Oh No the R classes

There's some video of a running R Class on the Bylong blog.

http://bylong.blogspot.com.au/2013/10/eureka-models-vr-r-class-preview-video.html

Oh No the R classes

Ron's got this possibility covered in his latest blog update

http://eurekamodels.blogspot.com.au/2013/10/r-class-shipping-details-just-in-case.html

Ron's got this possibility covered in his latest blog update

http://eurekamodels.blogspot.com.au/2013/10/r-class-shipping-details-just-in-case.html

Glad to see a sense of humour. Just beware of pirates, 'R' or 'Argh!'.
Lloyd

Good to see the VR R class after all these years.

I ask the question - where is the NSWR 40 class?

Good to see the VR R class after all these years.

I ask the question - where is the NSWR 40 class?

Don't start.

Good to see the VR R class after all these years.

I ask the question - where is the NSWR 40 class?

I fear the 40 Class will be the new R Class!

It seems to be the one that all the problems have occurred with in as far as the transferring of the dies etc, and any news that has been written on them has been somewhat less than encouraging.

Still, my three are paid for, and I guess they will get here when they get here, just like the R.

I fear the 40 Class will be the new R Class!

It seems to be the one that all the problems have occurred with in as far as the transferring of the dies etc, and any news that has been written on them has been somewhat less than encouraging.

Still, my three are paid for, and I guess they will get here when they get here, just like the R.

Dazz,

Ron has said numerous times (maybe in newsletters, but definitely directly to me at shows/seminars) that the 40's are still with the old factory. (They made him an offer he couldn't refuse - maybe he should have refused it.)  The tooling has not been moved so those delays/problems have not arisen (yet!!).

As such Eureka are at the mercy of the factory in relation to when they decide to undertake production.  Who knows when they will decide to manufacture the locomotive?

The worst scenario would be that because of the extensive delays he decides to cancel the order and move the project to another factory.  Then the aforementioned delays would kick in.

Happy producing,

John

Dazz,

Ron has said numerous times (maybe in newsletters, but definitely directly to me at shows/seminars) that the 40's are still with the old factory. (They made him an offer he couldn't refuse - maybe he should have refused it.)  The tooling has not been moved so those delays/problems have not arisen (yet!!).

John

Hi John,

Yep that may be right, I've been reading about the proigress for so long it all becomes a bit fuzzy as to what's actually going on. This was from the Eureka Times No.24. where I maybe misread "The problem has been the retrieval of the tooling from the old factory" as meaning it was going to the new factory, as opposed to just being found at the old factory!

"The 40 class has been ready for final assembly for some
time with a completed “with sound” model running around
on Werris Creek for the last twelve months. The problem has
been the retrieval of the tooling from the old factory. This
has finally been resolved and this project will be given top
priority at the new factory. A mid- 2012 delivery date is
anticipated."


In any case I'm not in any way worried, everything I have ordered from Ron has eventually turned up and I've been more or less happy with it and I'm sure the 40 Class will be the same, so no complaining about it from me.

I do think though that the 40 Class will be the new whipping boy once the R's are all safely delivered, lets face it some people just need something to complain about even if it will not make any difference to when they get here.

If the R was announced in December 05 and looks like being delivered by December 13 the record for "longest to delivery" is 8 years.

When will the 40 class take the lead?  What else is out there still, Austrains G/BL/81, Traino 48(830?)?

Mark

If the R was announced in December 05 and looks like being delivered by December 13 the record for "longest to delivery" is 8 years.

When will the 40 class take the lead?  What else is out there still, Austrains G/BL/81, Traino 48(830?)?

Mark

According to the wayback machine I can find the 40 Class being announced in the July 2007 Eureka Times which is the 13th Edition, so the 40 class is really only about 19 months behind the R announcement wise.

http://web.archive.org/web/20071019111659/http://www.eurekamodels.com.au/news13th.htm

Funny you mention the Austrains 81 and Trainorama 48, I've also got one of each of them on order. So for me it's just an amusing race to see which one of these long termers will come first/last!

Hi John,

Yep that may be right, I've been reading about the proigress for so long it all becomes a bit fuzzy as to what's actually going on. This was from the Eureka Times No.24. where I maybe misread "The problem has been the retrieval of the tooling from the old factory" as meaning it was going to the new factory, as opposed to just being found at the old factory!

"The 40 class has been ready for final assembly for some
time with a completed “with sound” model running around
on Werris Creek for the last twelve months. The problem has
been the retrieval of the tooling from the old factory. This
has finally been resolved and this project will be given top
priority at the new factory. A mid- 2012 delivery date is
anticipated."


