 12 ton mineral private owner wagon.

The first three livery versions, priced at £99.95, of the Adams Radial announced are as follows:

OR76AR001 BR lined black late crest number 30583
OR76AR002 BR lined black early emblem number 60584
OR76AR003 Southern number 488 (no further details on the actual variartion of the Southern livery or if as preserved has been provided)
[Edit: The Oxford Rail website has now been amended to read “LSWR number 488”, so therefore likely to be as preserved]

The standard 12 Ton Mineral wagon was the most numerous design of mineral wagons built in the UK after 1923. They were originally built with 7 side planks, had a universal length of 16’6″ with a width of 8’0″ and wheelbase of 9’0″  These wagons were of a simple design and employed standard RCH fittings throughout.

The first livery variations of this wagon, priced at £8.95 due the second quarter this year, and already fully tooled, are as follows:

OR76MW001 No.95 Fear Bros Staines (Red body, white lettering shaded black)
OR76MW002 No.10 Leamington Priors Gas (Red body, white lettering shaded black)
OR76MW003 No.44 E Welford & Son Oxford (Red body, white lettering shaded black)
OR76MW004 No.16 Weymouth & District Co-op (Dark green body, white lettering)
OR76MW005 No.217 Coventry Collieries (Black body, white lettering)
OR76MW006 No.286 Arley Colliery (Red body, white lettering shaded black)

Full details and images of the wagon liveries can be found on the Oxford Rail website

General, Model News

New 00 RTR Manufacturer to produce an ex LSWR 0415 class Adams Radial

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After a  teaser campaign on there new website www.oxfordrail.com The 4mm scale road vehicle manufacturer Oxford Diecast, that has producing models for some time have today launched a new brand called Oxford Rail to produce a range of 4mm 00 gauge locomotives and rolling stock.

Their first locomotive, that they advise is already at a very advanced stage of development including tooling, is an ex LSWR 0415 class 4-4-2T Adams Radial Tank. This particular class of locomotives, famed for the three old age survivors working the Axminster to Lyme Regis branch, has been high on the wish list polls for a number of years. In fact there has been a number of manufacturers looking at producing this particular model recently but Oxford Rail have managed to be first past the post to announce it.

They advise the following:

“For some years the development team at ‘Oxford’ have been examining the possibilities of bringing their undoubted skills at producing accurate and detailed models to the varied and diverse world of the UK model railway market and have now decided that the time is right for them to launch their first model. Introduced under the Oxford Rail banner, the inaugural locomotive will be the much vaunted Adams Radial, Class 415, however this new division is not just interested in producing adhoc and random locomotives, but have established a development plan of introductions not seen in the UK for many years. CEO Lyndon Davies explained. “I, along with my development team have been closely monitoring, for several years the interest in model railways especially in the UK and now believe that the time is right for Oxford Rail to enter the market. Anyone who knows me is aware that I would not be interested in just introducing the odd locomotive.  We have a rolling planned introduction program based on extensive market research, as well as sitting down and talking to the modeller, and more importantly listening! I am determined that Oxford Rail will be seen and judged on the integrity and the quality of our models that I, along with my team will be offering. Our first model, which I am really excited about will be the Adams Radial, Class 415 but there will be other items announced in the not too distant future and not all will be locomotives. This first item is already in tooling and will be launched in 2015, with first shots in Q1 2015.”

The Oxford Rail website is now active and further updates on new introductions and their development will be part of the site with enthusiasts and modellers being invited to comment. Products will be available through all good hobby shops and specialist outlets.

Further announcements will be made shortly, but for the moment Oxford Rail wish it to be known that they are now open for business and it is the business of providing excellent quality models.”

Full details can be found on their website here although the list of actual variations being produced, numbers and liveries has not yet been announced. It should be noted that there were variations even amongst the final three with two different boilers  being swapped around and other detail differences, the webpage states BR rather than LSWR or SR so perhaps only BR liveries will be produced first (which would be a shame as I know other potential manufacturers were looking at a wider range of options)  so watch this space.