Ellis Clark Trains & Clark Railworks 4mm OO Quad Arts

[Ellis Clark Trains]

Quad Arts! Our entrance into the 4mm OO Gauge market.

 

That’s right, we’ve been working on our latest announcement for some time now and it’s probably not what you were expecting!

 

We (Ellis Clark Trains) are producing these models exclusively for our sister company Clark Railworks, who are our OO wing of the family.

 

These stunning models follow in the footsteps of our multi-award-winning Presflos, the Wickhams and the soon to be released Black 5, with the detail and quality we have become known for.

 

We have worked very closely both with the M&GN Society and the NNR (North Norfolk Railway), who have been invaluable throughout the whole process.

 

We'd like to express our sincere thanks to both, for all the advice, info, history and help they have given us to date.

 

We've travelled down to the railway countless times over the past 18 months and simply couldn't have done it without them.

 

It's humbling that they have enabled us to do these magnificent coaches justice in model form and we look forward to delivering the first models to them in person.

 

Our Quad Arts are priced at £325 per set (4 coaches) and you can pre-order with no upfront payments.

 

We’re expecting these coaches to be in stock by Q3 2024.

 

You can head over to Clark Railworks to place your pre-order.

 

Here’s a full spec list… if you fancy spending the time reading it!

 

Bogies 

Finely detailed including wheel, brake rigging and underframe details

Brass bearings

Separate bogie variations for centre and end bogies

Sprung centre bogie fixing so coaches run prototypically close

Insert for end bogies if the coupling is removed

Electrical pickups for lighting

 

Chassis 

Fully detailed diecast chassis 

Detailed fittings and pipework under chassis

Sprung centre connectors for radius 2 curves and points 

Unclippable NEM pocket

Sprung buffers on Brake end coach

Accurate and detailed paint and printing detail

Separately fitted vacuum and battery box details

EM/P4 on axle

Spare brake sets for EM P4

Body

Detailed bodies with separate door grab rails

Highly detailed coach ends with lit destination boards on brake ends

Fully “low glow” interior lighting with hidden circuit boards

Fully detailed interior with etched luggage racks and correct height seats

Fully detailed roofs with separately fitted vents and magnetic and push fit roofs

Magnetic switched lighting in each carriage

Accurate and detailed paint and printing detail

 

Liveries 

LNER Teak

BR Crimson

BR Maroon

 

 

[Dava]

I will just comment that in O Gauge, Ellis Clark Trains specialise in producing complex and challenging prototypes very well, with great concern for detail and authenticity. This is the same approach. Don’t complain about the price!

 

Dava

[Darius43]

Exciting news.
 

I suspect a lot of unbuilt Ian Kirk Quad Art kits will start to appear on a certain internet auction site in the coming months.

 

Cheers

 

Darius

[toby_tl10]

Were the quad-arts always run in pairs, forming 8-coach trains?

 

Not counting preservation era, other than the N2, what locomotives hauled these?

 

Thank in advance.

[Ian Hargrave]

37 minutes ago, Darius43 said:

Exciting news.
 

I suspect a lot of unbuilt Ian Kirk Quad Art kits will start to appear on a certain internet auction site in the coming months.

 

Cheers

 

Darius

And will boost sales of OxRail N7 & Accurascale Buckjumpers  ? And is set  to make us poor but happy .

[iak]

In the beginning...

[Enterprisingwestern]

1 hour ago, Dava said:

I will just comment that in O Gauge, Ellis Clark Trains specialise in producing complex and challenging prototypes very well, with great concern for detail and authenticity. This is the same approach. Don’t complain about the price!

 

Dava

 

£80 per coach to this standard and specification is something of a bargain IMHO, although way out of my period I could be tempted by a what if!

Not a complaint, but, with all that fine undergubbins detail just waiting for my sausage fingers to put to the sword, I wish we could have ready converted EM/P4 bogies, in a SLW type stylee!

 

Mike.

[PaulRhB]

I’ll ask the experts were these ever A4 hauled in LNER (teak) days? I see the bit on the EC website says -

 

”it was reported two sets were fitted with Westinghouse quick service brake valves, and even reached speeds of 90 mph behind an A4!

