Manufacturer catalogue image - please note that pre-release images may be CAD renders or CGI/AI images rather than photographs
Prototype Eras
Era 4 (1948 to 1956) British Railways Early Crest
Era 5 (1956 to 1966) British Railways Late Crest
Manufacturer description
Available Exclusively from Rails of Sheffield
Please Note: LB&SCR K Class will now be numbered 32342 rather than 32353
History
The LBSCR Engineer Lawson Billinton in 1912 designed a new powerful goods locomotive that coped with heavy loads at speed. No 337 appeared the following year (1913) and by 1921 a total of 17 had been constructed at Brighton works. They proved to be very successful providing invaluable support during WW1 when very large freight movements were required.
The locomotives also coped well with passenger services providing a good all-round service to the railway. Billinton was not afraid to improve the steaming characteristics to help reduce coal running costs and the design innovations included an additional dome and top feed. This feature was improved and the last seven locomotives left Brighton works including this feature which lasted through to the end of the 1920’s before all were modified back to one dome.
More would have been built but for the fact that the LBSCR was merged into the larger SR in 1923 and the new company appointed a new Engineer Richard. E. L. Maunsell. He favoured his own N and U class designs so no more K Class locomotives were built.
In the 1930’s Maunsell improved the cab design and lowered the height as well as the dome and chimney to operate to the composite loading gauge.
Under BR ownership only minor changes were made. Removal of the LHS Weir Water Heaters in the early 1950’s and later modifications to the tender to include water treatment. Interestingly at the end of all their working lives the N and U designs cost far more to maintain with serious design faults in the frames and cylinders.
The K Class design proved reliable right to the end. One locomotive No 32353 was offered to the Bluebell Railway for preservation but unfortunately the society was struggling in 1962/3 to raise money to buy the track and infrastructure and could not afford the extra expense. (It is surprising the locomotive was not offered to the National Collection)
Specification
- The tooling covers detail prototypical original and later body and tender details: Chimneys, domes, cabs, safety valves, Westinghouse pump, Water heater,
- AWS equipment and lamp/disc detail bracket variations.
- Heavy Die cast firebox, boiler and smokebox to aid traction.
- Models overall assembled weight, 330 grammes.
- Smooth 12V powerful motor with flywheel
- Easy access to 21 pin DCC decoder socket mounted in the tender.
- Factory fitted DCC sound sugar cube speaker inside the tender.
- Loco/tender linkage fully adjustable to suit users track radii.
- Electrical pick-up via all six driving and tender wheels.
- Full cab detail.
- Illuminated firebox.
- Detailed inner linkage under boiler and frames.
- NEM couplings and hand assembled detailing parts three link couplings.
- Fireman shovel and firebox tools.
- Packed in a strong outer box and mounted on a secure moulded transit plate to minimise damage in transit.
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.
Supplier Links
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