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The Story So far Those familiar with
the story so far will know that Eureka Models came into existence when
John Eassie as one of the proprietors of Austrains, after several years
of being constantly pestered by myself (and others) to produce a 44 class
diesel, in a fit of desperation said "if you want a 44 class then do the
bloody thing yourself" or words to that effect. He then went on to
add, "I will even introduce you to the people in China who can do it for
you". This started the process rolling and with much help freely
given by John, Eureka Models came into being with the sole aim of producing
a 44 class diesel.
However, as is often
the case as one door closes another opens and the work done on the 44 and
the relationships with the Chinese manufacturers established in the process
led to the decision by Eureka to commission the production of a different
locomotive.
The AD60 This will be the largest and the most ambitious ready to run locomotive project ever undertaken for the Australian prototype market. In terms of complexity, number of detail parts involved and cost, this is a large project even by international standards. The Chinese manufacturer is the same firm that has produced all of the excellent Austrain locomotives to date. This firm incidentally, is one of the top model railway manufacturers in the world and currently produces about 60% of the world's output of model railway equipment including models for the leading brands in the US and Europe. For a number
of reasons the manufacturer has indicated that they are determined to produce
in the AD60 a model which will be the equal of any model produced
for the HO market worldwide to date so Eureka is looking forward to a fine
locomotive for followers of Australian prototype.
The 620/720 Railmotors The 620/720 railmotors
may well find themselves over-shadowed by the Garratt project, however
the attraction of this series of railmotors lies not only in the cars themselves
but also from a manufacturing point of view what can be done as a follow
on. The tooling for the 620/720s is being done in a way so that if
there is ever to be a second run produced then the 600/700 and the 900
sets can be produced from the same tooling. This results in considerable
cost saving. 400 class and CPH railmotors could follow if demand warrants.
Feedback Many years ago in a
different forum I said that what I required from a model locomotive was
accuracy, quality and good running performance. This will be Eureka's
aim and I also hope that much of what Eureka Models does in the future
will be in response to the continuing demands of those who follow the NSWGR
for such qualities in their models.
Over to you Ron Cunningham
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