In any case I'm not in any way worried, everything I have ordered from Ron has eventually turned up and I've been more or less happy with it and I'm sure the 40 Class will be the same, so no complaining about it from me.

I do think though that the 40 Class will be the new whipping boy once the R's are all safely delivered, lets face it some people just need something to complain about even if it will not make any difference to when they get here.

Ever since the SDK debacle & the move to the new factory, there have been several different comments regarding where the 40cl was at, not least back in the days before the factory issue in the newsletter #16 of September 2008 we had the following statement regarding them. we have informed the factory that no modifications are necessary and production can proceed.  
Since then there have been other similar statements saying they were in production, January 2009, paint samples being prepared & production to start after 38cl delivery, with the 38cl being suggested as April/May of that year, while they did not meet that time they at least arrived that year. Since then the factory fan problems really hit & its a litany of different reasons that have come out in both the newsletter & in the news section of AMRM. One of those is that there has appeared to have been several differences in exactly which factory was producing the 40cl.

Some years back & IIRC it was at a Hurstville exhibition that there were full painted samples of them on display, & I was also told there was one of them running on a layout, I did not see it, so can only rely on the modelling friend who told me of it.

From those I know who have been asking Ron about them over the past year, at least there has been one consistency in his reply at exhibitions, & that is he raises his hands in the air & says he has no idea, as the factory tells him nothing & until they are ready. Apparently they have been paid for & its up to the factory as to what & when they do something about production & shipment.

For me, its a real debacle, but I do not really blame Ron for it especially if the money for the models have been paid for & he is waiting on the factory to do something, same situation that is happening with the Austrains G/BL/81classes as they are still being done at the old factory. Maybe the 40's will go into the production line after the Austrains models arrive or hopefully once the 81 production has been completed.

Thankfully I only have one 40cl fully paid for.

Hi all,

My apologies to Dazz. After reading some of the quotes above I went back and reread some of the recent (2011-2013) newsletters and it is quite clear that the 40 class project was moved to the new factory some time ago.

The following is a quote from ET#22, 25 July 2011.

"With the arrival of the garret re-run and the sound equipped CPH/CTH
sets, no further Eureka projects will be undertaken at the old factory. All future projects will
be carried out at the new factory and to enable this all tooling (620/720, AD60, LCH/CCH,
CHG, C38, CPH/CTH and 40 class) has been transferred to the new factory."

My discussion with Ron re the 40's must have occurred prior to this newsletter, where he indicated that the factory had offered to complete the project by October of that year. Apparently given the extensive delays to the AD60 rerun and the sound equipped CPH/CTH he must have lost faith with their ability and moved the 40's to the new factory also.

It appears that even with the tooling transfer issues they have not performed up to expectations either!

Other projects completely undertaken at the new factory have been produced much quicker. Maybe there have been similar chassis redesign issues to the TrainOrama 44/47/49/GM and 48 models.

Happy waiting,

John

PS; I have two fully paid for 40's on order. I am not losing any sleep over their delayed arrival.

John

If you sift a bit further you will find that the 40cl is being done at the old factory, & what I was saying regarding the difference in news in the Eureka times & AMRM, although from looking back into past editions of both its almost like a yo yo, that's had a broken string.

Some time back I suggested the issue with all the loco's that were being done by both Austrains & Eureka were affected by the very same chassis & motor issue that TOR has experienced & so far only TOR has publicly said so, but Austrains has actually hinted at in a news release a while back.

I would suggest that the costs that both Austrains & Eureka had with shifting those two models from the old factory to the new one, which meant a complete redesign may well have proven too expensive & a financial reason why they stayed at the old one, & probably what Ron was hinting at when he talked about financial incentive to stay at the old one.  

The thing is I guess, when compared to the delays to the TOR GM's & the 48/830class staying at the old factory really has not achieved any benefit to the both of them, except perhaps financially.  The thing is though, I would be interested in knowing which factory produced the Rclass, as it too was subject to the yo yo at different times, & not sure what end it was at when the string broke.

John

If you sift a bit further you will find that the 40cl is being done at the old factory, & what I was saying regarding the difference in news in the Eureka times & AMRM, although from looking back into past editions of both its almost like a yo yo, that's had a broken string.

Some time back I suggested the issue with all the loco's that were being done by both Austrains & Eureka were affected by the very same chassis & motor issue that TOR has experienced & so far only TOR has publicly said so, but Austrains has actually hinted at in a news release a while back.

I would suggest that the costs that both Austrains & Eureka had with shifting those two models from the old factory to the new one, which meant a complete redesign may well have proven too expensive & a financial reason why they stayed at the old one, & probably what Ron was hinting at when he talked about financial incentive to stay at the old one.  

