Revolution Trains and Rapido Trains are seeking expressions of interest in another run of Class 390 Pendolino models.
Since the launch of the original model – which became the UK’s first fully crowdfunded model train and won ‘Model of the Decade’ in the recent poll by Model Rail magazine – the fleet has undergone several livery changes.
When the fleet came up for repainting in 2018 the DfT – in case of franchise change – required that the trains received the now-standard predominantly pale grey livery.
To comply, but add their own flourish, Virgin created the ‘flowing silk’ livery, and one Pendolino, 390045, was given a rainbow version of the livery and named Virgin Pride.
When Virgin lost the franchise, the vinyls were removed, leaving the entire fleet in the DfT plain pale grey ‘ghost’ livery.
The new franchisee, Avanti West Coast, unveiled two Pendolinos in its own stylish colours in December 2019, however since the advent of lockdown, and ongoing uncertainty about the future of the franchising system, full reprints have been deferred and only power cars are being revinyled, with intermediate cars unchanged.
Revolution and Rapido are both very keen to produce another run of Pendolino models, and Rapido have already test-printed the difficult flowing silk design, but because it is difficult to assess demand for the various different options we are beginning the process by seeking expressions of interest.
If the models go into production the pre-order price is expected to be £330 for 9-car sets and £370 for 11-car sets, with the later MSRP significantly higher.
The deadline is September 30th 2020 but as we are not asking for any deposit or financial commitment please do not delay if you are interested.
The possible options are (liveries will only be produced if there is sufficient interest – if there is sufficient interest in particular liveries we will look at producing multiple numbers):
As ever the models will only reach production if there is adequate interest, and all versions will be packaged in attractive book sets of complete trains, with power couplers and working table lights in First Class as standard.
For those requiring them, aftermarket drop-in light bars will also be available to purchase.
We are not proposing any 5-car sets at this time, as there was very low demand for these in the first production run, possibly because the price differential between a shortened 5-car set and the full and accurate 9-car set is relatively small.
*Avanti livery subject to agreement.