East Coast Railways (ECR) on eBay

[bionicatomicuk]

Good evening, My name is John and I am just getting started in G Scale as I am, and have been, an HO Marklin fan for over 40 years now. I have seen ECR offerings on eBay and they seem remarkably cheap compared to the big brands like LGB and Piko. I am interested in their BR80, radio controlled loco to use with a track cleaning wagon since it will not be affected by dirty rails. I intend the railway to be digital using ESU decoders sp clean rails are important.

Radio control is a simple solution but I ma concerned about the quality of their items as the prices are so much cheaper. IA m also looking at their rolling stock as a quick way to get some. I believe that new hell sets would be a big improvement to their wagons and coaches.

Overall I am looking for any views on both the items they sell and their customer service. All info will be greatly appreciated.

 

[ebay mike]

Welcome to the forum John.
I assume you are referring to the Chinese manufactured LGB copies (coaches, wagons, 2-6-2 loco etc.) as ECR also sell Piko G scale.
You get what you pay for from the Train branded stuff, but that said a G scale coach for under £25 represents remarkable value albeit at the expense of quality. I have no connection with the seller other than being a purchaser of a fair quantity of his offerings. To date I have acquired around 15 coaches and over 30 items of freight stock as well as several of the 2-6-2 tank locos. The locos performance is not brilliant but serve my purpose of providing something to run at short notice with the minimum of preparation. I have fitted metal wheelsets to some stock which improves their running qualities. I have also fitted couplings with hooks to both ends which reduced the uncoupling incidents experienced.
For more 'serious' running sessions I have a large stable of LGB, Piko, Aristocraft etc to call on but have no regrets at buying my cheapies. I have no experience of their customer service other than that provided in the prompt delivery of my purchases as I have not experienced anything significant to complain about.

 

[Zerogee]

Welcome to the forum, John!

There has been a lot posted on here about the items that ECR are offering (they are Chinese-made models that are branded either "Train" or Newqida, and they are not unique to ECR - many stockists have sold them over the years) - basically they are copies of LGB items, made in much cheaper materials to significantly lower quality standards - there has been much debate here and elsewhere about the ethics of such copying, but at the end of the day there is certainly a market for them and many people use them as a relatively inexpensive entry into G scale railways. I have several of the coaches and tank cars myself, and with a little work and modification they are perfectly serviceable.
The 2-6-2 RC loco is reasonably good, apparently, for what you pay for it - the control can be a little erratic I think, the sound is questionable at best and it has blue (???) LED headlamps, but if you want something to run in all conditions without track cleaning it's probably the cheapest ready-to-run option out there.
I don't have any personal experiences of ECR themselves, other than having seen their stand at a couple of shows this year - all the rolling stock that I have has come from other stockists, so I can't comment on ECR's service.
Have a trawl through the forum archives here, particularly the Battery Power forum, and you'll find a lot of info and discussion about the range.

Jon.

 

[trammayo]

I haven't got one of the locos but I do buy the flat cars. Material is more pliable than the quality stuff but, what the heck, it's a budget way of increasing the size of my train consists. If I was into European outline, I'm sure I could add the extra detailing (if I knew what it was) and adding metal wheels is a must do. Mind you, even LGB, Bachmann and Aristo items had plastic wheels.

If you don't want the extra expense (still combined cheaper than the brand leaders), then you can hide some weights un
derneath.



... into these...


Cheap spray can, some prunings (and some spare Bachmann stakes - although you can use wood) and voila!

 

[Zerogee]

........... I am interested in their BR80, radio controlled loco ..........

Just a quick point to avoid confusion - the BR80 model is a PIKO one, quite a basic model used in their starter sets but nevertheless a "proper" G scale loco, running on DC track power - it's actually a model of a standard-gauge German 0-6-0 tank loco modelled at somewhere around 1/26 scale..... the cheap R/C one by Train/Newqida is a model of the Harz Railway's 2-6-2 narrow (metre) gauge loco no.6001, sometimes known as the "Ballerina".

Jon.

 

[Madman]

Welcome aboard John. Happy to have you here with us

 

[bionicatomicuk]

Well what a welcome. Lots of helpful answers. I am most grateful . My apologies that I described the loco as a BR80. As I only want it for track cleaning I am tempted to go for it but it will be after Xmas now as "the boss" has already noted my spending on track, points, another loco (Piko BR64), a Loksound XL to convert it to digital and a signal I got join eBay. Discretion demands that I leave it until January!! I will also investigate the conversion of a loco to RC control as I love "fiddling" and have over the years converted lots of HO and N gauge locos to digital.

Once again many thanks for the welcome and the information.

John a.k.a. bionicatomicuk

 

[ntpntpntp]

As Jon has said, the Newqida / Train / BTS 2-6-2 tank loco (it's been sold under at least 3 guises) doesn't have the best sound unit in the world (I usually turn it off) and blue headlamps (I replaced the LEDs in mine with warm-white), but it's usable and it will trundle round quite happily with a couple of coaches. It has a button to set it running non-stop without using the RC transmitter, if you're busy in the garden and just want to leaving something running. With the RC on it has proportional control to some extent, though it does seem to need fresh batteries for best results.

