About this event

Revolution Trains’ aim is simple – to bring model railway enthusiasts together to crowd-fund models. With the N gauge Pendolino and many subsequent models they have shown that if enough people are prepared to group together then they can create highly detailed, accurate models in N, OO and O.

Ben Ando will take us through some of the history, the present and perhaps what the future might bring.

Who is Ben?

Ben Ando was born in Kent but grew up in Northamptonshire. After a short spell in advertising, he began a career in journalism in 1989 with his local independent radio station Northants Radio, moving to Radio Trent in Nottingham and then Independent Radio News in London. 1995 saw him move into television, working for ITV and then Channel 5.

In 2004, after taking redundancy from Channel 5 when the news contract was awarded to Sky,  he joined the BBC where he spent 15 years.  Over that time he worked as a domestic news correspondent, Crime Reporter and, at times, Midlands and Scotland correspondent.

2014 saw Ben and fellow model railway enthusiast and friend Mike Hale created Revolution Trains.  The original aim was simply to crowd-fund an N gauge Class 390 Pendolino, however the scope grew rapidly and ten years on Revolution has produced over two dozen powered and unpowered models in 00 gauge and N gauge. Ben volunteered for redundancy from the BBC in 2019, and since then has worked full time for Revolution Trains.

He lives in Cambridgeshire and has two daughters.

When and Where

This is a hybrid lecture in person at Keen House and on Zoom – please pre book using the form below. Please note that there are stairs to all room in Keen House.

Non MRC members are welcome with a suggested donation of £3 either in person or on our virtual coffee page