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Warbonnet

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Everything posted by Warbonnet

  1. Hi Kevin, RV496 worked regular routes out of Donnybrook Garage, again mostly 14A in this livery as it was on the boards to do an early morning stint on this route before taking up coastal tour duty for the day. If you look in places like Flickr you will see that both buses worked a variety of Donnybrook services including Xpresso routes. Cheers! Fran
  2. Hi George, Greetings from London where we’re recovering from the Alexandra Palace show. It’s been one busy weekend for us with a record attendance at the show, including some familiar faces from our side of the pond. The NIR we believe to have correct following our research and looking at photos too. I cannot vouch for Murphy Models loco colours as we never researched colours for Class 111 locomotives. As for bogies, this is still being sorted with the factory and we will bring news as when we have it. Despite Chinese new year being over, a factory cannot just blast out an order for new bogies in a week or two. It has to be confirmed, slotted into production schedules, packaging designed and created and shipped. We appreciate the patience as we work to resolve the issue. Cheers! Fran
  3. Following on from the news about the completed production of our Bulleid corrugated open wagons yesterday, we can now unveil he decorated samples of our flat wagons! Based around the same chassis as the corrugated opens, it's the second on a series of wagons which we will produce that featured this innovate style of triangulated chassis arrangement. As you can see, we have received samples of both the purpose built flats, and the Permanent Way Department (PWD) flat which was converted from redundant H Vans. These wagons are now in production and will follow the open wagons into stock, arriving on time in Q3 2024 as per our launch announcement. Priced at just €89.95 per triple pack, and with our usual great value of 10% off when you order two or more packs, and free postage and packaging around Ireland and 3% cashback with our loyalty points, they make perfect sense for your authentic mixed coupled goods trains of the CIE golden era. Place your pre-order below! Pre-Order Bulleid Flat Wagons View the full article
  4. When it comes to newly announced models, you read delivery dates and sometimes take them with a pinch of salt. So often are the anticipated delivery dates missed it can be disappointing. Indeed, we have been guilty of it in the past. However, how about a new model arriving in stock AHEAD of schedule? Well, that's what our Bulleid open wagons are about to do, as production is now complete on these models, and very nice they look too! Check out the production models below, which we also showed at the recent Model Rail Scotland show last month. Originally launched at the last Dublin show back in October 2023, we had envisaged a delivery date of Q3 of 2024. However, progress has been swift and efficient, that they will now land in Q2 of 2024, likely late May. Fancy some? Make sure you get your order in by clicking the link below! riced at €89.95 per triple pack, and 10% off when you buy two packs or more and free postage and packaging in Ireland, the quintessential CIE open wagon is superb value for money too. PRE-ORDER YOU BULLEID OPEN WAGONS HERE View the full article
  5. Thank you! Thank you to everyone who took the time out to vote in the 2023 Model Rail magazine Awards. We are absolutely blown away by the results and the votes you gave us across each category, in what must be our best performance in an awards to date (and we didn't think that we could possibly improve on 2022!) We somehow managed to take gold in ALL the OO gauge categories! Not only that, but we were also named as both the OO Gauge Manufacturer of The Year, and the Overall Manufacturer of The Year! We are absolutely blown away buy these results, and cannot thank you enough for your support, custom and votes! You make it all possible for us to bring our fresh approach to the model railways. It is great recognition for our team who put everything they've got into each model we produce. Let's have a look at the models you voted for as your models of the year... OO Gauge Steam Locomotive of The Year - 78xx Manor Our first steam locomotive has gone down a treat since it arrived last year, and has proven to be a big hit with modellers as it takes its first "Locomotive of The Year" crown. We're delighted with the love our Manor has received, and have been asked about what locos will be starring in run 2 already, as modellers look to add to their fleet! We will have news on that soon, but in the meantime we still have some locos from the first run you can pick up, either from your local stockist or directly from us too. OO Gauge Diesel/Electric Locomotive of The Year - Class 37 Another locomotive which