This model of No. 203 forms part of our Railway Celebrations range and depicts the locomotive that took part in the 100th Anniversary celebrations of the opening of the Stockton & Darlington Railway. In 1925, to mark the centenary, a celebration of railways featuring locomotives from the past century was put on by the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER). Opened by the Duke and Duchess of York – later King Geroge VI and Queen Elizabeth – a procession of locomotives took place over some six miles of line between Stockton and Darlington, passing the royal grandstand and delighting the hundreds of thousands of onlookers who turned out to witness the celebrations.

The parade of 53 locomotives intended to showcase the evolution of the steam locomotive, from the early examples to modern designs and included LNER K3 No. 203 which was one of the youngest locos on show, having been outshopped by the LNER’s Darlington Works earlier that year. No. 203 was renumbered to 1860 under the LNER’s 1946 renumbering programme, becoming 61860 upon Nationalisation when it entered the British Railways fleet. The locomotive enjoyed a career spanning more than 35 years before it was withdrawn in 1961 and subsequently scrapped.

The Bachmann Branchline model of Gresley’s 2-6-0 mogul employs a diecast running plate and locomotive chassis to provide an impressive weight, ensuring that the model’s strength and versatility is true to prototype. Meanwhile, those components produced in plastic are precision moulded, with details such as rivets and boiler bands crisply reproduced. Separate parts are then added to enhance the authenticity of the model further, from the metal handrails and lamp irons to the safety valves and sprung buffers, each of which are turned brass. Within the cab, controls, dials and pipework are all moulded authentically and decorated accordingly. Multiple parts are added to the locomotive’s chassis, with brake blocks and brake rigging, footsteps and metal wire sandpipes all fitted separately.

Moving to the tender and the locomotive to tender drawbar is adjustable to suit different layout conditions whilst the tender itself is finely moulded, with several separately applied details including the lamp irons, handrails, handwheels and sprung metal buffers. A realistic coal load is included, with the empty coal space modelled below, whilst the tender chassis includes brake rigging and the water scoop.

The livery application is what really brings this new K3 to life, with a rich application of black paintwork augmented by the lining which is applied with pinpoint precision. Numbering and lettering is reproduced in high definition, resulting in a model fit for any collection.

MODEL FEATURES:

• Bachmann Branchline OO Scale
• Era 3
• Pristine LNER Lined Black livery
• Running No. 203
• Flared Tender
• Adjustable Tender Drawbar
• Powerful 3 Pole Motor
• NEM Coupling Pockets
• Sprung Buffers
• Accessory Pack
• Equipped with a 8 Pin DCC Decoder Socket – Recommend Decoder item No. 36-566A
• Length 250mm (over couplings)
• Part of our Railway Celebrations range

CLASS K3 HISTORY

The Class K3 ‘mogul' was primarily a development from earlier achievements by (later Sir) Nigel Gresley on the Great Northern Railway. His predecessor, Henry Ivatt, had already implemented the GNR's letter 'H' classification system for the 20 engines described as Class H1 purchased from the Baldwin Company, USA. The letter 'H' indicated a 2-6-0 locomotive. Gresley's pioneer class of 1912 was in essence an Ivatt 0-6-0 with pony truck and outside cylinders; this received the designation Class H2. A few years later, a development of this class with a larger boiler became Class H3. All were two cylinder locomotives.

Subsequently, 1920 saw the introduction of a version with an even larger boiler and three cylinders described as Class H4. After the Grouping they became reclassified K1, K2 and K3 by the LNER in order of their introduction. Altogether, 183 Class K3 locomotives were constructed between 1924 and 1937 at a variety of workshops in compliance with LNER standards, in addition to the ten GNR versions outshopped in 1920.

The emergence of Gresley's Class V2 2-6-2 locomotives in 1936 saw the end of K3 construction. The 193-strong fleet was used all over the former LNER system and the first K3 was withdrawn in February 1958. By December 1962 all were gone and sadly none survived into preservation.