As unveiled in the Summer 2022 British Railway Announcements, we are delighted to present our first ever N Scale Sales Area Exclusive models. This model, which will be available from retailers in West Midlands, Wales, Ireland, the Isle of Man and counties including Buckinghamshire and Berkshire, depicts Class 37/0 No. 37142 in BR Engineers Grey livery.
The Class 37 is a favourite for many, and the Graham Farish model captures the unmistakable look of the prototype with a highly detailed bodyshell and exquisite livery application. Offered in BR Engineers Grey livery for the first time, this model depicts a loco which has had its centre headcode boxes plated over. You can expect a high level of performance thanks to the powerful motor, diecast chassis block, directional lighting and DCC decoder socket, whilst the relatively simple grey livery is well executed and completed with numerous printed details including the loco data panel, overhead warning stickers – and even the fuel gauge on the fuel tank has not been forgotten.
MODEL FEATURES:
Graham Farish N Scale
Era 8
Pristine BR Engineers Grey livery
Running No. 37142
Accessory Pack
NEM Coupling Pockets
Powerful 3 Pole Motor
Directional Lighting
Equipped with a 6 Pin DCC Decoder Socket – Recommend Decoder item No. 36-568A
Length 125mm
Sales Area Exclusive Model – available from retailers in selected areas (see map for more details)
CLASS 37 HISTORY
The British Rail 1955 Modernisation Plan paved the way for the large-scale replacement of steam traction with diesel locomotives, and one of the most successful diesel locomotive designs to result from this was the English Electric Type 3. These 1,700hp Types 3 diesel-electric locomotives were built at English Electric’s Vulcan Foundry and by Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns between 1960 and 1965, with 309 examples produced in total.
The class proved popular with railwaymen and so in 1985, a major refurbishment programme for the Class 37 locomotives was sanctioned to extend the working lives of 135 locomotives. Features of the refurbishment involved plating over the four-character head codes and sealing off the nose end communication doors. Dedicated freight locomotives received lower gearing to increase the tractive effort, and some were fitted with extra ballast or even more powerful engines. A new subclass was created for locomotives refurbished with Electric Train Heating (ETH) equipment, allowing their use on passenger trains the whole year-round.
With the sectorisation of British Rail taking hold in the early-1980s, the locomotives returned to traffic following refurbishment in a wide and diverse range of liveries. Passenger machines appeared in BR Blue Large Logo, InterCity and Regional Railways schemes to name just three, whilst freight engines received numerous varieties of Railfreight livery, Transrail, Mainline and Loadhaul. The Class continued to be widely used into the Privatisation-era, with examples operating for the likes of EWS, DRS, West Coast Railways and Colas, whilst others have received ‘retro’ heritage repaints.
