Suffolk Rob

Good choice by NGS and a red Esso one is a good excuse to order more class B tanks

I'm only an occasional poster on RMWEB and avoid commenting on the more "contoversial" topics but feel this is an exception. It's one thing to decide not to support a charity, it's quite another to start rumours and undermine other's efforts The world needs more people prepared to step up like you Gareth, not fewer because they are put off by this kind of thing. I have huge admiration for what you are doing as I'm sure is the case for the vast majority on here. Rob

Hi Ben The CADs look great and it would be a real shame if the project didn't progress. It does seem strange , when the N gauge society commissions are often prototypes with a similar lifespan, and, as I understand, it is usually the transition liveries that prove most popular, that the interest appears to be insufficient for the tanks when the collets, thompsons etc seem to do well enough for further models to be developed. I suspect you may be right about the willingness of transition modellers to commit to this type of funding model. Lets hope the quality of the CADs and your presence at Warley results in a surge of interest Rob

Thanks Brian! As a general plea - if you think that we have missed a glaringly obvious/popular livery that we can do on the Class B please let us know on here or by PM/email and we will do a bit of digging to see how feasible it would be to add an extra livery variant. Cheers, Mike Mike Just a thought but based on Brian's response to my question above, would the waste oil variant prove popular with 1980's/sectorisation era modellers (depending on exactly how long they lasted in this use) and open up extra sales? I guess they were seen in those times in 1s or 2s rather than long rakes which might limit numbers ordered but I don't know what sort of numbers you would need to make a livery variant viable. Rob

Hi Ben & Mike Great choice and will be certainly ordering some. Just one question having spent a lot of my weekend reading up on the prototype -assuming I interpreted what i've been reading correctly My preferred era is around 1973-75 when i believe the wagons began to lose their Esso branding. Does the unbranded black (option 3 above) represent the wagon from that era or is it representative of the wagons in a later period (1980s I think) when used for waste oil? Rob

Mike/Ben Really disappointed at the 21/29 news but thank you for giving it a go. Whether your choice of manufacturer had an impact we'll never know- recent criticism of Dapol across several releases in all scales can't have helped but the logic of going with them was sound in my view- for what it's worth I have a couple of 22s and multitudinous 26/27s and they're the best locos I have. I would have had no hesitation at buying further Dapol Bo-Bos, especially with Revolution overseeing the development. What I find interesting, and this might not be the place for that discussion is that the 21/29, as far as I can see, shouldn't be any more of an outside bet than the 17 or 23. Hopefully those will work out well for DJM and give a manufacturer the confidence to return to the 21/29 as options for new-tooling diesels get fewer and fewer. Again, thanks for stepping up and seeing if this could be done. If there's a plus side, I now have the spare funds for a 320. Rob

I tend to agree with the view that there won't be a huge amount of genuinely new stuff but from memory it's only the 40 and the J72 amongst the locos that we've yet to see an EP for so I live in hope for a few bits and pieces. With most of the existing (loco) promises delivered now or well on the way I wouldn't mind a bit less announced if it meant we saw it in the shops sooner. no idea on the steamers but the 158 must have a fair chance and the enthusiasm for the Pendalino might make the 90 being upgraded a possibility too. With 2 first generation DMUs already on the books, I do wonder whether the average Farish customer (as opposed to those on here) would appreciate the subtle differences enough to make another such as the 117 viable in Bachman's mind when it comes to N. Don't know much about 3rd rail electric stuff either but always fancied building something small to go with the 73 I've got and 33 I'll no doubt get. For me the CEP is too big but a 2 coach EMU and/or the MLV would convince me. Whether there are enough like me to make it viable is another matter. The wagon i'd really like to see scaled down is the OTA, often wondered why that's never happened, would go well with the 37/4 to pick up Grahame's point on joined up thinking - Might be one for Ben and Mike to think about if it doesn't appear? Also I'd like to see more train packs, especially one based on the OO Highlander set, but there still seems to be a lot of stock around of the existing ones so maybe not that popular as a concept? The only thing I'm sure of is that, like every year, I'll have guessed wrong come announcement day. Rob

