Warbonnet

Thanks to your support and generosity we've achieved the target of raising the much-needed sum of £10,000 for Samaritans UK. During Pete Waterman's 2023 Christmas exhibition at Blakemere, we announced the limited edition model of 66415 'You Are Never Alone', with the aim of raising a large sum for Samaritans UK. As it is becoming very clear, you are very supportive of these charity projects, backing the model of 66415, which soon sold through and will support the mental health-focused charity. Wind the clock forward to August 12th 2024 and we paid a visit to the Freightliner Depot in Doncaster. Freightliner had kindly taken 66415 out of traffic for us to come together and celebrate this momentous occasion. We were joined by Tim Shoveller, Freightliner Chief Executive Officer of G&W UK/Europe. Tim Said "We couldn't do this without the support we've had from Accurascale, This has only been possible because of the partnership that's been formed. Accurascale has produced these incredibly detailed models and sold hundreds and hundreds of them to raise £10,000 for Samaritans, which is wonderful! We couldn't do this on our own, as always about the railway, it's about partnership and collaboration." Watch our short video here: Richard Hall, a Listening volunteer from Samaritans joined us and explained what's involved in being able to be on the end of the phone for someone in need. Motivated to help Samaritans after the loss of friends and working for Network rail in the day job, Richard knows only too well the effect of mental illness. Richard said "We're a listening organisation, people call up, talk about what's going on in their lives, what problems they're facing. We can talk them through it, explore the issues, potentially signpost, provide emotional support and give them someone to vent to when that person might not have anyone to talk to. The donation of £10,000 will go along long way to keeping the lights on, keeping the water running, it's really really important!" Fran Burke, Director of Marketing, PR and Sales for Accurascale, added; "We have been absolutely blown away by the support of you, our Accurascale customers and supporters, who came together, dug deep, and helped us reach our goal of raising an amazing £10,000 for this critically important charity. It's been a pleasure to work alongside our friends at Freightliner UK, our factory partners, the Railnuts gang for facilitating our initial launch and of course, The Samaritans to make this happen. We cannot thank these parties enough. We hope that modellers around the country who got their hands on this exclusive model can not only enjoy running the locomotive on their layouts or admiring it in their collection, but also enjoy the fact that money they spent in obtaining the model is supporting a very worthy cause. This money will help Samaritans UK to continue to provide the essential services they offer the British public including railway workers around the nation. From the whole team at Accurascale, we pass on our thanks to Samaritans UK, Freightliner and of course your generosity and support! If you'd like to support other Accurascale charity projects, our latest model 66190 is raising £10,000 for Martin House Children Hospice, and can be seen here: Pre-Order Your Charity Class 66 190 And Raise Vital Fund Here! View the full article

With the recent release of our highly acclaimed Class 66 locomotives, and the forthcoming release of run 2 of these locos (watch this space!), along with our first run of our lovely new Class 60, we thought we better prepare some trains to go behind them. Up first is a wagon oft requested for a re-run at shows; our cutdown HYA wagons! This times they will make an appearance in the rather attractive dark blue livery these wagons have been finding themselves wearing in recent years. Prototype History The HYA/IIA family of bogie coal hoppers was one the most significant casualties of the doubling of the UK’s carbon tax from April 2015. Built by International Railway Services (IRS) in Romania and at WH Davis’ workshops at Langwith Junction, Shirebrook, for Fastline Freight and GB Railfreight between 2007 and 2013, the 368-strong fleet was the youngest in operation with some examples just two years old. While around a third of the newest vehicles were either outshopped or modified with top doors for biomass use, this left around 250 wagons with an uncertain future. As coal volumes fell, examples were either stored or redeployed to carrying aggregates, which was not ideal because the denser nature of stone meant the wagons could only be partially filled. This made a full train inefficient compared to purpose-built hoppers. VTG Rail was the first to look at reducing the length of the wagons to make them more suitable, commissioning WH Davis to remove the centre bay, which equated to some three metres or so. The prototype, No. 371051, was released in February 2016 and by the middle of 2024 just 77 examples remained unconverted. Notably, all rebuilds are TOPS coded HYA, whether they started life as an HYA or an IIA, and from 2020 the programme also included former biomass versions made redundant by the arrival of higher-capacity IIA-D covered hoppers, also built by WH Davis. From mid-2021, WH Davis outshopped the next 48 cutdown wagons, originally built for GE Rail Services/Fastline as IIAs but latterly operated by GBRf, with the bodyside above the lower angle change in ‘steel blue’, complete with Touax and GB Railfreight brandings. The rest of the wagon is black. This replaced the unpainted, patch painted and silver-grey finish seen on previous batches and instantly made them the classiest-looking members of the fleet. This image change was continued onto 371073-371080, released in 2022 in the same scheme, albeit with just the GBRf logos. They are mostly to be found behind the operator’s diverse range of Class 66s and can be found all over the UK working on behalf of Aggregate Industries (from Bardon Hill, Coton Hill and Grain), Cemex (from Peak Forest), and Tarmac (from Arcow and Rylstone). In August 2022, WH Davis completed the first pair of blue-painted HYAs for VTG, they were followed by a batch of nine wagons – all ex-biomass – which were destined for use on Freightliner-powered Mendip Rail Services out of Whatley and Merehead quarries. A further batch of 25 VTG-owned IIAs was sent to Langwith Junction in November 2023 for length reduction, but these are currently in store at Gascoigne Wood. This leaves just two sets of original length IIAs in operation, one biomass for Drax services and one with the top doors removed for aggregates use. The Model A much requested model in this new livery, our second run of the cutdown HYA wagons represent these modified wagons from both HYA and IIA donors, with end detailing to reflect the parentage of their donors, just like the real thing! Each twin pack will come with individual markings, from unique running numbers to different branding depending on lessor of the wagons such as VTG or Touax. We have revisited the wagons too, switching the tail light operation from a battery to track pick up to save any fussy changing of batteries and opening of ends. These will still be controlled by magnetic wand. We have also asked the factory to ensure our high demands of free rolling are met, with additional procedures in the quality control department being put in place for this production run too. Want to build a rake of these? Well, you're in luck! There are 7 twin packs to choose from, and there will be a further bonus twin pack announced later this week, too! The initial 7 twin packs can be pre-ordered today via your local stockist, or direct via Accurascale using the link below. Priced at £84.95 per two wagons and £87.95 for tail light fitted packs, we are offering 10% off when you buy two packs or more, and an amazing 15% off when you order five or more packs! So, what are you waiting for? Say hello to some Monday blues you would like! Click the link below an place your no money down pre-order today for delivery in Q3 2025. Pre-Order Your HYA Wagons Here! View the full article

