Revolution Class 320 & 321 EMUs in N

[Steven B]

Will a (dummy?) Tightlock coupling be included as an alternative to the Rapdio?

If not, does anyone produce a NEM Tightlock coupling?

 

 

Steven B

[JR_P]

Yep, a dummy tightlock coupler that slots into the NEM pocket would be grand.... same for the 313/314.

 

I did notice that the Farish 319 appeared to have a working tightlock coupler, but I think a lot of the realism would be scarified in order to achieve a working tightlock.

 

I was thinking that a link bar moulded to appear as coupled tightlock would be good for coupling pairs of EMUs together. 

[MGR Hooper!]

4 hours ago, JR_P said:

I was thinking that a link bar moulded to appear as coupled tightlock would be good for coupling pairs of EMUs together. 

This makes most sense to me.

[TomE]

On 15/09/2019 at 17:21, MGR Hooper! said:

 

Didn't know Sonic were involved with this project too.

 

Looking good. Any images of the Pendolino below it?

 

Cheers!

 

Sonic took over the design & production after Rapido pulled out of the project. 

 

I didn't get any pics of the Pendolino unfortunately, it was an early paint sample but was looking good!

 

Tom. 

[Mike Harvey]

On 16/09/2019 at 08:45, JR_P said:

Yep, a dummy tightlock coupler that slots into the NEM pocket would be grand.... same for the 313/314.

 

I did notice that the Farish 319 appeared to have a working tightlock coupler, but I think a lot of the realism would be scarified in order to achieve a working tightlock.

 

I was thinking that a link bar moulded to appear as coupled tightlock would be good for coupling pairs of EMUs together. 

 

I fitted Dapol’s new NEM working Scharfenberg couplers to a Farish Class 350. These couple and uncouple easily and in the dark under the gangway could pass for Dellners. Not a good operating proposition on tight curves because the 350 does not have kinematic close couplers, so the coupled cars have the equivalent of a long bar coupler from bogie centre to bogie centre.

 

A similar technical arrangement to the Dapol couplers would work fine for the Class 320/321s Tightlocks. They couple and uncouple with very gentle pressure, and the Revolution units will have close couplers.

 

[Phil Parker]

I'm finally getting around to processing the photos from TINGS.

[Roy L S]

Not my era but I have plenty of experience of the 321 travelling in to Euston over the years, so from that perspective I have a pretty good feel for the prototype and I would say RevolutioN and Sonic have absolutely nailed it.

 

A truly excellent job.

 

Roy

[MrSimon]

On 18 September 2019 at 16:07, Phil Parker said:

 

 

Thanks for posting - I get that this is a tooling prototype but the coupling socket looks like it's sticking quite far out from end of the body/gangway there - is it a normal NEM or something that allows close coupling? Is there more gangway to be added?  How large is the gap between the coaches?

 

Thanks again

Simon

[Revolution Ben]

 

HI Simon,  

 

If you mean the inner coupler, t's a revised version of our power transfer coupler designed to transmit both power and DCC signal down the train, so only one decoder is needed.  It's mounted on kinematic sockets, so will be close coupling.

 

One of the small advantages of the (over) long gestation of this model is that we have been able to refine the design along the way.

 

cheers

 

Ben A.

[Marke]

These EPs have pushed me over the line - order placed for an NSE one. 

 

One observation - nobody has mentioned the rather odd looking 'margin' around the panel that sits between the light clusters and the windscreen??

[Revolution Ben]

 

Hi Marke,

 

Yes, the odd rim around the centre panel below the windscreen is one of a very small number of errors we have identified that are being corrected.  

 

It wasn't on the CAD so I am not entirely sure where it crept in at the tooling stage!!

 

cheers

 

Ben A.

[Revolution Ben]

 

Hello all,

 

Now the EP1 samples have been assessed I am working on the paint diagrams, so the factory can prepare decorated samples.

 

 

Network South East is one of the liveries we are offering, but as this is largely before my period of interest there are some details I am sketchy about, and I wondered if any more knowledgeable RM Webbers could help.

 

1). One end has a "P" next to the number to indicate parcels can be loaded here.  There also appears to be a small Royal Mail logo next to the door.  Is this correct, was it on all units, and does anyone have a reasonable image?

 

2). Does anyone have any good photographs showing the inner ends of some or all of the vehicles?  I am trying to establish where the various warnings and data panels are positioned.

 

cheers

 

Ben A.

 

[Steadfast]

Ben,

Something you've probably spotted already, but when we were photographing the GEML the other day I noticed all the 321s there had the last 3 digits of the set number on the inner ends, presumably to aid fitters working on the units, due to the illogical vehicle numbering.

For example 321456 would have 456 on the inner end of each vehicle

I don't know how long they've carried this, but it's an interesting detail and something I've not seen on units outside the MK3 EMU family

 

Jo

 

Edited September 26, 2019 by Steadfast

[Simon Bendall]

4 hours ago, Ben A said:

1). One end has a "P" next to the number to indicate parcels can be loaded here.  There also appears to be a small Royal Mail logo next to the door.  Is this correct, was it on all units, and does anyone have a reasonable image?

 

From what I can recall, it was all units of both sub-classes. The seating area behind the cab could be secured and the adjacent set of doors isolated from the rest and put under staff control.