I wondered about the 67 as well- but would there be the required demand without the coaching stock being available? Mike's previous specials have been a train in its own right or the coaches that enabled a complete train to be modelled in conjunction with announced models from Farish Do the 67s get used for anything else during the day? I seem to recall that the 67 from the Inverness sleeper used to get employed on TTAs to Lairg There was a 26/0 in Dutch as a collectors club exclusive with 6 dogfish some time ago but a Dutch 26/1 for example might be attractive alongside elements of the newly announced DJM wagon range and existing Dapol and Farish engineers stock Rob

My information might be wrong/out of date but I believe a minimum production run for a farish limited edition is significantly larger than Dapol's minimum which I guess makes it much more of a risk for a "small" retailer- especially for coaching stock requiring at least a couple of variants. Remembering the thread on the TMC large logo 37, there are not many options appropriate to the Farish split headcode tooling. An intercity liveried 37/4 that suits Scotland and Cornwell could be a viable option? Looking at the Dapol "Scottish" range, just about all the 26/27 variant's have been offered, especially without the tooling option for the tablet catcher, with significant numbers still available from the box-shifters (although despite the multitude of green and blue 26s, they have not done railfreight since the initial release and only did Dutch as a club trainpack special) I wouldn't dream of suggesting that I understand the retail side of railway modelling or Mike's business in particular but viable options do seem to keep coming back to the 156 Rob (eagerly awaiting my Scotrail 156)

Hi Dave I appreciate this might be part of your announcement and therefore news you want to save for the weekend's big reveal, but, in case you can and want to say now, is it your intention to offer Mercig mastered weathered options on the wagons ? Cheers Rob

Scotrail National Express on the 156 works for me Or the green & cream Kyle mk2s Rob

Hi Ben & Mike Are you able to give a further update on progress? Did the news items in the mags have much of an impact on orders? Sorry to ask again but my asking is as much about bumping the topic! Do you have a presence/stand at Warley? Hoping to get along and would like to say hello Rob

Hi Ben & Mike Are you able to give an update on levels of interest? Fully understand if you can't Rob

Hi Ben/Mike I've registered my interest (2x29 1x21) but is there somewhere on your website where we can see how the numbers are totting up? Rob

Presumably we can also add the Ballachulish branch? The RMWeb railways of Scotland section also suggests they operated down the Strathspey line which brings with it distilleries and industrial steam (I was looking for an excuse for a DJM Hudswell Clarke) One of Ian Futers' books also has a picture of the Strathspey branch passenger made up of a 26 and one coach as well so all very modelable in a small space. A small plank, a 21, a 26, a, Hudswell Clarke, a maroon Stanier brake, a few Dapol grain wagons and farish vans and 16t wagons- what more could anyone want for a small project? Rob

Thanks Ben, that all makes sense to me. You're right it will be interesting. A couple of other thoughts Your map shows operation between Ipswich & Norwich for the 21 but I'm pretty sure they also operated on the East Suffolk line up to the coast to Lowestoft. I'd advise verifying this before adding to your map though although it would open up the possibility of small East Anglian layouts as well as Scottish ones as a selling point . Also your OP mentions how they fit well with the 17, 24 & 25, might also be worth mentioning the Dapol 26, 27 and the farish 20 and working alongside some of these classes in London as well as Scotland in the case of the 21 Regards Rob

Hi Ben Firstly fantastic, this is the one I was waiting for I am however a bit confused as to how this works with crowdfunding of 2 classes in one process. I assume that when ordering we will specify which class but, more so than the pendalino and tanks there may be a large number of people wishing to change their order as the deadline approaches. to explain what I mean, my current thinking is to go for 2 or 3 29s because that fits my modelling era best. However I strongly suspect the 21 will be the more popular with the wider geography and sitting squarely in the transition era so, if neither class was at 1200 orders close to your deadline I would want to change my order in favour of 1 or 2 21s (I'd rather a 21 than neither). Will your ordering system allow for this. One other question, will the 21 tooling allow for the tablet catcher recess. Hopefully I'm not complicating things, I really want this one to succeed Rob

Hi Ben/Mike Can you help me with a couple of questions (I've read the thread but apologies if I've missed a previous answer) Which colour schemes have been used for aviation fuel- presumably the flow to RAF Leuchers (VTG grey?) but are there any others? what's the length of these wagons in N?- need to know how many I can fit onto my layout Do I assume correctly that you opted not to pursue factory weathering? Thanks for the work you're doing, looking forward to your next round of announcements Rob