Dapol will initially be modelling the as originally built locomotive, the rebuilt variant will follow in a later run. It appears that the tooling suite allows for variations in smoke deflector type and both original flat fronted and later modified ‘wedge’ shape cabs, safety valve position, with and without front fairings, along with high rave and cut down tender types (we are yet to see details of the tender capacities, being tooled for).
This will be their first N Gauge ‘Next Generation Steam model’, with entirely re-designed chassis and electronics. This model will also incorporate Dapol’s new locomotive mounted motor that they state “offers good slow running and pulling power with reliability and robustness”. The specifications include: Coreless Locomotive mounted motor,b electrical pick up from all locomotive driving wheels and tender wheels, die-cast chassis and locomotive body, injection moulded tender body, partial chassis compensation for smooth running and to aid electrical pick up, stainless steel running gear, standard NEM fitting N Gauge couplers, Detailed body and fittings, printed name plates and an accessory bag with etched nameplates and detailed buffer beam fittings.
2S-034-001 21C164 Fighter Command
2S-034-001 Battle of Britain ‘Fighter Command’ 21C164 SR Malachite Green, with two window wedge shaped cab, forward safety valves as she ran between december 1947 and May 1948
2S-034-002 34066 Spitfire
2S-034-002 Battle of Britain ‘Spitfire’ 34066 BR Green Late Crest, with cut down tender as she ran from March 1958 and December 1959 (when she was fitted with a speedo).
2S-034-003 34110 66 Squadron note spurious shield
2S-034-003 Battle of Britain ‘66 Squadron’ 34110 BR Green Early Crest, forward safety valves, minus front fairings, as she ran between September 1955 and February 1957, although the artwork incorrectly shows her with a shield (34110 was the only Battle of Britain not to carry a shield), I have spoken about this with Dapol who will be correcting the artwork.
2S-034-004 21C1213 Okehampton
2S-034-004 West Country ‘Okehampton’ 21C113 SR Malachite Green, original cab, short smoke deflectors as she ran between October 1945 and June 1947.
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2S-034-005 34030 Watersmeet
2S-034-005 West Country ‘Watersmeet’ 34030 BR Green Late Crest, with cut down tender, rear safety valves, minus front fairings as she ran from September 1956.
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2S-034-006 34001 Exeter
2S-034-006 West Country ‘Exeter’ 34001 BR Green Early Crest, with original cab and minus front fairings as she ran between January 1952 and November 1954.
The proposed RRP for DCC ready versions is now £223.50, for DCC fitted £257.04 and for DCC sound fitted £368.88 or discounted at Stockists such as KMRC here, and delivery is expected to be Quarter 4 2024 at the earliest.
The Rails of Sheffield / Dapol D1 31487 in BR Sunshine lettered livery
After 1901 the D class locomotive further more powerful locomotives were investigated by the companies. After Richard Maunsell took over as CME from Harry Wainwright in 1913 he worked on a series of new locomotives which were intended for a long service life, this involved the conversion and upgrade of 11 E class locomotives, resulting in the E1 class. This proved very successful and led directly to the conversion of 21 D class into the D1 class in 1921 and 1927. Six of the final nine to be rebuilt in 1927 received new frames.
Though arguably, not as elegant as the D class equipped with a larger boiler, a belpaire firebox and longer travel cylinders the D1 was able to produce a considerable haulage and power increase over its predecessors.
D1 31487 LHS view.
Initially allocated to Ashford shed, this class was to be found all over the south-eastern division from London to the south.
In September 1941 1145, 1247, 1492/4 and 1739 were transferred to Nine Elms and could be seen on on the Basingstoke and Salisbury semi fasts as well as van trains to Eastleigh and Southampton.
All were withdrawn by November 1961, no preserved examples exist.
The model is available in six liveries, with detail variations as listed below:
SECR Maunsell D1 Class SECR Grey 4-4-0 Steam Locomotive No.735 (original D frames, side feed, Ramsbottom safety valves, original smokebox with snifting valves and manual lubricators).
SECR Maunsell D1 Class Southern SR Maunsell Green 4-4-0 Loco No.1749 (original D frames, plated dome, side feed, Ross pop safety valves, original smokebox with snifting valves).
