Announcements, arrivals and deadlines....plus going live (again)!

In our late May Facebook Live session we announced a OO gauge model of the SR General Manager Inspection Saloon 975025 "Caroline". During its long life "Caroline" has carried Princesses and Popes, seen vast areas of the network and is now earmarked for the National Collection once her working days are over.

Thanks to the assistance we've had from LORAM and Network Rail, the CAD is nearly complete with minor improvements to make before we start tooling.  The order book is open and we're offering the inspection saloon in the original blue grey (suitable for late 60s to mid 80s), Network SouthEast (1991 to 2003) and the current Network Rail SR Brunswick Green.

The model will feature exterior and interior details suitable for the livery, accurate headcode and light variations, fully sprung buffers, a highly detailed interior and numerous underframe parts. Flicker-free directional lighting, interior lighting solebar lighting and DCC options are being offered.

The early bird price of £135 will increase to £149 on 31 August 2020 and as an additional bonus, those who order before 31st August 2020 will be entered into a free draw to join us on a free and exclusive “Sweet Caroline” railtour - see our website for the details! 

You can see the full announcement with much more detail here on our website.

Expressions of Interest for N gauge Class 89 and "Caroline" inspection saloon

With the exciting OO gauge/4mm announcements of "Caroline"/975025 inspection saloon from us and a Class 89 from our friends at Rails of Sheffield/Accurascale we want to make sure that N gauge modellers have the same opportunities.

To that end we opened Expressions of Interest forms for an 89 and/or a "Caroline/975025 inspection saloon in N gauge/2mm.  The market is obviously significantly smaller in N than OO and any project takes a considerable amount of work (even if the R&D already exists for a OO model) so we ask you if there is sufficient interest for us to start projects for an 89 or Caroline inspection saloon in N!

Class 89 expressions of interest

Caroline inspection saloon expressions of interest 

The deadline for both Expressions of Interest is 31 July 2020 - if you are interested please don't miss out on letting us know! Please note that at this stage we haven't set a schedule for either project, nor are we asking for any money - we appreciate that people may be reluctant to commit in these uncertain times, but we can't emphasise enough that we're not going to release everything at once and that at this stage all we want to know is whether there is enough interest for us to do some more work.

If you don't let us know then we can't produce them!

Production updates

Class 92: we've just received the production samples of the 92s and we've just about finished checking them.  We'll show them in more detail tomorrow in our Facebook Live session plus we'll put images on our website later this week.

KUA bogie nuclear flasks: our KUA models (livery samples above) are well underway in production and should be ready to leave the factory relatively soon.  Our order book is now closed, but if you missed out and would still like to place a pre-order you can do so from our friends at Rails of Sheffield here.

GWR/WR 56xx 0-6-2 tank loco: production continues on schedule and the models should leave the factory in Q3 2020. Our order book is closed but you can pre-order from Rails of Sheffield here - Rails are also offering six new variants (not available from Revolution) include three new identities for existing liveries and three all- new versions. The new liveries include GW unlined green with “shirt-button” logo, GWR unlined green with GWR “austerity” block style lettering  and BR unlined black with “BRITISH RAILWAYS” lettering. Additional numbers are being offered in BR lined green with late crest, BR unlined black with early emblem and GW unlined green with GREAT WESTERN lettering.  If you placed an order with Revolution then we will be fulfilling your order - you don't need to do anything or contact Rails.

IPA car carriers in N: the production run is almost complete and we've just received production samples for approval.  We anticipate that the models will leave China next month.

Class 128: we released the first CAD of our 128 parcels unit at the end of April and identified a number of changes to the CAD. We had hoped that we would have finished checking the changes to the CAD by now and have the 128 on sale unfortunately that has taken us slightly longer than hoped but the 128s should be on sale soon (despite the comment in the NGS Journal which said the 128 would be on sale).

Class 320/321: finally we've just announced a two-phase deadline for the N gauge 320 and 321 EMUs.  The deadline for orders for the Strathclyde Orange 320 and Silverlink 321 is 30 August 2020 - these are close but as yet unconfirmed ie if we get sufficient orders by the deadline they will go ahead. Then the deadline for all orders is 20 September 2020 so that production can begin with the aim that the models will arrive in Q1 2021.