impressed has been our hugely successful and much loved Class 37. A locomotive that was massively anticipated since we first announced it all the way back in late 2019, it was a pleasure to deliver the simply massive production run in 2023 in several batches. Pretty much sold out at all retailers, we have a handful of two running numbers left in stock. Our technical marvel, the Class 92 with its DCC raising and lowering pantographs was also in the running, picking up the bronze award! We are now down to the very last of these beautiful Dysons, including the Limited Edition "Bart The Engine" in unique Stobart Rail livery. OO Gauge Coach Of The Year - Mark 5 Our Caledonian Sleeper and TPE Mark 5 coaches arrived with us just over a year ago, and took top spot in the "OO Coach of the Year" category, much to our delight! We have been persistently asked for a second production run of these, particularly the Sleeper sets. Would you like to see another production run of them? OO Gauge Wagon Of The Year - FNA-D Our FNA-D nuclear flask wagons picked up their second award in the OO Gauge Wagon of the Year category, after previously winning the Hornby Magazine award last October. We still have some available, but packs A and B are long sold out, with C about the go the same way. Grab yours via your stockist or direct via our website! Browse Our In Stock, Award Winning Models Right Here! View the full article
  6. Hi everyone, We are sorting this out with the factory. Ongoing... We have also done a formation guide similar to our IR/IE Mark 2 coaches for the Enterprise Mark 2s over different eras for some added inspiration! Cheers! Fran
  7. Following hot on the heels of our Warwell and Andrew Barclay decorated sample reveals, the final of the announced Hattons Originals trio of models we are completing production on, the Wainwright P Class 0-6-0 tank engine, can now also be previewed for the first time! We actually showed these in our cabinet at the recent Model Rail Scotland but have since returned to our desks and taken some proper photographs of these handsome little tank engines for you to enjoy. Firstly, we can confirm that the shade for the SECR green is incorrect, and was a mistake by the factory. Naturally, we will ensure that the correct shade of green will be used on the final models modellers will receive when production is complete. There are some other small corrections required, such as lining and crests, but nothing huge, which means we can green light production! Let's have a look at each loco below. With all the hard work already put into these models by the Hattons Originals team, and checking over by ourselves in recent weeks, it means that we can now go full steam ahead into production! Delivery of these models is slated for Q4 of 2024. If you had a pre-order with Hattons, but are yet to hear from us, then please contact us via the chat function on the website. If you fancy one, we have a limited amount of stock available to pre-order which can be done so via the link below. As production quantities were agreed with the factory previously by Hattons, we cannot increase production quantities at this time, so pre-ordering for no money down, or via our partially service over 6 months at no additional cost, is advised. Pre-Order Your Wainwright P Class Here! View the full article
  8. As our first production run of our stunning new Mark 1 Suburban coaches nears completion, and due to intensive popular demand, we have decided to follow up quickly for the missing link when it comes to liveries for these essential suburban coaches. So, it gives us great pleasure to present the maroon livery on our BR Mark 1 Subs! Prototype History British Railways’ second livery epoch heralded a number of significant milestones in the story of the United Kingdom’s ‘modern’ era; changes that extended beyond a mere change in coaching stock livery. Coaching stock in the initial period of railway nationalisation still reflected a strong regional livery bias and British Railways’ own ‘Crimson and Cream’ livery added to the mix, particularly where corridor stock was concerned. The desire for a unified ‘national’ livery by the British Railways Board coincided with the difficulties experienced in keeping the upper cream panels of passenger stock clean and despite the continued regional autonomy within British Railways, in 1956, Mk.1 corridor stock began to appear in an LMS inspired lined Maroon livery on the Midland, Scottish and Eastern regions. The change in appearance for the 57’ Mk.1 non-gangway stock was less marked, as the existing plain all-over Carmine Red weathered down to a shade not dissimilar to BR Maroon, but by 1959 the majority of the fleet was painted in the new livery. Regional preferences did still have an influence on the appearance of the stock, with the Eastern Region opting for a plain maroon livery, whereas Midland and Western Region stock appeared with the same lining