Revolution Trains #44 - Facebook Live event; coronavirus impacts; HOAs delivery latest; N gauge Ecofrets on sale, OO gauge Ecofrets to follow shortly

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Facebook Live - we're coming to your front room!

With the ongoing coronavirus situation at the foremost of everyone's mind it is understandable that model railway exhibitions have been cancelled. Exhibitions are one of our main ways to talk to people face-to-face and ask us questions. Obviously we can't do that but we are going to try the next best thing with a Facebook Live event at 1800 BST on Tuesday 31 March 2020.

This will give us an opportunity to show off the decorated samples of the KUA nuclear flask carriers, update everyone on the latest news on our other projects, offer our best estimates of the ongoing impact of Covid-19 and answer any questions from our customers and supporters in real time.

If you wish to join us (and we hope that you will!) simply follow this link to the Revolution Trains Facebook page.

We at Revolution Trains take the safety of our customers, suppliers, colleagues and, of course, ourselves very seriously. Inevitably Coronavirus will have some impacts on model development and production due to the shutdowns in China and latterly the UK, though many of the factories and teams in China are now back up and running.

At the time of writing, Government guidelines are that postal deliveries could, and should continue.

Subject to any change in such guidance and the availability of delivery options we will continue to send out our pre-ordered HOA wagons, and limited stocks of containers, Sonic Models VEA vans and Revolution JNA box wagons that are in stock at our home addresses.

The models have all been in untouched in their shipping cartons for several weeks, having been sent from China before Christmas, and only one person, using hygiene precaution, is doing the checking, picking and packing. These measures taken during dispatch should ensure that your package arrives containing your models – and nothing else!

N gauge HOA aggregates hoppers

HOAs made it before Chinese New Year 2020.

Sending out the N gauge HOA aggregates hoppers is progressing well. All the fully paid orders have been sent out and all balance invoices have been generated. If you have not received your balance invoice(s) and you were expecting an invoice then please login to your account on our website where you should find any outstanding balances ready for payment.

If your order has been marked as "Complete" ie despatched please allow a few days for the postal service but then if you have not received your order please get in touch with us.

Revolution HOAs on Pete Latham's Wormhill layout at Model Rail Scotland 2020.

A few people have experienced stiff bogies on our HOAs - unfortunately in some cases the factory have over-tightened the screw retaining the bogies. This can easily be rectified by using a small Phillips head screwdriver to loosen the screw by a quarter or half turn.

Sonic Models 56xx

We have some exciting news on the Sonic Models 56xx steam engine which we will reveal during the Facebook Live event. The RRP has been set at £109.95 and retail/fulfilment options will be revealed at the same time.

Ecofret FWA container flats in N

The CAD of our N gauge Ecofret FWA container flats is now approved so we have released the Ecofrets for sale on our website. The Ecofrets are operated by Freightliner (VTG green twin sets), GBRf (blue with or without Ecofret deck branding triple set) and DB Cargo (DB red triple set).

We're offering 4 different numbers of VTG green twin set as operated by Freightliner and 4 different numbers of GBRf blue triple sets (2 with and 2 without the Ecofret deck brand). In addition we are offering 1 of the triple sets in DB red (there are only 2 sets in DB red and if demand warrants it we will offer the second set and allow people to change their orders).

The earlybird price is £70 for a twin set (VTG green) and £95 for a triple set (GBRf blue or DB red) and we will keep the earlybird price open longer than normal until 31 May. Our normal deposit and balance system is available for customers who wish to split the cost. From the 1 June the price will increase to £75 and £102.50 for a twin and a triple respectively. The OO gauge Ecofrets should go on sale in the next couple of weeks.

Purchase N gauge Ecofrets

You can find full details of all of our projects on our website. We spend a lot of time updating our website so that you have the latest information please do not email us asking for an estimate as it takes a surprising amount of our (spare) time to answer each email individually!

KFA and Sturgeon deliveries

All the outstanding KFA and Sturgeon deliveries have been sent out. Please contact us urgently if you have not received your order!

Missing an update on your preferred project? We can't include every project as there just isn't space, but all the latest information on each of our projects is on our website - just click on Projects.

We hope that you will be able to join us tomorrow (31/3) at 1800 BST for our first Facebook Live event - if it works then we will try to make this a regular event (Ed: if it doesn't work then it was Ben's idea and it is his fault ;-)!). We'll have the first view of our decorated sample of the KUA nuclear flask carrier, news on the 56xx steam loco and other project updates. You can ask us questions during the event and if you're unable to make it while we are live then it should be recorded and available after the event.

As ever for an overview of all our projects please look at our project table. There is a lot more information on our website that we do not have space for in a newsletter!

Best wishes and stay safe

Mike & Ben