Hornby GNER Class 43 HST Bo-Bo Train Pack - Era 9

GNER Class 43 HST Bo-Bo Train Pack - Era 9 Includes: - Printed Nameplates - Accessory Bag - Fine Body detail - Accurate Bogie detail - Working Head and Tail lights - All wheel pick up and drive - 21 Pin DCC Ready (The Pack requires 2x Decoders for conversion to Digital) - OO Scale 

Hornby RailRoad Grand Central HST Train Pack

Railroad Range - RailRoad Grand Central HST Train Pack Includes: - Distinctive Grand Central black and orange striped livery - Iconic Grand Central logo emblazoned on bodysides  - Power car running number, 43465 - Dummy car running number, 43484 - Power and Dummy cars have working lights. - Two etched nameplates with the legend, ‘Peter Fox 1942-2011 Platform 5’ (accessory bag for the dummy car) - 8 PIN DCC Socket (Conversion to digital is possible by using either R7336 8 Pin TXS Sound decoders or R8249 8 PIN Standard decoders) - NEM Coupling pockets - 5 Pole Skew Wound Motor - Motor bogie fitted with tracton tyres - Spare traction tyres included (For a full rake, these locomotives are perfect to run with the following Grand Central Mk3 coaches: R40440, R40441, R40442, R40443 and R40444) - OO Scale Locomotive information: Grand Central Railway purchased six Class 43 power cars and twenty-four Mk3 passenger coaches from Porterbrook Leasing in 2006. Major modifications were required for the Class 43 power cars to make them compatible with the Mk3 coaches. These included changing the train supply from three-phase to 1,000V conventional ETS, fitting jumper connections, changing the central door locking system and more modifications to the couplings and electrical systems. Grand Central launched their new London King’s Cross to Sunderland passenger service on 18 December 2007. No. 43465 was outshopped from Crewe Works in October 1977 as 43065 in an InterCity Blue and Grey livery. The locomotive entered traffic straight after at Heaton. Not long after, it was repainted into an InterCity Swallow livery. In the late 1980s, 43065 was one of eight power cars fitted with buffers and TDM multiple working equipment to make sure it could work with brand new Class 91 electric locomotives using Mk3 rolling stock. Grand Central acquired 43065 and refurbished the locomotive at Brush Traction in 2010.  It faced a renumbering change to 43465 and acquired a new Grand Central black and orange striped livery. In 2017, the Grand Central Class 43 locomotives were purchased by East Midlands Trains with the last Grand Central HST service commencing on New Year’s Eve. By 2018, 43465 was painted in an East Midlands Trains blue livery with red and orange stripes. This livery was updated for the ex-Grand Central HSTs by featuring a deeper blue gradient. 43365 is currently in service as a Rail Adventure power car and was part of Rail Adventure’s first dive onto British rails, with the company previously only being based out of Germany. No. 43484 was outshopped from Crewe Works on 25 February 1978 in a BR InterCity blue and yellow livery and was also part of unit 254015. The locomotive entered service in April of the same year. Not long after, it was repainted into an InterCity Swallow livery. In the late 1980s, 43084 was one of eight power cars fitted with buffers and TDM multiple working equipment to make sure it could work with brand new Class 91 electric locomotives using Mk3 rolling stock. Grand Central acquired 43084 and overhauled the locomotive at Brush Traction in 2010. It faced a renumbering change to 43484 and acquired a new Grand Central black and orange striped livery.  In 2017, the Grand Central Class 43 locomotives were purchased by East Midlands Trains with the last Grand Central HST service commencing on New Year’s Eve. 43484 was part of a farewell tour for the Grand Central HSTs called The Grand Farewell with the promoters being The Branch Line Society. As for temporary names, the locomotive carried ‘County of Derbyshire’ and then ‘Peter Fox 1942-2011 Platform 5’ nameplates up until the end of The Grand Farewell tour.  By 2018, 43484 was painted in an East Midlands Trains blue livery with red and orange stripes. This livery was updated for the ex-Grand Central HSTs by featuring a deeper blue gradient. 43484 is currently in service as a Rail Adventure power car and was part of Rail Adventure’s first dive onto British rails, with the company previously only being based out of Germany. 43484 was outshopped from the painters in Rail Adventure grey on 19 April 2021.

Hornby HM Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee HST Train Pack

HM Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee HST Train Pack - OO scale Includes - Accessory Bag - Fine Body detail - Accurate Bogie detail - Working Head and Tail lights - All wheel pick up and drive - 21 Pin DCC Ready (The Pack requires 2x Decoders for conversion to Digital) - OO Scale    Locomotive information and History: The Class 43 HST is a legend of the rails, the fastest diesel locomotive to ever operate in the United Kingdom. Since 1975 these powerful Bo-Bo locomotives have moved passengers across the country for business and for leisure, most ironically in their various BR guises. The Class 43 persists to this day as a stalwart of the rails under various operators including the mainline serving GWR, mainline maintaining Network Rail and some private operators such as Locomotive Services Limited on their Blue Pullman services.  This train pack, designed to commemorate the Platinum Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II depicts the Class 43 as they have never been seen before, in a livery questioning exactly how the legendary LNER would celebrate this special occasion if they were still operating, and nationalisation had never occurred. It would be nice to think that if the big four were never nationalised that we would still be able to see steam regularly on the mainline however this view is shrouded in nostalgia and ignores the operational benefits that diesel locomotives bring. If the LNER operated continuously into the modern era, this may be how they would mark this special occasion. The power cars in this set, while adorned with numbers that have been assigned to full size units, have had numbers chosen to celebrate prominent years of the queen’s reign. 43052 has been chosen as part of the numbering pattern for the full size examples and 52 for the year of the coronation, and 43022 follows the same pattern but for this very special year of Her Majesties reign.