Revolution Offering Mk5 coaches

Hightower · September 23, 2023, 10:19:16 AM

They're here!

Suffolk Rob · September 23, 2023, 11:22:41 AM

Mine have arrived too, just the Fort William set for me

Wow

Great, secure presentation, looks like really close coupling. Not had them out of the box yet but, detail-wise the best coaches I have seen in n by a mile.

Thank you and congratulations Revolution, now what about a 73/9 TO pull them

Rob

njee20 · September 23, 2023, 06:16:08 PM

They look lovely.

You're gonna need more than two 92s to pull 16 though. Mine struggled with 7, and wouldn't budge with 8. Bit of a shame.

GlenEglise · September 23, 2023, 09:26:12 PM

I got the Highland Sleeper packs so at eight cars hauled by a Class 66 and a Class 73/9 shouldn't be a problem.

GE

Graham · September 24, 2023, 12:32:49 AM

Quote from: njee20 on September 23, 2023, 06:16:08 PMThey look lovely.

You're gonna need more than two 92s to pull 16 though. Mine struggled with 7, and wouldn't budge with 8. Bit of a shame.

A real shame, was hoping to emulate the real train. Maybe we can persuade @revolution to retool the 92 with the 59 mechanism if that turns out as good as it appears to be.

njee20 · September 24, 2023, 12:50:38 AM

Yeah, I'm prepared to try and run mine in to get them going, but it'll have to be on rotation to get all 16 done! I suspect I don't have the patience, and they'll go on eBay in due course!

Hightower · September 24, 2023, 09:14:02 AM

Had a bit of a play with mine last night. They do feel very draggy. My 92 will pull 7, which is all I will need it to, but annoyingly my 73's won't pull four of them. Hopefully I can get that sorted.

Has anyone tried the alternative couplings?

hsthero · September 24, 2023, 09:32:12 AM

I have an Aberdeen set and I have to say that these coaches look great and I am very pleased that I purchased them.

I have run them on my DC Kato test track and my class 92 will just about pull 6 coaches. A Dapol class 73 loco struggles to pull 4 coaches. However, a double headed class 73 will pull all 6 coaches and this is how I will eventially run them. My oval test track has 12" radius curves. Fortunately my main layout does not have any inclines.

Am I doing something wrong with the lights? I have noticed that when running the coaches on DC that all lights switch on when the train is first moved. If you then switch off lights with the magnet they stay off until the train is next stopped. When the train is moved again all the lights switch back on. Is this is the correct function of the light operation with DC? To be practical in use the lights need to latch off until the end of your running session or if switched back on with the magnet. I suspect with DCC, with constant voltage on track, the lights will stay latched off.

I will be looking for a way to permanently switch off all the red lights except the rear of the last coach.

Spanners70 · September 24, 2023, 01:02:14 PM

My 2 sets of 4 arrived yesterday. A quick look there amazing coaches, trying them on the track, the top and bottom coach in each box (so 4 of them) run beautifully and free, give them a good push and roll a good 30cm. The middle two in each box are all a bit draggy, give them a similar ouch they roll about 10cm. Not sure if it's coincidence that the middle two in each box are more draggy, will have to have a closet look when I have more time, I'm sure an eastpy fix otherwise they would all be draggy. May try swapping the what/axles from a good one or a bad one and vice versa see if the problem moves or stays...

woodbury22uk · September 24, 2023, 01:17:39 PM

Quote from: hsthero on September 24, 2023, 09:32:12 AMAm I doing something wrong with the lights? I have noticed that when running the coaches on DC that all lights switch on when the train is first moved. If you then switch off lights with the magnet they stay off until the train is next stopped. When the train is moved again all the lights switch back on. Is this is the correct function of the light operation with DC? To be practical in use the lights need to latch off until the end of your running session or if switched back on with the magnet. I suspect with DCC, with constant voltage on track, the lights will stay latched off.

I will be looking for a way to permanently switch off all the red lights except the rear of the last coach.

My set of 6 with two KMS Railtech Mk3s roll fine behind a Class 92. I have found a way of not resetting the lights at a station stop. Cunning use of the control knob on my Morley handheld allows me to bring the train to a stand with the 92s running lights still showing and the lights on in the Revolution Mk5s. Increasing power allows the train to depart with the unwanted tail lights still off.

Otherwise, if the controller voltage goes lower on DC, then the roof tapper needs to do his rounds.

The intensity of the lights seems fine to me and with a mix of berth side and corridor side lighting visible looks like a train starting its journey.

I am sure someone will devise a way of automatically turning off the unwanted lights after leaving the storage roads and keeping a constant low voltage on the track during station calls without precision knob twiddling. Not an issue on DCC.

msr · September 24, 2023, 02:31:48 PM

Like others have reported, these coaches look wonderful but haulage is an issue. Straight from the box (but with the red lights turned off except for the tail coach), here's my Inverness 8-car rake hauled by a CJM Class 92:

https://youtu.be/wJN36TeCkDk
Individual coaches seem to run fine so I hope someone can come up with a solution to improve the freedom to roll when presented as a rake. Even just 8 coaches could not be hauled by my other CS CJM Class 92, and no hope at all with the Revolution one, all on level track where other trains have no such issues.

njee20 · September 24, 2023, 04:01:16 PM

Thats exactly what I found - individually they're ok (but no better), but even with a few the rolling resistance seems to increase exponentially.

msr · September 24, 2023, 05:45:21 PM

Some good news to report. Having run my rake of 8 coaches continuously for a couple of hours it seems the running quality has improved sufficiently for not only both my CJM locos to be able to haul the train but also my Revolution Class 92 too. It will be interesting to hear if extended running of other rakes will bring about similar improvements.

woodbury22uk · September 24, 2023, 07:04:28 PM

My 6 car set plus two Mk3s (I know they can't really run together) is running really easily now. I think that the Class 92 will benefit from the running-in too as I have hardly used it until now. Probably need to get my Dapol Transpennine Class 68 on the treadmill as well in preparation for its Mk5 set.

Kaput · September 24, 2023, 08:15:47 PM

Do wonder how well the Dapol 68 will handle the 5 car TPE rake, the N gauge 68 isn't generally known for impressive haulage abilities.