Jason and Gareth's Brilliant British Adventure

[BR60103]

If you'll be getting into the trolleybus business, why don't you start with something small. like the overhead.

[stadman]

I reckon a visit to the Electric Railway Museum with the 3d scanner wouldn't go amiss.

[Ozexpatriate]

If you'll be getting into the trolleybus business, why don't you start with something small. like the overhead.

Do you know that Jason already produced a very similar product for telephone wires?

 

See the (now unavailable) "totally wired" telephone wires and poles here.

Edited July 19, 2017 by Ozexpatriate

[No Decorum]

Do you know that Jason already produced a very similar product for telephone wires?

 

See the (now unavailable) "totally wired" telephone wires and poles here.

Did you read the comment about likely cost?

[dibber25]

Had the pleasure of Jason and Gareth's company yesterday evening. Sorry the new team at the Montagu Arms was so obviously new. Hope you enjoyed it anyway, and have a safe journey home. (CJL)

[tomparryharry]

Hi all,

 

Gareth and I will be departing for the UK next week. As is par for the course, we will be posting updates in this thread.

 

Because Gareth does not qualify for a BritRail pass, I will be driving us around the United Kingdom. Heathrow-Birmingham-Wythall-Sandtoft-Sheffield-Peterborough-Swamp-Heathrow.

 

As I am doing the driving, you should be able to smell melting/burning clutch all the way across the Midlands. 

 

I look forward to sharing our adventures with you all, and I really hope you can join us next Sunday (16 July) at the Transport Museum, Wythall. We will have model trains on display - it's not just about buses!

 

If you are a subscriber to our newsletter, we're sending one out in the next couple of days. You can sign up here: http://bit.ly/2tRHjFL[/size]

 

Thanks and regards,

 

Jason

 

Welcome to the UK folks. We hope you enjoy your stay.

 

However, don't stray too far over the Severn Bridge. You might get caught up with all that Great Western stuff, and that will never do!

 

rapidonewsuk12-2.jpg

[darrel]

Anyway enough about buses and trolley buses what we need are some decent models of Glasgow trams, do that and I won't sell you my soul you I will give you my soul.

[teaky]

I don't know.  You settle down to read the local paper then you reach page 10 and this leaps out at you! 

 https://droitwichstandard.co.uk/editions/view/?/Droitwich/2017/07/21&056

Edited July 22, 2017 by teaky

[rapidotrains]

Hi guys,

Gareth is having posting issues so here is the latest instalment from him.

-Jason

 

Jason & Gareth’s Brilliant British Adventure: 3
Exploring Rails of Sheffield

By Gareth Bayer

 

Having spent two relaxing evenings at Epworth in the care of Lord Graham Wilson it was time to make the short hop to South Yorkshire to meet the team at Rails of Sheffield.

 

 

We visited Rails earlier in the year to chat business and the fruits of this conversation are already starting to be seen.

The biggest news to come of that was at the York Model Railway Exhibition in April with the announcement of the OO gauge NER/LNER Dynomometer Car project under the new Rails Limited brand.

We’ve also joined forces with Rails of Sheffield to distribute our existing range of North American N and HO models in the UK as well as our new range of British OO gauge models.

 

The first example of the latter will be the Birmingham City Transport Guy Arab IV bus announced last Sunday, but there is a good chance that we’ll be revealing something else at Warley 2017, with some bigger news in mid-2018.

 

Our hosts for our day’s tomfoolery at Rails sprawling premises were Adam and Oliver Davies and we had a blast.

 

 

While January’s trip was about laying the groundwork for our new relationship, this jolly was mostly just to say hello and record a new video to be released over the next couple of weeks.

 

Adam and Oliver kindly gave us the run of the place and allowed us to film anywhere we liked.

 

 

We love visiting Rails. At the front of the shop you have a traditional model railway shop with loads of racks and display cases full of locomotives, rolling stock, detail parts, scenic accessories, and almost anything you’ll need to complete a model railway.

 

 

Out the back though is where Rails really amazes… The storage room immediately behind the storefront is understandable enough.

 

 

However the rest of Rails is collection of former houses, flats, industrial units and, even, sheds, that have been pressed into use for storage.

Much of it is brand new stock. As well as railways this includes Scalextrix and buses… lots of buses!

 

 

Even the toilet is now used for storage.

 

 

If you’re quick you can even buy Rapido’s new HO GMD-1 locomotive from Rails. This is the cool one with the stripes! These are new in and a basically out of stock already pretty much across North America.

