General Musings...

All,

Whilst assembling a Lloyds 4 wheel HG guards van over the weekend I couldn't help but muse about the great range that this producer once offered.

With all of the brilliantly detailed ready to run wagons available today, it is easy to forget the impact that this manufacturers range made on the local market...

Of course there were other manufacturers & indeed their input cannot be challenged....but to my mind Lloyds epitomised all that was good with the hobby.

An absolute plethora of available kits of both locomotives & rollingstock...some in hindsight were quite obscure.....but nonetheless a joy to build & run.

The range was mostly in stock & it was an absolute joy to call direct & be greeted with a genuine warmth & friendliness that defined the proprietor.....You always devoted a bit of time to make the call, because a lengthy conversation was the likely outcome.

Nothing was a bother & indeed if you were after a built loco or some piece of rollingstock RTR ( due to an impatience to build it yourself ) you were given an accurate timeframe & timely calls or a letter outlining progress always followed.

As for the kits themselves....in my opinion & when one uses hindsight,  many of the kits were way ahead of their time in regard to quality, instructions, and ease of construction....

So what happened...

I am aware that the rollingstock range was largely aquired by another manufacturer & i must admit to not being offay with the intricacies of running a model railway related business...but.... why are they still mostly unavailable.

I am also aware that in the intervening years a lot of what was once supplied by Lloyds is now or will shortly be available RTR...but when one looks at the catalogue of fine kits available over the years there was certainly a few years ( at least ) where a window of opportunity existed to capitalise on the investment & indeed there are some kits that could be released today where no RTR equivalent is even planned at this stage.

I did not intend for this posting to be a criticism of the present custodian of this great range...And indeed there may be other factors that have influenced the direction of this range.....but with the inherent quality & popularity ( if one measures the prices gained for anything of Lloyds origin on ebay )....i think i am justified in making the observation...

As usual i look forward to any comments or input...

I will post some shots of this wagon when i am a bit further advanced..

Regards,

Rod