Welcome to another of our "Let's Get Involved" series of how-to modelling guides featuring techniques to take our models to another level. Today it is our lovely 21T MDO wagons that are the subject, as Alex Roughsedge captures the rather battered state the real wagons ended up in. Take it away, Alex! Built between 1950 and 1952, the British Railways 21t MDO wagons were a mainstay of mineral traffic for the best part of 40 years, lasting in some cases until the early nineties. Accurascale’s models are superb renditions straight out of the box, but they’re just too clean! MDOs got utterly filthy in service, some ending up with remarkably little of their original grey colour left. Hopefully, this tutorial will help make your own models just that little bit more prototypical. Usually, my own weathering methods involve heavy airbrush use, but I know not everybody will have the luxury of an airbrush in their own toolkit. As such, I’ve tried to keep the use of this to a minimum. The airbrush is used solely for varnishing; rattle cans are a perfectly good substitute. We’ll make a start with the first MDO, B202043. Looking at photos on the internet of the real wagon this model is based on, the weathering is somewhat different to the other two MDOs included in Pack H so we’ll focus solely on this one for the time being. The very first step here is to give the model an overall coat of matt varnish. I favour Mr Color’s GX113, a lacquer-based formula with UV blocking technology that should prevent any yellowing or fading of the colours over time. I thin this around 50/50 with their own lacquer thinners and apply a generous coat to the model. This gives a nice key for the subsequent weathering, as well as a smooth, predictable surface. Mr Color offer this exact varnish in rattle can form which would be just as good, but any decent matt varnish can be substituted here. Studying photos of B202043 on Paul Bartlett’s superb Zenfolio page, the wagon appears almost completely dark brown, and has retained very little of its original BR grey after many years of hard work. To my eye, this looks more like heavy dirt than rust as such, and there are what appear to be areas where this dirt has been rubbed away revealing remnants of the grey underneath. More on this a little later. To begin with, a general coat of Vallejo Mecha Color 69.035 ‘Chipping Brown’ was thinned a little with tap water and applied to the areas between the side ribs, taking care to preserve the beautifully applied factory markings. This doesn’t have to be particularly neat, and I only applied a single coat to add to the rough appearance. The side ribs are significantly cleaner on the real wagon than the areas in between, but these are still pretty grubby. The same Vallejo Chipping Brown colour was now added to the remaining grey areas using a small piece of sponge held in some self-closing tweezers. This is applied in a stippling motion and can create some incredibly convincing chipped paint effects. This technique nicely blends in the cleaner ribbing but leaves it noticeably cleaner than the rest of the wagon. It’s time to crack out some oil paints for the remainder of the weathering process. My chosen colours here being: ABT510 ‘Starship Filth’ and ABT240 ‘Cream Brown’ from 502 Abteilung, along with some bog standard ‘Mixing White’ and ‘Lamp Black’ from Winsor & Newton. These were applied to a small piece of cardboard to leech out some of the linseed oil which makes the paints a little easier to use and dry much faster. I began by mixing the Lamp Black and Mixing White to form a grey somewhat similar to the original BR grey. As mentioned above, the photos of the wagon seem to show some areas where the darker filth has been rubbed away, particularly around the doors, and what looks like the original BR grey is showing through. At least that’s my interpretation anyway. The mixed grey oil paint was applied neat to the model, following the photo references as closely as I could. The advantage of oils here is that these patches could then be blended slightly using white spirit to soften the edges. At this point, I gave the model another coat of matt varnish to seal the grey patches in so they wouldn’t be affected by the next stage of oils. An alternative here would be to leave the model to dry for 24-48 hours, but who has time for that?! The next step was to apply some neat Starship Filth in a streaking motion down the side of the wagon. Shortly after, neat white spirit on a large brush can be used to further refine these streaks. The beauty of oil paints is they remain adjustable for many hours, giving you full control over any effects you may want to achieve, to the point of being able to completely remove the paint if you’re not happy. Small amounts of other colours can also be added here, particularly the Cream Brown, to add further streaks and rain marks. At the same time, some oil washes can be added to the underframes and wheel centres. I used mainly Starship Filth here, but feel free to experiment. Wagon underframes ended up all manner of colours so you can really go to town. I applied mine as washes, before using some neat Lamp Black around the axleboxes to represent oil staining. Once this step was complete, I added a further coat of sealing varnish, however this time I used GX112 gloss. The reason for the gloss varnish this time was to allow a careful pin wash of Tamiya Black Panel Line Accent Colour to be applied to the nooks and crannies around the bodywork. This should hopefully bring back a little definition to the wagon and create some false shadows. The wash is allowed to run around details and along the side ribs, then once dry, the excess can be wiped away using a cotton bud dampened with White Spirit. I didn’t go too over the top with the inside of the wagon here, simply opting for an initial all-over wash of Mig Ammo ‘Light Rust Wash’, which was then augmented once dry with ‘Streaking Rust Effects’. The latter can be streaked in a vertical motion up and down the inner sides to give the impression of rust streaks left by rain. The final step for B202043 was to give it a good final coat of matt varnish. As you can see, the model now looks a million miles away from its original pristine finish, and hopefully much closer to how the real B202043 looked in service. Moving onto the other two wagons in the pack, B202125 and B202028. Paul Bartlett’s site again also has excellent images of these two wagons. Immediately it can be seen that these two are much rustier in appearance than B202043. As a result of this, I opted to start with Vallejo Model Color 71.037 ‘Mud Brown’ as a base coat for the rust effects. This was again thinned slightly with tap water and applied to the model in a single coat. Once dry, the Mig Ammo rust effects were cracked open once more. Similar to the wagon insides, an initial coat of the lighter colour was applied to the brown areas as a wash, before the darker colour was applied over the top and streaked in a downward motion using a large brush and White Spirit. Chipping Brown was once again applied using the sponge method to the side ribbing, and the top edge of the wagon in varying amounts according to the reference images. These two wagons feature more refined patches of grey, so here I used Pro Acryl ‘Bright Warm Grey’, a surprisingly good match for the original Accurascale BR Grey. This was applied carefully using a small brush, again following reference images. Another noticeable feature of these two wagons is the presence of much darker grey patches around the lighter rust areas. Here, neat Starship filth was applied roughly in the areas where these patches occur. There are also visible weld lines on the sides as well. I opted to represent these with thin lines of oil paint, but if you were feeling particularly adventurous then you could carefully scribe these lines in with a needle or scribing tool. As before, the oil paint is blended and feathered in using White Spirit. The weld lines were softened slightly using this method, before some very slight vertical streaking. As a bonus, this step also helps to blend in the grey patches applied previously. Perhaps the most curious feature of these particular wagons is a number of odd horizontal lines towards the top of the wagon. I can only begin to speculate on the purpose/reason for these lines – they appear to be above and below the weld lines so are they perhaps some result of the welding process? Maybe they’re simply to denote a fill line? I’m sure someone out there will know. I absolutely love replicating features like these lines on models as they just elevate it to another level. These were carefully painted on using a small brush and the neat Cream Brown oil paint. Once allowed to dry a little, these were again softened and refine using White Spirit. Also at this point I gave the interior the same treatment as with the previous model, and applied the black panel line wash too. The final step was to re-apply some chalk markings present on the real wagon. These are actually represented on the original Accurascale paint job but were obviously obliterated during the initial rust painting. To recreate these, I used a sharp Prismacolor White pencil, however, it must be noted that this has to be done over the final matt coat, and after the matt coat has had a number of hours to dry otherwise the pencil simply gouges away the varnish. These wagons were incredibly fun to weather. I don’t often try to recreate actual wagons using references, I usually use elements from various sources to create a representation of the subject, so it was a real novelty to try to get these as close to their real-world counterparts as I could. ORDER YOUR ACCURASCALE MDO WAGONS BY CLICKING HERE! View the full article

