Trackmaster Revolution (TMR) New releases

[ripley802]

Looks like there is a video "first run" of these out now..

[Super]

Thanks Ripley

Noticed that the rolling stock from these new packs (even Merlin's tender) have a new style of couplings at the back, now being part of the main body and not a separate piece, a truck from the Scrapyard Escape set also has it.

[Ucwepn]

Ouch those rear couplings are cheap and nasty and probably not replaceable if they break, BOOOO!

Definitely getting a Merlin and a Thomas, not sure about the brown one.

[ripley802]

Plarail versions of any of these would look sooooo much better. Let's hope for the best anyway..

Ouch those rear couplings are cheap and nasty and probably not replaceable if they break, BOOOO!

Definitely getting a Merlin and a Thomas, not sure about the brown one.

If for no other reason than to review then give/sell, pick yourself up a Hurricane. Unusual prototype (Decapod I think it was), rocking trucks, and a good amount of detail... plus he doesn't have the saddle-tank syndrome other engines do... which is cool.

Definitely see the merits in procuring Merlin and Thomas first though. Thomas looks awesome, and Merlin's metallic sheen and piston crank pumpy action wagon are pretty cool too.

[Super]

Merlin is a fantasy train.....right? He couldn't be modeled after a real train.....could he? Three funnels?

There was actually an experimental variant of the King Arthur class of locomotive with the triple-funnel setup. Apparently it was an experiment to disperse steam faster. It didn't really work out the way it was intended though

[Super]

Thanks WW

Well bust my britches, would have never thought there would be a real one. Don't understand the reasoning for three and not just a bigger funnel. Need to know more but I can't find the exact train. Lots of King Arthur Class just not this one with 3 funnels.

If it helps any, Super, I believe a search of the title "Sir Gillemere" (or "Sir Gillemere locomotive" as the search, to be precise), may bear some results.

I ran through the LSWR N15 class page on Wikipedia, the class also known as 'King Arthurs', and this little excerpt might shed some light on Merlin:

In another wartime experiment, Bulleid fitted No. 783 Sir Gillemere with three thin "stovepipe" chimneys in November 1940.[46] These were set in a triangular formation to reduce visibility of exhaust from the air in response to attacks made by low-flying aircraft on Southern Railway trains.[44] The "stovepipes" were reduced to two, producing a fierce exhaust blast that dislodged soot inside tunnels and under bridges.[46] The experiment was discontinued in February 1941 and the locomotive re-fitted with a Maunsell King Arthur chimney.[44]