Well, after a long hiatus when we had nothing new to report, we now have three major announcements. 
These have been communicated to the major model railway magazines in the UK and Australia, and posted by Chris on RM Web, but here they are on our official blog.

28 August, 2014

Ixion Model Railways foreshadows new models

Total sales of the 7mm scale Hudswell Clarke saddle tank now exceed 1300 units, and Ixion has now sold over 2850 O scale locomotives.

This success of our products has resulted in these commissioning of these three new models:

1. O Scale: A new production run of Hudswell Clarke locomotives

Ixion Model Railways Ltd is pleased to announce that we are now sold out of both green and maroon Hudswell Clarke tank locomotives.

To satisfy customer demand, we have commissioned a second, limited edition run of Hudswell Clarke locomotives in a new livery of forest green, lined in red and black. 

An artist’s impression of the livery is included below. These will be available from selected retailers in the UK and Australia, and online from the Ixion website. We hope to have these in stock for Christmas this year.

 2. An HO Scale Locomotive

Ixion is pleased to announce that our next new locomotive will be produced for the Australian HO scale (1:87) market.

With two of the Ixion directors being NSW modellers, this is a logical move into their home market with a familiar prototype.

It will be a New South Wales Government Railways (NSWGR) steam locomotive, never before available in injection-moulded ready-to-run form.

Produced in the same factory which has made the acclaimed and award-winning On30 Coffee Pot, and 7mm scale Hudswell Clarke and Fowler locomotives, it will follow Ixion's well-established standards of prototype fidelity and excellence of performance, and will be DCC and sound-ready.

The identity of this locomotive will be revealed when the first computer-aided design drawings are available in October this year. Delivery is anticipated for the third quarter of 2015.

 3. A new O Scale Locomotive

Ixion is also collaborating with another company (a new manufacturer, not an existing one) on the production of a ready-to-run 7mm scale standard gauge steam locomotive suitable for both the UK and Australian markets. 

More information about this model will be available soon - watch the Ixion website and blog for updates on all locomotives.

http://www.ixionmodels.com/

http://ixionmodels.blogspot.com.au/

Please direct any enquiries to info@ixionmodels.com

Phil Badger, Chris Klein and Lindsay O’Reilly

Directors,

Ixion Model Railways Ltd.

David Smith's Fowler

David L O Smith has worked his modification magic again, on his GWR Fowler this time.

With his trademark tweaks, he has made his loco unique. Check out the turned brass bezels (outer rings) for the cab dials, impossible - well, impractical - in a mass produced loco.

The whole story is on David's website here. Enjoy!

Green Hudswell Clarkes All Gone!

Ixion has sold out of lined green Hudswell Clarke locomotives. 

A handful may remain on the shelves of Ixion stockists - look at the list of our UK, European and Australian stockists at www.ixionmodels.com, and make some calls if you want one.

Good stocks remain of lined maroon and unlined black locomotives, and these are available from our retailers, and (for Australian and NZ customers) from Ixion online here.

David L.O. Smith's Amazing Reworked Hudswell Clarke

British 7mm scale modeller David L.O. Smith has been using his Forum postings on RMweb to record the progress of his conversion of an Ixion Hudswell Clarke into a very specific locomotive: the Great Central Railway's No 278, named "Humber".

The conversion is quite brilliant, replacing all those parts that he identified as different on 'Humber', and fabricating many new items to more accurately represent the prototype. Whilst still unmistakably an Ixion Hudswell Clarke, the super-detailing really sets David's model apart.

Some more photos of the completed loco are included below to whet your appetite. For the full blow-by-blow account of the conversion, David has now put the complete uninterrupted write-up on his website at: www.davidlosmith.co.uk/GCR_Humber.htm. It's an absorbing and fascinating read. Click the link above, and prepare to be entertained and inspired. 

As a teaser, for those who think it looks pretty straightforward, these are the original components David had left over after the build!

When complimented on his workmanship by [Ixion Directors] Chris Klein and myself, this was David's typically humble response:

Again, thank you for your compliments about my model but it really is straightforward when you have such a fine starting point.  Yesterday, I put the final coat of flat finish on my GWR Fowler; I shall write that up as well but, apart from a few minor mods and additions, it was really about painting the fly cranks, rods and buffer stocks in a matching shade of red, so there’ll not be that much to it.

All the very best for your continued enterprises.

David

We look forward to David's Fowler, and hope to post that story here too.

Lindsay O'Reilly.

Ixion visiting Aylesbury for Railex 2014

Ixion's UK Director Chris Klein will be joined at Railex 2014 at Aylesbury, Bucks. on Saturday May 24th this year by Australian Ixion Director Lindsay O'Reilly. 

Whilst we won't have a table or official presence, it'll be a chance for Lindsay in particular to meet some of our traders (especially Dragon Models and EDM Models) and customers in person, and take in some brilliant modelling at the same time. Lindsay has seen the stunning layout list, and wonders how he'll have time to do anything except stare, dribble, boggle and drool.

Look for the Ixion badges/shirt/cap - the first on Chris and latter two probably on Lindsay. The difference is explained by this being a normal Ixion promotional activity for Chris, but Lindsay will very much be in Big Ol' European Holiday mode.

