A Tender Behind - and In Front!

I recently acquired two of the new Dapol Diesel Brake Tenders, produce for Hornby Magazine and, currently, available through the Key Publishing shop - although they are selling quite fast, apparently.

There were three different versions but one of them has already sold out!

The first of the two that we now have on the railway is the one seen above, behind a Class 22 at Davemoor, our northern terminus. 

This tender is in plain BR green livery and there was a version in green with split yellow ends but this is the one that has now sold out.

The Catalogue Number for the plain green tender is HM-DBT-014 and it has the Running Nº B964039. 

The second tender is in BR Blue livery with split yellow ends and ours is seen assisting a Class 25 with a heavy load of coal wagons. This tender's Catalogue Nº is HM-DBT-016 and it has the running Nº B964116.

The warning lamps at each end of the tenders are factory fitted but are removable and, currently, our tenders are both in pristine condition, having only recently acquired them. However, I expect that both will be weathered in due course.

Diesel Brake Tenders were introduced in the 1960s to increase the brake force available to new diesels locomotives, which struggled to slow down unfitted goods trains due to the fact that they were considerably lighter than their steam locomotive predecessors.

These tenders are based on the, later, round topped versions that were introduced in the mid-1960s. These models are highly detailed and have Gresley pattern bogies and are provided with optional dummy screw link couplings, should you wish to fit them.