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Accurascale ACC3374

Class 30 - BR Green - D5503

Manufacturer catalogue image - please note that pre-release images may be CAD renders or CGI images rather than photographs

Prototype Era
Era 5 (1956 to 1966) British Railways Late Crest

Manufacturer description

D5503 BR green (as delivered)
Our third ‘Toffee Apple’ release represents D5503 as delivered to 30A Stratford depot in January 1958 after it quickly settled into life around East London and on the ex-Great Eastern and Midland & Great Northern Joint lines in East Anglia working almost any services that its home shed could throw at it. The 1,250hp Mirrlees Type 2s were not uprated like their ‘production’ colleagues and along with the English Electric Type 1s and Type 4s were among the most reliable of the pilot scheme locomotives, albeit underpowered. In those early years of dieselisation they could be found working everything from express trains out of Liverpool Street to Clacton, Norwich, Cambridge and King’s Lynn, block freights from Essex onto the Western and Southern Regions, busy holiday services to Great Yarmouth, Hunstanton and Lowestoft and pick-up wagonload services on the region’s extensive pre-Beeching branch line network. In April 1959 it was one of eight members of the small fleet to transfer to 31B March, although it was back at Stratford by the following December. D5503 wears its distinctive original paint scheme with ‘eggshell’ blue window surrounds and bodyside stripes which was only applied to the D5500-D5519. This lasted into the early 1960s before the small fleet started to gain the small yellow panels and were repainted into the same ‘production’ livery as carried by our model of D5501 in the second run. Renumbered 31003 in March 1974 it lasted into the final year of the type and was withdrawn in February 1980 along with 31005. It was quickly moved to Doncaster Works where it was cut up five months later.

Catalogue listing

Model details

Prototype information

^* Class names often change over the lifespan of a locomotive, so this is not necessarily the class name used by the operator in the period modelled.

Accurascale Class 30 D5503 (BR Green) is a highly detailed OO gauge model of the diesel locomotive D5503 as delivered to Stratford depot in January 1958. The model carries interior lighting, the British Railways late‑crest livery with “eggshell” blue window surrounds and bodyside stripes, and is supplied with the manufacturer part number ACC3374. It represents the locomotive’s early service on East London, the ex‑Great Eastern and Midland & Great Northern Joint lines, and the range of duties it performed, from express passenger trains to block freight and holiday services across East Anglia. The locomotive was renumbered 31003 in March 1974 and withdrawn in February 1980.

The model is built to 1:76.2 scale for 16.5 mm track, with a heavy die‑cast metal chassis, RP25‑110 profile wheels, and a minimum radius of 438 mm. It includes separate footsteps, brake cylinders, speed recorder, end‑brake rigging, scale‑width wire handrails, etched metal and plastic detail parts such as grab handles, steps, wipers and roof grille, and pre‑painted nameplates and plaques. Additional features are a full underbody battery box and air tank with pipework, fully sprung buffers, multiple pipework variations, and kinetic NEM coupler mounts with mini‑tension‑lock couplers.

The model also incorporates accurate miniature snowploughs fitted to the chassis, brake blocks on the bogies in line with the wheels, and a range of detailed pipework and couplings to enhance realism. It is supplied with interior lighting and is an accurate representation of D5503’s appearance and fittings during its operational life.