The GWR prototype 2-8-0 locomotive 2800 (originally No 97) was built in 1903 and underwent two years of trials before further production began which resulted in 84 of the class being built. The design was much in advance of its time and this class, and the slightly modified 2884 class, were built from 1903 until 1942. They remained the standard freight design on the GWR for the rest of the Company’s existence and were used on the heaviest freight trains.
Many original GA drawings were used in the development of these accurate and authentic models. Building on the many developments from the Dapol Mogul and Manor Class models including Dapol's award winning slide in PCB in the boiler for tool free DCC fitting and sugar cube speaker enclosure (for sound models) and conductive drawbar providing tender wheel pick-up and connections for high bass speaker. The locomotive will have all of the usual refinements that are expected to be found on all Dapol models including:
• A diecast compensated chassis
• Detailed cab interior
• The front pony truck is also sprung and operates on a cam so the model will negotiate R2 curves with ease.
• Churchward top feed boiler
• Original and later Boiler support/motion bracket
• Churchward (vertical drop) & Collett (curved drop) Footplates
• Churchward (tapered) & Collet (Straight) sprung buffers
• Smoke boxes with inside or outside steam pipes
• GWR & BR smoke box doors (with separately added number plate) Technical Specification
• A slide in PCB offers simple ‘tool-free’ installation of a NEXT-18 DCC decoder and a ’no-solder’ speaker connection. This board slides through the smoke box door and connects directly to the locomotive mother board. • The tender to locomotive drawbar includes reliable electrical connections moulded within the close-coupling push-fit coupling. This eliminates wired plugs and unreliable wiper style connections.
• The locomotive and tender have electrical pick-up on all driving and tender wheels
• An optional base reflex speaker can be fitted into the tender.
• Firebox glow (synchronised with sound*)
• Dapol’s proven slow speed mechanism and high torque motor
