These locomotives are entering the painting stage this week and final assembly will be undertaken over the next two weeks. The delivery of some special components was also delayed but these items have now been sent off to Korea. We have had to order some additional number plates from Severn Mill Nameplates to replace the sets used on the three painted sample engines. The new target is to have the engines ready for inspection for the 6 January before shipping to the UK.  Providing they clear UK Customs in time, we may have production ‘Castles’ at the Bristol Show on 22 January.

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These locomotives are now entering the painting stage this week and then finally assembly will be undertaken over the next two weeks. There are no less than 28 different painting patterns on this run of locomotives! We have had to order some additional number plates from Severn Mill Nameplates to replace the sets used on the five painted sample engines. The new target is to have the engines ready for inspection for the 6 January before shipping to the UK.  Providing they clear UK Customs in time, we may have them at the Bristol Show on 22 January.

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Our models of the much-loved, numerous and ubiquitous GWR/BR 57XX/8750 0-6-0 pannier tanks were announced some time ago and a great deal of research and preparatory work was done behind the scenes following extensive consultation with our panel of highly-respected GWR experts, including Bob Meanley of Tyseley Locomotive Works where Mainline Certified 57XX 9600 and ex-LT L94 (7752) are based.

There has been strong demand for these models models have now been built and we are presently restricted to supplying only what is in stock or can be adapted to suit specific customer requirements.

True to Masterpiece Models standards, all the models feature fully working inside motion, a highly detailed cab interior, opening smokebox door with tubeplate and blast pipe, as well as split-axle pick-up through the hornblocks. On the 57XX engines (early style cab) the roof can also be removed to reveal all the cab detail, also making it easy to install a crew. A new and beautifully engineered drive-train not only delivers superb running, but also frees space for features such as the detailed smokebox interior, even when optional DCC sound is fitted.

We believe this to be the best and most highly detailed ready-to-run 7mm scale 57XX pannier tank that you can buy – a must for all Great Western and BR Western Region aficionados.

To make sense of this build it was necessary to restrict the number of variables:
• Earlier or later styles of cab
• With or without steam heating
• With or without ATC
• Riveted (originally fitted to Kerr Stuart engines) or flush tanks
• With or without top feed
• Polished or painted safety valve bonnets
• With or without cab shutters and doors
• With or without additional bunker steps and handrails
• Smaller or larger whistle shields, or none
• Brass or cast iron number plates
• The engines built by outside contractors carry appropriate builder's plates.

As the class was ultimately so large (863 engines) we are not able to research individual engines on behalf of customers. Instead, we recommend buyers find a photograph of their chosen engine in the appropriate period and check to see if we can supply one in that configuration from stock. Otherwise the choice is now limited to what we have available.

For the sake of simplicity we did not build 9701-10 which were condensing engines of a different design, neither did we build the 6700-59 series which appeared only with steam bakes and three link couplings. Also excluded were engines 5768 and 5770-78 which had different boilers featuring an external steam pipe running from the dome to the steam fountain. No engines were built fitted with spark-arresting chimneys.

Engines currently in stock include a good choice in GWR green and black liveries – both 57XX and 8750 locomotives. For BR-liveried engines the choice is now more limited. We have a few BR lined black engines, as used on Paddington empty stock workings, plus some BR plain black engines. We are now down to our last very few Scale7 locomotives and we will not be able to produce any more in this gauge. We also have no GWR livery rivitted tank engines left.

Due to strong levels of interest we produced 22 highly distinctive London Transport panniers in their lined Metropolitan dark red livery. One of our advisors grew up with these locomotives and has extensive first-hand experience of them. They featured LT trip-cock apparatus, revised cabs and rainstrips, LT-style lamp brackets, reporting number frames and red-painted coupling rods. Certain items were removed by London Transport, so the LT locomotives have not be fitted with numberplates, steam heat or vacuum pipes or cab shutters. Due to the fact that the livery colour and other aspects of the first two panniers acquired by LT (the first L90 and L91) were different from the later engines, we did not make these two locomotives. We have now sold all the 22 LT engines but have asked the builders to make us 12 more which we hope will arrive in 2020.

Our original offering included the following engine types:
• 5700-49 (Early cab, North British Locomotive Co.)
• 5750-79 (Excluding Nos. 5768 and 5770-78, Early cab, GWR Swindon)
• 5780-99 (Early cab, GWR Swindon)
• 7700-24 (Early cab, Kerr Stuart)
• 7725-74 (Early cab, North British Locomotive Co.)
• 7775-99 (Early cab, Armstrong Whitworth)
• 8700-24 (Early cab, Beyer Peacock)
• 8725-49 (Early cab, W G Bagnall)
• 8750-99 (Later cab, GWR Swindon)
• 9711-99 (Later cab, GWR Swindon)
• 3700-99 (Later cab, GWR Swindon)
• 3600-99 (Later cab, GWR Swindon)
• 4600-99 (Later cab, GWR Swindon)
• 9600-61 (Later cab, GWR Swindon)
• 9662-82 (Later cab, BR Swindon)
• 6760-79 (Later cab, BR Swindon)
London Transport locomotives:
• L89 (Ex-5775, Early cab, GWR Swindon)
• L90 [Second] (Ex-7760, Early cab, North British Locomotive Co.)
• L91 [Second] (Ex-5757, Early cab, GWR Swindon)
• L92 (Ex-5786, Early cab, GWR Swindon)
• L93 (Ex-7779, Early cab, Armstrong Whitworth)
• L94 (Ex-7752, Early cab, North British Locomotive Co.)
• L95 (Ex-5764, Early cab, GWR Swindon)
• L96 (Ex-7741, Early cab, North British Locomotive Co.)
• L97 (Ex-7749, Early cab, North British Locomotive Co.)
• L98 (Ex-7739, Early cab, North British Locomotive Co.)
• L99 (Ex-7715, Early cab, Kerr Stuart)

Available liveries:
• GWR green lettered GREAT WESTERN
• GWR green, shirtbutton monogram
• GWR black, lettered G W R
• GWR green, lettered G W R
• BR black, early emblem
• BR lined black, early emblem
• BR black, later totem
• London Transport lined maroon

BR-liveried locomotives are fitted with smokebox numberplates and the shed code plate of your choice.

