EFE Island Line 1938TS

It would be all so simple were it not for the interiors and underframes:

What you say imples that a valid train (P Stock) could be made from just one single car. This could sell in two different liveries and (EFE trick) lots of different running numbers/destinations. That's almost worth a retailer taking a punt on.

BUT railway modellers tend to be totally obsessive have a keen eye for detail these days. Not only would they require different cab fronts (vent on the A end, no vent on the D end, or is it the other way round) and underframes (even though many of them have probably never seen a P stock underframe) also different interiors (vent intake in one car, not the other). The result is no model.

A shame, because something like this could be done incrementally. Get one full train up and running, sell some units to make some money, then produce the next car, sell some more units, and so on.

Just out of interest, what is the smallest number of cars needed to make up an R stock train? Could it be done with just exQ motor cars, and R trailers, or is it more complicated than that. My copy of 'Steam to Silver' is elsewhere.

Thanks,

I thought that the motor cars were different (A end different from D end). The driving end of the car with the Metadyne didn't have a vent, because the machine drew air from the passenger saloon. The driving end of the other car did have a vent. Anyway, vent/no vent is easy for a manufacturer to do these days.

It does seem as though it might be possible to gradually build up a wide variety of rtr possibilities incrementally. This should be compared with the Blue Pullman DMU (causes big debates amongst railway modellers) because an authentic train requires several different types of car, a lot of tooling/investment before a valid train can be created and anyone makes a purchase, and the potential of a big loss if it doesn't sell. At least with a train based on a single carbody, there is less risk to the manufacturer.

Which is probably why we have rtr New York Subway models. R17 and R21/R22 have both beed produced (very similar bodies), all prototype vehicles are double-ended DMs.

it's a shame they didn't have the r27/r30 in the subway series

R21/R22 now has gates, they look much better than the R17 did.

www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/920-31015
www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/920-31016
www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/920-31018

Berlin also does well, with its S-Bahn trains, originally Lima, which have been produced for years. For example:

www.hornby.de/Image/HQ/HR2043.jpg

I guess that London is just that little bit too diverse for manufacturers to know what to do. For example, what would sell best rtr? A set of 313 plus its variants, 4SUB or P stock? I really don't know.

Like this?
www.nycsubway.org/perl/show?4500

R27s were wider and longer than the R21/22s (and had 4 sets of doors), and ran in pairs, but otherwise they look very similar.

I don't know. I'm looking into the 1960ts very seriously now. It will probably go on the old 1959ts chasis.

Check out EBAY- type 'London Underground' under collectables.

There is 1931ts, F and Q38 stock!!

www.modelbuszone.co.uk/efe/sets/932gs.html says that the Island Line 1938TS will come out in October.

Brake fluid?

Hi Ajax,

I'm a little nervous about scraping the paintwork on these models. It would help to know if the striping is paint or transfer. I suspect, I'll just have to respray these units with LT bus Red.

Thanks for the advice though!

Thanks Metman, I was not sure if you were serious or not on an earlier post about the brake fluid. Will try this carefully. I suppose the worst that can happen is the plastic body desolves -aaaargh.

Got it Thanks!!

I plan on converting a six car unit of EFE 98T stock, so a mistake on one of the cars means I have to repaint the whole unit. Thanks Glyn!

The IOW 38TS has now been released:
www.modelbuszone.co.uk/efe/news/news1008.html