We’ve already shown plenty of images of the “standard” Pendolinos in production, but Rapido have sent some shots from the factory of the “specials” we also offered.
Alstom:
Business is Great Britain.
And the Poppylino:
Now these specials are complete, we are optimistic that the models are close to being ready to ship. Also, to answer queries from some customers, the light clusters are painted black on production models:
We don’t know when the full production run of Pendolinos will be ready for delivery to our patient customers. This photo may give an idea of the scale of the operation:
Visitors to last weekend’s National Festival of Railway Modelling in Peterborough may have spotted our two test Pendolinos being put through their paces on the Nelevation stand.
More information about this remarkable vertical fiddle yard can be found here: www.nelevation.com
Allen, the founder of the business, also has a rather lovely home layout under construction based on the railway and canal bridges at Chirk, over the River Ceiriog:
Allen says that at the show the Pendolinos ran solidly for 6 hours at a time, and since then he has run the DC model extensively on his layout (not usually being dragged!) and describes the model as “quieter and more smooth-running” than anything else on the layout.
We’ve extensively tested the Pendos ourselves, but it’s good to have positive independent feedback!
Thanks again to all who’ve supported this amazing project; there have been some ups and downs along the way but we are very close now to delivering what we are confident will prove to be a sensational model.