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Blue Monday? No, (Blue Circle) Cemflo Friday!

Production of our Cemflo PCVs cement tanks is complete and the models are due to leave the factory early next week. We’re just waiting for quotes on air and sea shipping before deciding how they will be shipped, but it is likely that they will come by air so we would expect delivery to the UK within the next couple of weeks.

The Cemflo tanks are being produced for us by our friends at Accurascale who’ve done a great job on these distinctive looking tanks and sent us these pictures from the production line. We’ve put some ideas for train inspiration below.

IMPORTANT

If you would like to guarantee your Cemflo wagons at the pre-order price then please place your order now! The price will rise to our MSRP of £29.95/wagon (£89.85 per triple pack) when the models arrive.

Cemflo in our familiar plastic box packaging

Suitable for the early-1960s modellers to the late-1980s modellers, the Cemflo tanks were built between 1961 and 1965 for Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers (APCM) and are probably best known for their use on trains of Blue Circle cement from Cliffe, in Kent, to Uddingston on the outskirts of Glasgow. Later in their working lives, they also supplied a number of other locations, including Aberdeen, Dewsbury, Dundee, Grangemouth, Sunderland, and Widnes. The last Cemflo/PCV wagons were withdrawn from service in mid-1988.

Several types of locomotives were observed hauling Cemflo wagons during their time in service, including class 25s, class 26s, class 27s, class 31s, class 33s, class 37s, class 40s, class 45s, class 47s… even Black 5s, Jubilees,V2s, 9Fs and A4s!

Here are a few links to some interesting flows for inspiration:

A4 60026 at Stonehaven, June 1965

Perhaps the classic Cliffe-Uddingston train – D6582 and D6577 (later class 33s), April 1962

9F 92191 Summer 1962

AL5 E3090 (later 85035) at Leighton Buzzard, 1966

Class 20 retrieving a damaged Cemflo, August 1967

40014, at Chinley Junction, May 1979

08630 at Grangemouth, April 1987

47237 at Millerhill, April 1987

47596, 7M66 Dewsbury – Earles Sidings, June 1988

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Time to bag cement wagons!

Revolution Trains has opened the order book for its forthcoming Cemflo/PCV cement wagons being produced in association with Accurascale.

CAD work is complete and the model is now ready to go to tooling.

The models will feature NEM couplers in kinematic sockets and numerous separately fitted parts. We believe they will maintain the high standards set by our award-winning Class B tankers.

Revolution is offering pre-TOPS versions in silver with the attractive Blue Circle name boards in four triple packs (A, B, C and D) making a total of 12 differently numbered models available.

TOPS versions are also being offered, in silver with no name boards, in three different triple packs. These are more suitable from the mid 1970s on. Each wagon features subtle differences in the colour, style and position of the number.

Livery diagrams for each pack can be found on the order page here

In their original livery the wagons could be seen with steam locomotives and diesels across the network. One of the most celebrated workings of the 1960s was the traffic between Cliffe, in Kent, to Uddingstone, near Glasgow, a turn which often involved pair of Class 33 locomotives reaching as far north as Dconaster – something of a rarity in the days of steam.

As ever, we can only proceed to tooling and sampling once we receive enough orders, so please don’t delay and order your Cemflos now!

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Leamington reflections, VEA views and Cargowaggon arrivals

It’s been a tiring but rewarding weekend at The International N Gauge Show at Leamington.

As many will know our IZA Cargowaggon twin vans arrived with seconds to spare on Friday evening, meaning that our normally tidy stand became a scene of model mayhem – at least for the first few hours – with a combination of those keen to see our new offerings and those who’d come to collect their wagons.

Fortunately on both Saturday and Sunday things calmed down a little after lunch and we were able to see something of the show.

Cargowaggon vans waiting to be unloaded in the yard on Annston, a wonderfully atmospheric layout depicting a secondary line in the Midlands.

Most rewarding was seeing our Pendolinos, TEA tankers, Class B tankers and now Cargowaggon vans giving pleasure on so many of the layouts.

Back on the Revolution stand many came to see the factory painted samples of the new VEA vans.  Once we have received and checked painted samples of all the variations in BR Maroon, BR Railfreight Red/Grey and RfD dark grey and yellow these models will go into production, and are expected by Q1 2019.

VEA van in the colour officially known as BR Maroon that really looks like brown.

The door handles are stamped metal to make them the correct profile, rather than the usual wire.

Many visitors commented on the exquisite underframe detail – such a distinctive feature of the prototype.

Those who were not admiring the VEAs or collecting Cargowaggons came to pick up our first “catalogue” – or rather, 4-page leaflet – showing all our plans for the next few months.

Below are all four pages so those who did not attend the show can see what we are offering:

P1

 

P2

 

P3

 

P4

In terms of timings, we are expecting to close the order book for the KFA container flats at the end of this month, and the Class 92s probably 4-6 weeks later.

We’ll most likely open the order book for the Sturgeon and HOA in a couple of weeks or so, followed by the Class 128, Cemflo and IPA toward the end of the year.

As well as offering what we hope our fellow enthusiasts will want, we are also trying to stagger our products to give supporters a chance to budget!

The Class 320/321 is expected to go to tooling very soon.  Unfortunately Rapido trains are no longer able to produce this model for us, so we have decided to switch production to another manufacturer.  Although we are sad Rapido will no longer be involved we would like to publicly thank them for their superb work so far which will help to ensure the finished model is of high quality.

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Revolution brings Cemflo to N

Revolution Trains is teaming up with highly-regarded new modelmakers Accurascale to offer the PCV “Cemflo” wagon in N gauge.

The wagons were built for Associated Portland Cement Manufacturers (APCM) and introduced in 1961, lasting in service until 1988.

Photo courtesy John Boyes/APCM

They were famously associated with the long-distance flow between Uddingston, near Glasgow, and Cliffe in Kent but were also widely used elsewhere by Blue Circle.

The models will be available in both pre- and post-TOPS liveries, with several different running numbers.

The Cemflo is Revolution’s third wagon aimed squarely at the popular Transition Era and follows our well-received Class B tankers and forthcoming Sturgeon engineer’s flat, and reflects Revolutions enthusiasm for collaborating with other manufacturers to bring models produced in other scales to N gauge enthusaiasts.

Accurascale have made a big impact on the 00 market since launching their first model, the HUO hopper, and their 4mm Cemflo is already well underway.  This CAD rendering shows the 00 model, and we anticipate as far as possible similar levels of detailing in the N gauge model:

Image courtesy Accurascale

We believe this model will offer customers not just an interesting and distinctive model, equally at home behind steam or diesel traction, but also the chance to bring an exciting new manufacturer into the N gauge fraternity.

If successful we look forward to further collaborations with Accurascale, but as ever we need supporters to step forward and order to ensure this model proceeds.