After the remarkable success of our Prostate Cancer UK and Samaritans Class 66 locomotives, which raised some much-needed funds for each charity, we are back at it again, and looking for your help to raise £10,000 for a brilliant cause. This time we turn our attention to Martin House Children's Hospice and our friends at DB Cargo, who have already dedicated a locomotive, no 66190 to this very special charity, as well as raise a staggering £250,000 for them to date through special tours and events over the last five years. Naturally, it seems only right that we add 66190 to our second production run of our 'Sheds' and help raise some more cash! About Martin House Set up in 1987, and only the second Children's Hospice in the UK at that time, Martin House is based in Yorkshire and provides family led care for children with life-shortening conditions. It is a place where children, young people and their families can come to stay from time to time along their journey and find support, rest and practical help. Such is the demand for their vital services that they now need a more suitable building which is estimated to cost £2 million to complete. When we were asked if we could help out by our friends at DB after we saw the success of our previous charity fundraising models, we leapt at the chance to do out bit. So, we set off to Toton as their guests to have a look around the real 66190! About 66 190 Originally part of the ‘Red Revolution’, a term used to describe the dominance of English, Welsh and Scottish (EWS) class 66’s across the UK freight scene, 66190 arrived on British soil early in the year 2000. One of 250 near identical locomotives, 66190 was put to work almost immediately on a wide variety of freight work, as the class 66’s were the “go anywhere” type at EWS’s disposal. The first modification came in the summer of 2001 as 66190 was fitted with the now standard swinghead buckeye coupler (locomotive 66200 and above had these fitted from new along with revised lashing eyes) 66190’s first turn in the limelight came on the 19th July 2003 when it hauled the Mossend to Inverness leg of Pathfinder Tours’ Grampian Gyrator. Incidentally, fellow Accurascale Exclusive 66001, worked Stafford to Crewe then Crewe to Stafford on the same tour. 66190 settled back in to its normal working life again until mid-2007 when it was readied for transfer to Euro Cargo Rail (ECR), at Toton. ECR was a subsidiary of EWS, as EWS sought to widen its market into the European Railfreight business. Despite German operator DB buying the EWS business in 2007 and rebranding to DB Schenker taking place in 2009, ECR continued to be known as such until 2021 when it rebranded as DB Cargo France. During June 2021, 66190 was returned to DB Cargo stock in the UK via the channel tunnel and headed to Toton depot in Nottinghamshire for a full overhaul and conversion back to UK specification. It emerged in standard ‘De-branded’ EWS maroon and gold livery, albeit with new LED lighting clusters and was used on many routes around the midlands before returning to Toton during early 2023 for a full repaint in to DB house colours. A very shiny 66190 made its way to York on the 2nd of June 2023 for a naming ceremony, where its “Martin House” plates would be revealed by Rosie Mellor-Silvester, from the Martin House charity. 66190, as a standard pool locomotive is used all across the country from china clay work in the southwest to Biomass in the north but its always treated as a bit of a “pet” by DB staff, the white wall tyres and silver buffers being maintained as much as possible, makes this locomotive stand out from the rest of the fleet. Working Together Approached by Ross Taylor, Operational Trainer with DB Cargo, last year, we set about to work on doing our charity model of 66190 and it quickly became the first loco added to our second production run of these ubiquitous locomotives. We paid a visit to Toton Traction Depot in February 2024 following Model Rail Scotland to look over the real 66190 and ensure we got the details for our model spot on. A couple of months later we met Martin House who were equally thrilled by the project and met us for a special event with 66190 at Leeds Railway Station. Ross Taylor's vision for an exclusive model to raise funds for this amazing cause quickly came together, and we are delighted to reveal the first decorated sample and announce the model at the opening of the latest "Making Tracks" event with Pete Waterman at Chester Cathedral. Speaking about the announcement, Rosie Mellor-Silvester, Head of Mass Relationships at Martin House, outlined her delight that we have teamed up together to create this model and raise funds for the hospice; "We are delighted that Accurascale have chosen to support Martin House Children’s Hospice through creating a model of the Martin House Class 66 locomotive. The first ever model has pride of place in our reception! The money raised from the sales of this model will help support children, young people and their families when they need it the most, which is something we are incredibly grateful to Accurascale for." Fran Burke, Director of Marketing, PR and Sales for Accurascale, added; "We are honoured to partner with two fantastic organisations and yet again have the opportunity to work with our customers to help raise a significant amount of money for a brilliant cause. Thank you to DB Cargo and Ross Taylor in particular for bringing us all together and I hope that we can sell enough of these cracking models to hit our £10,000 goal, and with a bit of luck, exceed that total." The Model The announcement of 66190 kicks off the second run of our Class 66, building on the huge success of our first run and the demand that has followed it. Featuring the iconic DB red and grey livery along with white-walled tyres and other small embellishments, which set it apart from the rest of the DB Class 66 fleet, our model faithfully captures this special squadron member 66 perfectly. The distinctive and colourful nameplate will be printed on our models with etched replacements in the accessory pack of each model. We have also included our increasingly famous Accurascale "a" headboard, modelled on the Railfreight depot plaques associated with triple grey livery from the 1980s and 1990s in the accessory pack of each model. As with any Accurascale Exclusives model, 66190 will come in special presentation packaging and feature a limited edition certificate, and will only be available via the Accurascale website. Proceeds from the sale of each loco will go to Martin House Children's Hospice, so we're asking you to dig deep and support this wonderful cause if you can! Seen here in decorated sample stage, there are still some revisions to be made to the livery which will be implemented on the production models. Available in both DC/DCC ready and fully loaded DCC sound fitted with our full suite of Accurathrash goodness as well as all the incredible tech you expect to find in our locomotives, they are priced at £179.95 and £279.95 respectively. Due in stock in Q2 2025, it will be joined by the rest of run 2 of the Class 66, which will be announced later this month. Pre-order yours below! Pre-Order Your Charity DB Class 66 190 And Raise Vital Fund Here! View the full article

