Opinion
Enter the Dragon… or spoiling the ship for a hap’orth of tar
Ben Ando is the founder of Revolution Trains and a regular contrilbutor to Model Rail.
The exhibition season is now in full swing and, as is traditional, Revolution’s first show every year is Model Rail Scotland at the Scottish Exhibition Campus (SEC) in Glasgow during the last weekend of February.
The show is usually a great curtain-raiser, as it comes shortly after the Christmas break here and usually immediately after the big Lunar New Year shutdown in China.
Incidentally, in the Chinese zodiac we have just entered the year of the Dragon; widely regarded as a symbol of good fortune, wisdom and success. So fingers crossed!
Because of its fortuitous timing, Model Rail Scotland is often a show for announcements, and this year Revolution was among those unveiling plans for new models.
One of our offerings is the Class 320 and 321 electric multiple units in ‘OO’. Having produced these in ‘N’ some years ago, we’ve since received numerous requests to upscale them – and we finally gave in! The three-car Class 320s continue to operate in and around Glasgow, so they had a particular resonance for the show visitors.
At the show, and on social media since, several enthusiasts have asked us if we would produce both motorised and unmotorised models. This would enable them to operate units in multiple without having to buy all ‘full-fat’ models.
I can understand why we are asked this: if, goes the reasoning, a powered three-car unit could be considered as a locomotive and two coaches, then an unpowered one is equivalent to just three coaches and should be significantly cheaper.
Unfortunately, this logic is flawed.
At the turn of the millennium (which seems to be the price/features datum point for many of us of a certain age!) it might have been true.
Locomotives had lights, PCBs and m