as the gangway stock, The Scottish Region, which served both Eastern and Midland Regions, had a mixture of plain and unlined stock. Again though, a difference existed within the lining specifications, with the Midland Region opting for a high waist lining, to match existing Stanier non-gangway stock, whereas the Western Region used a lower waist lining, applied to the BR specification by the Swindon drawing offices. In time, as stock cascaded, the boundaries blurred and eventually all three styles could be observed on the Midland and Eastern Regions. Unlike the Eastern Region’s inner and outer suburban diagrams, which were formed into purely 57’ Mk.1 non-gangway sets by this period, suburban diagrams in the Midland and Scottish Regions were formed from a combination of pre-nationalisation and Mk.1 types, with Stanier, Thompson and even Reid non-gangway stock being marshalled into diagrams with the 57’ stock. The Mk.1 57’ Brake Thirds were especially useful, particularly in mixed freight trains, and some wonderful images were captured of Gresley V2 60813 on the Waverley Line, with a Brake Third being used to get railway employee’s children from Riccarton Junction to school in Hawick. The ‘Maroon’ period also coincided with the abolition of Third Class, which led to the vehicle designation legends being changed on the exteriors of all 57’ non-gangway stock, as well as the removal of the ‘3’ from the former Third Class compartments, however like the application of the maroon livery, this change was not instantaneous, with some stock still being in Carmine Red and designated as Third into 1964. The adoption of broad coloured cantrail bands to denote First Class and Dining accommodation began to be adopted on BR coaching stock from 1960 and while there was no provision of dining areas, and thus no need for the red dining bands, on non-gangway stock, the yellow First Class bands had been broadly adopted on non-gangway stock by 1963. During 1964 and 1965, livery application also changed, initiated by Eastleigh Works, with vehicle painting being undertaken by airless brushing, allowing the bodyside colour to be carried round onto the ends of the carriages. The final change to the appearance of the 57’ non-gangway stock applied to the Brake Seconds, as in August 1963 the requirement for Guard’s to observe signals was withdrawn and thus the periscopes could be removed from the roofs, especially useful for vehicles operating in and around London. The Model Initially launched in the summer of 2022 after a long development period behind the scenes, our tooling suite of Mark 1 suburban coaches allow modellers to recreate an authentic rake of these workhorses for the first time in ready-to-run format and offered a 21st century rendition of these essential vehicles. Featuring an exquisite level of detail and an unbeatable specification including full interior lighting, fully detailed interior and a museum quality finish, they were offered in BR all-over carmine and BR all-over rail blue. Only one thing was missing from our launch range; maroon! Thankfully, with the first batch of carmine and blue coaches nearing completion at the factory and are due in stock with us in Q2 of this year, we can turn our attention to the maroon coaches almost straight away. First up, we have the Midland Region BS, C, S and SO in Maroon, without and without lining. The lined Midland vehicles typically carried their lining lower than the BR spec, to match against the lined Stanier stock. We will also be covering the Scottish Region, with a BS, C and S in Maroon, all lined, but in BR and Stanier positions. Being based on circa 1962 photos, the First Class yellow stripe has now appeared. Production of these coaches begins shortly, with the decorated samples above provided when we first received samples from the blue and carmine production run (explaining the wobbly foot boards, which will be corrected on production models to be arrow straight!) and delivery will be in Q1 2025. Price will be the same as the first production run at £64.95 each. Pre-order via your local stockist, or direct via the Accurascale website below, where you can get 10% off when you order two or more coaches! Pre-Order Your Maroon Mark 1 Suburban Coaches Here! View the full article
  9. Time for yet another decorated sample update! This time it's one of our wagon projects that has somewhat flown under the radar - The NER 20t coal hoppers, which form an integral part of our "Powering Britain" range of coal carrying wagons across the ages of the railway. Announced just over a year ago our NER hoppers were going great guns until a factory closure derailed (pardon the pun!) progress on these wagons. But, now that the upheaval of swapping factories is passed us, we can now back on track (again, apologies for the pun!) and we now bring you decorated samples of this rather vast range of detail differing wagons. So, onto the images! Production on these hoppers is now underway and making swift progress following the factory closure and move to another of our factories. Current timeline for delivery is now Q4 2024. We apologise for this slight delay but we were undone by this issue that was completely beyond our control. Pre-order your NER 20t hopper family today, whether it be NER, LNER, BR or a multitude of industrial liveries via your local stockist or below direct from our website! Pre-Order Your NER 20t Hopper Wagons Here! View the full article