SECR Maunsell D1 Class Southern SR Maunsell Green 4-4-0 Loco No.1741 (new frames, spuriously top feed dome and side feed, Ramsbottom safety valves, original smokebox with snifting valves).
SECR Maunsell D1 Class BR Black (Early Crest) 4-4-0 Locomotive No.31741 (new frames, side feed, Ross pop safety valves, original smokebox without snifting valves).
SECR Maunsell D1 Class BR Black (Late Crest) 4-4-0 Locomotive No.31246 (original D frames, side feed, Ramsbottom safety valves, later smokebox without snifting valves).
SECR Maunsell D1 Class BR Black (Sunshine Lettering) 4-4-0 Loco No.31487 (original D frames, side feed, Ross pop safety valves, laster smokebox without snifting valves).
Excellent cab detail and also the Dapol ‘pinless’ loco to tender connection can be seen.
It features a five pole motor driving the front driving axle and a the now standard Dapol ‘pinless’ click to couple drawbar that also carries the electrical connections. Electrical pick up is on all tender wheels as well as the locomotive driving wheels. For those using DCC the model has Next-18 Decoder socket mounted on a pull out PCB behind the smokebox door (suposedly tooless but a supplied ‘tool’ is needed) with space for a 15mm x 11mm cube speaker, plus provision for customer to fit a larger bass speaker in tender. The loco also features the current gimmick of a firebox flicker (a fireman would never leave the firebox door open all the time…)
Lovely detail includes a representation of the motion between the frames.
The detail is excellent including a good representation of the inside valve gear between the frames, well modelled and decorated cab details even down to the padlocks on the tender tool lockers. Separately applied items include lamp irons, pipe work, handrails and factory fitted brake rodding on both loco and tender. The buffers are sprung. The slightly plasticly coal, is removable and the water tank and limited coal space on these engines is modelled underneath it. It has been noted however that the version of Loco No.1741 spuriously has been produced with top feed dome and side feed, not a combination that would have occured on the prototype.
[Edit: I have also now noticed that for some reason the smokebox door on the non BR versions spuriously have the cast BR shedcode plate, albeit with nothing printed, moulded on the door shat should not be there].
The removable coal load and the accessory bag items (still in bag) can be seen in this rear 3/4 view.
Supplied in the accessory bag are a cross member to be fitted to the bogie if no front coupling is required, front buffer beam steam heat pipework (identified incorrectly as vacuum pipes in the instructions) and guard irons that can be user fitted if the curves on your layout allow. The instructions also refer to footplate doors being supplied, but these are not supplied on the D1 class (a cut and paste error from the D Class instructions I guess).
Being a 4-4-0 managing weight distribution and good traction is always an issue, the previous D class with a plastic boiler had traction tyres fitted to one wheelset and was supplied with a spare non tyre fitted wheelset. The D1 has neither traction tyres or optional wheelset, despite the diecast boiler, (the loco minus tender weighs in at 180g that is 25g heavier than the D Class model) on this model its traction is a still bit limited and wheel spins on starting with only three coaches.
The elevated view shows the looks of the D1 loco has been well captured.
The livery application is very well executed and I am pleased to say that having provided some assistance to my friends at Rails of Sheffield and Dapol, the colour, lining and lettering errors originally perpetuated from the D Class models have been correctly applied on the D1s.
The bright silver grey coupling rods and coupling hooks on the buffer beam will need toning down a bit.
Note: although unusual the short lived right / front facing lion within the late crest on the right hand side is actually correct for 31246!
Overall, albeit slightly light footed the Rails Of Sheffield in partnership with Dapol Wainwright D1 Class 4-4-0 is a lovely model with some great detail and a welcome addition for pre-grouping / SR modellers alike.
The models will have newly designed electronics, chassis and include Dapol’s loco mounted motor advised as giving “excellent slow speed running and haulage capability” The full features proposed are as follows:
Powerful new locomotive mounted motor
Electrical pick up from all locomotive and tender wheels
Diecast chassis and locomotive body, injection moulded tender body
Partial chassis compensation for smooth running and to aid electrical pickup
Stainless steel valve gear and coupling rods
Standard NEM couplings
Printed name plates
Accessory bag with etched nameplates and details buffer beam fittings
The Cads also show variations in smoke deflector type and both original flat fronted and later modified ‘wedge’ shape cabs, along with high rave and cut down tender types (we are yet to see details of the full suite of variations, including tender capacities, being tooled for).
