Bachmann announce LSWR Adams T3 4-4-0 as part of the EFE Rail Range

The 2024 Bachmann Collectors Club Members Day was today (Saturday 7th September) held at the Swanage Railway. The venue  was the perfect location for Bachmann’s next new product announcement, in its EFE Rail range being the London & South Western Railway (LSWR) 4-4-0 T3 Class.
I have developed these models in my role with Kernow Model Rail Centre for the Bachmann EFE Rail brand,  and it was a pleasure to introduce the models to the Bachmann Collectors Club Members this morning at Swanage Station alongside the full size T3 563.

Part of a family of four 4-4-0 locomotives, the first T3, was built by the LSWR in 1892 and by the end of 1893, the twenty-strong fleet had been completed. The elegant appearance of the T3 carried many hallmarks of a locomotive designed by William Adams, with long frames extending beyond the smokebox and stovepipe chimneys. A development of the X2 class with smaller 6’7″ driving wheels and longer smokebox,  intended for use on the undulating lines west of Salisbury, they worked from depots on the Bournemouth line as well as the West of England line. Whilst in service several changes and modifications were made to the locomotives and once Dugald Drummond took post as the LSWR’s Chief Mechanical Engineer he began to change the stovepipe chimney to one of his own design whilst No. 558 and 568 also received Drummond boilers at different stages during their lifetime.

All twenty locomotives were inherited by the Southern Railway (SR) at Grouping in 1923, however with the SR being an early adopter of electrification there soon became a locomotive surplus and within ten years, all but three T3s had been withdrawn. The final three were withdrawn No. 557 in April 1936,  571 was out of use at the md of 1942 and officially withdrawn in May 1943 and the last being No. 563 in August 1945 which was then stored before appearing at the centenary of Waterloo Station when she steamed (at a low pressure due to the condition of her firebox) into the station for the last time on 14th June 1948. No. 563 would go on to be saved as part of the national collection, appearing at the Museum of British Transport at Clapham and then the National Railway Museum (NRM) at York.

In March 2017 following use as part of a Railway Children theatre production in both Canada and London, ownership was formally transferred from the NRM to Swanage Railway Trust 563 Locomotive Group.

Arriving on the Swanage Railway on 12 April 2017, No.563 was initially placed on display at Corfe Castle, before being moved to the Flour Mill workshops in the Forest of Dean for restoration to commence, including a brand new copper firebox, and it was successfully returned to steam in October 2023 resplendent in Drummond double lined livery.

The EFE Rail model has been developed through Kernow Model Rail Centre for Bachmann with the help of the South Western Circle – the historical society for the London South Western Railway – who have provided archive drawings and photographs, and also the Swanage Railway Trust 563 Locomotive Group who have provided access to the preserved locomotive throughout its restoration.

Bachmann,  Kernow Model Rail Centre and myself wishes to record our thanks to both parties.

Employing a diecast metal running plate and boiler, the locomotive is well weighted to ensure smooth and powerful operation. A plethora of separate detail parts are then added, constructed from metal and plastic, giving this model all the grace of its full size counterpart. Sprung metal buffers are employed along with metal handrails and a representation of the inside valve gear.

Turning to the cab, this is fully detailed and includes firebox flicker effect, switchable on DCC, and an etched loco-tender fall plate.

The locomotive and tender are linked by a snap-together drawbar integral close coupling mechanism and electrical connections, allowing the Next18 DCC decoder socket to be mounted in the tender alongside a pair of factory-fitted speakers.

Electrical pickups are provided to all driving and tender wheels and the model’s drive mechanism, located in the locomotive, boasts a five pole motor and flywheel.

Tender detailing includes a realistic coal load, separate metal handrails and metal sprung buffers, plus separate lamp irons and brake rigging. Tenders can be modelled with or without coal rails and with different toolbox arrangements.

Further options built into the tooling suite allow locomotives with either Adams or Drummond boilers, chimneys and/or smokebox doors to be modelled. The smokebox saddle can be flush or rivetted and the cabs can be modelled with or without beading. Alternative full cylinder front covers are provided, either with or without piston tail rods represented for those whose layout curves allow.  Single or double whistles can be depicted along with the optional side chains on the front and rear buffer beams. The T3s were originally built with equalising beam suspension, and this was later changed to traditional springing, both types are included in the tooling suite along with the option for plain or fluted coupling rods.

The prototypes sported bogie splashers and on the EFE Rail model these will be supplied as fully decorated accessories (for either the rear or both wheelsets, depending on the period) for display purposes or where layout conditions allow. Also included in the accessory pack will be a set of Etched engine heads signal (route discs) either LSWR style circular (with cut out hand grip) along with LSWR Diamonds or SR style (with top handle) only will be included specific to livery.

Sound fitted versions using a Zimo sound decoder, with stay alives fitted, recorded on No. 563 and produced by our friends at  YooChoos will be also available Exclusively from Kernow Model Rail Centre .

The launch video (with a familiar face) can be seen on the Bachmann YouTube Channel here

David Haarhaus, Managing Director of Bachman Europe Plc, said of the announcement: “hailing from the south as I do, I am always delighted when Bachmann adds new Southern prototypes to its portfolio and that’s very much true for the LSWR T3 that has been developed for our EFE Rail brand. With the publicity the preserved locomotive has received in recent years and the outstanding restoration job that has been completed by the team at Swanage, we’ve had a lot of requests to model the T3 recently, so it’s a real pleasure to reveal this model at the Swanage Railway and have our valued Bachmann Collectors Club members see these exciting new models for themselves as an exclusive preview.”

The Engineering Prototypes for these much-requested models are now under testing / review and livery samples are being prepared.

Full details of the initial models, including liveries, identities, pricing and availability, will be included in the Bachmann Winter 2024 British Railway Announcements which are published, including on here,  on Wednesday 6th November 2024.

With thanks to friend and railway historian legend Mr Tim Dunn, he has produced a great video of our launch of the EFE Rail Adams T3 00 Gauge model on the Swanage Railway with Kernow Model Rail Centre on Saturday. See here.