GWR 0-4-2T 517 & 14xx/48xx/58xx Classes OO
GWR 517 class 0-4-2T in OO! Along with Collett 1930s replacements the 4800 (later 1400) and 5800 classes.
A very welcome addition to the range of GWR motive power from the pre-1930s era the Wolverhampton-built Armstrong 517 class 0-4-2 tank engines served all across the GWR network on local passenger and branch line duties. The early versions of this class are ideal for working with the Dapol auto trailer in the GWRs pre-grouping crimson lake livery.
The 517s were updated and upgraded through their lives, new boilers were built with the GWRs standard Belpaire fireboxes, cabs were full enclosed and larger GWR style bunkers were fitted. There was no escape however that even the newest locomotives built in the mid 1880s were becoming life expired by the 1930. The basic design had proven so successful that their replacements, the Collett 4800 (auto-fitted) and 5800 class 0-4-2 tanks, were close duplicates. The last 517s were withdrawn in 1947, but as the later 517 boilers could also be fitted to the Collett engines it is quite possible 517 boilers were still in service with the last of the 1400s.
Sensibly, as the design is near-identical, Dapol have chosen to produce a new model of the Collett 48xx engines as well.