Eurostar - Class 373 Powered Locomotive / Class 373 Unpowered Locomotive / 2 Passenger Saloons

Eurostar - The UK's first international high speed passenger train - is a combination of English, French and Belgian technology. This eye-catching, 400 metre long train carries 770 passengers from Waterloo International to Paris Gare du Nord in just 3 hours.

This "00" scale model is fitted with non functioning pantographs and because of the unique way the units are coupled together the train must be run as a complete unit.

Due to the length of the coaches and the use of scale bogies, the Eurostar is not suitable for use on tracks with a radius of less than 438mm (17 1/4")

EWS BO-BO Diesel Electric 'Royal Diamond', Class 67 Locomotive

EWS Mk3 1st Class Open Coach '11039' / EWS Mk3 Sleeper Coach '10546' / EWS Mk3 DVT '82146'

In 2004 EWS commissioned the creation of a special Company Train (CoT) or Manager's Train to provide a replacement to the company's rather aged inspection saloon. The train was based on a high speed push pull concept using a Class 67, 3 Mk3 trailer coaches and an ex West Coast Mainline Mk3 DVT. Effectively an office on wheels the train is capable of speeds of 125 mph and can also be used for driver training as well as other EWS company functions. The specially liveries train consits of a distinctively marked Class 67 and Mk3 DVT as well as a Mk3 First Open coach, Mk3 Buffet coach and a Mk3 Sleeper. These coaches are finished in an almost EWS dark maroon.

• Length: 1492mm - All 4 units combined
• DCC Type: DCC Ready
• Livery: Eurostar
• Class: 373
• Designer: GEC-Alsthom,BN
• Entered Service: 1993
• Detail: Pantograph (Non-functional)
• Motor: 3 pole skew wound
• Purpose: Passenger

2016 marks the 20th anniversary of the formation of one of the United Kingdom’s most distinctive Railway Operating Companies, English Welsh & Scottish Railway Ltd, or EWS as it was more commonly known. The merger of Rail Express Systems, Loadhaul, Mainline Freight and Transrail Freight into North and South Railways during March 1996 was followed, on April 25th, by the unveiling of the EWS brand, but it was not until October 1996 that the English Welsh & Scottish Railway Ltd was formed.

On December 24, 1996, EWS was announced as the preferred bidder for the loss-making Railfreight Distribution, a deal concluded on March 12, 1997. At that point EWS controlled 90% of the United Kingdom's railfreight market and by 2006 the company's turnover was approaching £1 billion, with the UK market share standing at around 70%. On June 28, 2007, Deutsche Bahn announced it had agreed to purchase EWS, subject to receiving regulatory approval and the sale was completed on November 13, 2007. Despite assurances to the contrary, on January 1, 2009 EWS was rebranded as DB Schenker, their corporate red livery displacing the highly distinctive EWS maroon and yellow livery.

Contents:

• - DPTS no. 811 002
• - DPTF no. 815 002

A logical design progression from the Class 395 Javelin, the Class 800/801/802 stock have been designed to technical specifications laid down by the Department for Transport, complying with the latest European standards. The main requirements were for the stock to have the flexibility to run on a variety of lines, on gradients up to 1:37, with varying running infrastructure, as well as being adaptable to future transport planning and passenger demands. Running as five car and nine car units, trains can be extended up to a maximum of twelve cars, with a maximum total multiple length of 312 metres, in both bi-mode (dual electric/diesel) and electric forms.

The lineage of the ‘Brighton Belle’ can be traced back to the introduction of the daily ‘Pullman Limited Express’ by the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway on the London Victoria to Brighton route on December 5, 1881 and its subsequent replacement by the 'Southern Belle' on November 1, 1908.

Contents

• Pullman, 5-BEL 'Brighton Belle', Unit No. 3053, Driving Motor Brake  Parlour Third, Car No. 92 - Era 4
• Pullman, 5-BEL 'Brighton Belle', Unit No. 3053, Driving Motor Brake  Parlour Third, Car No. 93 - Era 4

Set 800 104 was chosen for the launch of the flagship 05.40 Flying Scotsman service from Edinburgh to London King's Cross on August 1 2019, along with the 17.30 return working, and for the occasion a new livery 'Celebrating Scotland' was designed, featuring a newly created LNER tartan. Designed by Ken MacDonald, of Houston Kiltmakers in Paisley, the tartan colours combine blue for Scotland, red for England, white for the Yorkshire rose, purple for the heather of Scotland, green for the rolling hills and landscape along the ECML and silver grey to represent the tracks of the railway.