 

 

Buy him now! He’s a little loud but is cheap to keep happy, only requiring a new British bus book every couple of weeks.

 

 

More stock…

 

 

The packing room, where the lovely ladies ship out all your orders. We’ve been very impressed with their speedy service when they send us stuff to Canada.

 

 

Did we mention we were making the OO gauge NER/LNER Dynomometer Car for Rails Limited? This is the first of what we hope will be an exciting range of exclusive models. Rails might even announce a second project with us later this year! Don’t hold us to that though.

 

 

Do you remember Battlespace? This is part of a new archive of models that has just come into Rails’ possesion. Look out for some of these items on Rail’s eBay site over the next few months.

 

 

50 years ago this was Tri-ang’s best effort at serving the North American market. We are loathe to call that an F unit! Rapido has made accurate Canadian versions of all four of these models over the last ten years.

 

 

Really, Canadian National green on that… thanks Rivarossi.

 

 

After the tour of what seemed like hundreds of small rooms stuffed full of models, books and PC and photography/workstations it was time for lunch-supper (lupper) at a nearby vegetarian restaurant with Rails boss John Barber. They all heartily recommend the “rib eye” burger!

 

Then it was off to a tiny village near Peterborough, for the next stage of our journey.

 

 

We stayed at Castle Farm guesthouse in Fotheringhay. A very nice way to spend a couple of evenings.

 

One more blog post to follow this one...

 

Best regards,

 

Gareth

Edited July 23, 2017 by rapidotrains

[JSpencer]

So who is spending more money with whom? Jason orders from Rails vs Rails orders from Rapido.... Look's like it is gonna be close!

[rapidotrains]

Jason & Gareth’s Brilliant British Adventure: 4

A hard day’s work with Revolution Trains

By Gareth Bayer

After an enjoyable night’s rest at Castle Farm Guest House in the tiny village of Fotheringhay, Northamptonshire, it was time to look forward to the day ahead…

 

The view from the guest house at Fotheringhay. The yellowish stone is local to the region and most of the buildings in the area are built from it.

 

After the exertions of the previous 24 hours, trudging up and down hundreds of staircases at Rails of Sheffield and investigating its ever expanding collection of apartments, industrial units and other spaces, we were looking for an easier day for our promised very long meeting with Revolution Trains.

After consulting with Ben Ando and Mike Hale of Revolution two options presented themselves: 1/ spend the day behind steam on the Nene Valley Railway and 2/ spend the day on the “real railway” behind English Electric Type 3 power (Class 37s) on the Norwich to Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft routes.

I was voted down so despite strong protests we met at Peterborough for a day’s meandering behind Southern Railway “Battle of Britain” Class 4-6-2 No. 34081 92 Squadron.

 

RTV31, an experimental 1960s high speed hover train, at Railworld Peterborough.

 

This is the sight that greets you at Peterborough, the rather sad collection of portable buildings and slowly rusting equipment that forms Railworld Peterborough. There are plenty of cool items though if you look closely though.

We boarded the train of Mk.1 coaches and took a quick trip up and down the line. We hardly had a chance to start the meeting before it was decided to detrain at Ferry Meadows and investigate the eclectic selection of stock stored there.

The Mk.3 sleeper garnered many “ooos” and “ahhs”. A popular choice with the Revolution guys as much as Rapido, sadly we weren’t able to check out the interior and compare with Canadian sleeper stock. (Speak for yourself - I've taken Mk3 sleepers loads of times, Nyah Nyah Nyah! -Jason)

 

Well restored Mk.3 sleeper No. E 10731 at Ferry Meadows.

 

Unfortunately our plans to make a full range of Mk.3 coaches, using the Prototype HST trailer cars as a springboard, came to nothing after another manufacturer beat us to it. That’s model railway manufacturing and we wish them well!

Of slightly more interest to Jason was 1949-built switcher No. 801, one of five Alco S1 locomotives built at Schenectady, New York state, for South Wales steel plants in Port Talbot and Margam. This is one of two S1 switchers at the NVR and sister Alco No. 804 can just be glimpsed in the RTV31 picture above wearing psuedo Union Pacific livery.

 

Alco S1 switcher No. 801 is being restored by the International Railway Preservation Society.

 

The rest of the yard was full of former Travelling Post Office vehicles, Royal Mail vans, several imported European loading gauge coaches, and the Class 325 cab mock up! After a productive wander we returned to the station to await our train.

 

Ben, Jason and Mike enjoying the pleasant surroundings at Ferry Meadows. Despite appearances lots of actual real hard work was done and Ben’s 3,000 word agenda was covered in full.