It's been a little while since we announced an Accurascale Exclusives wagon pack. Actually, no. It's been a whole week! But here we are with another one, and one that uses a wagon type we have not talked about for a while. The interesting and unusual NER 20t hopper wagons found plenty of use in private owners hands, especially in an industrial setting. We thought we would add another triple pack of these to the first production run in the eye-catching and rather attractive "Londonderry Collieries" livery. History Built on the site of old blast furnaces, situated at Nose’s Point south of Seaham Harbour, construction of Dawdon colliery commenced on August 26, 1899 to alleviate the expense of mining the old shafts at Seaham Colliery, and the colliery fully opened in 1907. By 1910, the 3,300 miners at Dawdon Colliery were already producing one million tons of hand-mined coal per year and by 1930 the numbers employed at the colliery had reached their peak, with a workforce totalling 3,798 people. Prior to 1899, Dawdon had been a small village of 83 houses, but under the patronage of the Sixth Marquess of Londonderry, it was extended during the early 20th century, by the building of twenty streets of new housing to accommodate the rapidly growing workforce at the colliery. In the early 1930s, the increasing tonnage mined by Dawdon Colliery led Londonderry Collieries to issue an order for a new fleet of wooden 20T hoppers, with Charles Roberts & Sons winning the contract, constructing the new wagons during 1935. The design was virtually indistinguishable from the North Eastern Railway P7 types, even down to the fitting of extended wooden stanchions and the end open ‘letterbox’ recesses for assisting in rope haulage operations. As elsewhere, the wooden stanchions were quite quickly sawn down to headstock level, in line with general LNER practice, but examples persisted even into the 1950s. Under the nationalised National Coal Board, steel bodied wagons rapidly replaced wooden bodied wagons at the collieries, and the surviving former wooden 20T workhorses were either moved centrally to Seaham, to be used for the tipping of spoil and ‘smalls’ (bought up from the staithes by the fleet of Seaham’s Chaldron waggons), or derated to 15 tons for the removal of very large coal pieces. Unlike the Chaldrons at Seaham, which had a usefulness not served by other wagons, the surviving 20T hoppers were surplus to requirements, and had all but disappeared from the railways of the Londonderry system by the early 1960s. The Model The Londonderry Collieries 20t hoppers complete our NER hopper wagon line up for our first run of these wagons. A vital cog in our "Powering Britain" series of coal wagons through the ages of the railway, these wagons are now in production and arrive in stock with us in late Q4 2024. Pre-Order Your Exclusive Londonderry Hopper Pack Right Here! View the full article