It's not a particularly weighty loco so don't know how effective it would be for hauling a track cleaning wagon (never been totally convinced by cleaning wagons, they need so much weight to clean effectively that they become difficult to haul). To be honest, to keep track in good order for DCC nothing beats the good old LGB hand-held track rubber (on a pole if your track is at ground level). I find the LGB track cleaning loco can be pretty good also, and is certainly a useful addition for maintaining a shine.

 

[stockers]

To be honest, to keep track in good order for DCC nothing beats the good old LGB hand-held track rubber (on a pole if your track is at ground level). I find the LGB track cleaning loco can be pretty good also, and is certainly a useful addition for maintaining a shine.

Or just run trains regularly - the best and easiest way to keep your line in good nick.

 

[Henri]

Ok, how hard I try to find this mysterious RC loco on Ebay, I cannot seem to find it...

 

[idlemarvel]

I think this set contains the loco in question: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-G-SCA...723448?hash=item4d352e86f8:g:WlEAAOSwa-dWiWcq
You may not want the plastic track and flat bed wagons. Sometimes the loco appears on its own.

 

[PhilP]

Ok, how hard I try to find this mysterious RC loco on Ebay, I cannot seem to find it...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-G-SCA...697274?hash=item4d282fb63a:g:hhQAAOSwuMFUa5dU

Here you go Henri..

 

[Henri]

Thanks. No wonder I couldn't find it...

 

[bionicatomicuk]

Henri, I guess you have seen it now from the link provided by PhiLP. I found it doing a normal search for G scale on Google.
I have noted the various suggestions re cleaning track and I will look at them including the LGB track cleaning loco. I have already been looking at RC bits offered for garden railway and on the face of it conversion is straightforward, providing space is not an issue in locos. Looking in the forum under battery power I found an old post where the writer had put all the components in a wagon and used mini sockets to connect to the loco. His point was that it saved a set up in every loco. OK I guess if you only run 1 at a time but if you can and do run more than 1 it doesn't work. Unfortunately the thread appears to be archived and only the original post is there.
Anyway as I said spending is now curtailed until the new year, when maybe a bargain or two will be around.
Again thanks to everyone for their replies. Merry Christmas.
John - bionicatomicuk

 

[Brixham]

This is what you can do with a couple of cans of spray paint and some decals.

Base vehicles were the green 'BP' version

 

[Hal Farsed]

My two penneth: If youre expecting LGB quality from these products youre going to be dissapointed, the plastic used is well a bit brittle. However, I bought two of these tank wagons for about a tenner each in 2012, with the idea of making them look a bit more British and throwing some paint at them. If it all went wrong, it wouldnt matter too much. All I did really was strip them right down and rebuild them with Accucraft wheels. Accucraft supply two sets of wheels with their wagons for 32mm and 45mm gauge. To me the 32mm gauge wheels are useless as I do not operate "sewage farm" gauge trains. So they get put under other vehicles on a suitable piece of 1/8" bar. During the rebuilding I also locked the single axle bogie into its correct position, constructed a central footplate on top of the solebars, mocked up some brake rigging out of 2.5mm conductor from a length of flat twin and earth and refitted the ladder. All the European fittings went into the bin like the cage around the top filler, the thing in the end of the tank, the warning signs, staff safety barrier and extended tank feet. I sprayed them with etch primer. there were all sorts of horror stories around how the paint would not adhere to the plastic.Two thin coats of primer and two thin coats of colour. No problem at all. After I primed them, I decided they were a little "nude" and added all manner of bits and pieces, as in the end cross members and the associated rigging and some protection for the top filler, as you can see just out of bits I had lying around.

 

[Zerogee]

Really nice job on those repainted tank cars, Brixham! I've got half a dozen of the satin black finish ones that Train/Newqida made a couple of years back, with a small and reasonably unobtrusive "UDC Chemical" logo (free of spelling errors, unlike the infamous yellow "SHALL" versions!) that makes them quite acceptable straight from the box, but I love your respray and re-marking work there.....

Jon.

 

[Brixham]

Thanks Jon.....
I lightly rub the tank body down just removing the logo, a fibre pen is handy around the tricky areas. Then a wash with detergent, and then a very good rinse. Then don't touch the surface with greay hands.
I used Wilko primer ( grey for the white wagons, and white for the silver wagons ) cans and then white and a metallic silver for the main colours. Coat of gloss varnish before transfers, then matt varnish overall afterwards.
One thing I havn't yet done is ream out the 'drain taps'.
Metal wheels definitely...not 'sewage farm' gauge!

Should the 'Winter 2016' GSS Journal ever appear, you may be able to spot these 4 tankers....no prizes...

I have a couple more on the production line....they will be milk tankers...in white....without the end drains.
I'm stalled at the moment ( no real modelling time ) but would like to add end stanchions as John did. Planning to refit the ladders with a cut down platform.
I half considered adding a central third axle as UK style....but that may be a step to far.

Malcolm