 

No. 34081 arrived – covering us in soot for good measure. Give me a diesel any day of the week!

 

The NVR’s finest in action.

 

The compartment coaches were very welcome and allowed plenty of privacy to talk about sensitive matters of business, such as the scene below…

 

“Where’s the Pendolino, Jason!!!”

 

After updating Revolution with the progress of their 423 projects underway with us at the moment we alighted at Wansford for lunch. Jason found a friend.

 

“Look, Isaac, it’s Thomas!”

 

After lunch it was back on board for the final run from Wansford to Peterborough.

As well as current projects we discussed lots of future ideas and even finalised the next two powered models we intend to work on. If you were in the third coach, second or fourth compartment, you probably have a very good idea about what we’ll be making for Revolution Trains over the next couple of years too!

 

Not a bad place to have a meeting.

 

After saying our goodbyes to Ben and Mike we were off to our second meeting of the day. We told you that we were working hard!

 

The villages in Northamptonshire can be breathtakingly beautiful. Jason was more interested in the red phone box.

 

Our second date was with Chris Leigh, editor emeritus of Model Rail magazine and formerly of the much-missed Model Railway Constructor. Chris has been involved in railway journalism since the 1960s and he is still a guiding hand at Model Rail.

As well as his beloved Great Western Railway, Chris is a huge Canadian railroad fan and he regularly visits Rapido’s side of the Atlantic to enjoy travelling across the country on VIA Rail Canada.

Many Canadian modellers also know his name well because he produced a small range of detailing parts for the North American market back in the pre-Rapido days when most manufacturers didn’t consider Canadian specific details on their ready-to-run models as cost effective. He’s also been a huge supporter of Rapido. Thanks, Chris!

 

Chris’s house is full of model railways but the dual-Canadian/British roundy-roundy layout is the highlight. Here a very familiar looking HO scale railcar traverses the stunning trestle bridge – hint: It’s a Rapido RDC-1″

 

Chris treated us to dinner at the local pub, the Montagu Arms. Well, actually he treated me. Jason had to eat store-bought salad. I recommend the lasagne and garden veg. Very tasty.

 

Chris and Jason pose in front of the Canadian poster in Chris’s layout room. Actually the whole house is a layout room, but who’s counting!

 

Then it was back to Chris’s house for a chat. Chris lives in the former London & North Western Railway station at Barnwell. The trackbed itself has disappeared under the A605 but fortunately the building remains and it is great to see it still in railway use… well model railway use.

Chris’s passion for railways and model railways is inspirational and we’d like to say a huge thanks to him for allowing us to look around.

[rapidotrains]

Jason & Gareth’s Brilliant British Adventure: 5

A day at the seaside with Railway Modeller

By Gareth Bayer

Thursday dawned earlier for us that most days because we had something of a drive ahead of us. Five hours or so depending on traffic.

Skype and Facetime are wonderful inventions and without them Rapido simply wouldn’t be able to communicate. However there is nothing like a face to face meeting. So when the team at Railway Modeller magazine invited us to their headquarters in the beautiful village of Beer, Devon, we jumped at the chance of visiting the home of this famous publication.

Up until now the combination of Jason’s driving and my navigating had worked quite well. We’d had no major bust ups, I still had a job, and there was only a slightly damaged manual transmission to show for our travels across the UK so far. The five hour journey from Northamptonshire to Devon though promised to test our relationship (and the gearbox) to destruction.

 

Another stunning Northamptonshire village.

 

It wasn’t long before Google Maps was giving us a warning of impending traffic snarl ups, with tailbacks on both the M6 around Coventry and the mother of all delays on the M42 between the M6 and M40. Fortunately there were alternative routes and they promised a more rewarding journey than the typical British motorway experience.

Jason took the news that we were heading “cross country” on the A46 well…

 

Passing Coventry…

 

 

Passing Stratford-upon-Avon…

 

 

Passing Cheltenham…

 

 

Passing Weston-Super-Mare…

 

Around Taunton we decided to “cut the corner” and avoid Exeter.

 

Passing Taunton…

 

 

Google Maps, where have you taken us?!

 

45 hair raising minutes later…

We arrived at Beer!

 

Beautiful Beer!

 

As well as the offices of Railway Modeller and its sister magazine Continental Modeller, Peco’s site at Beer is also home to the factory that makes its world famous track and loads of other products, the Pecorama pleasure gardens, and the 7 1/4in gauge Beer Heights Light Railway.

