Tales from The Room of Doom. Dipping a toe in various bucolic backwaters.

[Jol Wilkinson]

Slightly off topic (sorry Rob) but when I were a spotty young engineering apprentice circa 1970 we had a lecture at college on welding from someone from British Leyland. He was showing how the rain strips were spot welded onto an Austin Maxi. One brave student (not me!) asked if they also used any sealant. No, came the answer to which the obvious follow up was: doesn't it rust? The visitor then explained that of course it will corrode but so long as it gets through the warranty period they don't care. All the manufactures were the same and for every one getting fed up with BL and moving to Ford there was one fed up with Ford and moving to Vauxhall and so on; it goes round in a cycle except, that was when the Japanese were starting to get a foot in the door. Yes, their early products rusted quicker than an ice cream melting in this week's heatwave but they quickly learnt the lesson.

Mine was a course in product design and we were constantly being told whatever we design, to build in obsolescence or we would ultimately be putting ourselves out of work. Ironically, it was that built-in obsolescence that ultimately did for much of British industry which couldn't compete with the far east using similar tactics.

Whilst I can sort of see the justificeation for this approach in mass-market consumer products which can be expected to have a fairly short life anyway but model railway locomotives are a different kettle of fish and, if looked after, should be expected to serve throughout their owner's lives just as Triang and HD ones did. Those still run happily today and if they need a good clean/service it's a simple task.

I do think that many models hawned sve been eve alover complicated for the love of it by their designers.

It wasn't until the mid 1980s that effective anti corrosion processes became available and used in the automotive industry. The 1983 MGB I owned several years ago had needed major replacement bodywork after seven years by a previous owner.

RTR model railway "toys" are like most consumer goods, designed to cheaply manufactured, rather than dismantled and fiddled about with by the purchaser.

 

[Vaughan45]

Although some will probably disagree with me, I have noted that on some locos with painted coupling rods, the thickness of paint inside the crankpin hole can restrict the amount of 'play', which if replicated on all holes can cause slight binding or hesitancy at low speed. If an appropriate reamer or tapered round needle file is used to remove this paint it can be sufficient to improve running.

Whilst I have no experience with a Rapido Manning Wardle, I have used this technique on some other manufacturers locomotives with success, although it will invalidate the warranty if the model is subsequently returned.

 

[40057]

Regarding the above discussion on the longevity, or not, of present day production.

As pointed out above, it’s not just models. Attitudes to durability and repairability certainly used to be different. Whether the change was driven by manufacturers (and their workers) seeing planned obsolescence as desirable, or public demand for ‘up-to-date’ products, I don’t know.

I have a 1920ish advert for a Jubb Gauge 1 steam loco. The loco is promoted as an engine ‘you can operate with your son’ but so well made that ‘he will operate it with his son’. Leaving aside the gender stereotyping, the quality and longevity of the product was clearly seen as a positive by the manufacturer. I assume customers too, though I perhaps should point out that Jubb ceased trading about two years after the date of the advert.

Jubb’s locos though are still about and some of them at least still work.

Martin