  10. Great news! We can reveal further decorated samples of our Class 50 have showed up from the factory for assessment. We have now received BR Blue, BR Blue Large Logo with grey roof, and original Network South East liveries. These arrived with the Hanson and Hall and BR Large Logo with black roof we previewed before Christmas but we've only got around to photographing them now! As ever, some fit and finish issues are apparent on these samples, such as the headcode glass on D423 and the body to chassis fit on some examples, but these will be corrected on production models that you receive. Enough talking, more pics! As per our previous update, production is now underway with a delivery date of Q4 of 2024 envisaged. Order via your local stockist, or direct below. Please note that there is limited stock remaining across all running numbers as production is now in full swing! Pre-Order Your Class 50 Here! View the full article
  11. Hi everyone, We have done up a wee formation guide on these to give you some idea on traction and set up! Cheers! Fran
  12. It was "55 for 5" this time last year as we announced our second run of Class 55 Deltics to mark our 5th birthday in February 2023. The mighty Deltic was of course our first Accurascale locomotive, and one that proved to be unwaveringly popular among modellers, with models selling out in record time and a huge demand in place for a second production run. While feedback on the locomotives was resoundingly positive, there was some excellent constructive feedback too relating to some fit and finish problems some modellers had encountered with their models. This centred around some extra detailing parts around the fuel tanks becoming dislodged in transit, the end had rails sticking too far out, our large "Accurathrash" speaker hitting the roof of the locomotive as it powered up on some models and of course, those infamous brake chains on each bogie. Of course, always wanting to do better, we announced that we would go back to the drawing board with this feedback, and try to do better. All these small issues have now been addressed, with parts being more securely attached with bigger recesses for these parts, the brake chains will now have a new attachment arrangement which makes them more simple to attach and take off for locomotive maintenance, the speaker is now mounted in a lower position in the chassis frame and the handles have been adjusted. On these decorated samples, the handrails are still too far out, which we have fed back to the factory who will correct them. Overall, these new decorated samples, featuring these small tweaks are looking very impressive indeed! They have once again been hugely popular on pre-order, with many who missed out first time round coming back and bagging a mighty Deltic for themselves, as well as those looking to increase their fleet of these mighty beasts. We are delighted to share these decorated samples with you of the six running numbers that make up run two, including a much demanded return for Porterbook Purple 9016! Yes, we know plenty hate it, but plenty of others love it too judging by the sales of this stand out member of the class! The Deltics had been originally penciled in to arrive next month, but with the demand for this production run (far beyond what we originally envisaged) and all the production team currently finishing the Class 66 and 37 production runs, they have been delayed slightly. Production is well underway and delivery will now be in Q3 of 2024. We apologise for this delay, but we wanted to make sure that everyone who wanted a Deltic in this production run gets one! Some Deltics are still available to pre-order, but are close to selling out. Pre-order yours today via the link below, or from your local stockist for the four main range locomotives! Pre-Order Your Class 55 Deltic Here! View the full article
