HORNBY BR class 42 diesel hydraulic locomotive unboxing

To replace the ‘King’ and ‘Castle class steam locomotives on the Western Region of British Railways, it was decided to pursue a design of diesel locomotive with hydraulic transmission, constructed of lightweight alloy. This requirement was twofold: Partly to do with the stiff gradients on the line between Exeter and Plymouth, any fuel savings would allow for an extra coach to be added to the train, increasing revenues on the services, with the added advantage that a lighter locomotive would be quicker, making them ideal for fast passenger services, still a priority on the mainline in the mid-1950s.The leaders in diesel-hydraulic traction were the German Railways and a licence to use the Federal Railway’s V200 design was negotiated, manufacture taking place at British Rail’s Swindon Works, whilst the Maybach engines were produced at Bristol Siddeley’s factory at Filton. Three locomotives were ordered under the initial pilot scheme, with a further order of thirty five locomotives being placed, resulting in a number range of D800 to D832 and D866 to D870.Originally intended for the Paddington to Birmingham Snow Hill route, the first service route for the class in 1958 was actually Paddington to Penzance, either via Swindon and Bristol or via Newbury and Westbury. This allowed for the replacement of steam traction on the line west of Newton Abbot, a challenging route and in October, D800 became the first locomotive to take up the class's new diagram of the Cornish Riviera Express from Penzance to Paddington, then the 18:30 Paddington to Bristol and the 21:05 Bristol to Plymouth, returning to the brand new depot at Laira.The following summer, 100 mph service trains were diagrammed for the D800s with the Paddington to Bristol Bristolian service, until the Western Region’s civil engineers imposed a 90mph speed restriction across the region, fearing rail damage from the small diameter wheels.The Warships operated White Diamond for multiple working, meaning that they could operate in conjunction with the Class 22 and Class 43, as well as within their own class, but this was gradually removed from the class during 1966 due to its unreliability.Benbow changed its livery, to include the small yellow warning panels at either end, during 1962/63 and this later became Maroon with small yellow warning panels, these being enlarged shortly after to cover the full end. The final livery for Benbow was full British Rail Blue, without the yellow end panels.D805 Benbow survived until its withdrawal on October 24, 1971 and was subsequently scrapped on May 16, 1972 in Swindon Works, after just 13 years in service

[charlieeagle]

Class 42s are pretty much my favourites of all time

[SeaToby]

Class 42 is her loco type, I believe nicknamed Warships, and the D802 is her loco number. Nice review, but we would love to see her run on the tracks. For a railroad model by Hornby she looks well. And while others disagree, I prefer the large couplings for my first and second radius curves on my layout.