About Electra Rail
Electra came into being as Adam was disappointed with the lack of modern multiple units and coaches in N Gauge. After some early attempts at cardboard sides, the product evolved through waterslide transfers and home produced vinyl sides to the top-quality vinyls that we proudly offer today.
Up until February 2023, Adam used a Roland VS-300 Printer / Cutter, which allowed printing in-house and greatly sped up delivery times and developing new items. Unfortunately the printer failed and Adam decided it was time to move on from Electra.
After a few months of talking and finding out about the running of Electra Rail, Luke and Kylie took over the operation from Adam by purchasing the business assets and setting up Electra Rail Graphics Ltd.
The future plan now is to carry on Adam's great work once a new printer has been acquired. All being well this will be soon and we can offer the same great products once again.
All Electra livery packs will be printed in-house to order. They will be pre-cut and self-adhesive. The vinyls are either printed on white vinyl with precision cut windows or on clear backed vinyl, allowing flush glazing. Both media types have incredible colour resolution and detail.
The Electra Clear Printing Process
The process for getting an existing artwork can be quite involved, due to the printer needing some changes to the format. We will take the existing Freehand file, make any changes that may be required and then export as an EPS file.
This is then loaded into Adobe Illustrator, where a new white mask layer is generated. This sits behind the colour image. An outline cut-line layer is also generated to sit in front of the image. When the combined image is loaded into the print program, it knows what to place where.
The actual printing is very time-consuming. Firstly, the white ink is laid down with two passes, enabling a good solid backing. After this has dried (30 mins), the colour layer is printed. This is given an hour to dry and then the cutting begins.
I have to be present for the cutting, as this only takes a few minutes. If the vinyls are left on the printer they have a tendency to curl up at the edges and can sometimes close up on themselves, making the vinyl useless. The only answer is to be around the vinyls while they cool off and gently press down any "curlies".
The vinyls are then left for at least 24 hours to fully dry and get ready for packing.
We'll try to print the vinyls in batches to minimise waste and these need at least 24 hours to properly dry before bagging and sending out.
Luke is primarily a OO Gauge modeller and work primarily in this scale but both Kylie and Luke are developing an N gauge layout in a coffee table so we will still produce the same range that Adam has done for so many years.
Electra Classics is a range in OO, offering vinyls for older ready to run vehicles, such as the Lima Mark 1 and 2 coaches and Hornby Mark 2s. The vinyls not only refresh the livery to the highest standard but also give instant flush-glazing.
With the cost of a new coach approaching £70.00, Electra Classics offers an economical alternative to achieve great looking rolling stock.
The website is being updated all the time so if you can't find what you're looking for, please e-mail us at shop@electrarail.co.uk
Return Information: Money back or a free reprint if not satisfied - returns are accepted with 28 days.
Electra Rail Graphics