Eurostar's first use of the Class 373 for an external agency marketing campaign took place in September 1999, when the surviving Beatles; Sir Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison, along with the Apple Corporation, transformed Sets 3005/3006 with a vinyl wrap that recreated scenes from The Beatles' film, 'Yellow Submarine'.

Just one of the promotional events that marked the release of the remixed song track CD that Autumn, along with the remastered version of the film that was released in cinemas and on video, at the time the film had been unavailable for over a decade and the relaunched version included scenes that were edited out of the original, while the album featured new mixes of songs, such as 'With A Little Help From My Friends' and 'Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds', the first such time a Beatles album had ever been remixed. Costing in excess of £100,000, the artwork was the result of four months intensive work by Apple Corporation's Art Director, Fiona Andreanelli, with the finished vinyl artwork taking two weeks to print and a further six days to apply to the train. At over 400 metres in length, each carriage portrayed a different design, telling a different part of the Yellow Submarine story.

On Wednesday 8 September, accompanied by a Jazz band playing 'Yellow Submarine', Sets 3005/3006 departed Waterloo on the official launch, much to the surprise of passengers booked on the service, which was a normal departure rather than a dedicated press charter. The train retained the graphics for the next three months, operating between London, Paris and Brussels but fate was not kind to Sets 3005/3006 as, despite featuring the first advertising livery to be featured on Eurostar, the Sets were the first of the Class 373 trains to be scrapped, being sent to European Metal Recycling (EMR) at Kingsbury on 27 October 2016.

Note: The designs featured on this model are a representation of the graphics that were applied to the eighteen passenger cars of Sets 3005/3006 and are not intended to accurately portray the livery in service.

British Rail Class 370 Advanced Passenger Train 5-car Pack Set 370 003 comprising DTS Sc48103, TBF Sc48603 and NDM Sc49003 City of Derby, along with Set 370 004 comprising TBF Sc48604 and DTS Sc48104. By the end of 1970 the British Rail Board began considering the third design phase of the Advanced Passenger Train; the prototype for the full production trains that would incorporate the technology of the APT-E in a practical application. From the outset the pre-production APT project, or APT-P, was considered to be nothing more than a proving prototype for evaluation, prior to the finalised Advance Passenger Train design being authorised for squadron service; the APT-S. Having settled on electric traction for the production APT, the West Coast main line between Euston and Glasgow was the obvious route for conducting testing, being electrified along its length and with some severe curves that curtailed high speed travel. The date for commencement of services was set for 1977 and the Chief Mechanical and Electrical Engineers' Department (CM&EE) design engineers began work in October 1973. In a move similar to the current situation of the DfT defining design specifications, it was the passenger business of British Rail that decided upon the original configuration for the APT-P; each set was to comprise fourteen cars, with the two power cars marshalled at the outer ends of the sets. It soon became clear that the use of two pantographs, one on each power car, was unsuitable for the OHP wires in place at that time and the use of two power cars in the middle of the train became the only option, effectively cutting the train in half. This created two 1+6 formations of DTS, TS, TRBS, TU, TF, TBF and NDM (Non-Driving Motor), through which passengers could not pass due to the high magnetic fields generated by the electrical equipment contained in the NDM. The NDM was the first vehicle completed for testing in June 1977 and it spent a year on static tests at RTC Derby, as well as dynamic tests on the WCML with a spare HST Power Car from September 1977. In mid-1978 the power car was joined by the rest of the first half set for testing on the WCML and was unveiled to the press on June 7th but, hampered by industrial action, it was to be February 1979 before various formations of the full train were marshalled to test different aspects of the train. At the end of the year, on December 20, 1979, a new rail speed record of 162.2mph was achieved and by March 1980 all three APT-P trains were delivered and ready for mileage accumulation on the WCML. Having finally achieved full route clearance and with testing indicating that all was progressing to plan, shadow passenger service was set to commence on June 9, 1980 with a daily Glasgow/London return service. A demonstration run on April 18th with a 1+9 set was meant to usher in a new era of high speed rail travel, but a derailment caused by a faulty articulated bogie signalled the beginning of the APT 'jinx' and the postponement of passenger introduction. Wheelsets had to be rebuilt across the fleet, and reliability problems with the tilt, transmission and braking systems were also exacerbated by the mediocre ride quality. It was also found that failure of the tilting mechanism could result in the APT exceeding its kinematic envelope and potentially coming into contact with an APT travelling in the opposite direction. It was to be Spring 1981 before main line testing could resume and by now media and public opinion was turning against the project, with some individuals in Government and within the British Railways Board expressing their discontent as well. Entering public service on December 7, 1981 at first all went well, but very cold weather in Scotland on December 9th and again on December 11th resulted in the brakes freezing and the APT being taken out of traffic until the summer of 1982. A year of technical R&D project running followed, before limited passenger running took place across 1983/84 to assess passenger comfort using the full 2+12 sets between London Euston and Glasgow, culminating in a new time and speed record for the 401 mile trip of three hours and fifty-two minutes; an average speed of 103mph. Far exceeding its budget, APT-P had now effectively reached the end of its development programme and although a number of plans had been suggested for the implementation of APT in service, in a number of formations and with varying traction options, the APT-S, APT-R, APT-T, APT-U and APT-V projects never materialised. The fleet of six sets had been reduced since March 1983, parts being cannibalised to keep the remaining vehicles running and at the end of May 1985 the APT-P was withdrawn from service, with the Intercity Development Train (APT-D) continuing until December 1986.