Following on from our recent update on the former Hattons Originals Andrew Barclay tank engines, the other run of tank locomotives initially announced by Hattons but taken over by ourselves, the P Class, are also progressing through production rather nicely indeed. We received decorated samples just after the run was taken over by our team, but it was immediately apparent that some tweaks to correct the samples for production were required. There were three locomotives in particular which required corrections, and recently we received some sample bodyshells with these corrections in place. Let's have a look at them! H4-P-017: SE&CR: Buffer blocks now correctly Indian Red, not black. Front splashers now body colour, not black. SE&CR Crest printing improved. Wainwright Green now improved to match colour samples. H4-P-018: SE&CR: The top of the buffer blocks now correctly in red, not black. Front splashers now body colour, not black. Buffer Beam numerals now correct appearance, and additional text added on the left side. Cab side plates were set too high, and have now been repositioned. Cab roof is now a single colour, and does not have the green inset. Tank side lettering has now been spaced correctly, and the yellow improved in colour depth. Incorrect shade of Simplified Wainwright green has now been corrected, to account for less varnish being used on the paintwork in this period. H4-P-018: SR: The top of the buffer blocks now correctly in red, not black. The locomotive number has now been changed to 1027, correct for the livery shown (1323's livery had been misinterpreted). The rear bunker number has now been located in the correct position. Production is now underway and we are on course to deliver as per our original delivery date of Q4 2024. These are available exclusively via the Accurascale website only for £99.95 each. Pre-order your loco below! Pre-Order Your P Class Here! View the full article

Looks like it was a good show. A friend was there with his layout Ebbsworth Street, which had Jools Holland behind the backscene inspecting at one stage I believe!

