NGS present day commissions

[EtchedPixels]

Got the drawings here for the paired four wheelers

[red_death]

The ScotRail livery for the Engineer's Saloon has been discussed previously as a distinct possibility. Also, I believe that the ScotRail area of operations is distinctly larger than NSE

Wasn't it also dismissed as having been modified (beyond just the bogies)?

Given how much of the UK NSE covered in terms of geographical spread (SE England all the way to Worcester and down in SW England) plus much more track I doubt very much that the second point is correct!

[B757-236GT]

I believe NSE is slightly more widespread than Scotrail, certainly ive seen photos of NSE coaches in scotland but its very rare to see scotrail ones south of the border. I do believe however unless you pick the Mk2 Aircon FOs (put me down for one if you do them) then bachmann will probably be coy about doing them for the society when it can make more money selling them as standard editions. What about some of the NSE converter wagons which i think were BSKs?

Would a twin coach pack for the scotrail mk2s be out of the question. Maybe one pack of 2x TSOs and one back of a FO and a BSO.

One vote id like to put in for the future is the Trans Pennine livery mk2s as i cant see the mainstream manfucturers doing these, but i dont know how much interest there actually is.

And just an idea for a much longer term if it works out, is a DBSO in NR yellow.

Didnt rail express do a feature of the liveries that could be done on the NGS saloon, i seem to re call an i/c and a scotrail one were mentioned.

Richard

[edwin_m]

just a thought, but some coaches in the other rtc livery would be good, the one with white lower body sides I think it was? 

That would be the one with similar proportions to InterCity livery but with red round the windows, cream/light grey lower bodyside and bands of black and white in between. 

http://www.departmentals.com/photo/975984a (as noted in the comments the vertical yellowish bits aren't part of the livery but are for gauging purposes). 

This was used from about 1988, gradually replacing the red and blue which Modelzone produced some limited editions in, and continued until the late 90s when surviving RTC stock mostly went into the liveries of its post-privatisation owners.  As such it doesn't meet Ben's requirement of being contemporary, unless you count some of the stuff that may still be lurking at Ruddington. 

[michael]

Ill be putting my name down for the Mk1wcr and the mk2 choc cream coach. Both would be useful in railtour rakes.

personally I think its great that the NGS is considering more up to date items. The topic of getting more youngsters into the hobby is one that comes up time and again. modern image projects can only be a positive thing in that respect

[pape_timmo]

Just thought I'd have a go!!

A model that seems missing for me and a potential for a big demand is the Cargowaggon - the four-wheeled type that seems to run in pairs (rather than the Dapol bogie version).  You would only need to sell about 10 trains worth to get the 350!

Just saying......!

Cheers   Jon   

I'd like some of those too...

Cheers, Timmo

[Karhedron]

I do believe however unless you pick the Mk2 Aircon FOs (put me down for one if you do them) then bachmann will probably be coy about doing them for the society when it can make more money selling them as standard editions.

Possibly not. They were quite happy to do an exclusive on the class 450 Desiros in 00, despite requiring almost no changes from the 350 they already offer. I cannot for the life of me understand why they did not do this livery themselves. While restricted to the routes out of Waterloo, a small still seems like low hanging fruit to me.

[edwin_m]

The ScotRail livery for the Engineer's Saloon has been discussed previously as a distinct possibility. Also, I believe that the ScotRail area of operations is distinctly larger than NSE

...

Given how much of the UK NSE covered in terms of geographical spread (SE England all the way to Worcester and down in SW England) plus much more track I doubt very much that the second point is correct!

The NSE area was very large and large numbers of trains were painted in the NSE livery.  However as far as I recall the only regular loco-hauled operations in NSE livery were Waterloo-Exeter (early Mk2s), Paddington outers (Oxford/beyond and possibly Newbury but I think mostly Mk1s), Northampton (mostly Mk1s again) and Kings Lynn (early Mk2s).  No doubt they cropped up elsewhere too on an occasional basis or on some of the final loco-hauled workings of the regional operators. 

[Alex]

Hi Ben,

I know I'm probably in the minority but if you got enough interest would you consider a US, Continental or Japanese commission?

Alex 

[Ben A]

Hello all,

To try to answer to some of the points raised here....

Proposed modern Commission:   It is possible that someone who votes for one each of the Pullman, Network Rail BSO or Riviera Trains TSO would be outvoted by someone voting for four of the autoballasters and nothing else.

Having said that, our experience with existing RTR projects is that coaches tend to attract more interest than wagons, so it may be that there'll be quite a few people voting just for the coaches and not the wagon.

I will try to keep the forum up to date with voting trends as I get them, but at the end of February if the autoballasters end up being the most popular choice then I'm adraid that's democracy in action.

However, if there is a model that comes a very close second (and reaches its 350 threshold) then I think we would consider offering that as another commission sooner rather than later.

Scotrail Inspection Saloon:  Conditions here are completely different than they are for the Modern Commission.  This is a model that has already proved its popularity, and financial viability, so the possibilities for future slightly more niche liveries are higher.  The issue here is more one of accuracy:  45020 in Scotrail livery sat on B4 bogies, while 45029 in InterCity livery had modifications to the centre window.  So using different bogies is more likely to be possible (though I have not checked yet) than modifying the body.