[Bucoops]

32 minutes ago, Ian Hargrave said:

And will boost sales of OxRail N7 & Accurascale Buckjumpers  ? And is set  to make us poor but happy .

 

Wrong line 😏 The GE had Quints and Hertford Quads.

 

Although the N7 has hauled them in preservation, and I don't doubt there will be a photo somewhere of an N7 with GN Quads in service. Maybe even a Buckjumper.

 

 

A question for @Ellis Clark Trains  - will these be available from other retailers? I ask as I have a long-running joke with Great Eastern Models about the preserved Quads (and the N7) - it would be nice to be able to "put my money where my mouth is" with them as it were :)

[Captain Kernow]

Although I don't have an interest in these coaches, the detail on them looks spectacular and I very much welcome their venture into 4mm scale, as it bodes very well for future models.

 

Well done on them and thank you.

 

[Michael Hodgson]

The website reports some of the coaches as being 1st/3rd Comp and others as 2nd or Brake 2nd within the same set.  3rd class became 2nd in 1956, and no doubt there was a period when some coaches had been reclassified while others hadn't.  But within the same articulated set??  I'm not sure whether there was any external diference in appearance, so it may not matter, but I think these descriptions must be wrong.

[simon b]

Excellent news, I've been hoping someone would release these RTR. A much needed model and I'm sure these will prove very popular. 

 

I've just pre ordered half of set 85.

[James Grundy]

2 hours ago, Ellis Clark Trains said:

 

EM/P4 on axle

Spare brake sets for EM P4

Is this to mean that the wheels supplied will be to P4 standard? Or will it be drop in axles for P4 conversions?

 

A very welcome announcement and from a great team that have every chance of doing the sets justice.

[Bucoops]

1 hour ago, Michael Hodgson said:

The website reports some of the coaches as being 1st/3rd Comp and others as 2nd or Brake 2nd within the same set.  3rd class became 2nd in 1956, and no doubt there was a period when some coaches had been reclassified while others hadn't.  But within the same articulated set??  I'm not sure whether there was any external diference in appearance, so it may not matter, but I think these descriptions must be wrong.

 

Hmm, yes I think there's something gone a bit wobbly there. During LNER days it would, I think, have been 1st, 2nd and 3rd. After about 1938 only have been all 3rd in a half set, and 1st/3rd in the other half. I presume at some point BR changed 3rd to 2nd but that would been wholesale. I expect towards the end the whole lot would have been 2nd. So for as-built I think it's correct but from the late 1930s changed from 3 to 2 classes.

Edited April 21, 2023 by Bucoops
Added info about first few years.

[Darryl Tooley]

11 minutes ago, Bucoops said:

During LNER days it would only have been all 3rd in a half set, and 1st/3rd in the other half.

Until the abolition of second class on London suburban services on 1 January 1938, one quad in each set was a tricomposite, precisely as described on the website.  The second class compartments then became thirds, and from 1941, so did the first class ones.

 

D

[Bucoops]

1 minute ago, Darryl Tooley said:

Until the abolition of second class on London suburban services on 1 January 1938, one quad in each set was a tricomposite, precisely as described on the website.  The second class compartments then became thirds, and from 1941, so did the first class ones.

 

D

 

Thanks Darryl, I actually amended my post while you were typing yours - although I wasn't aware the downgrade of 1st was so early.

[31A]

1 hour ago, Michael Hodgson said:

The website reports some of the coaches as being 1st/3rd Comp and others as 2nd or Brake 2nd within the same set.  3rd class became 2nd in 1956, and no doubt there was a period when some coaches had been reclassified while others hadn't.  But within the same articulated set??  I'm not sure whether there was any external diference in appearance, so it may not matter, but I think these descriptions must be wrong.

 

16 minutes ago, Bucoops said:

 

Hmm, yes I think there's something gone a bit wobbly there. During LNER days it would only have been all 3rd in a half set, and 1st/3rd in the other half. I presume at some point BR changed 3rd to 2nd but that would been wholesale. I expect towards the end the whole lot would have been 2nd.