Initially Dapol will be producing the original Light Pacifics with air smoothed casing, they advise that the rebuilt versions will follow in due course. The proposed versions are:
2S-034-001 21C164 ‘Fighter Command’ SR Malachite green
2S-034-002 34055 ‘Spitfire’ BR green, late crest
2S-034-003 34110 ’66 Squadron’ BR green, early crest
2S-034-004 21C113 ‘Okehampton’ SR Malachite green
2S-034-005 34030 ‘Watersmeet’ BR green, late crest
2S-004-006 34001 ‘Exeter’ BR green, early crest
The proposed RRP for DCC ready versions is £206.95, for DCC fitted £238.00 and for DCC sound fitted £341.55 and delivery is expected to be during 2024 at the earliest.
The T.Mitchell RCH 7 Plank PO wagon. Picture courtesy and copywrite KMRC
Thomas Mitchell was originally the proprietor of a brick and gravel merchant, that by the early 1900s had become Thomas Mitchell and Sons, brick and tile manufacturers, with a large brick works at Guildford Park. By 1902 they had their own black with white lettered 10ton Private Owner wagon for the transportation of coal to the works.
At this weekend’s London Festival of Railway Modelling, Dapol announced new production batches of their ex LSWR Adams B4 0-4-0 tanks and Class 73 Electro-Diesels both in 00 gauge.
Adams B4
‘Guernsey’ from the second batch shunts on Canute Road Quay , the newly announced sister ‘Jersey’ is likely to be in this condition‘Caen’ and my already renamed ‘Trouville’ show off their Southampton Docks brown livery on Canute Road Quay
The Dapol ex LSWR B4 class 0-4-0t were first announced back in March 2014 and the first versions arrived in June 2018., with a second batch with further livery and detail variants including the first appearance of the Drummond Boiler fitted and one of the 5 off Drummond K14 versions, arriving during 2020.
This third batch includes seven new versions, to the same technical specification as the previous batches, (exact livery versions or artwork have not yet been released) as follows:
4S-018-005 B4 0-4-0T BR Late Crest 30096, as carried between c1959 and December 1963
4S-018-012 B4 0-4-0T Lined Dark Green Jersey 91 [sic Dapol have the number incorrect as she was 81] , as she carried between November 1893 and circa 1920/1 when she gained a more enclosed cab.
4S-018-013 B4 0-4-0T LSWR Dark Green 82, K14 type with Drummond Boiler, as her condition between April 1907 and February 1924 when she gained SR Goods lined black livery.
4S-018-014 B4 0-4-0T Trouville Brown 89, as carried from approx 1923 to April 1935 if no rear cab number or April 1935 to February 1950 if the number is painted on the cab rear.
4S-018-015 B4 0-4-0T Southern Black lined 99, as she carried between January 1926 and January 1936.
4S-018-016 B4 0-4-0T Black ‘Corrall Queen’ nameplate and 30096 smokebox door number plate as she ran between December 1963 and December 1972 when she was owned by P.D.Fuels Ltd of Dibles Wharf.
4S-018-017 B4 0-4-0T Dorset Green 99, after sale in February 1949 to Stewarts & Lloyds Ltd (Bilson Staffordshire) and being scrapped by August 1958.
The livery artwork is under preparation and the finished models are not expected to be available until Q3 2023.
Class 73
E6012 JB type73002 a JA type, note the slightly different side windows73136 in Intercity Executive livery
Also announced are a new batch of seven Class 73 Electro-Diesel liveries, and sees the return of BR Blue livery models that have not featured in the line up since the model run was released in November 2015.
The first six of the eventual class of 49 were built by BR at their Eastleigh works in 1962 and were designated Type JA. The remaining locomotives, with a higher power output and top speed increased from 80 to 90mph. were built by English Electric at Vulcan Foundry at Newton Le Willows between 1965 and 1967 and were designated type JB.
