Revolution Mike

Some invoices have started to go out more will go out over the next few days. cheers Mike

IIRC (and I’m sure Ben will say if wrong) they actually got loaded on the OOCL Japan which is currently off Gibraltar and due into Felixstowe early next week so I guess/hope we will get them end of next week or early the week after. cheers Mike

Cameras feed into the cab consoles (the driving console is set up the same either side) to make it easier/safer for the driver and any shunting staff. I can’t remember how automated the coupling can be as I only saw it being manually hooked up. The design is modular hence the differences between the Tata CBD90s and the Beacon CBD90s but Clayton have significant experience of locos operating in difficult environments eg quarries/mines etc. Plus the Tata locos have been in use for a couple of years and Tata have ordered an extra one.

No one likes a gloater (and very nice your model is as well!).

We've done/will do other models in 4mm first (eg our EALNOS JNA/MMA wagons, our forthcoming IWA holdall vans/timber carriers and our forthcoming Class 93) with 2mm following. It is a practical reality of spreading out models in terms of scales and eras/regions. Other models come in 2mm first and then 4mm - it allows us to use any lessons from the development of one scale to the other. Plus this model is an exclusive for Rails of Sheffield. Having said which if it is successful then we'll do it in N. Cheers Mike

Quicker than I could post! We are delighted to announce that Rainbow Railways have commissioned our 4mm/OO model of Caroline 975025 in "viridian" green. Network Rail acquired 975025 “Caroline” from FM Rail in 2008 and refurbished parts of the interior along with changes to the cab ends with the removal of the SR 27-way jumper cables and headcode boxes plus the addition of new “WIPAC”- style head and tail lights. The saloon was repainted at the same time into “viridian” green – the rumour is that a Derby apprentice was sent to the local paint shop to match as closely as possible to SR Green with the result that the saloon ended up in this lighter green. Caroline 975025 stayed in this lighter green until 2015 when it was repainted into SR green. This exclusive version of Caroline will feature all the tooling changes to reflect the changes made to the real coach as well as the standard features for our other 3 versions of Caroline 975025. The "viridian" green model of Caroline is exclusive to Rainbow Railways and all orders should be placed directly with Rainbow Railways. Livery samples of 975025/Caroline are due to be with us any time now and once we've assessed them we will set (and announce!) an order deadline so that production can start. Realistically, we think that delivery is going to be Q2 2022.

Doesn’t look to be a problem from this end (I can still access it) - which section are you looking at? If you click on Shop then go to Pre Orders then N/2mm then Cartic-4 you should find the various versions. Cheers Mike

Each wagon has a peg which slots into a locator slot on the bogies (if I've understood the CAD correctly!). The locator slot on the bogie is cam-shaped to give some degree of close coupling for each articulated bogie. Cheers Mike

Those figures are based on the Pendolino, 92, 321 and 59 (we haven’t offered the 128 with factory fitted sound though it will be easy to add a sound decoder of your choice).

Based on our sales it definitely isn’t a small percentage - it varies by model but typically 30-40% of our sales are sound fitted. That is a significant percentage. cheers Mike

Our understanding (or at least mine!) is that although the Cartics were developed with BR and Ford the majority weren't in Ford blue even those used on Ford trains (possibly only the prototypes which were slightly different anyway). We've got some of the original paint diagrams and none of them mention Ford blue. Hope that helps. Cheers Mike

I’m pretty sure (both from the info from Stobart and from looking at lots of photos) that it never had a black roof. Photos of the real thing suggest (depending on light and amount of reflection) that the roof was either EPS blue (ie as originally painted and the same colour as the pantograph well) or a mid-grey - some photos suggest one colour, others a slightly different colour. We went with the information from Stobart.

I hope you put 25kv through it to give it a proper work out otherwise you’re just faking us all. Honestly what are reviews coming to these days

Without wishing to venture into politics (which this point isn’t) but this is not how modern monetary policy works. National debt is not the same as household debt and nations can be massively in debt and the markets still have confidence in their monetary policy eg quantitative easing. So a country can “create” money which it then uses to in effect pay off its own debt. Or it can carry on borrowing from markets at very low rates. We’ve been told by politicians and the media that the UK’s debt is like a mortgage and it really isn’t.

It is a Ford IVA single cargowaggon so probably carrying car parts.

Agreed

BR blue with yellow ends surely!

Sod's law that after confidently stating that I'd seen a Parr at Eastleigh recently, I found a photo I took recently of a Mullet in use at Eastleigh! Picture now added to my previous post. Cheers Mike

As it says on our website "soon" - we will open the order book once the CAD is complete. The N gauge Cartic-4s will go on sale first followed probably 2-4 weeks later by the OO gauge versions. It will be announced on our website when the order books are open plus also on our newsletter (if you've signed up for it) and our social media (if you follow us on Facebook or Twitter). Cheers Mike

We did look at the STVA single deck conversions but there were quite a few additional strengtheners added after the top deck was removed that would have made the tooling more/too complicated. Cheers Mike

The answer was 1938 tube stock! We've got a few more MU projects at various stages of development. Cheers Mike

One of my colleagues participated in the Payments Council and the use of cash has been declining for at least the last 30 years. From around 80% of transactions in 1990 to less than 25% last year - acceleration of the decline mostly pre-dates Covid. Clearly cash is still important but I'd argue that being able to take card (particularly contactless) payments is significantly more important!

Pretty sure there are a couple of Parrs in use at Eastleigh at the moment - or at least they were still around a few weeks ago when I was last down that way. IIRC they part of one of the crane consists. And here is a Mullet in a recent engineer's train also at Eastleigh: MJH_03-09-21_YLA_Mullet_DC967588_Eastleigh by Mike Hale, on Flickr

There’s still yellow Parrs and EWS Mullets around (as well as Super Tench). IIRC as a minimum EWS Mullets around Bescot and Yellow Parrs at Eastleigh. They’re just ones I’m familiar with but I’m sure there are more around. cheers M

It was in our newsletter on Thursday the boat that they are on (OOCL Scandinavia) - due in to Felixstowe around 24/11. cheers Mike