  13. It's been a colourful few days here at Accurascale Towers, as we have been assessing and evaluating the decorated samples of the Andrew Barclay tank engines which we have taken over following the closure of Hattons. Following on from our colourful reveal last week of our O gauge Ruston 88DS decorated samples, we're thinking of selling sunglasses so you can cope with this kaleidoscope of colour! Overall, they're excellent and will certainly be up to the very best standards that the Hattons Originals errr... original (!) releases were. However, there are some minor corrections that need implementing to get them to those high standards once again. We noted on the NCB locomotive that the buffer shanks need to be black instead of red, and the handbrake centre section should be blue, not black. On the Caledonia Works locomotive, the lining on the cylinders does not extend to the full length of the cylinder, so this will be corrected too. "Efficient" also has some lining quirks which need correcting, including placement on the tank sides, the thickness and again around the cylinder ends. On "Victory", the factory have created a sample with the wrong cab windows, the motion bracket is incorrectly painted black and the base of the buffer shanks should be black. We will also be tweaking the shade. One further change we are looking to make is adjusting the three link chain couplings to give them a slightly more realistic appearance. Overall, these are very minor tweaks required to ready these locomotives for full production, which will now kick off in the coming weeks! This means that the delivery date to customers will be late Q4 of 2024. We are locked into the production run size that Hattons specified with the factory, so there is only a finite amount still available to pre-order. Pre-order yours today, with no money down, directly via the Accurascale website below, for £99.95 per loco. Pre-Order Your Andrew Barclay Tank Loco Here! View the full article
  14. Hi everyone, It's been a busy start to the year here at IRM, with our lovely NIR Mark 2 coaches arriving and going down an absolute treat with modellers, our production samples of the Mark 2cs arriving (more on those soon) and of course, we have other projects rumbling in the background! Such as our ICR! Last week, ICR Project Manager Paul Isles, and our Sound Master Jamie Goodman attended Portlaosie Depot and Heuston Station Valeting Plant to record all the sounds for our ICR models in miniature. We would like to extend a big and sincere thank you to Iarnród Éireann Irish Rail for facilitating us and going the extra mile to help us with the recording of this project. They went above and beyond to make this model truly special. If you think our Mark 2s are good, then prepare to be blown away by these! Pre-orders are beginning to fill up some variants, so make sure you get yours in here: https://irishrailwaymodels.com/.../railcar-class-22000-icr Cheers! Fran
  15. Following on from the rather exciting news last Tuesday that we had taken on a number of the Hattons Originals toolings, beginning with the Warwells in OO, The Wainwright P Class and the Andrew Barclay tank engines, we can now bring you the first update on these projects. We will have news of the Wainwright P Class and Andrew Barclay tanks in the coming weeks, but first let's look at the production samples of the Warwell wagons in OO gauge! As reported in our announcement blog last week, production of these models is already complete and the models had already been signed off by the Hattons team. We are now responsible for the delivery of these models to market, with any Hattons pre-orders having been transferred over to us and is now logged on our system. If you have not heard from Hattons, or from us and you do have a Warwell pre-order, please get in touch with us immediately so we can safeguard it for you. We can report that the fit and finish, along with the decoration on these wagons is excellent, and a credit to the Hattons Originals team, making these distinctive wagons really stand out. We can now confirm that these wagons will leave the factory next week for their trip from the Far East to our warehouse in the UK. We envisage them landing with us in April, depending on the continued unrest and shipping disruption in the Middle East. Although some of the running numbers are now sold out, we still have a selection which you can pre-order via our website for £25 per wagon. Click on the link below if you fancy adding some to your fleet, and be sure to check out Trains4u who have also commissioned two Warwell Wagons in this production run. (Please note that this production run is only available direct only from Accurascale to safeguard Hattons Pre-Orders and maintain their original price point of £25, apart from the Trains4u commissioned run) Pre-Order Your Warwell Wagons Right Here! View the full article
  16. Hi everyone, Hot on the heels of our NIR Mark 2 coaches arriving in stock, the factory has sent us the production samples of our IR and IE Mark 2b and Mark 2c coaches for us to assess. We thought we'd give you a wee teaser look and fill it with plenty of atmosphere while we were at it... Look out for a full update including delivery schedule in the coming weeks, but these aren't too far away now. Get your pre-order in while you still can: https://irishrailwaymodels.com/collections/mark-2-coaches/availability_pre-order Cheers! Fran
