HORNBY GWR Class 4-6-0 4073 Caerphilly Castle Steam Locomotive OO Gauge

The Castle Class, designed by Charles Collett, the successor to legendary GWR engineer George Jackson Churchward, is nothing more than a nickname, as the official GWR designation is the 4073 class. The first example of this class, 4073 Caerphilly Castle, was built in August 1923 and served into BR days, being one of the earliest seven of the class to be withdrawn in May 1960. This locomotive has been preserved and can be found on display at Swindon Steam Museum, close to where it was built a century ago.

Collett's improvement on Churchward's work with the Castle Class resulted in one of the most powerful locomotives on the GWR network. Tragically, Churchward was killed when struck by one of the succeeding engineers' locomotives, 4085 Berkeley Castle.

In 1924, the first of the class was featured at the British Empire Exhibition alongside an equivalent engine from the LNER, the 4472 Flying Scotsman. The GWR claimed their Castle to be more powerful than the LNER contingent, leading to exchange trials between the two companies. In April 1925, 4079 Pendennis Castle and 4474 Victor Wild were exchanged between the GWR and LNER.

The Castle Class proved to be lighter than the LNER Pacific, an unexpected positive as the LNER found it still capable of hauling their express services faster and more efficiently than their locomotives of the time. Conversely, the GWR found the LNER locomotive to have too long a wheelbase for their rails, hampering its performance on the twisting and winding curves of the western region.

The Hornby Castle Class model is fitted with a five-pole motor and simple mechanism, resulting in fantastic performance. DCC users are catered for via a 21-pin socket inside the tender, with space for a speaker to be fitted. The model features sprung metal buffers and a minimum curve radius of 2, and is DCC ready with NEM tension lock.

The Hornby Castle Class is produced under license for SCMG Enterprises Ltd., and every purchase supports the museum. The item's dimensions are 28 cm in length, 5 cm in height, and 3.5 cm in width, weighing 0.39 kg without packaging.

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