Description

Hornby OO SR 4-4-0 Shrewsbury Schools Class

The Hornby SR 4-4-0 Schools Class Steam Locomotive is an outstanding model locomotive thats the perfect fit for your 00 gauge Hornby layout. It features a huge amount of detail on all sides and boasts accurate rail livery that adds a real air of authenticity to your set. Connect it up to your wagons and watch your assembled train roll around the track on a mission to deliver passengers, goods and anything else it can tow!

Technical Details & Features

Brand/Manufacturer:..Hornby

Gauge/Scale:..OO (1:76 Scale) (HO Compatabile)

Class:..Schools

Livery:..SR Black

Designer:..Richard Maunsell

Wheel Configuration:..4-4-0

DCC Type:..DCC Ready, 8-Pin Socket

Purpose:..Express Passenger

Entered Service:..1933

Period:1930s

This locomotive is expected for a Q2 2017 Release.

Locomotive Overview

The Schools Class 4-4-0 locomotives were designed by Richard Maunsell and were originally classified as Class V. A total of 40 of these powerful express passenger steam locomotives were produced at Eastleigh Works and numbered 900 – 939 for Southern Railways. Combining designs used in the Lord Nelson Class and weighing in at 110 tons, the design of this Class represented the last usage of this type of 4-4-0 wheel arrangement in Great Britain.

Introduced between 1930 and 1935, these engines were smaller than the previous Lord Nelson Class and were deemed to be the most powerful engines of their kind ever built in Britain, carrying a shortened King Arthur boiler and boasting three cylinders. In 1938, locomotive 926 Repton achieved the fastest speed ever recorded by a Schools Class locomotive of 95mph.

The Schools Class design was heavily influenced by restrictions on the intended Tonbridge to Hastings line. The short wheelbase was a result of the sharp curves and loading gauge of the tunnels on this line with track work on the Hastings line having had to be upgraded to accept the new locomotives. Well-liked by crew members, these locomotives were 59ft in length and could carry a coal capacity of 5 tons.

Individual locomotives were named after English Public Schools and the Schools Class became a common and recognised classification. Extension of the Class caused Southern Railway to include names of foreign schools that were outside the catchment area such as Malvern and Rugby. Thereafter, for official naming ceremonies, Southern Railways sent the unnamed locos to a station near to the School after which they were to be named.

At production, the standard livery was Maunsell olive green. During its lifetime, the Class progressed through various liveries from that mentioned, to Bulleid malachite green, Bulleid black with yellow lettering, BR black, and finally BR green. In 1963 most of the locomotives in the Schools Class were withdrawn, of which three have been saved and are currently preserved in Heritage Railways in Britain, these include 926 Repton, 925 Cheltenham and 928 Stowe.