At the beginning of 1982, the CM&EE considered that development problems with the ATP-P project would mean that the introduction of APT-S, scheduled for 1988, would not happen because APT-P still required at least six more years to achieve an acceptable degree of reliability. Given this situation, a meeting of the BRB Railway Executive Group on 23 June 1982 laid out four options for the commercial introduction of APT as part an overall InterCity traction strategy, with the quickest solution being the APT-U option. The APT-U was to consist of two power cars, one at either end of the train, and ten passenger cars, with a proposed increase to twelve vehicles to follow. Tilt was to be incorporated, but not articulation and the anticipation of the Board was for twenty trainsets to be completed for use mainly on the London to Manchester and Liverpool routes, with selected operation to Glasgow. As this design incorporated proven equipment and dispensed with the APT-P's transfer gearbox and HK braking, it was envisaged that service operation could begin before 1989. In mid-1984, TS Sc48204 was withdrawn from Set 370 004 and sent to the Engineering Development Unit (EDU) at Derby RTC for conversion to an APT-U test vehicle, extensive rebuilding of the underframe being undertaken in order to incorporate tilting double bogies based on the BT12 units. Following completion some static testing was undertaken at Derby, as well as dynamic testing on the WCML in an APT formation, where the coach was inserted between the TBF and NDM vehicles.

During the 1970s, British Railways had pursued the concept of tilting train technology for the West Coast Main Line through the Class 370 Advanced Passenger Train concept, allowing for higher speeds to be taken through curves. By minimising lateral forces on the passengers, the tendency to slide sideways was reduced, which in turn allowed passenger comfort levels to be maintained at higher speeds. Even with the cancellation of the APT project, the idea of train tilt was still being considered in the 1980s for the InterCity 225 project, and again during the 1990s for the aborted InterCity 250 concept. In 1997, when Virgin Trains were awarded the franchise to operate the West Coast Main Line following the privatisation of British Rail, it was on the proviso that new rolling stock was to be introduced, replacing the ageing Class 86/87/90 locomotives and Mark 2/3 coaches and so a £500 million order was placed with Alstom/Fiat Ferroviaria to construct fifty-four, eight-car tilting train sets, later increasing to nine, then eleven car sets. The current Pendolino fleet of 52 sets comprises 31 eleven-car sets and 21 nine-car sets and all have been transferred to Avanti West Coast, the operating name for the new West Coast Partnership between FirstGroup plc and Trenitalia UK that took over the operation of the existing West Coast Main Line services on 8 December 2019, from Virgin Trains.