MEHANO "Tgv Ouigo -Made In Slovenia

Despite some negative reviews about this model I went ahead and as this was an offer I couldn't resist. At £49 at the time of purchase and previously advertised on Amazon for over £80 some weeks ago I thought I could manage any glitches that may arise. My concerns were unfounded and the loco ran for 30 minutes in both directions, no stalling or drop outs of current from the track. (this was done on my layout which has served me well for a number of years). I would recommend as flat a surface as possible: avoid laying the track on a fluffy deep-pile carpet, you'll get nothing but hassle and grief! ( AND NEVER USE A TRACK MAT THAT COMES WITH A LOT OF SIMILAR SETS, YOU'LL HAVE TONS OF HASSLE GETTING THE TRAIN TO RUN SMOOTHLY, the folds and creases are a nightmare), during running in the loco was a little noisy but nothing annoying. The bonus for me was the loco had all eight wheels driven on a metal chassis, giving it stability and good track contact. Setting the entire train with its carriages was an easy job, a little fiddly to place all the wheels on the track, but you could use the Hornby guider device which makes it a doddle to place wagons and carriages on the track. The detail is very adequate for this price and the colour is a slick blue, very nice finish. All in all a great train. The beauty of MEHANO is that buying extra track won't break the bank and several sets to choose from. I have bought MEHANO for a number of years and very rarely let me down. A NO-BRAINER for me at this price and decent quality of finish, comparing it to a Hornby set at more than triple the price, although admittedly HORNBY are good sets but not at the prices they charge and extras cost a fortune. Thoroughly recommend. Great job MEHANO.

It is very cheap for what you get. The product description is completely misleading, it is NOT made in Slovenia, the company might be in Slovenia, but the product is made in China, it says so on the box and on the underside of the locomotive. The loco does not run very well, especially on low speed, sometimes on start up it needs a nudge. I hope after running in it would improve. One of the drive wheels was not manufactured to a high standard, it has a lump of metal on it and has to be sanded down or the loco runs with a limp.The colour on the Ouigo set is very good but the bogies and various part mights need painting to made it more realistic and less plastic, so I regard this as the start of a project.Edit: I further discover the front bogie of the dummy locomotive was out of it pivot socket, this is just bad assembly and non existent quality control. The wheels are not completely round and spin with a wobble.

Does not run properly wheels are not circular and had lumps on them The look of the train is very nice just a pity about the other problems.

Very good, I take one star because the landscape is not very durable it cracks easily.

I looked forward to receiving this set, having once again seen a review of it on YouTube. I knew that I might be letting myself in for an interesting time, and so it proved.The box: all items are compartmentalised this time, no two items sharing the same space. However, with this being a four coach train (with similar couplings to that of Hornby's magnificent Eurostar set), it was still very disappointing to see only a circle of (albeit 3rd radius) track. If the cargo train by Mehano can have two pieces of straight track, then so can this. Wake up Mehano, that's not good enough. The usual components of power controller and 2 pin adaptor are there, as well as the track holding pieces and a couple of extra fishplates. That's it.I didn't bother to unpack the track circle as I used the cargo train oval to try it out. I placed the power car on the track, ready for its obligatory running in of 30 minutes in each direction at just under half speed. Nothing. I took the coach away to my workdesk and used another transformer's powered wires to motion the wheels. Round they went. Back to the track oval and with a little prompting I finished the running in. It's not the smoothest runner and it is rather noisy, but that's only to be expected from a cheap set such as this. No surprise there.Some time later, I attempted to run the power car again. Nothing. Back to the workdesk to remove the loco body. All seemed ok but then I noticed the wheels weren't that clean. I cleaned them with Isopropanol fluid and cotton buds, rotating the wheels electronically as before. They were filthy dirty. Having cleaned them I checked the other coaches and they were fine, except for the non-powered end coach, which needed lubricating to get the wheels to turn properly. A poorly running coach can have a detrimental effect on the life of the power car motor.Having done all this work, I placed the whole train, duly coupled, on to the track and this time there were no problems. This train is not the greatest slow starter but at least it now works properly and seems a little smoother.Note to Mehano: your quality control needs to be up to standard on ALL your products.There is a similar set from Jouef which is distributed by Hornby; I have ordered that and will review it for you too, knowing that the controller, a Hornby run of the mill train set effort, won't be up to much. I shall use the superior Mehano one to test it out.Overall, it's a sleek little speed train this, when it works properly. Do check it for the same issues that I have raised, in doing so you will spare yourself time and effort in the long run.I'll say it again, Mehano: quality control; and again, quality control. Enough said.

A metal loco chassis with twin axel / twin bogie cardan drive, transparent cab windows and decent build quality. This means it's a properly built entry level train set - unlike the Hornby/Jouf version, which is a single bogie drive 'toy' with painted cab windows and plastic wheels, likely to fall apart.

How come the same article worth 50 GBP in Spain?Here is the Amazon/Spain link for the same articlehttp://www.amazon.es/Mehano-L%C3%8DNEA-DE-TREN-ORDINARIO/dp/B00FOPYB2E/ref=pd_sim_sbs_21_25?ie=UTF8&dpID=515pmsag1xL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR160%2C160_&refRID=1TXKJJMHAMX53H4SXFMQ

The Ouigo locomotive car does not start or run well on my existing Hornby nickel silver track layout - also it is very noisy when moving.The metal wheels on the bogies are not cast well (lumpy) with non-circular results - this contributes to noise and poor pickup.Mehano have a long history of making good locomotives and rolling stock -this set has neither, unfortunately.