  17. With our main range of decorated O gauge Ruston and Hornsby 88DS locomotives unveiled earlier this week, we can now unveil our "Accurascale Exclusive" special edition model; 655/29/38 in Tarmac livery! The Prototype Ruston Works No. 518494 was the last 88DS to be built by the firm, leaving Boultham Works on November 29th 1967 bound for Tarmac Roadstone Holdings Ltd’s Southern Division Plant at Hayes, where it was allocated the number 655/29/38 and painted into Tarmac’s in-house livery of Olive, with the Tarmac legend and Seven Ts logo being added. There, it joined a 4wDM Hibberd ‘Planet’, FH3765, which had been at the site since 1956. When the layout at Hayes was revised in June 1967 due to a need to handle increased stone traffic, the 88DS was purchased as FH3765 was not powerful enough for the increased loadings. During the late 1980's, stone began to be delivered in large block trains and the need to shunt wagons ceased. Laid up for a period, 655/29/38 went to the Swanage Railway for preservation on June 29th 1990. The Tarmac numbering scheme is interesting, as the first three digits show the Depot Number, followed by a two digit ‘type’ number (29 for locomotive in this case) and then the final two digits are the Fleet number. Tarmac’s Olive livery remained unchanged between 1966 and 1996 and has been reproduced on the model with help from Tarmac Roadstone Ltd’s own Andy Howdle. The Model As outlined in our recent update on the Ruston 88DS range, we are delighted with how our first O gauge locomotive is progressing so far. Naturally, there are a few improvements to be made at this point, including Of course, there are areas we can further improve such as the yellow that has been applied across the Wasp Stripes and Warning panels is a bit ‘thin’ on these samples, so the density needs to be increased. The buffers, drawhooks and wheels have not received their chemical blackening, which is normal for this stage and will be done on the finished models. Sound recording for our digital sound fitted models will commence in the coming weeks and we will look forward to bringing you some footage of the finished sound files once we have them prepared. Delivery is anticipated for Q1 2025, with this Tarmac model available direct only through the Accurascale website in both DC/DCC Ready and DCC Sound Fitted formats, each coming in the now famous special presentation packaging. Click on the link below to pre-order yours for no money down today! PRE-ORDER YOUR TARMAC RUSTON 88DS RIGHT HERE! View the full article
  18. Hi folks, Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We shall look into it and talk to the factory when they return from the Chinese new year break. Cheers! Fran
  19. Hi folks, Just a quick update; the corporate "bumblebee" livery coaches are now in very short supply, with less than 20 packs of each left in stock! So, if you want them, we suggest you move very soon, or risk missing out. Check them out in action on the excellent "Barrow Street" layout below! Order here: https://irishrailwaymodels.com/collections/mark-2-coaches/availability_in-stock Cheers! Fran
  20. Hi Gareth, UK stock currently on the way to the UK to be shipped from there. Should land in the coming days! Cheers! Fran
  21. Our hobby has been rocked by the news that Hattons Model Railways, a stalwart in the industry since the 1940s, has decided to close their doors for the last time. The familiar parcels wrapped in twine that many of us remember for many years have gone, along with one of the absolute pioneers of British retail with mail order, online sales and an eye for a shrewd deal along the way. We may only be around for 6 years now, so we only had the pleasure of working for Hattons in their very final years. But, what a pleasure that has been, and a relationship that has educated us as well as helped us to preach the gospel that is Accurascale to even more modellers. From top to bottom, they have been fantastic to deal with and we hope that their staff and management go on to have great success in new roles and careers. But, some of Hattons will live on, and we are delighted and privileged to be able to play a small role in securing their legacy. As you may already know, acquired the tooling of the Hattons Originals Class 66 locomotives and announced a whole new run with some added Accurascale ingredients at Model Rail Scotland 2023. The production is now almost complete on those locomotives and they ship in mid February. Utilising that existing relationship with Hattons, we have also been able to secure the future of other "Hattons Originals" toolings, beginning with the OO gauge Warwell wagons, The P Class 0-6-0 tank engine and the Andrew Barclay 0-4-0 tank locomotive. These three models will now join the Accurascale range forevermore! All three models are currently in different stages of production, with Hattons taken pre-orders on all three projects before they closed. We will update you on each project separately