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RevolutioN announce Class B tanks for N gauge


Andy Y
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There are two contradictory statements on the Revolution site which might not help matters:

 

"As with all our products, we will only produce enough to satisfy pre-orders so don’t miss out." http://www.revolutiontrains.com/projects/35t-class-b-tank-wagon/

 

"All of our products are produced to order, but we are delighted that some model shops have also decided to stock some of our products in case you miss out on pre-ordering" http://www.revolutiontrains.com/dealers/

 

I'm not sure what you think is contradictory - pre-orders includes those ordered by retailers as well as direct sales.  The point being that we won't produce lots of additional stock on the off-chance that someone might want to buy them in the future.

 

Cheers, Mike

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Hi Mike,

 

I see what you're saying, but they certainly can be read as two contradictory statements. The first is in the context of a page inviting retail customers to pre-order directly to make sure they get the model, the second effectively says "on the other hand if you don't preorder you can get them from these stockists".

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Hello Bill Badger,

 

We are still a few hundred short of the minimum number we need to reach to be confident about starting tooling.

 

By contrast, the HOA hoppers are already well beyond the minimum and CADs are now being drawn, with tooling work to follow soon afterward.

 

We still can't understand why these wagons are struggling. They fill a useful gap, can be used in block trains or in twos and threes, and are the same prototype as the iconic Airfix kit many of us remember from yesteryear. What's not to like?

 

Cheers

 

Ben A.

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Whilst the Fuel company tankers are two early for me ( I think ) where did the United Molasses run to and from.....can I make a case for running them through Olympia?

Would they have been only in block trains or in a mixed freight?

Edited by acg5324
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Whilst the Fuel company tankers are two early for me ( I think ) where did the United Molasses run to and from.....can I make a case for running them through Olympia?

Would they have been only in block trains or in a mixed freight?

Much as I would like to encourage you to order the molasses tanks they would not be strictly right for the West London Line. Traffic tended to be from the beet sugar factories (East Anglia, Midlands, Yorkshire) to the whisky distillery at Menstrie in Scotland or occasionally for storage in Liverpool. There were odd sugar factories in Somerset so a contorted wagon load working up the South Western mainline to Willesden would be your best bet. Or you could invent a trainload special working from Southampton Docks to say Silvertown in East London. Why not order some anyway because you like the colour scheme? ;-)

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Much as I would like to encourage you to order the molasses tanks they would not be strictly right for the West London Line. Traffic tended to be from the beet sugar factories (East Anglia, Midlands, Yorkshire) to the whisky distillery at Menstrie in Scotland or occasionally for storage in Liverpool. There were odd sugar factories in Somerset so a contorted wagon load working up the South Western mainline to Willesden would be your best bet. Or you could invent a trainload special working from Southampton Docks to say Silvertown in East London. Why not order some anyway because you like the colour scheme? ;-)

I thought they must work to and from Sugar beet factories, might order a short block anyway.

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Much as I would like to encourage you to order the molasses tanks they would not be strictly right for the West London Line. Traffic tended to be from the beet sugar factories (East Anglia, Midlands, Yorkshire) to the whisky distillery at Menstrie in Scotland or occasionally for storage in Liverpool. There were odd sugar factories in Somerset so a contorted wagon load working up the South Western mainline to Willesden would be your best bet. Or you could invent a trainload special working from Southampton Docks to say Silvertown in East London. Why not order some anyway because you like the colour scheme? ;-)

 

The plant at Menstrie was actually a yeast factory at least from early 90s onwards when I went to school nearby - couldn't say before that.  One half of the plant grew/processed yeast whilst the other half used yeast to create yeast extract commonly used in flavourings.  One of the quality control checks for yeast was to bake bread with samples from each batch in the onsite bakery and measure the rise in the bread - bread was then thrown on a rack for any of the staff to help themselves to on their way home.  I interned in the yeast extract side of the plant - what a stinky place that was.  The molasses house was the best smelling room in the plant but the smell was so overpowering that you almost fainted!!  The molasses tank wagons were shunted with a tractor device with a sleeper bolted across the front it I recall correctly.  What may have caused the confusion was that the nearby warehouses were whisky bonded warehouses so the area was associated with whisky storage - I don't recall any whisky being made there in my time but earlier?  The whisky bonded warehouses were pretty close to the prison too - nice torture for the inmates?

M

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Glad to be corrected on the contemporary function of the Menstrie plant, which was formerly a distillery. Apparently it stopped distilling whisky in 1929! The Distillers people I dealt with always referred to Menstrie as the distillery, presumably because of its former function.

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wow 1929 that is slightly before my time there...  yeah locally it was still referred to as the distillery in my time.  I used to babysit for the plant manager's kids who now have kids of their own!!  In my time there the factory was operated by a Unilever subsidiary called Quest International but was later taken over by Kerry Foods and still is operated by them as far as I know.  Still same plant manager though - he must have been in that role for >20 years!

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I would like to support this project and really like the look of these tankers. I generally model mid-late 1980s into early 90s. I would be most grateful if anyone could advise me of typical workings they may have been seen on in this era, typical rake lengths, livery(ies), etc.

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Hello all,

 

The Class B Tanker project has (finally!) reached the minimum threshold needed to justify production, and tooling has now started.

 

We would hope to have test samples to show by Easter.

 

Thanks to all who have supported this project and got it over the line. The order book will remain open until we are ready to authorise production, which will be after livery samples are approved, and probably not for a few months.

 

If anyone is interested in these models but not ready to commit now then if you register at our website you will receive email updates with reminders when the order deadline is approaching.

 

Cheers

 

Ben A.

Edited by Ben A
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This is great news indeed.

 

As one of the modellers who put together the proposal and garnered support for Ben and Mike to consider taking these vehicles on as a project, I'd like to thank everyone for getting the project to the 'commence tooling' landmark.

 

Particular thanks should go to those who ordered examples for philanthropic reasons.

 

Thank you all!

Edited by scottystitch
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Great news for everyone who wants them for sure.

 

I'd be very interested to know just how much the NGS Hunslet Shunter affected the expressions for the B tanks.

 

Looking forward to seeing more progress  :yes:

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