The thing is I guess, when compared to the delays to the TOR GM's & the 48/830class staying at the old factory really has not achieved any benefit to the both of them, except perhaps financially.  The thing is though, I would be interested in knowing which factory produced the Rclass, as it too was subject to the yo yo at different times, & not sure what end it was at when the string broke.

If I remember correctly, the big issue with the R class was that an engineer at Sanda Kan, who was working on the R class, got the bullet and promptly took the design files out of the computer and down the road to the new factory. As a result, the design was shifted to the new factory by 'stealth'.

If I remember correctly, the big issue with the R class was that an engineer at Sanda Kan, who was working on the R class, got the bullet and promptly took the design files out of the computer and down the road to the new factory. As a result, the design was shifted to the new factory by 'stealth'.

I would not doubt that happening as I also understand briefs from another companies future list of planned models also went missing when a certain engineer left SDK in somewhat mysterious circumstances. Interestingly some are on the market now by another company, just coincidentally.

The Cosco Dalian has arrived in Sydney on schedule...

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/shipdetails.aspx?MMSI=354777000

I would not be surprised if there is a blog update in the next few days once the R Class clears customs.

If you havnt seen the link here is something to wet the appitite . Sounds very nice.

http://bylong.blogspot.com.au/2013/10/eureka-models-vr-r-class-preview-video.html

The Eureka website has announced the 900 class DEB set as (hopefully?) being available April/May 2014.

The cheaper price is available till 30th June 2014, then it goes up $50.

So in the unlikely event that these units actually get delivered prior to 30th June the wording on their web site means they will be available at the cheaper price until the 30th June.

Is any one else interpreting this that way? Be nice to think they would be here so quick.

The Eureka website has announced the 900 class DEB set as (hopefully?) being available April/May 2014.

I would suggest that this April/May 2014 is a miss-print. Perhaps April/May 2015 is more likely given we haven't (as far as I'm aware) seen any test shots or pre-production models yet.

Tony

I would suggest that this April/May 2014 is a miss-print. Perhaps April/May 2015 is more likely given we haven't (as far as I'm aware) seen any test shots or pre-production models yet.

Tony

Definitely in error because on the site it actually reads available 2015.  Only when you go to the following page does it read April/May 2014.  One thing that is not a strong suit for Eureka is predicting arrivals.  On the current site there are 10 products that are expected either second half 2013 or late 2013.  Not sure how many have been delivered, but there remain only two weeks in 2013 so if the predictions are all to be fulfilled it will be a busy couple of weeks coming up.

Anyhow, I will save up to accumulate $900 by 28 Jun 14 and get my order submitted just in time.  If my brace of 40 class diseasels and the single D50 rock burner come along by then I will be more relaxed coughing up $900.

Best regards,
John

Definitely in error because on the site it actually reads available 2015.  Only when you go to the following page does it read April/May 2014.  One thing that is not a strong suit for Eureka is predicting arrivals.  On the current site there are 10 products that are expected either second half 2013 or late 2013.  Not sure how many have been delivered, but there remain only two weeks in 2013 so if the predictions are all to be fulfilled it will be a busy couple of weeks coming up.

Anyhow, I will save up to accumulate $900 by 28 Jun 14 and get my order submitted just in time.  If my brace of 40 class diseasels and the single D50 rock burner come along by then I will be more relaxed coughing up $900.

Best regards,
John

I certainly would not sit on a hardwood seat in the middle of termite country with money in my pocket without moving until any of those models arrive as the termites will start eating out  the wood within 6-8 weeks, as you would likely end up in the nest.

New newsletter & updates 1/3/14
http://eurekamodels.com.au/eurekatimes/eureka_times_28-1march2014.pdf

"The 40 class is a major focus of attention now and Eureka staff will be visiting the old factory in March to expedite the completion and delivery of this project. Watch for updates in future editions of The Eureka Times."

This will be nice to see, a bit of progress on the 40's, who knows, they may still beat the Candy and Indian red 81 Class, not that that's a race you can take any joy out of winning

"The 40 class is a major focus of attention now and Eureka staff will be visiting the old factory in March to expedite the completion and delivery of this project. Watch for updates in future editions of The Eureka Times."

This will be nice to see, a bit of progress on the 40's, who knows, they may still beat the Candy and Indian red 81 Class, not that that's a race you can take any joy out of winning

I suppose that seems to be good news, but then again how come now in 2014, after it was announced in 2008 that the model had been given the go ahead, & how many times has the news been that the model is in production? Likewise, since then & the so called 2010 problems that arose, news has shown that it has been sent to the new factory, back to the old & so on.

For it to have some sort of priority now, just like the over extended Rcl begs the question why did both not have a higher priority then it has.