Revolution Ben

Hi there, Yes, and once we have delivered a few of the delayed models we will feel more comfortable offering completely new items. cheers Ben A.

Hi David, Yes, the issue around intermittent supply is one that has vexed us too. We completely get that not everyone can have everything all at once, and that when popular items sell out it can be frustrating, especially to 'new blood' coming into the hobby. But the reality is that the only way of avoiding this is to have larger production runs and be prepared to hold stock. Holding stock requires somewhere to store it, and a larger production runs means a bigger upfront payment to the factory. These both cost money. Bachmann/Farish do it this way and have a large warehouse and their pricing reflects this. Smaller manufacturers without such resources, who want to keep their prices more competitive, have to look at alternate methodology. Having a pre-order book open for as long as possible, and inviting retailers to stock items post production, is the best way we have found to square that circle and *most* Revolution models are available still if you look. It is not a perfect solution but then in the current climate I am not sure if there is one, and I am keen to avoid letting perfect be the enemy of good! cheers Ben

Hi David, I could argue the opposite: That a competitive market, which gives the consumer a choice, is almost the definition of a healthy and thriving hobby. More seriously: Feedback we have, and our own view, is that the existing 66s on the market don't really cut it any more, and if you've developed a 59 then it isn't a huge stretch to get to a 66. We have started to offer reruns as our business grows - eg Class B tankers, Pendolinos, JNA and TEA wagons in 00 - and although I am not able to give more detail now we have in mind a new marketing methodology for the 66 which *should* make it a little different to anything that we have done before. Incidentally, you may recall that the original Farish and Dapol 66s were launched almost within days of each other, suggesting the market can support more than one manufacturer of this ubiquitous type. Also, who says we aren't developing OTP? You're right - we do want to! cheers Ben A.

Thanks! Just wait until you see the obvious follow up... Re the 59 in 00: We've been asked this a lot at shows etc by 00 guys looking at the samples. We did think about it but the recently released rival model seems to have satisfied most 4mm customers... are we wrong in that assessment? cheers Ben A.

Hello all, Many congratulations to all winners and nominees, and a big thank-you to everyone who voted for the Revolution entries. In a strong year for N gauge we were delighted to get silver with our Class 320/321 (coming very close to the Farish 90 which even I can see was a worthy winner!) and silver and bronze for the IWA vans/timber carriers and JNA box wagons. And being given silver for N manufacturer of the year is also hugely rewarding, and was the cherry *on* the icing on the cake this weekend after a very enjoyable show at Alexandra Palace in which we had some hugely encouraging feedback from those we spoke to.. cheers Ben A.

Hi there, No, the model does not incorporate a stay-alive because as a heavy co-co diesel we didn’t think the added cost was worth it! cheers Ben A.

At the moment we are sticking to the three versions on offer. cheers Ben A.

Hi there, This is incorrect; 18001 is being moved away but only for an engineering assessment to check for any unexpected wear and tear issues following the trial. The locos stored at Wolverton have been awaiting type approval because they need to 'touch' the network; my understanding is that this process is complete. We have been told the operators and locations for the first nine Class 18s in confidence so we cannot elaborate now but as Mike said above the deployments will become clear in the next couple of months. cheers Ben A.

Hi there, Ha - Mk3 coaches were in the Farish range long before Dapol produced theirs, so who is duplicating who?! 😄 I suspect that while an FSA is possible it's more likely he was referring to possible shrinking of the rather nice Bachmann 4mm FFA/FGA 'original' Freightliner flats. cheers Ben A.

Hi there, It is certainly my understanding that 313201, which is in the adapted BR blue livery with grey doors to satisfy visibility legislation, has been set aside for the national collection. This is because of the significance of the PEPs to the overall story of UK passenger railways. They were the first dual voltage units and the first to have power doors, and I think there were other areas in which they set new trends. cheers Ben A.

Hi Anthony, Thanks for taking the time to document your work and post it here. I have just spent a very enjoyable 20 minutes (with the obvous caveat that I am sorry about your bereavement) marvelling at your work to recreate Conwy Castle. The attention to detail is lovely and your resourcefulness in finding ways of modelling, for example, uneven medieval stone capping is remarkable. Bravo! cheers Ben A.

Hi there, We haven't had notification from Rapido that they are ready to ship, so I'd say almost certainly not. When there is an update we will put it on the projects page. cheers Ben A.

Hi Roy, Thanks for the suggestion. It's something we have talked about but the issue was always which one to do; as you rightly say there were several very distinctive designs and each tended to be produced in small numbers and *fairly* limited geographically. As an aside as you mentioned it, and while I understand it can work for others, I am not keen on 'what if' liveries! cheers Ben A.