[Karhedron]

15 hours ago, Simon Bendall said:

 

From what I can recall, it was all units of both sub-classes. The seating area behind the cab could be secured and the adjacent set of doors isolated from the rest and put under staff control.

 

I remember that as well. It was the opposite end from the first class section IIRC. Here is the branding on a GE 321.

 

[Karhedron]

19 hours ago, Ben A said:

1). One end has a "P" next to the number to indicate parcels can be loaded here.  There also appears to be a small Royal Mail logo next to the door.  Is this correct, was it on all units, and does anyone have a reasonable image?

 

Here is a shot of the corresponding end with the "P" in place. Again this is a GE unit. I remember that the WCML 321s had the same parcels area but I cannot remember the branding. I will keep looking for confirmation photos.

 

[Karhedron]

OK. I have found Royal Mail branding on a couple of the WCML 321/4s but some of them seem to be missing it. It could be that the branding was applied when new but not at subsequent repaints or it may be that not the entire class carried it. It may also just be that it does not always show up clearly in pictures. This could well be a case of working from photos for particular units.

 

Here is 321406 when new arriving at Euston showing both the "P" and the Royal Mail lettering.

 

321440 in similar condition with both "P" and Royal Mail present.

 

321407 in 1997 with the "P" but no sign of the lettering.

 

321426 in 1997. Again the "P" is present but the Royal Mail lettering has gone.

 

321401 in 1996. Again the Royal Mail has gone.

 

Based on this, I would hazard a guess that the "Royal Mail" lettering was applied to the class when new but disappeared around privatisation. 

Edited September 27, 2019 by Karhedron

[BernardTPM]

Note the wide and narrow angled white upsweeps on the two different versions. The GE units originally had the two mid-size windows with the broader angled white upsweep at both ends while the West Coast ones had the large and small windows at the First Class end like the preceeding Thameslink units which meant the upsweep had to be narrow to fit, leaving room to spare at the Standard Class end. The GE units had the First Class altered fairly soon after introduction, so ended up with one medium and one small window at the First Class end.

[DavidMcKenzie]

I am only playing a game of 'spot the difference' from the photos above, rather than actually remembering if this was the case for all units in the mid 90s, but to me it looks like the units that have the Royal Mail writing also have a branding (Great Eastern in the first of the above photos) on the opposing side of the other set of door to the Royal Mail writing. When the royal mail is gone so is the Great Eastern. The trains arriving at Euston also seem to have a branding if the royal mail writing is present (although I can't read it from the photos, I am pretty sure it won't say Great Eastern on the WCML units).

 

This would tie in well to Karhedrons assumption that at a repaint both the royal mail writing and the branding disappeared, possibly in preparation for privatization.

 

Great set of photos by the way, thanks for posting.     

[DavidMcKenzie]

a further difference is the NSE stripes above the coupler. Looks to be present on all the trains with the royal mail writing and not there on the trains without. Again as above, I can't claim to remember that this was the case for all units, just playing spot the difference on the above photos.

 

All the best

Dave

[Karhedron]

Another catch!

 

As new, the orange cantrail line goes up and over the black area above the cab windows. Later on, the line goes straight across it without curving.

 

Clearly the units got some sort of repaint in the mid-90s as there are quite a few small detail differences despite still being superficially Network South East livry.

[Crompton Power]

1 hour ago, DavidMcKenzie said:

I am only playing a game of 'spot the difference' from the photos above, rather than actually remembering if this was the case for all units in the mid 90s, but to me it looks like the units that have the Royal Mail writing also have a branding (Great Eastern in the first of the above photos) on the opposing side of the other set of door to the Royal Mail writing. When the royal mail is gone so is the Great Eastern. The trains arriving at Euston also seem to have a branding if the royal mail writing is present (although I can't read it from the photos, I am pretty sure it won't say Great Eastern on the WCML units).

 

This would tie in well to Karhedrons assumption that at a repaint both the royal mail writing and the branding disappeared, possibly in preparation for privatization.

 

Great set of photos by the way, thanks for posting.     

I couldn't remember off the top of my head what route branding the WCML 321's were. A quick look at www.nsers.org/route-brands.html came up with Northampton Line.

 

On the GE lines did any carry Anglian Electrics or West Anglia branding or was it Great Eastern only?

 

Cheers,

 

Keith,

[eatus-maximus]

On ‎27‎/‎09‎/‎2019 at 10:41, BernardTPM said:

.... The GE units had the First Class altered fairly soon after introduction, so ended up with one medium and one small window at the First Class end.

 

321301-321347 have one small and one medium window, 321348-321366 and 321401-321448 have one small and one large window.

[JR_P]

On 20/09/2019 at 18:53, MrSimon said:

How large is the gap between the coaches?

Above query raised a couple of weeks ago now, but to quash any fears, I’ve seen these in person in the past few days and it’s probably the closest ‘close coupling’ I’ve seen on anything to date!.... closer than the Pendo. I was very impressed  !

 

.... these are gonna be a real treat when they arrive.... 

[justin1985]

Interesting discussion! 

 

I guess the upshot is which details are included. I'd MUCH prefer if the NSE models are produced without either specific route branding or the Royal Mail logo. If they weren't universal to begin with, and were lost well before the units were repainted into privatisation liveries, including them seems a bit restrictive.

 

As none of the privatisation era Great Eastern liveries made it to production, it's surely better to produce models that can pass for the early years of privatisation. (Hopefully more than one number, as I've pre-ordered several!)

 

J