RobSkipworth

Tanks of that design lasted into the mid-2010s, BP green ones were regularly used from Grangemouth until 2015.

Vehicles got swapped about a lot as required, easy with them all having standard drawgear. 120s outside of Scotland got blue and grey fairly quickly so that buffet was likely one of the last full blue vehicles at Etches Park by that time.

Brilliant choice, I had a feeling these would appear again at some point! Little off my patch but I'll probably pick up a set or two, properly iconic wagons.

The numbers and data panels were on cast plates from the factory, originally left unpainted.

Good idea. From Kernow's pages, Dapol first:

I was a little skeptical too, but even after coming off and on a few times it's such a good fit that it's practically invisible. Even aside from that, I'd say there's more and finer detail on the Revolution locos, the etched grilles for instance look considerably better to me than Dapol's moulded ones.

Looks like these have hit shops today, unfortunately from Gaugemaster's video it appears they've made exactly the same mistake with the lights on the /0s as on the 00 models...

My 005 arrived yesterday and is absolutely fantastic, a great runner straight out of the box and getting even better with running. The new packaging design is a big improvement, and the one piece I was initially skeptical about was the removable body section, but even after having it on and off a couple times it fits just as well as it did out the box. It's a real credit to the team and I'm now even more excited for my other two and the 66s that will follow.

By the loco profile book there was one month crossover, 10001 got yellow panels in October 1962 and 10000 was stored unserviceable in November.

Twins are a fantastic announcement, no use for me personally but it's good to see investment in more niche prototypes. On the other hand, what are they thinking bringing back the Poole Mk3s now!? They work out just £2 cheaper per vehicle than the most recently announced Dapol offerings, but even with the better decoration the only real justification I see is having the correct window layouts for the Riviera set as it is. If they'd added anything to modernise the model at all, NEM sockets perhaps, I'd probably be less confused. Still a fairly good announcement for Spring overall, I just wish the video format was a bit less waffle-y and repetitive. I'd much rather quick fire announcements and separate videos for the 'big' products, rather than 15 minutes of talk about one product/range.

Shame to hear, hopefully their loss can be Revolution's gain...

No Transrail on the current tooling yet either, I'm still amazed they've never done any other EWS ones considering how far they roamed. I can't help but think a lot of the production time used for the niche regional exclusives (which often seem to linger on the shelves and get discounted heavily) would be better used on some of the obvious big hits.

I'd be in it for 16+... if they're good and the same price as the OK ones. I wouldn't be surprised if much of the reason for the slow sale of the OK JHAs was their fairly poor overall quality, if they can make PD ones that run properly and don't fall apart in the box I'm very much game. Saves me printing more too!

My GW unit arrived yesterday, and it does look absolutely fantastic. I'm not usually a big fan of gloss finishes in N but Farish have definitely done well this time. While it looks great and runs well though, I echo Jo's comment about the lack of marker light being disappointing, and I think they an odd omission from an otherwise near-perfect model. Only other complaint I really have is that the couplings are very stiff, but on the plus side they seem to be the same style and height as the Dapol Sprinters... Value for money is always subjective, but compared to the 158s they were selling for £80 or so nearly 20 years ago the change in quality is huge. Now let's just hope they change their minds and make some 159s...

Both the layout and the PGA are looking absolutely fantastic. I've been using Blender for 3D printing too (again just what I'm used to), and it's definitely less intuitive for the work than Solidworks or similar. However as the PGA shows, you can still get fantastic results with a bit of care.

1994-2002 here - https://history.networkrail.co.uk/uncategorized/SO_506bb63b-dadf-497e-901d-1673556bcffd/ 2003-2022 here - https://history.networkrail.co.uk/?pg=3&name=SO_4b13306b-816a-4d77-89ec-630d6beb2680/

For the reverse: The unit off the 2134 Carmarthen formed the 0505 from Waterloo. That overnight diagram went via the GWML and WLL in both directions, on Mondays it only ran as far as Reading. Public timetables can be hard to come by but thankfully Network Rail have digitised nearly every working timetable since 1994, which are all freely available from their archive site and an invaluable resource.

It was a through service, Shrewsbury/Manchester reversed at Newport and Carmarthen/Milford Haven was direct. ISTR the Manchester service joined the 1Fxx from Portsmouth at Salisbury in the early years, and split at Newport.

Here's the map from the public timetable.

No Barbie again? I'd take at least two full sets!

One from a while ago, 66050 'EWS Energy' sat at Westbury on March 7th 2020.

I'd say silver, accuracy over fitting in for me. Hopefully the running issues are sorted too and I think that'd give more cause to distinguish them from the first batch.

Put 43007 on the side and it's about right for the new XC Laira repaints 😆

Occasionally if the train got turned enroute it would continue to Plymouth and be turned on the triangle at Laira.

Livery choices definitely cater for the ultramodern modeller, with only 66096 being suitable for anything pre-2015 thanks to liveries and details on the others. A third 779 (identical to the others too, no updated branding to reflect it as now) seems a little odd when there's still liveries uncovered for RTR models. I do hope it's good but I'll wait to see more of 001 in DBC, as that should be a very unique loco with the tripcock equipment et al rather than just a bog-standard red shed. The artworks all seem fine overall but as always, the proof is in the pudding.