Revolution Ben

Hi there, All models on the Projects page - including the PTAs - are in development or production at various stages. cheers Ben A.

Wow. I don't have any steam locos apart from Tornado but that slow speed running is remarkable! Thanks for posting the video. Just one thing - is this definitely a Black Five? I don't know much about steam engines but I always thought the Black Fives were a specific LMS design, whereas the 5MT is one of the family of BR standards. cheers Ben A.

Hi there, Have you emailed our customer support manager via the address in the instructions? He will be happy to help you tomorrow. cheers Ben A.

Hi Roy, Yes - good point about heat. If we’re talking a brief station stop maybe the heat won’t build up excessively but I don’t think it would be a good idea to leave them in a siding like this for long periods. I guess that’s a matter for individuals. Cheers Ben A.

Hi David, The switches are designed to offer coach lighting to all without the need to put a separate lighting chip in every coach on DCC. I understand that some DC users are 'cheating' the switch by turning the power down just enough to stop the train, but not enough to kill the lights. I guess it is no different really to the loco headlights going off when the train stops at a station - just the limit of analogue controllability. cheers Ben A.

Hello all, A gentle reminder that midnight tonight (September 30th) is the deadline for pre-orders on the N gauge Class 313 and 314 models. The models will be available from retailers after they have been produced (expected to be Q1-2 next year but, as ever, that is not a surefire date) for those who have missed out but of course the prices will be higher as they will include a trade margin. cheers Ben A.

Hello all, A gentle reminder that midnight tonight (September 30th) is the deadline for pre-orders on the N gauge FNA-Ds. The models will be available from retailers after they have been produced (expected to be Q1 next year but, as ever, that is not a surefire date) for those who have missed out, or prefer to wait. cheers Ben A.

Hello all, A gentle reminder that midnight tonight (September 30th) is the deadline for pre-orders on the N gauge Borails, Mullets, Parrs and Super Tenches. The models will be available from retailers after they have been produced (expected to be Q1 next year but, as ever, that is not a surefire date) for those who have missed out but of course the prices will be higher as they will include a trade margin. cheers Ben A.

Wow! I had missed some of your updates during the year but great to catch up, and that night time photo a couple of posts up is just oozing atmosphere. cheers Ben A.

Hi Chris, Thanks for posting all these photographs - I have seen the layout and it is even better in real life! I know your favourite period is the 1960s but I noted that Model Rail put the IETs on the cover and I think it looks great running the dark green 'modern' GWR stuff too! cheers Ben A.

Hello all, Our Caledonian Sleeper Mk5 coaches have now been sent out to all pre-paid customers, and will be shipping over the coming days to retailers and to those who are settling balance invoices now. Unfortunately, some coaches have been found to be less free running than required. This is frustrating because the inside bearing bogies on the samples we tested performed flawlessly, however we have added some notes to assist on our website here: https://revolutiontrains.com/news/ We are carrying out further tests and as we learn more about potential issues we will share that information. Obviously we want all our customers to get maximum enjoyment from these gorgeous models. The TPE versions should be here within the next few weeks. cheers Ben A.

I think that is one for the weathering supremos!! Would look great though! Pack A contains wagons 33 70 4739 010 and 066. These have slatted ends. Packs B and C contain wagons 33 70 4739 065, 072, 076 and 079. These have solid ends. cheers Ben A.

Hello all, Further to my post above we now have decorated samples of these wagons for assessment. We've received both versions of the vans - in original Rover maroon/grey and revised Malcolm Group red/blue plus the two timber carrier variants with the solid or slatted ends. There are a couple of very small adjustments to make - the Malcolm blue should be darker - but once all assessments are complete we will look to put these into production, with the order book closing at the end of the year and delivery expected Q1-2 2024. For more information see our news update here: https://revolutiontrains.com/news/ cheers Ben A.