4D-006-015 Class 73 JB Electric Blue E6012 Small Yellow Panel
4D-006-016 Class 73 JB Early Blue SYP & Double Arrow Logo E6031
4D-006-018 Class 73 JB BR Blue FYP 73120
4D-006-017 Class 73 JA BR Blue FYP 73002
4D-006-020 Class 73 JB Intercity Executive 73136
4D-006-019 Class 73 JB Large Logo BR Blue 73126
4D-006-021 Class 73 JB GB Railfreight Battle of Britain 73109
Dapol advise that the decorated samples, with the same technical specification as previous batches, are under review and feedback is being provided to the factory to correct a small number of minor issues. The models are expected to be available towards the end of the year.
Early British Railways. USA 0-6-0t No. s73 shows off her new interim identity, whilst B4 Class 0-4-0t No. 30089 has already gained here new number and early BR crest.
The right hand side of 1734 with the high level of details clear to see
A total of 51 of these elegant D Class 4-4-0s were built in a number batches between 1901 and 1907 and were built by a range of manufacturers. The first 20 being split between Sharp Stewart and Ashford, the next ten by Dubs & Co, followed by ten split between Stephenson & Co and the Vulcan Foundry, the final eleven being once again built at Ashford. Initial duties included the main express services on all the SECR primary routes. Following grouping and the introduction of newer classes such as the N15s they were transferred to secondary services such as Brighton, Redhill, and Basingstoke stopper services.
The main withdrawal commenced in the early 1950s with the last six being based ay Guildford shed working Redhill – Reading services until 1956. Number 737 was saved for preservation as part of the National Collection and cosmetically restored to SECR livery and condition.
During the 1920s Maunsell rebuilt 21 as the D1 class with a larger Belpaire firebox, superheating, new piston valves a Maunsell style cab. Whilst improving efficiency and performance the rebuilds certainly lost much of the elegance.
The well detailed and decorated cab and the push fit drawbar.
The very nice representation of the motion between the frames under the boiler
The front face of the D Class showing the randomly silver smokebox door hinge and coupling hook
A close up of the right hand side of 1734
The dimensionally accurate model certainly captures the Wainwright elegance wonderfully well with an excellent detail. It features a five pole motor driving the front driving axle and a the now standard Dapol ‘pinless’ click to couple drawbar that also carries the electrical connections. Electrical pick up is on all tender wheels as well as the locomotive driving wheels. For those using DCC the model has Next-18 Decoder socket mounted on a pull out PCB behind the smokebox door with space for a 15mm x 11mm cube speaker, plus provision for customer to fit a larger bass speaker in tender. The loco also features the current gimmick of a firebox flicker although on DC you would hardly know its there .
The level of detail is wonderful including a good representation of the inside valve gear between the frames, well modelled and decorated cab details even down to the padlocks on the tender tool lockers. Separately applied items include lamp irons, pipe work, handrails and factory fitted brake rodding on both loco and tender. The buffers (once you have fitted the tender buffer back on that often appears to be loose in purchasers boxes) are sprung. The the slightly plasticly coal, is not so much removable as needs something to stop it falling off the model, and the water tank and limited coal space on these engines is modelled underneath it.
An accessory bag supplied with the model includes: cab doors, front guard irons and steam pipes and pipework (incorrectly names as vacuum pipes in the supplied owners manual), along with a ‘tool’ for pulling out the DCC PCB in the smokebox for what Dapol call their ‘Tool-less’ system (begs the question when is a tool not a tool?).
The tooling appears to allow for at least two chimneys. When first introduced they were fitted with tall copper capped chimneys. Circa the1910s they fitted with a shorter larger diameter capuchon chimney, that were then gradually replaced with a plain topped version after Grouping, although 1493 kept the capuchon chimney until withdrawal. With this model in the wartime SR Sunshine black livery it is unlikely to have still been fitted with a capuchon chimney (unless I can find a dated picture). The BR Lined black version also has the same incorrect chimney.
The replacement wheelset, tool and spare traction tyres
When announced the Engineering Prototype shown included a diecast boiler and smokebox, model 4-4-0s are notoriously difficult to balance, the boiler and smokebox on the production models first appeared to be plastic, with the loco minus tender only weighing 155g, and traction tyres fitted on the front driving wheels. Having now taken the model apart it does seem to still be die cast. The change to fit traction tyres only came to light publicly when the models started to be delivered, so is no different than a Hornby T9 in that respect.