We say world famous because I’ve quickly found that most North American modellers I know swear by Peco’s track. The Code 75 and Code 100 ranges used to be really popular but these have been mostly superseded by the amazing Code 83 North American track. Jason has used about three miles of it on his layout – that’s actual miles, not scale miles. Jason loves it so much that he spent the first three hours at Peco pestering them to make their North American track with slightly wider sleeper spacing and Code 70 rail for branch line and yard use.

 

Peco’s offices and factory.

 

The factory is something quite special. Peco still make all their track in the UK and that’s something that they are justifiably very proud of.

Rapido would love to make its model trains in Canada but that simply isn’t going to happen any time soon. The average Rapido model includes something like eight to eleven hours of assembly, which would quadruple the cost of our trains if we tried to make them in North America, that’s assuming we could find a factory with the kind of expertise that we require. (Ed: Quadruple? More like quintuple! But who's counting? -Jason)

Anyway, we were at Peco to meet Steve Flint (editor) and Craig Tiley (features editor/writer) from Railway Modeller and talk about Rapido for a feature on the company planned for a future issue.

Before the hard work of being interviewed began we retired to Peco’s classy restaurant for lunch…

 

Golden Arrow Pullman Car “Orion” from 1951 – now a restaurant at Pecorama.

 

This really is the only way to have lunch.

 

Gareth and Jason relax in the private room in Orion.

 

After lunch we were given a tour of the offices before the interview began in the boardroom.

Foolishly they left us alone for a few minutes and a quick rummage found this…

 

Suitable reading material – The Thomas the Tank Engine annual from 1979.

 

Jason loves nothing more than telling the story of Rapido from his early days making resin kits to today’s hugely detailed ready-to-run efforts. Craig and Steve were both working in overdrive to keep up with the stream of consciousness.

 

Jason, editor Steve and Gareth.

 

Our reward for travelling all the way to Devon for a one hour interview was a trip on the Beer Heights Light Railway.

Jason wanted to travel in this car, for obvious reasons (you did know we’re making a model of the real locomotive that inspired Toby from Thomas the Tank Engine, right?).

 

“Toby” and Jason.

 

Knowing my preference for diesel and electric power, Peco laid on BHLR “diesel” locomotive Ben for our trip around the one mile light railway. I say diesel because I think it was more lawn mower engine powered (it’s actually powered by a 998cc Mini lump). In a strange co-incidence, this locomotive was named by Revolution Train’s Ben Ando in August 2015!

 

All aboard at Much Natter!

 

A great way to end the day.

 

About to enter the tunnel under the car park. Craig is closest to the camera.

 

The journey to our next hotel in Basingstoke was eventful.

Full of confidence after our trip on tiny “white line” roads when we cut the corner from just south of Taunton to Beer, Google Maps sent us via a succession of roads that were little more than tarmacked farm tracks for the first third of our trip back.

Eventually regaining the A roads around Yeovil we realised that we’d be able to enjoy the sight of Stonehenge from our car windows in half an hour or so. Time for some speed tourism!

 

Stonehenge… at speed!

 

Unfortunately this proved to be too much for the driver.

 

Waaaauugghhhh!

 

[JSpencer]

I must admit I was looking forwards to Rapido MkIIIs. There is always an APT-P I suppose....

[BR60103]

Can we get Jason to stand still in front of the scanner? The resulting model should be in some sort of flexible material.

[JSpencer]

Can we get Jason to stand still in front of the scanner? The resulting model should be in some sort of flexible material.

 

Would that be in HO or OO gauge?

[No Decorum]

I must admit I was looking forwards to Rapido MkIIIs. There is always an APT-P I suppose....

As they have been driven to the edge of madness working out how to do the APT-E, it should be easier to produce the APT-P. Sadly, as the HST has been postponed until someone says, “It’s all been a ghastly mistake! May we say in the EU, please?” due to the current economic climate, I’d say the chances are nil. A shame, although I dread to think of the cost.

 

As for the Mk. IIIs, I’ve been chastened by the cost of the dynamometer car. I wonder what Rapido’s would have cost; certainly more than Oxford’s.

[Gerald Henriksen]

Remember that the dynamometer car is a) a Rails of Sheffield product and b) a specialized item with limited sales potential.

 

While Rapido would be more expensive than Oxford (I think it is also fair to say even Hornby and Bachmann would be more expensive) the price for a Rapido product with the sales potential of something like the Mk3 would likely be very different.

 

It also might be worth waiting to see what exactly Oxford delivers given their so-so track record in model trains so far.

