Description
MODEL FEATURES:
- Bachmann Branchline OO Scale
- Era 8
- Locomotive is now Preserved
- Pristine GWR Green livery
- Running No. 9466
- Accessory Pack
- NEM Coupling Pockets
- Sprung Buffers
- Powerful Coreless Motor
- Firebox Glow (on analogue) / Firebox Glow & Flicker (on DCC)
- Speaker Fitted
- Equipped with a Next18 DCC Decoder Socket
- Length 138mm
GWR 94XX CLASS HISTORY
The distinctive 94XX Class 0-6-0 Pannier Tank was the last steam locomotive built by the Great Western Railway (GWR); the first ten being turned out in the company’s Middle Chrome Green by Swindon Works before nationalisation. Effectively a tank version of the Collett ‘2251’ tender engine, the remaining 200 locomotives were built for BR between 1949 and 1956 by outside contractors Robert Stephenson, Yorkshire Engine Co. and W.G Bagnall. Outshopped in unlined black livery, there were minor detail differences between the locomotives built by different contractors. All were capable of providing steam-heating for coaching stock.
A development of the numerous ‘57XX/ 8750’ Class Pannier Tank, the 94XXs were designed for secondary mixed traffic and shunting duties, with an instruction from the GWR’s General Manager, Sir James Milne, that they should be of a more modern appearance than the traditional GWR Pannier Tank. The design of the Class was unusual in that they were one of the few Pannier Tank designs with tapered boilers. Superheating was fitted to Nos. 9400-9409 only. The locomotives were mostly used for heavy shunting and short distance freight and passenger duties, but numbers 9400-9406 were employed on the former LMS system at Bromsgrove giving banking assistance on the Lickey Incline.
With the onset of modernisation and the introduction of an ever increasing number of diesels, the working life of the Class was very short and of the 210 built, just 78 were still in use in January 1964, withdrawals having commenced in 1959. By the end of June 1965, the last members of the Class were withdrawn with some examples being cut up when they were barely 5 years old. Fortunately, Nos. 9400 and 9466 survive in preservation.