Possibly if a more traditional DDC approach with the socket etc. hidden inside the tender, rather than the smokebox and some of the boiler, more space might have been available for more weight. As a compromise, and to be fair a nice touch, the model has been supplied with a non traction tyre fitted drop in wheelset (along with a tool for undoing the crank pin screws.
It has also been noted that on my model the front traction tyre fitted wheelset has blackened rims whilst the rear drivers are not blackened. This is possibly as a result of the late change to fit traction tyres as the spare wheelset supplied matches the rear driving wheels i.e. no blackened rim. Also supplied are spare traction tyres. The model runs smoothly and quietly on the limited space on Canute Road Quay although I have not been able to test its haulage capacity.
A number of the models have also demonstrated a notable difference in height between the tender and loco running plates. My example is not as noticeable as some. It appears to depend on the fit of the loco body at the rear of the chassis, I am led to believe that all the models have has some form of work carried out on them in the UK to ensure the loco to tender drawbar connects correctly and the rear chassis screw tightness is part of the fix.
A side on view of 1734 the overscale lettering and numbers are clear to see
The other elephant in the room is the decoration: on my model pictured the Sunshine lettering and number style character height is 3.71mm when they should be a scale 9″ high i.e. 3mm and also the green shading is over weight further emphasising the oversize and immediately detracts to my eye, and I will have to replace them at some stage, some of the metal work has been picked out in bright silver paint, including the coupling hook and randomly part of the smokebox door hinge and will need toning down.
From photos I have seen the SR olive green version, as well as the odd shade of green, has an issue in some areas with registration of the lining and also the number font on the tender not a correct representation of the SR number font, the ‘3’ should be completely curved version and is to heavy weight The RH side tender emblem on BR lined version faces the wrong and also suffers from the number font being too heavy and therefore the over width of the numbers is too wide.
So my D Class will need to get in to the workbench queue to have the chimney corrected and the lettering and numbers replaced along with the toning down of some of the random silver paintwork and generally weathered.
Overall, despite the livery niggles and the slightly disappointing overall weight and the need for traction tyres the Rails Of Sheffield in partnership with Dapol Wainwright D Class 4-4-0 is a lovely model with some great detail and a welcome addition for pre-grouping / SR modellers especially those modelling the Eastern Section and will be a good stable mate for the Bachmann C class, Hattons P Class and the Hornby H class.
First announced in October 2019 and following amendments to the first livery samples, examples of all seven versions of the South Eastern & Chatham Railway D Class 4-4-0 from the Dapol production line have been received by Locomotion Models and Rails of Sheffield. These have now completed extensive running trials and final checking. Following approval, shipping from the factory can now commence.
4S-027-001 Wainwright D Class SECR Green 4-4-0 Steam Locomotive No.488 (Pre Grouping Silk Finish)
4S-027-002 Wainwright D Class Southern Lined Maunsell Olive Green 4-4-0 Steam Locomotive No.1730
4S-027-003 Wainwright D Class BR Sunshine Black 4-4-0 Steam Locomotive No.31731
4S-027-004 Wainwright D Class BR Lined Black Early Crest 4-4-0 Steam Locomotive No.31574
4S-027-005 Wainwright D Class SECR Grey (Scraped Beading) 4-4-0 Steam Locomotive No.726
4S-027-006 Wainwright D Class Southern Sunshine 4-4-0 Steam Locomotive No.1734
The preserved example No. 737 is currently on display at the National Railway Museum, York. This locomotive has been produced exclusively for Locomotion Models, which is part of the National Railway Museum.
On the whole these look very good and I am looking to receiving my SR Sunshine version (although I will be renumbering as the numbers size shown above do appear to be slightly too large). Definite improvements have been made since the initial livery samples were shown, especially with the colour rendition of SR Olive and the toning down of the bright handrails on some versions (although strangely not the BR lined black version). The only other issue that has been noted is also with respect to the BR lined black version in that the cycling lion early emblem is facing backwards on the right hand side, at the time these emblems usually faced forwards on both sides as it does on at least one photo I have seen for 31574. As these are production samples it is likely to be too late to amend this.