Having said that, Scottish modellers of the sectorisation era can legitimately use these Saloons in LMS Maroon with full yellow ends (see photo here at Glasgow Queen St in 1987 - http://www.railbrit.co.uk/imageenlarge/imagecomplete.php?id=24053 ) while the NSE region probably used the Southern saloons (eg Caroline) which are still in use.

Cargowaggon twin vans:  We have looked at these and they are a very attractive prototype.  It was a toss up between these and the Rover Cube for our most recent modern kit; the Rover Cube wagon won out because it was felt that their additional use on Anglo Scottish intermodals and the recent timber carrier conversions added a little more depth and wider operational interest.  But of course it was a close thing and there are arguments both ways.  Unless someone else produces the vans I feel these could well be a candidate for a future kit, but unlikely to be an RTR project for the NGS.

Other points:  The BSO in the earlier RTC livery is a possible commission, especially if this first one proves to be a success and leads us to consider some "sectorisation era" offerings.

I think it's unlikely the NGS would consider US or Japanese types as these markets are already very well supported indeed; we are already (tentatively) supporting the Continental market as our upcoming Cube wagons are operated in France, Italy, Switzerland and Germany as well as the UK, however our model is to 1:148 scale of course.

cheers

Ben A.

[portland-docks]

Now im being biased, because i have a large rake of wcrc stock i would say the mk1 pullman.

Not interested in the wagon, or notwork fail coach as i work for them and sick of seeing them wverywhere i go!

The choc cream coach would be second choice.

I for one would like to see a new tooled green/cream west highland railway stock.

They would look stunning i think

[Ben A]

Hello all,

Apologies to those who've already seen this on RM web but....

I bought Rail Express (which comes with a free 2014 calendar) yesterday and noticed photos of:

86259 Les Ross with WCRC charter rake incorporating maroon Mk1s with proposed Mk1 Pullman (calendar cover)

D1015 Western Champion with charter rake comprising choc/cream TSO with choc/cream mk1 and rake of crimson/cream Mk1s and Mk2s (calendar July)

Engineers train including Carillion auto ballaster. (P49)

So there is no shortage of inspiration!

Cheers

Ben A.

[Ben A]

I for one would like to see a new tooled green/cream west highland railway stock.

They would look stunning i think

Hi there,

I agree - the West Highland stock would look really nice. However, afaik these coaches ran in a fixed rake with opens and a brake, so to be of any use at least two vehicles would have to be commissioned.  Or all four, as Model Rail did.

This was felt to be too much for a "testing the water" project,  while the coaches we have selected can be run legitimately on their own with existing Mk1s in plain maroon, crimson and cream or chocolate and cream. And possibly green too...

Cheers

Ben A. 

[Jim Martin]

Hello all,

Apologies to those who've already seen this on RM web but....

I bought Rail Express (which comes with a free 2014 calendar) yesterday and noticed photos of:

86259 Les Ross with WCRC charter rake incorporating maroon Mk1s with proposed Mk1 Pullman (calendar cover)

D1015 Western Champion with charter rake comprising choc/cream TSO with choc/cream mk1 and rake of crimson/cream Mk1s and Mk2s (calendar July)

Engineers train including Carillion auto ballaster. (P49)

So there is no shortage of inspiration!

Cheers

Ben A.

That issue of REx has been a real boon in terms of showing these choices in an attractive light, hasn't it?  Good work on spotting the autoballaster, too: even with the benefit of your reference i had to squint to make it out.

Anyway,  after reading the discussion here and on RMWeb I've decided to put my name down for one of the Network Rail coaches, not least because it fits with some other things that I was thinking of building.

Jim

[Ben A]

Hello all,

Apologies to those who've seen this elsewhere, or aren't in the NGS...

Bad news.

We are within six weeks of the deadline ands none of the offered models is even remotely near the 350 threshold.  The nearest is the Carillion autoballaster with less than 20 expressions of interest.

The aim of the project is both to produce interesting new products and to answer criticism that the NGS isn't doing enough for modern image enthusiasts. We have focussed previously on BR Steam/Diesel transition as this is where sales are consistently strongest.

To recap, the possibles we are considering are:

Mk1 Pullman in WCRC maroon
JJA autoballaster in Carillion cream/maroon
Mk2 BSO in Network Rail yellow
Mk2 TSO in Riviera Trains chocolate and cream.

These vehicles can be accurately run with models already available, and none are limited geographically.  In an earlier post I pointed out that in last month's Rail Express there were inspirational photos of three of the four running with other vehicles that are currently available RTR include maroon or choc/cream Mk1s, the Dapol Western and standard Railtrack autoballaster.

It may be that members are holding back on the assumption that others will order; it may be that our previous decisions have been correct and the modern contingent are either small in number or unwilling to support such schemes. The key message here is please don't assume that others are ordering because, clearly, they aren't and if this project fails at the first hurdle I think such schemes are unlikely to be revisited.

The deadline is the end of February, so if you DO want one, or any, of these models or even then please just email the NGS shop before then.

I appreciate that the models selected may not be *exactly* what you want, but they were carefully selected to be non-geographically specific so if you're modelling the present day any of them could, in theory, be justified. And if we wish to see future such commissions then please consider supporting this one.

cheers

Ben A.