C Class 31579 0-6-0 BR Black Late Crest

C Class 31579 0-6-0 BR Black Late Crest

• DCC Type: 8 Pin DCC Ready
• Livery: BR Black L/Crest
• Class: C
• Era: 5 (1957 - 1966)
• Purpose: Mixed Traffic
• Wheel Configuration: 0-6-0
• Finish: Pristine

Beautiful model of the SE&CR C class 0-6-0 goods engines, a class with a very long life serving the 'Chatham' Southern Railway and British Railways.

Finely detailed bodyshell driven by Bachmanns' reliable mechanism and nicely geared for steady running at slow and medium speeds.

The 0-6-0 goods engine was well suited to the goods trains of the South East, where generally lighter weight general merchandise and agricultral traffic exceeded demand for mineral haulage. These engines were quite capable of helping out with passenger services when needed, making them a useful engine type to have available and a key if unglamorous part of the motive power fleet.

Designed by Harry Wainwright for the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SE&CR) the C class appeared in 1900. The 0-6-0 wheel arrangement was popular for goods locomotives of the time and proved capable of hauling passenger trains when required, usually when trains were especially heavily loaded. A total of 109 locomotives were built and the class survived almost complete throughout the Southern Railway era to nationalisation, 107 engines entering BR stock. The class were withdrawn between 1953 and 1960 as electriification extended, the last locomotives surviving until 1966. Fortuanately one locomotive, number 592, was purchased for preservation on the Bluebell Railway.