Hi David, I complimented the thread on being respectful, and something we could then engage in. My remark about disrespectful behaviour goes back to more historical incidents on here, some of which you defended IRM on, or indeed witnessed even in recent weeks. I think it's a perfectly fair comment. The buffer spacing between both real 121s and 141s is the exact same. It is just the models that are different, both of which were conscious decisions and understandable. Thanks, Fran

If you are referring to the model, then no. Both were built on different chassis in different factories. Cheers! Fran

Hi folks, Just to confirm that these rivets will be present on the finished models. Some rivet elements are added at the end of the tooling development process, so not always present on samples. Cheers! Fran

Very well said and much appreciated @Flying Snail. We are always open to constructive comment and being open and honest with our point of view when there is some respectfulness in the comments and an understanding and acceptance of our point of view too. When a tantrum is thrown it makes engaging and assisting a lot more difficult. All we have ever done is try to do our best by the Irish element of our great hobby and provide lots of models to bolster what has gone before, so we can make Irish outline railways a truly viable and attractive proposition for everyone. I'm sure most are aware of our Accurascale side of the business, and how well that is going for us. With competition for factory capacity at an all time high, it would make more business sense for us to concentrate on high repeatability projects for Accurascale where we can do 15-20 reruns of over the life of the moulds and sell more due to the market size and demands, than doing any Irish outline model, as we may get 1-2 reruns tops of over the same period, and a much smaller production run to begin with. Our external accountants have basically argued that IRM could be seen as "costing money" as we leave those revenue opportunities on the table, but we do IRM and persist with bringing more and more models out because we love Irish railways and this is our home and our market. It's for the love of it. We are not asking to be hailed as heroes, or looking for excuses should we make a decision someone disagrees with, or indeed an error (we are all human after all), just a little bit of respect when expressing viewpoints. All I will say is that many Irish models, not just UK repaints, have had this set up for many years now, so it must be remembered that it's not an exclusively IRM Bulleid wagon quirk. It's odd how it's never been mentioned before. After all, all our wagons before these had them at scale distances and all ran behind locomotives which had the spacing at UK spec, and nobody ever said anything. Our As were the first to have them at correct spacing, and have been hauling coaches with UK spacing. It's amazing how our humble little Bulleid wagons brought it to the fore! Cheers! Fran

Hi Dave, The Park Royal’s as it stands is done to prototypical Irish spacing. This is due to the future development of our range of both coaches and motive power which will become apparent in the future. Cheers! Fran

Hi Al, It is up to you what you decide to do, but note that a lot of Irish models are made this way, and we tried best to facilitate everyone, but that is impossible. If you wish to cancel future orders please email us with your order number, but it is also worth remembering that your 141 class locos, cravens, 071 etc also has this and it is very unlikely models of this quality of these wagons will ever be made again, being very niche to begin with. Cheers! Fran

Hi folks, As you can see below, lined up with a 141 they match perfectly. I believe this is the same for 071s, Cravens and 201s too from another manufacturer. Not to mention Woolwich moguls, jintys etc from this era. While not in scale position, it does match the majority of locos made and looks more at home on 00 track, which we find that 99% of our customers prefer and use. We also considered the historical usage of these wagons in mixed trains, such as cattle wagons, tankers and vans which many modellers already have represented on their layouts using re-liveried UK models, and we felt it odd to have our wagons have a different buffer spacings in an otherwise uniform mixed train. We went for a compromise as a result. It is a case of "Damned if you do, damned if you dont" I'm afraid. Of course, for the finescaler and top modellers out there, they can be repositioned with some modelling if they choose to do so. We try to be considerate as possible for those who wish to go finescale, hence the new 28mm axles that make 21mm gauge easy, put sometimes we have to make a choice We showed off all samples early on and heard no objections, so we pushed on with production. Cheers! Fran

Hi everyone, Great news! Our latest wagon project from the Bulleid wagon project, the ubiquitous CIE "H Van", is now at decoration stage! These first samples are currently being put together and will be sent to us in the coming week. We will show off the completed samples when they arrive, but these images give you a flavour of what's to come! We're still on track for a Q4 2024 delivery and pre-orders are coming in fast. Secure yours for a no money down below, with each triple pack priced at just €89.95 each, with 10% off when you order two packs or more and free Irish postage and packaging. An incredible piece of value for money for highly detailed, accurate Irish wagons. Pre-order yours here: https://irishrailwaymodels.com/collections/h-van Cheers! Fran

decorated park royals and full update due in the next 4 weeks!

