Ixion Models Press Release – Wednesday November 12, 2008

From the Ixion directors to all our customers, and news sections of the model railway press

Re-Tooling of the Ixion N Gauge Manor Locomotive, and subsequent delivery delay

As you know, our Anglo-Australian company Ixion Model Railways released its first N gauge locomotive, the GWR/BR 4-6-0 78XX Manor class, at the International N Gauge Exhibition at Leamington Spa on 13^th September this year. In our advertising, we promised the best N gauge locomotive to date, and initially believed we had achieved this goal, but the reality has been somewhat different. To our horror, after most pre-orders of Torquay Manor and Cookham Manor had been distributed, we discovered a scale error of roughly 8% in virtually all dimensions of the production Manor. Our investigations have concluded that whilst the first iteration of the CAD drawings we used in the preliminary design process were correct to 1:148 scale, in a subsequent version the scale changed, resulting in an incorrect production model. We accept overall responsibility for the situation, and will work with our subcontractors to refine all our quality control systems.

However, our desire has always been to operate to the highest standards of ethics and propriety, and we cannot in good conscience continue to sell a model that we know is not made to the promised British N scale. Thus, the outcome of the discovery of this error is that, effective immediately, we have ceased production and sale of the incorrectly scaled Manor and have authorised a complete re-tooling and re-manufacturing of the advertised Torquay Manor, Cookham Manor, Frilsham Manor and Hook Norton Manor, to the correct 1:148 scale. This redesign will also allow us to correct some of the minor errors which were still present in the production models, and which customers had pointed out to us.

All existing customers will have their models replaced free of charge with the new improved versions. We simply ask them to keep enjoying their locos until we contact them in 2009, when the new locos are ready. The replacement engines will be sent out to our customers accompanied by a postal voucher for the return of the old ones to either Ixion (for Australia and NZ), or Dapol (for the UK, USA and Europe).

We are desperately disappointed that this has occurred. Existing pre-order customers who have not yet received their models: we can only ask for your patience. There is nothing we can do in the immediate future as the new tooling will take time. We do understand your frustration and disappointment but would ask that you bear with us in what is a most regrettable and totally unexpected situation. Refunds of deposits are available for those who feel they cannot support us in this endeavour; in that instance, please contact Dapol Model Railways. For regular updates on the redesign and retooling process, please visit www.ixionmodels.com.

 

Yours sincerely, Phil Badger, Chris Klein and Lindsay O’Reilly,

Directors, Ixion Model Railways Ltd.

 

• On January 3rd 2008, following a number of requests from correspondents, we have added a Gallery page containing photos of some of the models built by the Ixion directors, Phil Badger, Chris Klein and Lindsay O'Reilly. All the photos were also taken by the relevant model's builder, except where otherwise noted.

• Click this link to view the Gallery page.