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New boxes from Revolution!

Revolution Trains is offering another run of its popular MMA/JNA ‘Ealnos’ box wagons in OO gauge/1:76.2 scale in a host of new liveries.

Revolution MMA box wagon in DB red livery.

There are now more than a thousand of the type in operation now, with more to come, and since Revolution produced its first run of these models nearly four years ago further new versions have arrived in Britain.

These include the eye-catching Wascosa/Network Rail yellow, bright Cappagh blue and the dark red of Touax.

JNA in Wascosa livery. Photo Mark Saunders.
60046 with Cappagh JNA box wagons. Photo: Mark Few.
59104 with Touax and Mendip Rail JNA wagons at Kintbury. Photo: Foulger Rail – Creative Commons.

We will also offer the most popular of the original liveries including the original MMA in DB Red and the JNA in MRL. Other versions on offer will include the revised Ermewa/GBRf livery. The tooling will be modified to allow the accurate depiction of detail changes featured on some of the newest versions.

These models will be available to pre-order from Revolution Trains, but will also be available to purchase from our growing network of retailers. As with the previous versions, some variants will be offered with battery powered flashing tail lamps.

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Box clever…JNA / MMA EALNOS box aggregates in N on sale!

The order book for our forthcoming N gauge model of the modern JNA/MMA EALNOS bogie box aggregate wagon is now open. Our early bird price offers a discount of £2.50 per wagon and is available until 31 March 2021.

66119 with DB MMA hoppers at Peak Forest in September 2018.

Tooling on this model is now complete and we have just received first samples.  We will be showing these off in greater detail once they have been checked for accuracy.

Sizing up!

We are offering a lot of different versions so hopefully there is a livery for everyone! (Please note that we are offering different variations of each livery/variant according to predicted sales – not all versions have the same number of number variations or light-fitted versions).

DB red MMA
VTG silver JNA
VTG “original” dark blue JNA
VTG / Mendip Rail JNA
Touax maroon JNA

Each version has the correct prototypical variations in: number of ribs (9 or 11); with or without side access doors; accurate underframe and brake details.

In a relatively short period of time the EALNOS wagons have spread far and wide across the network. You can read more about the prototype wagons here. We’ve put together some sample consists and route maps to help customers looking to replicate particular flows – though there are many more than we had space for!

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Something for Christmas and last posting dates

Looking for a present for a loved one or something for yourself? Our stock system doesn’t easily allow people to see what we have physically available for immediate despatch versus projects that are open for pre-orders as both use the “In Stock” status to allow orders to be placed (NB we indicate in the product descriptions if something is a pre-order for a model awaiting production), so we thought it might be useful to give a quick summary of models we have in stock for immediate dispatch.

We realise that it has been an unusual and tough year for many and we’d like to spread a bit of Christmas cheer, so in the spirit of Christmas we’re offering a 5% discount for orders over £100 between now and 17 December on in stock items (please note that this discount is only applicable for in stock items and won’t work for orders for future products). To get the discount place your order as normal and in the discount code box use the code: 5XMAS2020. The code will only apply to in stock items listed below and we reserve the right to refund any orders mixing in stock and future orders – all orders for models in development should continue to be placed as separate orders per product range.

The last date we can guarantee delivery before Christmas is if we receive your order by 17 December 2020 (for UK orders only, for international orders some of the last guaranteed posting dates have already passed so we can’t guarantee that non-UK orders will be delivered before Christmas but we will do our best).

In stock items (available for immediate dispatch):

N gauge

IPA car carriers: limited remaining stock now on sale!

OO gauge

Please remember the discount code only applies to the items listed on this page and please don’t mix with orders for future projects – thanks!

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Touax KFA among Revolution models for sale at the NEC…

Revolution Trains will have our newly arrived N-gauge KFA container flats – including a previously unannounced version – plus a small number of our previously supplied, and largely sold out, models in 00 and N available to buy at the NEC.

Revolution Trains is on stand C41 (for a map see further down the news page) but we should be easy to find – just look for Rapido’s full sized bus!

These are a combination of cancellations/returns we have had and stock found by Rapido in their warehouse.

Our long-awaited KFA container flats will be available for pre-order customers to collect – if you let us know by 12pm on 22/11 before the show – plus a limited number will be available to buy in the latest Touax-branded version of the livery.

These repaints only started after the project started, which is why they were not offered in the original selection.

Revolution Touax KFA

In N gauge we will have a small number of Pendolinos (nearly all DC but a couple with DCC Sound), IZA Cargowaggon vans, KFA container flats, Sonic VEA vans, 40′ hi-cubes in ONE pink and Hapag Lloyd orange, and our new 30′ bulk-tainers produced with C-Rail.

00 modellers who missed out on our award-winning TEA tankers may get lucky – we have a very small number of each livery available including EWS – as well as our recent MMA/JNA wagons in DB Red, Ermewa grey, Ermewa Tarmac grey and VTG steel blue.

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EALNOS MMA/JNA wagon deliveries!