If you would like an engine please contact us first with your requirements and we will see whether and how we can meet your needs. You can also reserve your engine using the form below but we cannot guarantee to provide what you request as we only have what is left in stock.

As all the models are now ready to deliver, payment will need to be made in full. EU Customers can enquire about paying in Euros.

Delivery by courier within the UK is free of charge, and to the EU and the rest of the world it is £60.

57XX / 8750 prices

Model Type		Base price	Carriage charge	Reservation deposit	Second payment	Final Payment	Total Payment
57XX / 8750 (no DCC/Sound)		£	£	£	£	£	£
Non EU Overseas	Price excl VAT	1192	60	150	550	492	1252
EU	Price inc VAT	1430	60	150	660	620	1490
UK	Price inc VAT	1430	0	150	660	620	1430

 

Model Type		Base price	Carriage charge	Reservation deposit	Second payment	Final Payment	Total Payment
57XX / 8750 (with DCC/Sound)		£	£	£	£	£	£
Non EU Overseas	Price excl VAT	1329	60	150	660	519	1389
EU	Price inc VAT	1595	60	150	750	695	1655
UK	Price inc VAT	1595	0	150	750	695	1595

Check availability and/or make a reservation HERE

View a gallery of the completed models HERE

We have gone to considerable lengths to make the Masterpiece Models Class 52 'Western' the most accurate model of this handsome diesel-hydraulic ever produced. We have worked from a 3D laser scan of a real locomotive to ensure that the complex shapes around the cab ends and body sides are reproduced with an extremely high degree of accuracy, as well as taking extensive measurements and tracings from D1010 at Washford. We have used a builder in South Korea for this project who has extensive experience of building models of diesel locomotives, with a reputation for fine louvre work in particular.

We are offering models of the entire class, covering the examples built at Swindon and Crewe and incorporating the key modifications made during the life of these charismatic locomotives.

A single large aerospace-quality coreless traction motor synchronised drive to all six axles is fitted for a powerful superlative performance. Working fans will each be powered by separate motors independently controlled through DCC allowing one end of the locomotive to be visually 'shut down' to simulate operation on a single Maybach – a not uncommon occurrence. Cabs have switchable illumination, while fully-detailed cab interiors with sliding side windows are complemented by opening cab doors. Engine room detail is visible through the metal grilles and the opening side windows which reveal the diesel engines, the cooling radiators, the steam heating boiler and the engine room walkways.

One of the most distinctive features of the 'Westerns' were the exposed wheels on the C-C bogies and for the sake of accuracy these have been machined, back and front, to capture the precise profile. Magnificent Maybach sound will be standard on all the models, but for customers who wish to run their models on a DC layout, they can be wired for DC operation.

The locomotives are now virtually complete and the available models are listed by name/number/livery on a spreadsheet which you can view HERE. We have tried to offer the maximum customer choice in terms of livery for every individual engine name choice. We show the following liveries: Desert Sand, Green, Maroon with small yellow ends, Golden Ochre (D1015) and Blue full yellow ends.

In the schedule you we have included the month/year operating dates for each engine in each livery offered. Themodels are all now painted so no further change of livery is possible – please phone or email for exact detailsof available engines and liveries .

We hve fitted headboard brackets to all engines except those originally built without these fittings. Based on customer feedback, we are not offering any of the experimental windscreen wiper options or the ventilation apertures that were cut in the ends of a very few locomotives, as these are generally considered to have marred the appearance of these fine engines.

We are offering only 30 engines in Scale 7 and the rest in O gauge. The selection of Scale 7 engines has been optimised to include multiple engine names to enable maximum customer gauge/name choice. We will make 10 extra Scale 7 wheelsets to allow for possible increased Scale 7 demand for those customers who want the more accurate version of our Western. If the locomotive you want is shown only in O gauge or S7 and you want it in the other gauge, it may be possible to switch over chassis to meet your requirements providing you reserve an engine during the production period.

Name and number plates are from the outstanding Severn Mill Nameplates range. Crew figures, scanned from life and produced using the latest colour 3D printing techniques from Modelu, are fitted in one end, and different illuminated headcodes are fitted at each end.

At Masterpiece Models we rate the 'Westerns' just as highly as the 'Castles' and 'Kings' that preceded them and this model embodies the same care and attention to detail that goes into all Masterpieces. In fact the complexity and detail of these models considerably exceeds that required on a steam locomotive model.

You can now request the 'Western' of your choice (providing it is in the schedules) using the form HERE for a deposit of £250. As the models are virtually complete we are now asking for the second stage payment (£1,430) which make a total of £1,680. Once we receive your reservation we will contact you to confirm the details of the model you want and provide payment information.

Class 52 'Western' Diesel Hydraulic prices

Model Type		Base price	Carriage charge	Reservation deposit	Second payment	Final payment	Total payment
Class 52 'Western'		£	£	£	£	£	£
Overseas	Price  ex-VAT	2800	60	250	1430	1180	2860
UK	Price inc VAT	3360	0	250	1430	1680	3360