This weekend at the second Gauge 0 Guild Virtual exhibition, Dapol announced that they are to produce an 0 Gauge version of the ex LSWR/SR/BR 0-4-0 Dock tank, These follow from their well received 00 gauge range, you can read my review here.
The B4 Class were produced in 3 batches (all overall classed as B4) commencing in 1891 as follows:B4 batch numbers 85 to 94D6, batch, finished in 1892, numbers 81, 95 to 100, 102, 103, 76, K14 batch, built 1907, numbers 82-4, 746/7 (later renumbered 101, 147).
Each batch had detail differences between them especially the last batch of 5 which had Drummond style boilers rather than Adams style, other detail differences included open / closed cab, cab roof profile (K14 batch) and buffers (appears to vary over lifetime).
Dapol have are initially producing six models in the first production batch:
7S-018-001 – L & SWR B4 0-4-0T “NORMANDY” – As Preserved – Open Cab
7S-018-002 – L & SWR B4 0-4-0T “CAEN” Southampton Docks lined brown 90
7S-018-003 – B4 0-4-0T SOUTHERN Black 88
7S-018-004 – B4 0-4-0T (Drummond Boiler) BR Early Emblem 30084
7S-018-005 – B4 0-4-0T BR Late Crest 30096
7S-018-006 – L & SWR B4 0-4-0T Lined Green 91
Normandy in preservation has an open cab whilst 88 and 90 both had closed cabs. 30096 before preservation in BR days had a closed cab that differs from 88 and 90 as it was modified from an open cab at the start of the war. 30084 being part of the later K14 batch originally had a Drummond boiler with dome mounted safety valves and a Drummond style chimney rather than the Adams stove pipe.
Dapol advise that the tooling will allow for four cab types, two different boilers, two forms of chimney as well as other prototypical features catered for such as water injectors and buffers. Hopefully but yet to be confirmed the 0 Gauge versions might also include, features missing / needing improvement: such as the tool box positions, extended lower middle lamp iron from the base of the smokebox and correct some of the cab sheets details, although again this might required more that four cab variants.
The specification includes:
Slide in PCB – With space for 2 x sugar cube speakers and a 21 pin decoder socket
Removable cab roof held in place with magnets to allow easy crew insertion
Highly detailed cab interior with fire box glow
High torque five pole skew wound motor driving the rear wheels
Fully compensated die-cast chassis to give excellent running capabilities
All wheel pick up
DCC Ready, DCC Fitted and DCC Sound Fitted models available
Dapol have released an update on the development of their all new ex LSWR/SR/BR M7 0-4-4T along with images of their latest Engineering Prototype.
A total of 105 Drummond LSWR M7 0-4-0 passenger tank locomotives were built between 1897 and 1911. They were built in a number of batches with detail differences. The first batch had a short overhang at the front, sandboxes combined with the front splashers. In 1900 the design was changed to have the sandboxes inside the smokebox. The 1903 batch had a long overhang on the front end. During 1904 and 1905 construction moved the sandboxes back to the front splasher. It was some of those that had the longer frames that were later fitted for pull-push working.
The models being produced are all short frame versions with sandboxes incorporated into the front splashers. They will feature a highly detailed body with many separately added parts die cast chassis, a 3 pole can motor and all wheel pick up.
Dapol however have advised that “no DCC decoder will supplied in this model”, as they say “the space has been used to add more weight to the model and provide improved, balance, traction and running properties”, by this I assume that no DCC socket will be present either, which I am sure will be seen as a negative factor by many. [Update 27/07/21] Dapol have provided the DCC fitting update as per image left.
Initially eight versions will be released as part of the first production run as follows:
2S-016-005 M7 0-4-4 Southern Lined Green 37 (I assume Olive Green)
2S-016-006 M7 0-4-4 SWR Lined Green 245 (sic, I assume LSWR)
2S-016-007 M7 0-4-4 Southern Black 246
2S-016-008 M7 0-4-4 British Railways Lined Malachite 30038
2S-016-009 M7 0-4-4 British Railways Lined Black 30248
2S-016-010 M7 0-4-4 BR Early emblem Lined Black 30673
2S-016-011 M7 0-4-4 BR Late Crest Lined Black 30245