Hello all, Just to be clear the most widely photographed Cartics with the Ford branding were the pair of prototype wagons which definitely had grey decks and inner frames. However, these differ from the production wagons most visibly in the bogies and top rails. There is an image here: https://x.com/RailwayCentral/status/1320667171530379264?s=20 and here; https://www.picturesheffield.com/frontend.php?action=printdetails&keywords=Ref_No_increment;EQUALS;u09070 While our cartics might be a good starting point for those wishing to replicate these, they are not the wagons we are producing. cheers Ben A.

Hi there, Yes, it is quite possible the wagons were repainted from time to time. The image you link above is to car 426B, and either side are images of 426A, C and D which are the others in the 4-car set; all appear clearly to me to have no difference between the outer colour and the deck/inside framing colour. The image dates from 1981, which was before any of the protective measures (screens or mesh) began to be applied. Our understanding - from articles, painting and lettering drawings and photographs - is that only the (different) pair of prototypes built for Ford and the batch built for BR at Swindon had grey insides and decks; the remainder were just painted either blue or orange, depending on the customer. The BR wagons in this gallery of Paul's - in images taken between 1979 and 1987 - clearly have grey insides and decks: https://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/brmotorail Despite extensive searches we have never found photographs suggesting otherwise; but of course if you do have any clear images suggesting that the MAT wagons had grey decks/interiors when built we would be happy to see them. It is not too late to amend the painting diagrams, but we'd need clear evidence. EDIT: I have just realised you are suggesting the outer framing on the MAT wagons is grey, not blue. Again, we have seen no reference, drawing or image suggesting this. Of course, it does not help that the vast majority of images from the era are black and white! cheers Ben A.

Paul's website is a fantastically useful resource and well worth checking out for anyone interested in wagons. If you click two photos along from the one you linked to you'll see the interior pillars and deck are clearly blue. I think the image you're looking at just shows a very dirty wagon! cheers Ben A.

The N and 00 will have virtually identical paint jobs, and will follow the painting drawings we have, supported by photographs, that show that BR/Motorail Cartics had rail grey interiors and decks, while the MAT were blue. cheers Ben A.

Hello Paul27, This is a screengrab from one of the videos we recorded at TINGS. You’ll see the Motorail BR blue is a greener shade. cheers Ben A.

Hi Steven That is odd - it works for me on Chrome! And does anyone still use Firefox?? No worries though - it is on YouTube here. For clarity these are the 00 ones though: cheers Ben A.

Hello all, Patriot beat me to it, but yes there is an update on these on our website, now we have received decorated samples of the N gauge versions and EP1 running samples of them in 00. For those interested there are more images and information on our website News page. We will be closing the pre-order book on the N gauge ones in due course, and the 00 decorated samples may be here by Warley. cheers Ben A.

Hi Andy, Love the look of the plan. I am curious why you didn't just make the fiddle yard loops as long as would fit comfortably inthe space you had available? cheers Ben A.

Hi there, Nice to see someone else discovering the delights of N! Please keep the posts coming - very inspirational. cheers Ben A.

Hi Chris, I do not know when the Ermewa branding started to be applied - it may have been earlier than 2018, but only on the odd wagon here and there as the covers were replaced. With such a large fleet it is probably impossible to find a definitive answer, but since there are still plenty or examples running around without the Ermewa branding I would say you could avoid it and be accurate. Similarly I don't think the H & HT lettering was applied to the whole fleet, so 2010-18 there would still be some without it. cheers Ben A.

Hello all, Just for clarity the wheels on the samples are accommodation wheels and for production models the wheel diameters will be correct. cheers Ben A.

Hi Robert On behalf of Revolution Trains please accept my thanks for the work you and all the organisers put into this show. It was a very enjoyable weekend with some excellent layouts, and lots of fun despite the heat and I did finally manage to get an ice cream on Sunday afternoon! Thanks too to everyone who came to chat to us on our display stand - samples of the Class 313s, 175s, 180s and Cartic-4s seemed to go down well! cheers Ben A.