Bachmann 31-128 Class 30xx 2-8-0 ROD 3036 BR Black-early Emblem Weathered

31-128 BR “ROD” 3000 Class 2-8-0 Steam Engine “3036” Weathered

Features:

• Weathered BR Early Crest Un-Lined Black Livery
• 86G Shed Plate (Pontypool Road)
• Loco Drive
• NEM Pocket Couplings
• DCC Ready (21 Pin Socket)
• 21 Pin DCC socket mounted in tender allowing plenty of room for the Chip
• Adjustable Draw-Bar Length
• Highly Detailed Model

 

The GWR 3000 Class were Ex-ROD (Railway Operating Division) Great Central Railway Class 8K”s brought by the GWR & gradually Swindonised over the years. Forty-six of the GWR ROD”s entered British Railways service in 1948. The last one”s were withdrawn in the late fifty”s.

 

The GWR borrowed several ROD 2-8-0s during The Great War, but these were returned to the government after the end of the war. In 1919, GWR bought 20 virtually new RODs, and numbered them 3000-19. A further 84 were hired in July 1919, and were numbered 3020-99 and 6000-3, but these were returned in October 1922. In 1925, the GWR bought 80 engines & numbered them 3020-99.

 

In 1926/7 the GWR sorted their RODs into two batches. The original 3000-19 and 3020-49 were considered good engines and given proper overhaul and Swindon fittings, including top feed and brass safety valve casing”s. The remainder were renumbered 3050-3099, given a light overhaul and then ran until they failed, when they were withdrawn — all were gone by 1930. There was some swapping of numbers, so that engines in better condition were given the lower numbers. The leading dimensions of the GWR 3000 Class were the same as the Great Central Railway”s Class 8K”s except that the GWR increased the boiler pressure to 185 psi which increased the tractive effort to 32,200 lb.

 

The Great Central Railway”s 8K “ROD” (LNER 04) Class is the finest frieght locomotive ever made, they typified John G. Robinson”s design philosophy of making stunningly elegant steam engines that were immensely pratical and efficient, just like all great engineering should be (who said I”am biased towards the Great Central, completely unfounded). The ROD”s had a long and sucessful career spaning from 1911 to 1966 in the UK. As well as the GCR/LNER, the GWR, LNWR & LMS brought Ex-Railway Operating Divison machines from the Ministry of Supply in the 1920″s. The ROD”s were used accross europe and the middle-east by Royal Engineers, some found their way to New South Wales, Australia where 3 are preserved in addition to the ex BR “63601” (GCR No.102) based at The Great Central Railway in Loughborough, Leicestershire. They were a powerful engine with a tractive effort of 31,325 lb as built, which equated to 7F in the LMS/BR power classification system, and a locomotive weight between 72 tons 10cwt to 74 tons 13cwt (total weight in working order was 121.5 tons). The route availability was R.A.6 (the same as the LMS 8F) with an axle load of 17.05 tons, which allowed them to travel on most secondary cross country routes as well the main-lines.