Branchline [OO] 35-025A GWR 94XX Pannier Tank 9405 - GWR Green

GWR 94XX Pannier Tank No. 9405 in GWR Green weathered livery.

This era 3 model features realistic firebox lighting, sprung buffers and an accessory pack which includes Steam Heat pipes, Screw-link couplings and cab doors. The model also has a pre-fitted speaker and a Next18 DCC Decoder socket for those wishing to equip their model for use on DCC.

MODEL FEATURES:

• Bachmann Branchline OO Scale
• Era 3
• Weathered GWR Green livery
• Accessory Pack
• NEM Coupling Pockets
• Firebox Glow (on analogue) / Firebox Glow & Flicker (on DCC)
• Powerful Coreless Motor
• Speaker Fitted
• Equipped with a Next18 DCC Decoder Socket ? recommended Decoder item No. 36-567A
• Sprung Buffers
• Length 145mm (over couplings)

GWR 94XX CLASS HISTORY

The distinctive 94XX Class 0-6-0 Pannier Tank was the last steam locomotive built by the Great Western Railway (GWR); the first ten being turned out in the company?s Middle Chrome Green by Swindon Works before Nationalisation. Effectively a tank version of the Collett '2251' tender engine, the remaining 200 locomotives were built for BR between 1949 and 1956 by outside contractors Robert Stephenson, Yorkshire Engine Co. and W.G Bagnall. The BR examples were outshopped in unlined black livery and there were minor detail differences between the locomotives built by different contractors. All were capable of providing steam-heating for coaching stock.  

A development of the numerous ?57XX/ 8750? Class Pannier Tank, the 94XXs were designed for secondary mixed traffic and shunting duties, with an instruction from the GWR?s General Manager, Sir James Milne, that they should be of a more modern appearance than the traditional GWR Pannier Tank. The design of the Class was unusual in that they were one of the few Pannier Tank designs with tapered boilers. Superheating was fitted to Nos. 9400-9409 only. The locomotives were mostly used for heavy shunting and short distance freight and passenger duties, but numbers 9400-9406 were employed on the former LMS system at Bromsgrove giving banking assistance on the Lickey Incline.

With the onset of modernisation and the introduction of an ever-increasing number of diesels, the working life of the Class was very short and of the 210 built, just 78 were still in use in January 1964, withdrawals having commenced in 1959. By the end of June 1965, the last members of the Class were withdrawn with some examples being cut up when they were barely 5 years old. Fortunately, Nos. 9400 and 9466 survive in preservation.