Hello and welcome to another edition of The Engine Shed – your behind the scenes look into the Hornby Development workshop, giving you an insight into what goes into producing our models as well as providing a little history about what inspired us to produce the models on your layouts.After last week’s announcement of the Peckett & Sons W4 Class 0-4-0 we’ve been inundated with suggestions and ideas as to what liveries the models will eventually be in. Remember, this is your chance to have a real say in the development of one our models so if you have any reliable colour photographs of a Peckett W4, let us know and upload them to our Official Forum thread.  So, on with this week’s blog, to begin with we wanted to show you some more images of the highly anticipated 58’ Maunsell Rebuilt (ex-LSWR 48’) coaches. A couple of weeks ago we showed you a teaser video of them lined up on our test layout, and wouldn’t you know it, the video led to us announcing the little loco lurking in the background!  So in this edition of The Engine Shed we thought we’d show you in more detail how we are getting on with the coaches that we announced back in June. We’re really pleased with the level of detail that has been achieved and cannot wait to show you more updates as and when they come in!    The B17 ClassNow on to a pair of locos that we cannot wait to hit the shelves.  The production of R3003 BR 4-6-0 ‘Barnsley’ B17 Class – Late BR and R3004 BR 4-6-0 ‘Serlby Hall’ B17 Class – Early BR Weathered was severely affected by the well-documented production delays Hornby experienced a few years ago, but we have found an alternative factory and work has progressed smoothly since and we are now approaching the release date.  Both of these locomotives will be available in DCC Fitted versions as well as the standard DCC Ready.  R3318 BR 4-6-0 ‘Gilwell Park’ B17/3 Class – Early BR will follow soon after.A Brief History of the B17 B17 61664 Liverpool on 25/7/48 By the mid-1920s there was a critical need for locomotives that were suitable for the increasing passenger traffic on the GE District (formerly the Great Eastern Railway), but track limitations prevented the transfer of locomotives from other regions. Nigel Gresley was required by the LNER to produce a 4-6-0 design to supplement the existing B12 locomotives serving that region and the initial specifications were for a three-cylinder 4-6-0. Borrowing the cylinder and motion arrangement of the D49, but with a tractive effort of about 25,000lbs and restricted axle loading of 17 tonnes, the Doncaster Works had many problems meeting the specifications and the contract was thus given to the North British Locomotive Company (Glasgow) in December 1927.The eventual axle loading was 18 tons and the final design of the B17 Class incorporated many features of the A1 Pacific locomotives built in 1924. Several modifications were required before the first B17 was delivered in late 1928, but between 1930 and 1937, a total of 73 B17 locomotives were produced by Robert Stephenson & Co. at Darlington and Glasgow.B17 61641 Gayton Hall at Sheffield Victoria 1958 – Credit ColourRail The final B17 design to be built (the B17/4), was intended for routes with fewer length restrictions and were produced with 4,200 gallon LNER Group Standard tenders, whilst Locomotive Parts 1, 2, and 3 were merged to form the new Class B17/1 in 1937, operating with 3700 gallon GE tenders. Between 1943 and 1958, 55 of the Class underwent further modifications, including the fitting of Diagram 100A boilers, thus being designated 817/6.The first locomotive, No. 2800, was named Sandringham, starting a line of B17s named after English country houses, whilst starting with No. 2848, some were named after Football Association clubs. Although eventually some locomotives would be re-named, all of the 73 B17s bore a name. B17 61623 Lambton Castle at Cambridge We’ve had the Approval Sample of R3004 and R3004X in and this will be the first B17 to be released with the others (R3318,  R3003 and R3003X) following on soon. Take a look at the Final Sample of the loco in the Early BR Weathered livery on our layout below. You can also pre-order the B17 now and we’re hoping for it to hit the shelves later this year.   East Coast Trains Bo-Bo Electric Class 91 – R3365 91128 at Lund Farm, Selby – Credit Tom Curtis Rail Gallery Also coming out very soon is the East Coast Trains Bo-Bo Electric Class 91.  In 1984, with electrification well under way on the East Coast Main Line, the British Railways Board decided that a fleet of new high power locomotives and rolling stock would be required to operate alongside the existing highly successful HST fleet. The design was to be called Project Electra and the service would be called Inter City 225, as the operating speed was envisaged to b

Source: Hornby An Ex-LSWR Coaches update & the B17 and Class 91 Arrive / News |