So if one of us is in a tie, you can take a guess in advance which one that will be!

Details of the show are at http://www.railex.org.uk/ .

Ixion at the Aus7 ExpO 01/03/2014

Just a reminder to all Australian readers about the Aus7 Modellers ExpO coming up in Sydney on Saturday March 1st. The Aus7 Modellers Group Inc is the premier modellers' association for O gauge modellers, and  - despite the name - embraces not just 7mm scale modellers working in 1:43.5 scale, but also 1:48 scale standard gauge (Victorian and Queensland railways modellers for example) and narrow gauge modellers in both scales. check out the Aus7 website at http://www.aus7modellersgroup.org/

The Expo is going to be a great day, and has been organised to celebrate the 10th Anniversary
 of the founding of the Group. More information about the Expo, happening at the Casula 
Powerhouse Arts Centre from 9am-4pm, is on the Aus7 website.

Sponsored by O-Aust Kits, it will feature the cream of Australia's O gauge layouts and 
modellers, as well as specialist O gauge traders.

Ixion Models will be represented by Directors Phil Badger and Lindsay O'Reilly, and will 
have a display of our models, as well as Hudswell Clarkes, Fowlers and accessories for sale.
We will also have a brilliant DCC and sound-fitted Fowler from EDM Models in the UK. 
Come and say 'Hi', and hear this state-of-the-art model do its thing.

Chris' New Layout

Ixion's UK Director Chris Klein has started his own 'blog' - an RMWeb Forum thread that will record the construction of his O Gauge South Wales colliery/GWR layout. 

Smartly titled "Cwm Bach - A South Wales Branch Line"* it outlines the philosophy, history, origins and ideas behind the forthcoming layout. 

You can read the whole thing here, but I have copied the first post below to whet your appetite.

Enjoy, and a Happy New Year to you all.
Lindsay.

* The name "Cwm Bach" sounds like "Come Back", if spoken in a Welsh accent.

Posted Jan 01 2014, 21:42 by Chris Klein, as 81A OldOak

Cwm Bach - A South Wales Branch Line

I have long been attracted to the railways of Wales, particularly those in the coalfields of South Wales and the Cambrian Railways, which, I suppose, pretty much much covers the principality apart from a narrow strip along the north coast. For many years I have modelled a 4mm scale fictional extension of the coast line of the Cambrian line from Pwllehli to Abersoch via a junction at Boduan with a branch to  Morfa Nefyn. The layout has been well documented in the Railway Modeller since my maiden article appeared in 1992. Concurrently, I have been constructing 7mm scale rolling stock following the puchase of a Slater's 7 plank wagon for experimental and medicinal purposes at the annual show of the Southampton MRS in January 1994. I had the kernel of an idea for a South Wales branch line in 0 Gauge in the 1950s. The main attractions of South Wales, especially for 0 Gauge, were the almost exclusive use of tank locomotives on most of the Valleys' lines, the survival of a surprising number of pre-Grouping locomotives into the mid and even late 1950s, the very dense network of lines, cramped locations in narrow valleys and ample scope for industrial railway operations.

To date, my modelling efforts on the 7mm side have been restricted by the very limited time that my busy job in London permitted, especially the almost 2 hour of commuting each way. By the way, I travel by train between Winchester and Waterloo and the modern railway scene is very boring to the extent that the sight of even one rarely used siding at Surbiton station excites interest. But that is to digress. With effect from today, I have reduced my working time to the annual equivalent of two days per week so that I now have more time to pursue  my many other interests.  More importantly, it means I can start major projects without the fear that thery will never be finished.

So where does the 0 Gauge layout start?  I have always been attracted to the small GWR station at Abergwynfi that served the erstwhile Avon Colliery ever since I saw the photograph (reproduced with permission) by Michael Hale in Volume 1 of his seminal work "Steam in South Wales". On the front cover of the same book there is also a very inspiring colour photo of a GWR pannier tank shunting the very decrepit Glyncorrwg collieryin 1962. Abergwynfi station itself was built onto a narrow ledge carved out of the valley's side with the colliery line continuing its ascent behind the station. My idea is to reverse the colliery branch via an elevated kick-back siding behind the station and to add a couple of sidings in front of the station for general goods. The baseboards excluding the fiddle-yard have actually been built, but I need to dismantle the 4mm scale Boduan Junction, which is now life expired, to make space. I will draw and post a sketch later on.

Some general features of the intended layout:

• Dimensions approximately 15' x 2'.
• DCC for locomotive control. I am still unconvinced about steam sounds for DCC so often operate with them switched off. Diesel sounds are much more convincing.
• Point and signals will be actuated by Tortoises that I accumulated during business trips to the USA when the pound/dollar exchange rate was 1:2. I won't fuss about with DCC for their control.
• Pointwork has been constructed from C&L and Peco components.
• Couplings are currently 3-link and cosmetic screw, but I will install Lincs if they ever return to the market (or if anyone by any chance has some they are willing to sell to me).

Stay tuned for further instalments.

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