Revolution Offering Mk5 coaches

[Graham]

just looking at the pictures, all the coaches have the Scharfenberg couplers, are these in NEM sockets?
Just thinking about how can I couple up the 92 or 68 to the rakes on order.
Of course if there is a spare NEM Scharfenberg coupling in the box we can replace the coupling on the 92 or 68 with this.

cheers
Graham

[PWayman]

I noted Ben's reply that that the scharfenburg couplers may be supplied as spares. Will there be a coupling included in the boxes of the coaches for replacing the ones on the 68 or 92 in the first place ?

[Ben A]

I noted Ben's reply that that the scharfenburg couplers may be supplied as spares. Will there be a coupling included in the boxes of the coaches for replacing the ones on the 68 or 92 in the first place ?

Hi there,

Standard Rapido couplers will be included with the Mk5s so they are compatible with your chosen locomotive.

cheers

Ben A.

[PWayman]

Thanks Ben

[LeftToMyOwnDevices]

Apologies, but I am contemplating getting a complete Highlander set...
...but I am struggling to fully understand why there are 6 coaches in the Highlander pack 1 (Aberdeen)... 



Whilst I understand that (both) the Sleepers leave Euston with a maximum of 16 coaches, are the extra two added later (as Mike outlines below)?

For the CS the Lowlander is relatively easy as it splits into 2 x 8.  The Highlander is slightly trickier as extra coaches get added when it splits - it starts of with 16 coaches from Euston (8 for Inverness, 6 for Aberdeen and 2 for Ft William). The extra seated coach and lounge coach get added to the Fort William section.

Or, are the extra two to reflect how the later 'split' (at Edinburgh?) is then, well, 'split' differently (for Summer and Winter)...?



Finally, are the £270/£180 prices still the EarlyBird prices...?

A Happy Christmas to one and all...
...while I carry on singing: "All I want for Christmas is..."
...and before I get carried Cartic-4'd away...

Charles.

[njee20]

The mk5s never had an early bird price. £45/coach from launch.

Pass on the formations though, I can't stretch to 16 coaches so I've not concerned myself too much 

Surely though you just buy one of each of the highlander packs?

[CaleyDave]

The extra two coaches are the lounge and brake coach attached to the Fort William portion.

16 coaches is maximum length but as the Highlander splits into 3 parts at Edinburgh it needs 3 brakes (and 3 lounge cars for breakfast). The Mk5 continue on from the MK3+MK2 sets where they are formed up of two Half sets with 1 brake, 1 lounge and 6 Sleepers.
on the Highlander 1 half the set goes to Inverness with the remaining half set split between Fort William and Aberdeen.
The brake+lounge goes to Aberdeen leaving 6 sleepers to split between Aberdeen and Fort William.
The Fort William Brake and Lounge come down to Edinburgh on the London bound portion. They are uncoupled at Edinburgh and Wait on the Up train from London which is the split up into the 3 portions and take Fort William Brake and Lounge are attached to the Sleepers from London and travel back North.

In theory this keeps the sets grouped as half sets of 8 coaches (Brake, Lounge, 6 Sleepers) which helps simplify maintenance.

By supplying the extra two brake and Lounge coaches as part of the portions Revolution are catering for modellers in who want to run individual portions as they would be seen North of Edinburgh.

On the real Railway the number of Sleepers in the Fort William and Aberdeen portion vary depending on demand but they always add up to 6 shared between the two portions. (Fort William benefits from Tourist traffic and Aberdeen suffers from fluctuations in Off shore work).
When introduced the 2 Fort William, 4 Aberdeen split was the most common. My experience was this reversed in more recent years but I do not know to what extent this is seasonal or the impact the pandemic has had in the last two years.

[LeftToMyOwnDevices]

Thank you for that answer njee20.
I thought I'd somehow missed out on something...

The mk5s never had an early bird price. £45/coach from launch.

Pass on the formations though, I can't stretch to 16 coaches so I've not concerned myself too much 

I do hope to (eventually) have something to run all 16 coaches on (or even, all 18... as it would be fun to see how my CS 92 will cope with that )

Thank you for that very comprehensive answer CaleyDave.
It all now makes sense to me...!

In the distant past, I have done both (what are now known as) the Highlander (c1989) and the Lowlander (1990). The former was to Inverness (and on 'Priv' tickets ) and the latter to 'Auld Reekie' (paying full price ) to see the Festival.

Obviously, both of the above were on Mk3 SLE(P).
I'm in no rush to recreate that, not least because Dapol seem intent to only sell their Mk3 SLE(P) as single coaches...
...whereas those lovely boys at Revolution will happily sell me the relevant (and indeed correctly formed!) box sets...!

All the best, to one and all.

Charles.

[njee20]

The bigger issue with the older stock is that there are no mk2 BUOs or RLOs. The sleepers are easy. Just buy lots. 12 mk3s and 4 mk2s I think. With a similar bit of musical coaches when the Highlander splits. 

[Ben A]

Hello all,

Just for the avoidance of any doubt, the maximum length of all Caledonian Sleeper trains leaving London is 16 cars.

Each 16 car set has two seated and two club cars.

The Lowlander splits at Carstairs, with 8 going to Glasgow and 8 to Edinburgh, each portion taking a single seated and club car, while the Highlander splits at Edinburgh.  Here, because there are three onward portions (Aberdeen, Fort William and Inverness) an additional seated and club car are added in the platform before departure to (I think) the sleepers destined for Fort William.

The same process happens in reverse, so all trains arriving in London are 16 cars too.

The 6 strong package was offered so those who wished to model a train longer than 4 coaches but shorter than 8 could do so with an authentic consist comprising every type of coach.

Cheers

Ben A.

[Hightower]

Hi all,

I see these are now available to pre order from Rails. Glad I've already got my order in for a couple of sets of the Caledonian Sleepers and can't wait to get them.

I'd seen mentioned earlier on this thread and now confirmed on the Rails email that the internal lights will be controlled by a magnetic wand. Does anyone know if this arrangement tends to be activated by uncoupling magnets in the track? Bit worried the lights will end up flashing on and off as the train goes in and out of my station.

[RailGooner]

I'd expected the switch to be in roof - so you can wave the wand from above.

[Portpatrick]

I have ordered the Deerstalker section.

[njee20]

I succumbed to a full 16-car set. Decided it was better to have buyer's remorse and sell some than have to pay more for additional coaches! Should be formidable. If I have a layout.

[Hightower]

Just had the invoice for the final payments for my Mk5's. Very excited!