Hello all, A few days ago Mike and I travelled to Drax Power Station in North Yorkshire, with the guys from Rails of Sheffield, to show them the completed models and present them with a cheque for £2000 for Drax's nominated charity, Martin House Hospice, raised from sales of the N gauge Drax biomass models. The picture shows, left to right, Bruce Heppenstall (Plant Director, Drax Power), Ben Ando, Mike Hale (Revolution Trains), Michelle Ford (Regional Fundraiser, Martin House Hospice), Mark Gibbens (Head of Logistics, Drax Power), Oliver Davies, Adam Davies, John Barbour (Rails of Sheffield), Jane Breach (Drax Power.) CREDIT IAN BROADHEAD. We were also given a tour of the plant, including the biomass unloading terminal, and have prepared this short video to show how the wagons form part of a huge integrated system: We'd like to thank everyone who has purchased these models and helped us raise money for such a good cause. I understand from Rails that limited numbers are still available. cheers Ben A.

Hi all, As ever, for the latest please check our Projects page. If there is nothing new there then there is no update. cheers Ben A.

We'd love to but when we asked for expressions of interest a little while ago the silence was deafening. Perhaps in another little while we will revisit. As Jo rightly said, our tooling does not cover this variant unfortunately. cheers Ben A.

Hi all, Unfashionable view: I really like this show. I don't really care too much about the 'false jeopardy' or truncated chronology that is needed to make it work as a piece of light entertainment. It offers all of us an insight into how these models are made, and the real people behind them; it's largely positive and enthusiastic, it paints the hobby in a good light and it isn't patronising or twee. And so what if Hornby have a say in what goes out? It's a fun, lightweight show about a company making toy trains and models, not Panorama. cheers Ben A.

Hi there, Interesting question but in reality only you can answer it. In terms of stock, it's a fairly clear win for 00, which has most of what you want available now for 1990s ECML including recent Class 91/Mk4 stock and HSTs, along with most diesel classes you might need. Units (Class 313 for southern end, 321 around Doncaster) are a little more of a drought. Freight is reasonably straightforward with more or less options depending where you're depicting. The obvious gap is the Plasmoor blockfreight converted VCAs with mesh sides and (I think) the PAA sand wagons. At the moment there is little in TT:120 however if you're OK to be slightly more flexible with your eras then as has been said then ECML is catered for with all the first releases, and Hornby have an HST and Azuma in development. The big gap is of course the 91 and Mk4s, and I have not seen any hint from Hornby that these will be coming. Freight is harder, but it is worth bearing in mind that the first Class 66s arrived in 1998 so are within your frame of reference and may be a good starting point. I suspect there will be more rolling stock support for TT:120 as it grows too. However, as you have identified railway modelling can be about much more than just trains (which is why I have always preferred N) and in TT you can either get more in, or get the same amount in but make it look much more spacious and realistic than 00. Are your daughters mad on trains, or more likely to want to help with modelling the wider world - trees, houses, farms, animals etc? If the latter then I'd have thought TT is the way to go. Good luck and enjoy! cheers Ben A.

Hi Les, Gaugemaster have offered various starter sets in N by combining stock with Kato Unitrack and contoller, but stocks seem fairly intermittent: https://www.gaugemasterretail.com/scales/n-gauge.html?manufacturer=197&type=899 Other retailers have approached us in the past asking for a 'basic' starter set but we just don't have the kind of business model that can produce a train set with track and controller included. cheers Ben A.

Hi there, It is open... https://revolutiontrains.com/product-category/pre-order/oogauge/ksa-rover-cube-vans-and-timber-carriers/ cheers Ben A.

Hi Jo, Nice work. Are the RRAs much in use nowadays? cheers Ben A.

Hi there, The running numbers for the new run of Class B tankers are as follows: Esso: 3324, 3350, 3391, 3707 Mobil/Charrington: 206 (Black name), 249 (White name) Unbranded: 48519, 48545 Regent: 375, 404 Texaco: TEX47878, TEX47859 United Molasses: UM204 (brown ends), UM258/47994 (blue ends.) These are all different to those in the first run. As a rule of thumb when we rerun wagons we will use different numbers, not least to allow those who purchased first time to have a reason to buy more!! cheers Ben A.

Hi Tom, That looks like the registration has slipped very slightly, but that pic is massively magnified!! I think we have to be realistic about what is achievable over a production run of many thousands, especially when production has to be halted and restarted periodically because of Covid restrictions, often with no notice. cheers Ben A.

Hi all, Both the samples we have so far are in blue/grey livery. In due course we will put some photos on our website. cheers Ben A.

Hi there, Version RT-N-313-302 in blue grey does not have the strips. cheers Ben A.