in future, but for now the current status of each project is below; OO Warwells The Warwells are complete and will leave the factory in China just after Chinese New Year in late February, landing in stock with us in April 2024. The price of these will be maintained the same as the Hattons price of £25 each. Our bundle deal of 10% if you buy two or more applies along with free UK Postage and Packaging and 3% cashback on all orders. Our new "Accuracare" lifetime warranty will apply to these wagons too! Trains4u will receive their special limited edition commission as planned. Please contact them for further details on those. Andrew Barclay 0-4-0 ST We're delighted to report that these locomotives are at decoration stage which we will reveal in the coming weeks. Production is slated to begin after the Chinese New Year break and delivery will be in Q4 2024. Unfortunately, with rising costs, the original price of £85 was impossible to maintain, so these locomotives are now priced at £99.95 each. However, with free postage and packaging and 3% cashback on all orders we can still soften the increase with some added value. They will also be covered by our new lifetime "Accuracare" warranty. P Class These locomotives are also at the decoration stage which we will also reveal very soon. Production is also slated to begin post Chinese New Year with delivery also in Q4 of 2024. These are likely to arrive after the Andrew Barclay tanks. As per the Andrew Barclay tanks, the P will also see an increase in price to £99.95, but with free postage and packaging and 3% cashback on all orders we can still soften that increase, along with covering them with our new lifetime "Accuracare" warranty. Your Hattons Pre-Orders So, if you have pre-ordered Warwells, P or Andrew Barclay, what happens next? Hattons will contact you asking if you have any objections with them moving your pre-orders to us. If you do not, then we will need you to register an account on our website and log your payment details for your pre-order. This is so we can safeguard your pre-order so you do not miss out. If you do not register after 2 weeks, we will consider your pre-order cancelled and we will offer the model for sale to other customers. Next Steps And Placing Pre-Orders As we are so deep into the production process on the P Class and the Andrew Barclay tank locos we cannot add any further locomotives to the production run, or make any further changes such as offering DCC Sound Fitted options. The specification will remain the same as Hattons originally specified when they first announced this new production run of locomotives. These models will be for sale exclusively on our website only in order to protect historic pre-orders and keep prices as low as we can in line with Hattons. As mentioned earlier, the commission of Warwells by Trains4u will remain in place and will be delivered to Trains4u in April as planned. Please see them for more information about those models. And finally, the question many of you may be asking; what other Hattons Originals models have joined our line up? Well, you will have to keep an eye on us for future announcements later this year and beyond to find out! Pre-Order Your OO Gauge Warwell Here: https://www.accurascale.com/collections/50t-kwa-warwell Pre-Order Your Andrew Barclay Tank Here: https://www.accurascale.com/collections/andrew-barclay-14-16-0-4-0st-industrial Pre-Order Your P Class Tank Here: https://www.accurascale.com/collections/secr-p-class-locomotive View the full article
  22. We first revealed our debut O gauge locomotive at the 2023 GETS show last October, and it certainly raised some eyebrows! "Accurascale not doing a large mainline diesel? Good heavens!" Indeed! The large diesel sector of the O gauge market is very well catered for, and as a small market, the 7mm side is likely to not withstand two companies competing on the same class of loco. It's also quite new to us, so we said we would go small, cater for layouts large and small, from the sidings of the large empires to the fun shunting planks in the spare rooms around the country and go small, cute and colourful. Our little Ruston 88DS gives us just that. We're delighted to say that our first decorated samples have arrived for assessment, with one complete model for further testing, and a collection of fully decorated bodyshells to give you a flavour of what's coming soon! As with any product development process, there is a lot to like, and some changes that are required! So, what do we like so far? Tampo and overall body paint colours across all liveries are very pleasing. Some of the highlights include W.M.J.E.A No.1 with its lining and Ruston crest on the cab sides. Our BR Green, and two tone Rowntree Mackintosh lined green and shadowed lettering are also pretty highlights! Sticking with our green theme, the Bowaters Northfleet 88DS in its Opaline Green and running gear in red, which really stands