 

When these coaches were built LNER London suburban services still had three classes of accommodation.  So these 8 coach sets consisted of two four-coach half sets.  One half set was Brake 3rd - 3rd - 3rd - 3rd, and the other half set was Brake 2nd - 2nd - 1st/3rd Composite - 1st/3rd Composite.  Second Class was abolished in 1938 and the 2nd Class coaches were declassified to 3rd Class, and 1st Class in turn was abolished in 1941 so at that point all the coaches were declassified as 3rd Class.  Later, BR re-designated 3rd Class as 2nd Class.

[31A]

4 minutes ago, Darryl Tooley said:

Until the abolition of second class on London suburban services on 1 January 1938, one quad in each set was a tricomposite, precisely as described on the website.  The second class compartments then became thirds, and from 1941, so did the first class ones.

 

D

Sorry Darryl, I was looking up the dates while you were typing!

[Bucoops]

7 minutes ago, 31A said:

Sorry Darryl, I was looking up the dates while you were typing!

 

And I was editing 😊

[Darryl Tooley]

4 minutes ago, 31A said:

Sorry Darryl, I was looking up the dates while you were typing!

I had to look up the date they became all thirds too.

 

For completeness we should perhaps mention the reinstatement in 1954 of first class on Set No 85 for working the 5.58pm KX-Welwyn Garden City, aka the 'Pottersbarbarian'.

 

D

[31A]

21 minutes ago, Darryl Tooley said:

I had to look up the date they became all thirds too.

 

For completeness we should perhaps mention the reinstatement in 1954 of first class on Set No 85 for working the 5.58pm KX-Welwyn Garden City, aka the 'Pottersbarbarian'.

 

D

 

I didn't want to complicate things, but yes!

 

[BMacdermott]

Hello everyone

 

Many congratulations to Ellis Clark Trains on this bold and welcome venture.

 

The GN Quad Arts have been right at the top of LNER Coaches in The 00 Wishlist Polls since 2013. They went into The Top 50 in 2018, staying there for 2019 also.

 

The Poll didn't run in 2020 and 2021 but, in 2022, they missed The Top 50 by only a handful of votes (and, it has to be said, The Poll content had been radically amended possibly changing 'the dynamics').

 

The GN Quad Arts were designed to run as two slightly different sets together and Ellis Clark are to be applauded for their approach. (The GE Quad Arts were very different and were designed to run as a 4-set with additional coaches if needed).

 

Taking my Poll Team hat off for a moment and speaking 'personally', I have just ordered the eight coaches that form Set No.85. The Quad Arts have been on my long-term plan for many years, and I am delighted that Ellis Clark will be producing them.

 

I am intrigued with how these sets will 'look close-coupled' on the straight but still negotiate Radius 2 curves. The bogies are stated to be sprung and - looking at the 'upside down photo' above - it seems that Ellis Clark may have come up with an innovative solution.

 

Perhaps Ellis Clark could comment or show some videos in due course?

 

Brian (on behalf of The 00 Poll Team and where stated from myself)

[adb968008]

Indeed a really nice announcement.

 

looking at the articulated bogie, looks like a spring in the chassis between the wheels, looks an intriguing design.

 

I have an Ian Kirk kit, and to navigate my curves, I needed to slightly widen the gap, and add a washer to the bogie pinions, lifting it a fraction to allow wheels to clear the frame.

Definitely the NNR set for me.

 

incase anyones scrambling for the url, its here..

 

https://clarkrailworks.com/collections/quad-arts

 

I wonder if a new Gresley N2 will follow ?

 

 

 

Edited April 22, 2023 by adb968008

[PhilJ W]

14 hours ago, PaulRhB said:

I’ll ask the experts were these ever A4 hauled in LNER (teak) days? I see the bit on the EC website says -

 

”it was reported two sets were fitted with Westinghouse quick service brake valves, and even reached speeds of 90 mph behind an A4!

Locomotives outshopped from Doncaster after repairs/servicing were tested by hauling whatever was available. There is a photograph of a brand new A4 hauling a motley collection of four and six wheelers.

[PhilJ W]

Any possibility of a Quin-Art?