More Steam

As well as a couple of new diesel locomotives, there has also been the recent addition of two new tank engines to the railway and, as with the majority of the other steam locos that I have, these two have associations with the Somerset & Dorset Joint Railway.

The first loco is actually the second Bachmann 3F 0-6-0 'Jinty' to join the fleet (Catalogue Nº 32-233) and, like her sister, she is fitted with a digital decoder but no sound at the moment.

Here both locos are seen at Anchwood with one of them at the head of a passenger train for Gunnmere Junction while the other one is in charge of a local goods train.

The second steam newcomer is this Bachmann Ivatt 2-6-2 Nº 41221, Catalogue Nº 31-450.

These locos were regular performers on the Evercreech Junction to Highbridge branch during the S&D's final years and, indeed, a brace of them (41307 and 41269) hauled one of the last excursions along the branch on Saturday 5th March 1966.

It would be good to run a similarly double-headed train on our branch line one day.

More Diesel

 Introducing two more additions to the railway's fleet of diesel locomotives.

Firstly we have this Hornby, Class 31 D5512 in BR green livery, Catalogue Nº R2420.

She is seen here emerging from our Service Depot prior to taking up her duties, which will be anything from freight to local passenger services.

This now makes two of these versatile Type 2 locomotives working on the railway, as we already have 31268 in BR blue.

The second diesel loco is this Hornby Class 50 - 50037 'Illustrious' in BR blue. 

I have always wanted a blue Class 50 and, following my disappointment with the two GBRf-liveried locos (see a previous post) I snatched this one up as a replacement when she became available at a good price.

This is now the fifth Class 50 to join the fleet and, like her sisters, she will be used on a variety of services from express passenger (as seen above) through to the occasional freight train., 

Both of these locos have yet to be fitted with sound decoders although this should happen fairly soon.

S&D 1532 Class

I recently acquired this little beauty through the Bachmann Collectors Club website and, I think you will agree, she is quite stunning.

She is a Midland Region 1532 Class 0-4-4T, Nº 54, in S&DJR lined Prussian Blue, Catalogue Nº 31-740K and she only became available at the end of last year but has already sold out completely.

This loco also comes with factory-fitted sound, although Bachmann also produced non-DCC versions.

She does sound as good as she looks, too, and is a great addition to our fleet of S&D locos, most of which are in this gorgeous Prussian blue livery.
 

Only 65 of these smart little locos were built at Derby Works, between 1881 and 1886 to a design by Samuel W Johnson and they were given the power classification 1P.

All except three of the class were handed to the London Midland and Scottish Railway in the 1923 Grouping. Two of the three exceptions had already been withdrawn by then while the third, the big sister of our model here, had been transferred to the S&D in January 1921. 

It subsequently passed to the LMS when the S&DJR rolling stock was absorbed in January 1930.

Hornby Class 60 - The Hundred of Who?

This Christmas I received a fantastic surprise gift, in the form of this superb Hornby Class 60, from a very good Australian friend who I thank most sincerely.

This is the first Class 60 to join the fleet and she really is a handsome and powerful beast. She is fitted with a Hornby TTS sound decoder so, not only does she look good, but she sounds great too!

The Catalogue Nº is R2899XS, her Running Nº is 60042 and she is named 'The Hundred of Hoo'. 

Now, for those of you who, like me, have no idea why this loco is so named, the Hundred of Hoo Academy is a 4–18 mixed, all-through school and sixth form with academy status in Hoo St Werburgh, Kent, England and it is part of the Leigh Academies Trust.

As for the model, the Class 60, to my mind, is one of Hornby's best locos and it is great to have one in our fleet, thanks again Michael.

Their larger sisters were introduced in late 1990 after BR had decided that they needed a more capable Type 5 locomotive and, from the three tenders submitted, Brush Traction was awarded the contract.. 

Our model is in the EWS livery and it was EWS who took over the entire fleet of Class 60s with the privatization of British Rail and who, themselves, were acquired by DB Schenker in 2007.

In 2004 the first and, so far, only member of the class was withdrawn, namely 60006 'Great Gable', later 'Scunthorpe Ironmaster'. However, the loco was only scrapped in January of last year.

All of the class were given names by Railfreight in 1989, with their names being dependent upon the sectors to which they were assigned. As such, those locomotives attached to the construction and metals sectors (of which 60042 was one) were named after British mountains, as were some Class 60s attached to the coal sector.

To that end, our loco was originally named 'Dunkery Beacon' but, in July 1999, it was given the name that our model carries.

As of now, however, I believe this loco has been unnamed and, indeed, has been withdrawn from service.

The Ugly - Heljan's Class 128

I recently acquired this 'lovely' Heljan Class 128, Running Nº: M55995, Catalogue Nº 89421. 

She is in weathered condition and, I think, she actually looks great, despite the title of this post. and is as very nice addition to the railway. We do already have a rake of Royal Mail RES coaches, augmented with a couple of TPOs, however, this will make a nice alternative for parcels-only services.

Only ten of these units were built by the Gloucester Railway Carriage and Wagon Company and they were introduced in 1959.

Each unit had two 230 hp, British Unit Traction, Albion engines and they were specifically built for parcels with no passenger accommodation installed and were, instead, fitted with parcel racks plus space for bicycle storage at each end of the unit.

The last members of the class were withdrawn in 1990 and, sadly, all were cut up the following year with none making it into preservation.

In the first two photographs, above, we see our Class 128 departing Davemoor while, in the third photo, she is seen about to pass under the girder bridge that carries the branch line to Anchwood.