out and looks very striking. The cab interiors are very pleasing, with nice, detailed cab desks. We're also delighted with the weight! They are very, very solid and have a real quality feel to them, with excellent haulage capacity for a locomotive of their size as you will see when we demonstrate them in the coming weeks! Of course, there are areas we can further improve on and correct too. For instance, the yellow that has been applied across the Wasp Stripes and Warning panels is a bit ‘thin’ on these samples, so the density needs to be increased. Masking also needs to be improved, but both these issues are normal at this stage and something we have encountered on our OO locomotives at this stage of the process, being fully corrected on the production models customers receive. In places, the excellent fit of the parts has led to that fit being adversely affected by the paint layers; notably on the removable engine panel that covers the PCB which is now too tight and the Donkey Engine panels, which do not sit as flush as they should. Again, this is easily remedied. The glazing panels also suffer from not being cleaned up diligently, which is a common problem on EPs/Deco Samples. Again, this will be corrected for production models. Buffers, Drawhooks and Wheels have not received their chemical blackening, which is normal for this stage, but which does look odd even so. The Panhard Red used on the Tottenham Gas Works 88DS is wrong, but a definitive colour swatch has now been sent, and the red will be adjusted accordingly. Overall, our little rustons are progressing very well indeed through the design process and are bang on schedule. Sound recording for our digital sound fitted models will commence in the coming weeks and we will look forward to bringing you some footage of the finished sound files once we have them prepared. Delivery is anticipated for Q1 2025. Pre-order your O Gauge Ruston and Hornsby 88DS today via your local retailer, or direct for no money down via our website by clicking below! PRE-ORDER YOUR RUSTON AND HORNSBY 88DS HERE! View the full article
  23. Hi folks, Remaining stock back on sale in limited numbers! Order here: https://irishrailwaymodels.com/collections/mark-2-coaches/availability_in-stock Cheers! Fran
  24. Hi everyone, I'm delighted to report that our NIR and RPSI coach packs have now arrived at our warehouse and dispatch of these coaches has begun in the last half hour! We have a large amount of pre-orders to get through which will take a number of days, so your patience is appreciated while we power through them. It is likely that we will have extra stock of these packs to go on sale, so if you missed out then you might just be in luck. Keep an eye on our website and they will go back on sale once the pre-orders are dealt with. Welcome to the first IRM coach! Cheers! Fran
  25. It's been all go here at Accurascale Towers for our new Class 66s, with the last few months being extremely busy getting the various pieces in place before the model's imminent arrival. So what has been happening behind the scenes? Late last year Fran Burke and Steve Nicholls visited one of our factories to personally check on the 66 project progress. The production team have been working tirelessly to assemble our models with the completion date due before Chinese New Year, where they'll enjoy a well-earned break! Back in the UK, we've seen our pre-production samples go through vigorous testing and even entertaining the crowds at exhibitions like Making Tracks, where our samples have clocked up almost 40 real miles of running. We can't help ourselves, Playing trains is what it's all about! There is a serious side to all this testing. It allows our Class 66 Project Manager Steve Purves to find anything that's been missed or needs a tweak before the final assembly. With his feedback fed to the factory, they go on to produce the final production samples for us to evaluate, these models should be of the same quality as the models you'll receive. Boy, they didn't disappoint! At the beginning of January, the final production samples arrived and as you can see from the images, we're extremely pleased with how these models have turned out. It really makes all the hard work worthwhile. So, now we're happy, what's next? Great news on that front, as the final production samples have been tested and approved we expect them to ship just after CNY by sea. This will mean an expected arrival bang on time for the end of Q1 2024. With many variants now sold out to pre-order, only a few remain available to order. However, you can click the 'Notify me if item becomes available' button on the locomotive you'd like in case spares become available once landed. Browse the range here and don't forget, all models now have a Lifetime Warranty at no extra charge: https://www.accurascale.com/collections/class-66 View the full article
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