Our 4mm/OO EALNOS wagons are being sent out to our customers and retailers but please be patient as there are several thousand wagons to send out! Once we know that your order has been sent out we will mark your order as completed.

Update (24/10/2019): we’ve sent out all but 2 orders. We will process any postage refunds due as soon as we receive the information from Trains4U.

We’ve sent out all the balance invoices for customers who paid a deposit. If you paid a deposit and haven’t received an email with your balance invoice then please login to your account and check if the balance invoice has been generated – if you are missing any invoice please drop us an email. We will start chasing payments soon so that we can send out more orders.

Please make sure that your address is up to date as we will check your shipping address on your order against the current one on your account details.

Orders will be processed in date order of receipt and will be sent out by Trains4U on our behalf – please don’t ask Trains4U (or us) for an update on your order as that only slows down the process. We all want to send them out as quickly as possible but it will take us a few weeks to get everything sent out.

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Batteries not included..?

Our MNA/JNA wagons are now being shipped and customers who have ordered the flashing tail lamp versions will need to fit the batteries.

International shipping regulations mean that we cannot ship models with batteries pre-fitted, however fitting them is straightforward.

Most models are being dispatched with the batteries and instructions included, however if yours are not then please contact the vendor. the batteries used in the model are CR927 3V button cells.

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Last orders for MMAs!!

The order book for the 00 MMA/JNA wagons will close at midnight on Sunday April 28th.

Livery samples have been approved and the factory is ready to begin production in May.

The DB red plus Ermewa and Ermewa/Tarmac grey wagons are available from Revolution Trains here, while the VTG/Mendip Rail silver and GBRf blue are available exclusively from Kernow Model Rail Centre here.

 

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Revolution Round-up 2018

Four models delivered, three new manufacturers identified and two new powered models offered has made for one amazing year!

As ever we should acknowledge that we could not do any of this without those who have supported us – with time, with expertise, with generosity but most of all with orders.  It is only because modellers are prepared to pre-order on trust that we can make all this happen.

And we’d like to say thanks to Rapido Trains for their amazing work, our new manufacturing partner Sonic Models, two other factories we have been using and those traders who’ve supported us including C&M, Cheltenham Model Centre, Collett’s Models, Kernow Model Rail Centre, Plus Daughters, Rails of Sheffield, Osborn’s and Trains4U.

In February our first model aimed at transition era enthusiasts – the Class B tanker – arrived.  The wagon had struggled to generate enough interest and came close to being cancelled, but when we saw the quality the factory had achieved we were delighted it had made it – and judging from the comments from so were those who’d supported the project!

Recently we were sent a photo by Ian at Mercig studios of a superb Esso class B he’d weathered. In the accompanying note he wrote:  “..this is the best N Gauge wagon I’ve ever worked on!”

Esso Class B weathered by Mercig Studio

Then, in March, the main event – the arrival of the Pendolinos.

This was the culmination of the dream that we and our supporters had bought into back in 2015 when we began the project – and boy did Rapido Trains deliver.  Everything about these models was stunning – from the trains themselves to the manual and the book-case packaging.

Pallets full of Pendos…

But we had little time to admire the models when there were hundreds of fellow modellers waiting for them – and we’d like to thank our friends Paul Churchill and Gareth Atkinson who came up that first weekend and helped pick, pack and post the first hundred and fifty or so.  We also owe a large debt of gratitude to Allen Pearson – inventor of the amazing Nelevation vertical fiddle yard – for kindly allowing us to use his storage unit to keep the Pendos safe.

At the York show some customers were able to collect their Pendolinos (thanks Abbie) but the majority were posted.  This was a massive task, especially as the majority of the work was done just by the two of us in our spare time.  They were dispatched as best we could in chronological order of purchase and we would like to thank all our supporters for their patience waiting for their models.

However, seeing an 11-car set tackling the graceful, sweeping curves of Heworth Sidings, by the Yorkshire Area Group of the N Gauge Society, made it all worthwhile!

Poppy Pendo on Heworth Sidings at the York show

Even as we celebrated the success of the Pendolinos the IZA Cargowaggon twins were en route and they arrived just in time for The International N Gauge Show at Leamington – arguably the premier show of the N Gauge year.

Revolution IZA Cargowaggons in single and triple packs

 

At just over a year from announcement to delivery these were our fastest model yet.  With the innovative factory-fitted flashing tail lamp option they have proved hugely popular and prompted Kernow to join us in offering a 4mm version which is currently under development.

4mm IZA CAD

It did mean that our planned TINGS display was slightly obscured by the piles of wagons being collected by customers, but we were able to show painted samples of another new model; the VEA munitions van, which is our first non-crowdfunded model and is being produced in association with Sonic models.

Sonic/Revolution VEA vans – painted samples.

The man behind Sonic is a former Kader engineer who designed some of Graham Farish’s best N gauge models, and this is the first time a Chinese manufacturer has sought to market their own brand British outline models directly in the UK.

