Hornby: RailRoad Plus BR, Departmental, Class 40, 1Co-Co1, 97407 ‘Aureol’ – Era 7
Introduced to service as D212 in May 1959 and the third of the production
series to be delivered, ‘Aureol’ was officially named in 1960. By
1974 when the locomotive was re-numbered 40012 under TOPS the
locomotive's nameplates had been removed, yet despite this the
locomotive's name was painted onto the bodyside before 1985 withdrawal.
Reinstated in 1985 to assist with the remodeling of Crewe Station, restricted
to a top speed of 35mph, and given the departmental number 97407.
By 1986, only five of the original 512 locomotives had been withdrawn from
service, all because of serious accident damage. However, with work for the
Class declining due to the introduction of new rolling stock and spare parts
becoming difficult to source, some inroads started being made.
The first locomotives to be targeted were the non-standard pilot batch of 20, now numbered 47 401–47 420. Three locomotives were withdrawn as life-expired in February 1986 and the remainder of the batch that had not recently been overhauled followed in the next two years. All 20 were withdrawn by 1992.
Meanwhile, BR drew up a ‘hit-list’ of locomotives for early withdrawal, mainly including those with non-standard electrical equipment, known as series parallel locomotives. In the outset, withdrawals were slow, mainly due to the surplus of spare parts and new flows of freight traffic which required extra locomotives; only 61 locomotives had been withdrawn by the end of 1992. However, with the introduction of new locomotives, the rate of withdrawal quickly rose, with 86 more 47s reaching the end of their lives in the next three years. With most of the non-standard locomotives withdrawn, the reduction of the fleet again proceeded more slowly. The privatisation of British Rail also produced new independent rail companies needing available traction until they could order new locomotives. From 1996 to 2006, an average of around fifteen locomotives per year were taken out of service.
Contents:
- 1× Locomotive Junior
Specifications:
- Item Length – Without Packaging (cm): 27.3
- Item Height – Without Packaging (cm): 5
- Item Width – Without Packaging (cm): 3.5
- Item Weight – Without Packaging: 0.41
- Item Scale: 1:76 Scale 00 Gauge
- Finish: Painted
- Colour: Blue
- DCC Status: DCC Ready 8 pin socket
- Operator: BR Departmental
- Designer: English Electric
- Livery: BR Departmental
- Minimum Curve (mm): Radius 2
- Motor: 5 Pole Skew wound
- Number of Parts: 1