[No Decorum]

Good points well made. Nevertheless, I bet Jason would still turn out something a smidge more expensive than Hornby or even Bachmann.

[JSpencer]

Good points well made. Nevertheless, I bet Jason would still turn out something a smidge more expensive than Hornby or even Bachmann.

 

A lot would depend on the amount of separately fitted detail. The APT-E is smooth on the outside are requires very little and a MkIII could be similar but the whole APT-E was not much more expensive than a Hornby HST power car pair especially considering both power cars on the APT-E are powered too. The dynamometer car has tonnes of separate detail.

 

I think price wise they would fall somewhere between Hornby and Bachmann given Bachmann's next releases with the Birdcages and Mk2Fs are somewhat more pricey than Hornby IMHO. (and probably nearer to Bachmann at that).

 

Competition from Oxford certainly make it non viable though.

[Gerald Henriksen]

Jason has posted a video of his visit to Rails of Sheffield:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJ2QHmk5xFc

[TheSignalEngineer]

Sorting through some old slides I found this one of WM 2903 (JOJ 903) on the Outer Circle at Fox Hollies Road, Acock's Green in 1976.

 

Photo © C E Steele

 

The radiator looks sadly bare compared with its BCT days.

[Andy W]

The BCT tradition of utterly uninformative destination displays continued well into the PTE era, as this photo shows well.

For those that don't know, route 11 is a 27 mile circle. Buses run both ways round the circle. Nowadays they at least display an A or C suffix to indicate whether the bus is travelling anticlockwise or clockwise round the circle, and the pointless destination Service Extra has been abandoned.All it ever told you was that the bus was available to passengers, and possibly not going the full length of the route. In later years the main use was when the correct destination wasn't on the blind because a bus had been borrowed or transferred in from another depot. Given the number of depots involved in Route 11, it was bad luck to find one without the right short working or full route (Outer Circle) destinations on the blind.

Always a puzzle even for native Brummies to work out where a Service Extra bus was actually going to, unless the conductor was on the platform to be asked.

A good destination for model Birmingham buses on railway layouts though, especially since the crews didn't always display a route number either. Nobody can tell you that your bus has the wrong destination for the part of the city you're modelling.

Edited August 13, 2017 by Andy W

[TheSignalEngineer]

E for running anything other than a full route was a later thing. When I was at school we used the old 12 route to Bartley Green. From memory the part route destinations went something like 

12A Town Hall

12B Five Ways

12C Harborne

12D California

12E Jiggins Lane old terminus

They didn't distinguish between between to and from city on the buses at that time, all 12s carried 'Harborne and Bartley Green' then later just 'Bartley Green'. When the front entry buses came in they had a 'To City' and 'From City' blind below the main blind.

Bus stops were labelled 'To City' and 'From City', not a lot of good on 11 Outer Circle, 8 Inner Circle or 19 City Circle. Bet not many other people on here ever travelled on the latter.

[Andy W]

E for running anything other than a full route was a later thing. When I was at school we used the old 12 route to Bartley Green. From memory the part route destinations went something like 

12A Town Hall

12B Five Ways

12C Harborne

12D California

12E Jiggins Lane old terminus

They didn't distinguish between between to and from city on the buses at that time, all 12s carried 'Harborne and Bartley Green' then later just 'Bartley Green'. When the front entry buses came in they had a 'To City' and 'From City' blind below the main blind.

Bus stops were labelled 'To City' and 'From City', not a lot of good on 11 Outer Circle, 8 Inner Circle or 19 City Circle. Bet not many other people on here ever travelled on the latter.

That standardised short working lettering came in part-way through the 1960s. Before that there was even less logic - for example the 3A was an extension of the 3 rather than a short journey. The routes I used most were the 6 (Sandon Road) and the 9 (Quinton). The 9 shared the A and B short workings on the new scheme with all the other routes using Broad Street, then had 9C Ivy Bush/Monument Lane; 9D Kings Head/Bearwood; 9E Holly Bush/Hagley Road West (used for depot journeys to Quinton Garage so much the commonest suffix). The 6 didn't really have short workings, though all the Broad Street routes would use the A suffix for inbound journeys only terminating at the Town Hall when something prevented them making the city centre loop - congestion, road works, processions being the usual reasons.

Then there were the other anomalies - like the 33/34 Kingstanding - Quinton in peak hours only, which used one route number in one direction, and the other returning.

 

I have used the City Circle route, though only to see where it went. Swathes of slum clearance and derelict industry made me wish I hadn't bothered, though if I'd taken photos they might have been useful for modelling now.