Manufacturer catalogue image - please note that pre-release images may be CAD renders or CGI images rather than photographs
Prototype Era
Era 7 (1972 to 1982) British Rail Blue (TOPS)
The Class 40 Diesel Locomotive has long been a highlight of the Bachmann Branchline OO scale fleet, and for 2023 this popular model has been upgraded to bring you more features than ever before. Finished in BR Green livery with Full Yellow Ends we have No. 40039, a Class 40 with disc headcodes which has received its TOPS number, but still carries BR Green livery. The work-worn condition of the prototype is replicated on this Branchline model using complex weathering and fading techniques, which comes complete with SOUND FITTED.
With the DCC decoder interface upgraded to Plux22; new lighting features and enhanced speaker arrangements have also been employed on the Class 40 to enhance the operating experience – all of which can be enjoyed out of the box with this SOUND FITTED model. On track the model has a mighty presence, just like the real locomotives and, with its five pole, twin flywheel motor powering all six driving wheels, you can be sure of a performance to match too. This Class 40’s good looks are enriched by the superb livery application using true-to-prototype colours, fonts and logos to produce a model fit for any collection.
DETAIL VARIATIONS SPECIFIC TO THIS MODEL
BACHMANN BRANCHLINE CLASS 40 SPECIFICATION
MECHANISM:
DETAILING:
LIGHTING:
DCC:
SOUND:
LIVERY APPLICATION:
SOUNDS
F0 - Directional Lights - On/Off (plus Light Switch Sound)
F1 - On - Warm Engine Start / On, Off - Failed Engine Start / On, Off, On - Cold Engine Start
F2 - Brake
F3* - Horn
F4* - Horn
F5 - Heavy Load
F6 - Coasting (Manual notch Down if F22 On)
F7 - Maximum Revs (Manual notch Up if F22 On)
F8** - On - Coupling Up / Off - Uncoupling
F9 - Flange Squeal (Speed Related)
F10 - Fan Noise
F11 - On - Guard’s Whistle / Off - Driver’s Response Horn
F12 - Cab Lights On/Off No. 1 End (plus Light Switch Sound)
F13 - Cab Lights On/Off No. 2 End (plus Light Switch Sound)
F14 - High Intensity Headlight (if fitted, F0 must be ON)
F15 - Auto Uncouple Cycle
F16 - AWS Horn
F17 - AWS Bell
F18 - On - Sound Fades Out / Off - Sound Fades In
F19 - Mute (Latch) / Volume Cycles 6 Levels (Trigger)
F20 - No. 1 End (Fan) Directional Lights Off
F21 - No. 2 End (non-Fan) Directional Lights Off
F22 - Manual Notching Logic On/Off (control with F6 & F7)
F23 - Spirax Valve
F24 - Station Announcement
F25 - On - Driver’s Door Open / Off - Driver’ Door Shut
F26 - Air Dump
F27 - Exhauster
*Alternative Horn sounds and behaviour can be selected via CV changes
** Alternative coupling sounds can be selected via CV changes
Analogue Users: Please note that normal load running sounds and any other automatic or randomised sounds will also operate when this model is used on analogue control (DC) straight from the box!
CLASS 40 HISTORY
The British Rail Class 40 is a British Railways diesel-electric locomotive, rated at 2,000 hp and classified as a Type 4. A total of 200 were built by English Electric between 1958 and 1962 and numbered in the series D200-D399. They were for a time the pride of the British Rail early diesel fleet. Despite their initial success, by the time the last examples were entering service they were already being replaced on some top-link duties by more powerful locomotives. As they were slowly relegated from express passenger uses, the type found work on secondary passenger and freight services where they worked for many years. The final locomotives ended regular service in 1985.
Class 40s operated in all areas of British Railways although Western and Southern Region workings were less common. After the early trials, the majority of Class 40s were based at depots in northern England; notably Longsight, Carlisle Kingmoor, and Wigan Springs Branch on the Midland Region, and Thornaby and Gateshead on the Eastern Region.
The heyday of the Class was in the early 1960s when they hauled top-link expresses on the West Coast Main Line and in East Anglia. However, the arrival of more powerful diesel locomotives, such as Class 47s and Class 55s, together with the electrification of the West Coast Main Line, meant that the fleet was gradually relegated to more mundane duties. In later life, the locomotives were mainly to be found hauling heavy freight and passenger trains in the north of England and Scotland. As additional new rolling stock was introduced, their passenger work decreased, partly due to their lack of electric train heating for newer passenger coaches. They lost their last front-line passenger duties - in Scotland - in 1980, and the last regular use on passenger trains was on the North Wales Coast Line between Holyhead, Crewe and Manchester, along with regular forays across the Pennines on Liverpool to York and Newcastle services.
Throughout the early 1980s Class 40s were common performers on relief, day excursion (adex) and holidaymaker services along with deputising for electric traction, especially on Sundays between Manchester and Birmingham. This resulted in visits to many distant parts of the network. It would be fair to say that few routes in the London Midland and Eastern regions did not see Class 40-worked passenger services from time to time. Regular destinations included the seaside resorts of Scarborough, Skegness and Cleethorpes on the Eastern region, with Blackpool and Stranraer being regularly visited on the West Coast.
* 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.
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Bachmann
32-489
Class 40 Disc Headcode 40097 BR Blue
Bachmann
32-490SF
Class 40 Centre Headcode (ScR) 40063 BR Blue
Bachmann
32-489SF
Class 40 Disc Headcode 40097 BR Blue
Bachmann
32-490
Class 40 Centre Headcode (ScR) 40063 BR Blue
Bachmann
32-492
Class 40 Disc Headcode 40039 BR Green (Full Yellow Ends) (Weathered)
Bachmann
32-491SF
Class 40 Centre Headcode D345 BR Green (Small Yellow Panels)
Bachmann
32-491
Class 40 Centre Headcode D345 BR Green (Small Yellow Panels)