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Oxford Rail N7

Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2018 11:08 pm
by Kestrel

Re: Oxford Rail N7

Posted: Sat Feb 10, 2018 9:33 pm
by RayS
Looks promising - what is inside - hopefully a good solid motor. Compared to others the price seems low, though.

Re: Oxford Rail N7

Posted: Sun Feb 11, 2018 8:33 pm
by 65447
These are the official Oxford Rail photographs with the rods attached inverted. Wouldn't they be copyright images?

Re: Oxford Rail N7

Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2018 4:08 pm
by Hatfield Shed
Quite probably, but OTOH I have yet to hear of a business complaining when they get free advertising space and exposure!

I don't see anything jarring in the way of deviation of appearance from that of the prototype, other than the swiftly correctable coupling rod inversion. On this showing an easy match for my 'good' kit built N7, and will leave my early Wills kit built N7 for dead, so I go with the first two words in Ray S. post:
RayS wrote: Sat Feb 10, 2018 9:33 pm Looks promising - what is inside - hopefully a good solid motor...
My sole experience of their loco product is the little 4-4-2T which I quickly had apart and (very easily) modified on behalf of a friend, to eliminate the motor intrusion into the underboiler void. Between testing it ahead of dismantling to establish a baseline performance for post modification assessment, and making the mods, my conclusions.

Small smooth running five pole skew wound motor with 50:1 two stage gear train. Very sweet running on 12V DC from an H&M resistance controller, excellent with a Lenz standard decoder. If the mechanism in the N7 is of similar design it should be fine as it stands, and I don't recall any significant complaints about the mechanical qualities of the drives in the first two Oxford releases.

The assembly was good too, there was no 'wrestling' necessary to prise the body off the mechanism once the securing screws were released, such as I have encountered on items from our longer established OO RTR manufacturers, Bachmann, Heljan and Hornby all. With the three easily accessed screws removed the body simply lifted off, and it could scarcely have been easier to remove and reposition the motor mount. Makes their product a stronger candidate for transplantation of RTR mechanisms into different bodies, as the ability to reposition the motor is often significant when trying to fit inside smaller prototypes.

Re: Oxford Rail N7

Posted: Wed Feb 14, 2018 5:40 pm
by RayS
Thanks for your insight Hatfield Shed; rods apart it sounds as though we might be getting a good useful little loco here. I thought there were a few problems with their radial tank at first. Will be interesting to see if any cross-fertilisation occurs with Hornby.

Re: Oxford Rail N7

Posted: Thu Feb 15, 2018 10:32 am
by Hatfield Shed
One thing such a small tank engine lke the Radial with carrying wheels either end will readily 'discover' on a layout is any dips in the track, where it loses traction as much of the weight transfers to carrying wheels. That seemed to be the typical running complaint. (Anyone who has built a C12 will know all about this!) The N7 shouldn't have that trouble.

There were complaints about appearance in some respects, apart from the mechanism intrusion I thought these minor, but then I don't know the class at all other than by some excellent photographs by David Lockett. The mechanism intrusion wasn't anything out of the ordinary, both Bachmann and Hornby have similar to show. As a first effort in OO RTR, a good start. Had it been released back when Chinese production of the 'better RTR OO' was just getting going in the early 2000's, I feel it would have been greeted with enthusiasm. A little allowance for starting on a steep learning curve, perhaps?

I am pretty sanguine about the N7, and feel it will be good enough to be useful on the evidence available, anything not quite right can be corrected.

Re: Oxford Rail N7

Posted: Tue May 15, 2018 8:43 pm
by Phil

Re: Oxford Rail N7

Posted: Thu May 17, 2018 10:38 am
by Hatfield Shed
Only side elevations, but they look right enough. There's a minor error on the non-condensing round top version, the operating rod and crank for the diverter in the steam exhaust hasn't been left off. Easy enough to fix.

Re: Oxford Rail N7

Posted: Sun May 20, 2018 10:20 am
by Woodcock29
Hi Everyone

Having studied the Oxford photos of the N7 I think generally they appear to be producing a good model.

However, I believe the flowerpot chimney on the BR version looks too tall and possibly the dome as well. The chimney should be 1'6" - only time will tell when we can run a set of callipers over it. (Many years ago I bought what was described as a brass N7 flowerpot chimney for my old Wills model but when I got it found it was way over scale - I've still got it as I couldn't find anything to use it on! I think it was either Cavendish or Jackson Evans. I ended up making a flowerpot chimney for the Wills N7.)

Also I would have expected the LNER black version to have been in lined in red. Yeadon certainly states that all were lined in the LNER period until 1941.

Andrew

Re: Oxford Rail N7

Posted: Sun May 20, 2018 10:48 am
by mick b
Woodcock29 wrote: Sun May 20, 2018 10:20 am Hi Everyone

Having studied the Oxford photos of the N7 I think generally they appear to be producing a good model.

However, I believe the flowerpot chimney on the BR version looks too tall and possibly the dome as well. The chimney should be 1'6" - only time will tell when we can run a set of callipers over it. (Many years ago I bought what was described as a brass N7 flowerpot chimney for my old Wills model but when I got it found it was way over scale - I've still got it as I couldn't find anything to use it on! I think it was either Cavendish or Jackson Evans. I ended up making a flowerpot chimney for the Wills N7.)

Also I would have expected the LNER black version to have been in lined in red. Yeadon certainly states that all were lined in the LNER period until 1941.

Andrew
I thought red lining was dropped in 1928 ?

Re: Oxford Rail N7

Posted: Sun May 20, 2018 3:30 pm
by Woodcock29
My understanding is that whilst generally goods engines and small tank engines were given plain black livery post 1928, some passenger tanks, including the N2s, N7s, G5s as well as the larger tanks such as C12s, C13s and C14s continued to be lined in red.

Re: Oxford Rail N7

Posted: Sun May 20, 2018 8:34 pm
by Seagull
mick b wrote: Sun May 20, 2018 10:48 amI thought red lining was dropped in 1928 ?
Some of the locos built by outside contractors after 1928 showed up with red lining.

No doubt the people doing the ordering just dusted off a copy of an old order and sent it out - complete with the instructions to 'paint black and apply red lining'

Same sort of thing happens where I work today ....... :?

Alan

Re: Oxford Rail N7

Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2018 4:33 pm
by PaulG
According to Oxford Rail in a reply to my FB enquiry, the N7 has been produced and more details will be released once shipping details have been confirmed.

Re: Oxford Rail N7

Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2018 7:33 pm
by RayS
That is good news - looking forward to getting mine and testing it. A must for a GE based layout. Now for the J70...

Re: Oxford Rail N7

Posted: Fri Oct 05, 2018 12:47 am
by Woodcock29
It will be interesting to see this model when it arrives. I wonder if it will be better than other Oxford releases? For starters the flowerpot chimney on the later versions appears to be too tall, as do the dome and safety valves.

A possible source for a replacement chimney, dome and safety valves could be SE Finecast or it might be possible to simply cut them down in height?

Andrew