An open letter to Ixion Customers re the unavoidable delayed release of two of the four versions of the N gauge 'Manor'
Friday 29th August, 2008
Dear Ixion customers and friends,
As you know, Ixion has a significant proportion of its design work and specialist subcontracting undertaken in the People’s Republic of China, home of the world’s best model railway production facilities. China has recently hosted the Olympic Games, as well as having suffered a devastating earthquake earlier this year, and these events have impacted on the production capacities of many industries, including ours. Despite herculean efforts on our behalf by our subcontractors, we regret to advise that we will not have the full range of Manors available for supply and sale at the Leamington Spa N Gauge exhibition at the end of September.
We have looked at which versions have received the majority of pre-orders in both the UK and Australia and have decided upon this release schedule:
Production of 7800 Torquay Manor (BR lined green, later BR emblem) and 7808 Cookham Manor (GWR unlined green, shirtbutton emblem) are already well-advanced and we will have a enough of these locomotives completed by the launch to supply 100% of all pre-orders for these models, plus some for magazine review samples, plus some for sale off the stand at the N Gauge show.
The following week will see the start of the final decorations on 7816 Frilsham Manor (GWR unlined green, GWR on tender) and 7823 Hook Norton Manor (BR unlined black, earlier BR emblem). As the 7816 and 7823 models come off the production line we will ship them to pre-order customers. Our expectation is that all Frilsham and Hook Norton pre-orders will be completed by the end of October. For southern hemisphere customers who have ordered through Ixion directly, this means a slight delay to delivery of the locos, as we decide whether to have them sent to Australia in one or two batches. Either way, we believe they will be worth the wait.
We apologise for the delay in release of our Frilsham and Hook Norton Manors, and hope you enjoy what will be a landmark model in British outline N gauge.
Phil Badger, Chris Klein and Lindsay O’Reilly
Directors, Ixion Model Railways Ltd.
