Is anyone actually going to make a Merlin website?

Joe · Post by **Joe** » Tue Feb 10, 2015 6:09 pm

Hi recently i have become very interested in Merlin locos by Tom Cooper and although i know the locos are controversial the ones that run well seem to run really well and just as good as basic roundhouse locomotives plus they all look great but I as wandering why isnt there a website for Merlin locomotive works? I know this topic has featured before but i find it staggering because Merlin were arguably the best locomotive manufacturer in the 1980s except perhaps roundhouse (although Merlin locos did have better body work) and they produced lots of different designs including my favourite, Hunslet, its just a shame that not many are seen working anymore and a lot are being kept in cabinets without being steamed.

MDLR · Post by **MDLR** » Tue Feb 10, 2015 8:35 pm

They were probably just pre-Internet so never got to have a web site. Perhaps this is an opening for somebody (not me) to do the research and do a web site for them. It could contain such useful information as to availability of spare.....................

Joe · Post by **Joe** » Tue Feb 10, 2015 8:37 pm

Exactly what I was thinking , I imagine the propblem is the variety of different loco types plus it's unclear how many locks Tom made , anyone have an idea ?

funandtrains · Post by **funandtrains** » Tue Feb 10, 2015 11:23 pm

Some people seem to like to bash Merlins but as well as looking much better than 1980's Roundhouse locos, depsite some Roundhouse service parts still being available I see more Merlins running of the same age.

Big Jim · Post by **Big Jim** » Wed Feb 11, 2015 12:40 am

As a bit of a closet Merlin fan I would love to see a website or even an article about Tom Coopers products.

I think we have possibly reached a point where most of the bad ones have long been scrapped, or possibly relegated to bookend status.

ianpearse · Post by **ianpearse** » Wed Feb 11, 2015 10:56 pm

Having worked at Merlin from 1982 to 1986 I have a lot of info. Currently I am writing up what I can remember of all that went on during that time, all about the models and of the people of the period. TAG of Garden Rail keeps on getting on at me for an article. I have boxes of my fathers (Don Pearse) photos of all the models and some of the dubious accessories!

Big Jim · Post by **Big Jim** » Wed Feb 11, 2015 11:07 pm

I would be very interested to see the article when it is published Ian. I suspect many other would be too.

The interesting products that came from Merlin and Tom Cooper's associated companies deserve an 'authorised biography'. If nothing else it might stop the arguments that appear on this forum (and other places) about what the engines were called.

Good luck with your project.

Alan P · Post by **Alan P** » Thu Feb 12, 2015 5:25 pm

I second that, i would be very interested in an article on Merlin and Steamlines locos. Being lucky enough to be the proud owner of 2 Merlin Maestros i'm always interested in any information about Tom Cooper's lovely engines.

Big Jim · Post by **Big Jim** » Thu Feb 12, 2015 5:52 pm

With a pair of Maestros, you could start a breeding program.😃

Alan P · Post by **Alan P** » Thu Feb 12, 2015 5:57 pm

I'm not sure they'd be compatible, they have different valve gear

Big Jim · Post by **Big Jim** » Thu Feb 12, 2015 8:01 pm

A Merlin Mongrel perhaps?

Chris Cairns · Post by **Chris Cairns** » Sun Feb 15, 2015 4:47 pm

The SMT DVD includes an Archive which has Merlin Locomotive Works 2nd Edition 1984 catalogue, plus several Merlin's Messenger's - http://www.16mm.org.uk/newsite/publicat ... mbers.html

If you are going to the National Garden Railway Show it will be available for £25 (while stocks last) - http://www.nationalgardenrailwayshow.or ... k-numbers/

Chris Cairns

Bill/Rubery · Post by **Bill/Rubery** » Mon Feb 16, 2015 10:44 pm

A person above tells us some people..." like to bash Merlin Locomotives"! ....If he was a young man with a family and a mortgage paying 17% interest (mid 1980's) and purchasing a Merlin only to find the maker did not want to know about things when things went wrong then he is correct. This before the internet. Letters were easy to ignore and phone calls did not have to be answered...........

TonyW · Post by **TonyW** » Mon Feb 16, 2015 11:16 pm

Bill/Rubery:108288 wrote:A person above tells us some people..." like to bash Merlin Locomotives"! ....If he was a young man with a family and a mortgage paying 17% interest (mid 1980's) and purchasing a Merlin only to find the maker did not want to know about things when things went wrong then he is correct. This before the internet. Letters were easy to ignore and phone calls did not have to be answered...........

Amen to that Bill. Fortunately, back in 1988, I was warned by people who had already suffered and I ended up with a Roundhouse Dylan rather than the Merlin I wanted only because it looked nice. I still have the Dylan, and it still works.

Having repaired, and more often than not failed to repair, a few Merlins I can be counted as a basher. Nowadays I decline any mechanical work on them and I refer the owner to other repairers.

Bill/Rubery · Post by **Bill/Rubery** » Tue Feb 17, 2015 11:06 am

If ONLY I had friends like YOU Tony....also in 1987 my union went on strike and I was in a money pickle! I wanted a 'Lady Anne' but when we went back to work I was so skint so I purchased a Merlin Monarch as they a bit cheaper??...if only I knew what I was letting myself in for. I even went to a Llanfair show to confront Cooper and stood behind a chap who was telling Cooper what junk he sold...when it was my turn I left Cooper spluttering....I felt like giving him eeeerrrrr... 'one'....Maybe a website might have a 'Honest Opinion' section so innocents might be aware what they are buying into??!

Joe · Post by **Joe** » Tue Feb 17, 2015 5:23 pm

As some of you clearly had Dodgy merlins may I ask what you did with them as I was thinking about someone else's comment that perhaps most of the dogy ones had been scrapped
Cheers
Joe

MDLR · Post by **MDLR** » Tue Feb 17, 2015 5:54 pm

I was given some sound advie. "If he's got it on the stand, buy it. If he hasn't, don't pay in advance cfor it!"

Having said all that, his activities publicising the scale in its early days helped to get it off the ground and into the modelling press, and we should never lose sight of that.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » Wed Feb 18, 2015 4:54 pm

I can understand people's frustration with buying 'dodgey' Merlins but I think its undiniable that working ones are very nice runners and would possibly match some of the basic accucraft or roundhouse Locos that have got a fairly good reputation thanks to proper checks before the Locos leave the workshop. At least now a days an accucraft or roundhouse loco 99 per cent of the time will work when brought new and second hand ones are normally fine but I think it's important to also understand that some earlier Locos are very nice to despite not having a very good reputation for good reasons

Bill/Rubery · Post by **Bill/Rubery** » Sat Feb 21, 2015 3:02 pm

Hello Joe, To put it bluntly...my Merlin was "scrapped"! I did not want some other innocent stuck with junk.... A club hammer is a great tool!

funandtrains · Post by **funandtrains** » Sat Feb 21, 2015 3:42 pm

Bill/Rubery:108403 wrote:Hello Joe, To put it bluntly...my Merlin was "scrapped"! I did not want some other innocent stuck with junk.... A club hammer is a great tool!

If had just kept it a few years Pearse would have been able to get it running perfectly as there early locos were mechanically very similar but built with more care. Even the parts would be worth good money now. The currently range a Accucraft basic 0-4-0 locos are almost the same design as the latter Merlin 0-4-0s, just benefitting from 20+ years of experience and minor tweeks, plus automated production of moving parts.

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Is anyone actually going to make a Merlin website?

Is anyone actually going to make a Merlin website?

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