Our recent announcement of our 21 ton BR hopper wagons, later designated HTO and rebodied and designated HTV has gone down very well indeed with modellers. Considering it fills a long standing and much needed gap in the wagon range of 00/4mm modellers, it is unsurprising how popular they have been if our pre-orders are anything to go by! Of course, even though the HTO and HTVs were very much seen as a humdrum BR standard wagon in grey and bauxite liveries, they did go in differing directions later on in their careers, with industrial and engineering operations making use of them later in their lives. This always gives us some great ideas for some limited edition, one time run "Accurascale Exclusives" packs, and today we present two very different packs to you for consideration; our ZDV engineers triple pack, and our ICI internal user pack! ZDV Pack With the transfer of domestic coal transport to the air braked wagon fleet of HEA wagons in the 1980’s, the HTV fleet were in terminal decline. British Rail engineers saw this and upon evaluation deemed many wagons to have a reasonable amount of serviceable life left in them. Engineering trains were typically vacuum braked and employed ex squadron service wagons in new roles and the HTV’s were no different. Whilst many wagons were converted to box-body spoil wagons such as Clams and Rudds, some of the fleet retained their original bodywork either in cut down form to gain the Tope fishkind name or not altered at all and just receiving the ZDV TOPS code. Our pack of ZDV engineers wagons represent the latter. Photographs show these wagons in use variously in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s for carrying spoil at many infrastructure jobs across the country. The patch painting, rusty bodywork and chalked markings make these wagons stand out from the rest as being unloved, uncared for yet equally vital in maintaining the country’s railway network. ICI Pack ICI Lostock Soda ash works, Northwich is more well known as being the destination of the 1930’s built LMS bogie hoppers from Tunstead but their internal rail network had a number of other vehicles present. As well as a brace of Ruston 165 0-4-0 diesel shunters, there were a small number of ex BR rebodied HTV hoppers. These were used from their withdrawal in the 1980s well in to the 1990s for carrying “hot rocks”, hot, processed limestone around the plant during the production of Soda Ash (Sodium Carbonate) The Model Each wagon features a wealth of separately applied detail, from handrails on the diecast chassis and hopper ends to the intricate brake gear and hopper operating mechanism underneath, all museum quality detail and prototypical accuracy modellers now come to expect from our wagons and which is now our standard specification. As well as a diecast chassis with full hopper detail, each wagon rides on 26mm axles, which are 2mm in diameter, with pin points in brass bearing cups for ultimate smooth performance and ease of conversion to finescale tolerances. With the wagons announced later in development to curb waiting times, we're already at decoration stage and we are about to begin production of these wagons in the coming weeks. Delivery of the models to customers is currently estimated at Q3 2025. Both wagon packs will be a one off, limited production run in special presentation packaging like all models in the Accurascale Exclusives range. Each pack is priced at £99.95 and we're operating their usual 10% off when you buy two packs or more, along with a new offer of 15% when you buy 5 or more packs direct from our website. That means each wagon just costs £27.47 when you factor in loyalty points rewards and postage and packaging being free! They can of course be mixed with other HTO/HTV wagon packs in the launch range to get these discounts. Pre-order yours today for no money down via the link below. Pre-Order Your Accurascale Exclusives 21 Ton Hopper Packs Here! View the full article

Modellers awaiting our very new and very detailed Mark 1 56ft 11' coaches have been awaiting some news on these wonderful coaches. After some trials and tribulations, including something completely new which popped up to throw yet another curveball our way, we can confirm that production is complete on our BR blue and our Yellow Accurascale Exclusives tool van. Shall we take a closer look first? As you can see, they look pretty delicious! The further good news is that production is complete for these coaches and they're already on the way to us! They are due to land at our warehouse in the last week of August. So, that's the blue and the tool van. But, what about the carmine? Well, this is where it gets interesting. When we sign off for production of a new model, everything is correct; the details, the printing and of course, the colour. These act as a template for the factory to follow. Once production is completed, the factory sends us one of every model from the production run to check and sign off on. The Mark 1 coaches were no different. Sadly, the factory used an incorrect shade of carmine which did not match what we signed off on with the decorated sample. This means the whole carmine production batch was wrong. There was only one thing to do; remanufacture the coaches in the correct colour. Our factory partner, brilliant as always, rose to the challenge of this and stood over their error. They wanted it to be right as much as we did and have now fixed the issue for us. However, this does take time, and therefore the carmine coaches have been delayed slightly as a result. We are very sorry for this delay, but it was beyond our control. The good news is that the factory are almost finished the new carmine batch, and we will have a new delivery date for these in approx. 2 weeks time. We do know that they will be approx 4-6 weeks behind the blue and tool van coaches, but we will have a more specific date soon which we will send out to you as soon as we can. Our Maroon production run is still on course to be delivered Q1 2025 as per the original announcement. In the meantime, make sure you order these very special coaches below, or via your local stockist! As you can see above, you will be getting something rather special for your money! PRE-ORDER YOUR MARK 1 SUBURBAN COACHES HERE! View the full article

One of our prouder moments!