We also offered three new models including a second powered model – the Class 128 Parcels diesel railcar in N.  The other two were both wagons: the IPA car carrying twin flats – in plain, side-staked and covered versions, and the Cemflo cement wagon in association with Accurascale, the Dublin based manufacturer making a big splash in 00.  Both of these are now at the CAD stage, but we have not yet opened the order books.

M55990 at Manchester Victoria. Photo courtesy Mark Carter.

 

IPA CAD image – this is the flat version with stakes.

 

Cemflo CAD courtesy Accurascale.

By the middle of November we were preparing for the arrival of our first 00 models, the TEA tankers by Rapido Trains, and once again we prevailed on our friend Allen as five large pallets were airfreighted in.

Their arrival just in time for the Warley National Model Railway show at the NEC meant that as well as supplying those ordered by Kernow models and Trains4U once again we had to enlist help once again from our friends Paul, Gareth and Abbie to hand out those that customers had arranged to collect.

Kernow Model Rail Centre’s Chris Trerise with a small fraction of his TEAs!

The remainder are being sent out by us but twice the scale means eight times the volume, and the sheer size of the 00 models in comparison to the N gauge products we are used to has meant new packaging solutions and dispatching all the models has taken much longer.

Those who visited us at Warley may remember that we were right next to a double decker bus brought in by our friends at Rapido Trains to publicise their latest new model – this gave us an excellent location for a meeting where we were able to examine the final version of the Class 92 locomotive ahead of production and confirm production of another run of Class 390 Pendolinos in Virgin’s latest “flowing silk” livery, as we as more TEAs in N.  These will be available to pre-order early in the new year.

 

Class 92 final test sample by Rapido Trains.

At Warley were were also able to unveil our first steam locomotive – the GWR 56XX in N produced with Sonic models – along with the latest CADs for the HOA hopper and an all-new 4mm model – the MMA/JNA box wagon.  These are again not crowdfunded but being produced after we were approached by an investor.  We are offering three variants in DB red and Ermewa and Tarmac grey liveries, while models in VTG/Mendip Rail silver and GBRf blue will be available exclusively from Kernow.

Handpainted sample of MMA wagon in DB red.

First CAD of 56XX steam locomotive.

We also took delivery of the 20′ Tank Containers in N that we produced in conjunction with C-Rail.  These, along with the 40′ hi-cube containers last year, have been very well received and we will be producing another new RTR container next year.  This came, coincidentally, shortly before we closed the order book for the KFA container flats accompanying them which are in production now.

Revolution/C-Rail tank containers in Stolt, Nichicon, Bulkhaul and Hoyer liveries

To conclude, here is a quick reference progress chart summarising 2018.  We anticipate that the next models to be delivered will be the 00 MMA/JNA, N KFA and N 92.

Amazingly, 2019 will mark Revolution’s 5th anniversary (we can’t believe it either!) and we are looking forward to next year being our biggest and best year yet!  But as ever, we couldn’t do any of this without our fellow enthusiasts, so once again we’d like to thank you for your support.

 

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Mmm – MMA from Revolution Trains in 00!

Revolution Trains is to produce the widely used MMA/JNA-T box wagon as its second model aimed at 4mm modellers.

Hand-painted EP1 samples. Some small details and markings omitted.

Samples were unveiled at the Warley National Model Railway exhibition at the NEC over the weekend.

Note accurate MMA underframe detail and “cut out” in each top corner.

Our models feature tension-lock couplers in NEM sockets, RP25 profile wheelsets and are weighted to ensure consistent, reliable running.

Both 9- and 11-rib variants are being offered, with and without bodyside access doors and with prototypically accurate variations in brake arrangements. We are also offering a version with a switchable, battery-operated tail lamp.

Revolution would like to thank DB Cargo and Tarmac for allowing us access to Barrow Railhead in Leicestershire to measure and photograph the prototype so these models can be as accurate as we can make them.

The models are available from Revolution in three liveries, with five different numbers in each. Please note these images are purely illustrative and not to scale.

DB Cargo red

 

Ermewa grey

 

Ermewa grey with Tarmac branding

These can be ordered here

In addition, Kernow Model Rail Centre have commissioned a further two further variants with 11 bodyside ribs and different brake arrangements.

VTG/Mendip Rail silver

 

GBRf blue

 

The Kernow models can be pre-ordered here

Photo: Dan Adkins

The wagons are coded MMA by DB Cargo and JNA-T by other operators; they all carry the UIC code Ealnos.

Photo: Steve Madden

They’ve been in operation since 2016 and have spread across England and into parts of Wales as their open, rugged construction allows for easy unloading using a mechanical grab in locations where a dedicated terminal for hoppers with underfloor discharge gear would be uneconomic.

Photo: Aidan Fort

This route map shows how widespread they have become.

They are most usually associated with Class 59, 60, 66, 68 and 70 haulage as can be seen on this selection of sample consists observed on real trains.  Models of all the appropriate locomotives are readily available.

The model has already been tooled and is expected to go into production reasonably soon after Christmas, with delivery anticipated in early 2019.