Thanks folks! Just to say that IR pack 1 is sold out, but we do have limited amounts of 2, 3, and 4 remaining in stock if you want to add to your fleet! Order here: https://irishrailwaymodels.com/collections/mark-2-coaches Cheers! Fran

He was just reporting that a 201 loco has gained some decals which may be of interest to modellers, not delivering a lecture on climate or botany. Let's keep the rants to a minimum please. Cheers! Fran (with moderator hat on)

Hi folks, As above, IR and IE Mark 2 Coaches Have Arrived! Great news! Our Mark 2b and Mark 2c coach packs in classic IR and IE orange and black livery have now arrived in stock! We will commence shipping of these models today and envisage that they will take a number of days to complete, so please bear with us. Fancy some? Well we have put some surplus stock back on sale which you can order below! These will be dispatched after shipping the pre-orders is complete. Order Now: https://irishrailwaymodels.com/collections/mark-2-coaches Cheers! Fran

Our recently announced BR 21 Ton Hopper Wagons have been met with great approval since we announced them last month. Our latest addition to our "Powering Britain" range of coal wagons fill a much needed and long standing gap in the OO/4mm RTR market. We're delighted to now reveal our decorated samples of these wagons, which, along with our Class 60, have been announced much later in development to aid cutting down on waiting times. Feast your eyes below! As you can see, they follow our usual approach of individual numbering and lettering, with great variety across each pack. We have even experimented with differing shades of grey to show faded and more recently applied paintwork to offer further variety throughout your rake. Modellers will be able to accept our wagons into traffic as per our initial estimate of Q3 2025. Pre-order yours today via your local retailer, or direct via our website where you can get 10% off when you order two or more packs and avail of free postage and packaging! Pre-order via the link below. Pre-Order Your 21 Ton HTO/HTV Hopper Wagons Here View the full article

It's been rather a long time since we offered any kind of update on our second ever steam locomotive; the vast group of detail variances that are the J67/68/69 "Buckjumper" class of locomotives. These variances alone which makes what seems to be a little tank engine quite the incredibly complex beast, and it has taken a long while to get it to the standard that we demand of all our models. However, when we received the decorated samples in recent weeks all we could say is; WOW! So, without further ado, check out these absolute beauties, and if you want to know more, keep scrolling to what we are fixing and find out when they are coming! Tasty, right? With any samples at this stage, there needs to be some corrections and tweaks made, and our beautiful little Buckjumpers are certainly no different. Thankfully, they're all relatively minor and already well under way. The drawbar hook will be changed to allow for easy fitting and removing of our exquisite 3 link/screw couplings. The destination boards are proving to be a bit of a tight fit, so these are being fine tuned ahead of release to make changing in and out more straightforward. Each model will get a full selection of destination boards included in the box. The chemical blackening on the buffers and wheels alone does not render them dark enough, so faces will be painted, and finish adjusted to a deep matt finish, just like the wheels on our beautiful Manor steam locomotives. This will give them a beautiful rich colour and make them look even more realistic. As ever, the application of paint highlights areas where tolerances are very tight. These have now been adjusted to take into account paint layers. Worst affected areas were the cab roof, the drilled holes where optional fit pipes need to go and the fitting of the door trim. The application of paint has also revealed witness marks where the moulds separate. This is entirely normal and highlights where the moulds need additional polishing. Additional paint application will also make the world of difference to the finished models. The design and fitting of the PCB was based on one example with a deeper internal recess on the smokebox door, which has affected the fit of alternative smokebox doors. This is now being amended by our friends at ESU. Due to the complexity of tampo printing the lining, it was decided to pre-approve body paint samples, which was done successfully. This wasn’t a photogenic process, and so no updates were issued at what was, effectively, first decoration stage. We then took delivery of the full suite of decorated samples and it has to be said, our factory team have done an amazing job in capturing the intricate lining, numbering and lettering of these beauties. Additional livery research was required in certain areas, which was undertaken with the kind assistance of the Great Eastern Railway Society, along with Adrian Marks and Mike Bootman. We would like to thank them for all their input and assistance in the research and creation of these models, alongside some excellent chat and debates! These decorated samples also show the vast array of detail differences across each loco, particularly when it comes to cabs, tanks and chimney options alone. We estimate that it might just be the biggest tooling suite ever created for a tank locomotive, or certainly one of the biggest at least. The amount of parts and variations to make up this class is simply staggering, and it has taken a long time to get them all correctly proportioned and have them fit together in a manner that gives us a museum quality model. We understand that delays are frustrating, and they really frustrate our product development, marketing and accounts teams too, but we entered this industry with the intention of producing the very best models we can so we can take models and the hobby to a new level. This does mean that it can take more time to develop the models, to get the finish as close to perfection as we can get with the skills and technology we have available to us and produce the top of the tree models we have become known for. We will not compromise our standards and sell mediocre models, even if this does mean taking extra time to get it right. We know that the vast majority of you, the modelling public, understand and agree with our viewpoint on this matter. As you can see, the final result tends to be a bit special, and these are very special indeed! So, when are they getting here? Well, the exciting news is that production is now underway and delivery is now slated for the end of this year, so Q4 2024 is when tour buckjumpers leap into service on your layout. Pre-order yours via 150 Accurascale stockists around the world, or direct (including our two Accurascale Exclusives) via the link below! Pre-Order Your Buckjumper Here! View the full article

Dear @Gabhal Luimnigh, You’re absolutely right. I guess this is the challenge of landing models ahead of schedule. We’ll endeavour to ensure we have adequate staffing all year round in future, and delay any stock that is running ahead of schedule where we need to. All joking aside, appreciate the feedback, and will work on my greetings in future. Apologies for using Hi and your forum handle. All the best, Fran