Rapido staff Popular Post RapidoCorbs Posted June 6 Rapido staff Popular Post Share Posted June 6 (edited) S160 2-8-0 now available to pre-order "In the days to come the British and American peoples will for their own safety, and for the good of all, walk together side by side in majesty, in justice, and in peace.” -Winston Churchill addressing a joint session of the US Congress, 26 December 1941. The year is 1942, the world is at war and the United Kingdom has limited resources to combat the enemy, let alone launch an invasion of the European mainland. What is available is becoming stretched far too thinly, including the nation’s railways. Due to years of consistent bombing, the railways were struggling to cope with the increased traffic and locomotives and rolling stock were in short supply. Thankfully our American Allies stepped up, aiding us in our hour of need. Designed by Major J. W. Marsh from the Railway Branch of the Corps of Engineers, the S160 had to fit the more restrictive loading gauge of the UK. They had to be easy to build, quick to repair and reliable. Constructed in the United States in multiple batches from 1942 to 1945, they were split between the ALCO, Baldwin, and Lima Locomotive Works. Collectively, almost 800 locomotives were shipped to the UK. Landing mainly in Newport, South Wales, as well as Birkenhead, Glasgow and London, the locomotives passed through major workshops before being sent on to the respective railway company. The first 396 were assigned to the 4 railway regions of the era and under the guise of them being run in, 174 were issued to the Great Western Railway, 168 to the London & North Eastern Railway, 50 to the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, and a much more modest 6 to the Southern Railway. The final 400 UK-issued locos were also stored in South Wales, where they were kept as part of the D-Day preparations. With the invasion on the horizon, June 1944 saw the stored engines sent for servicing and processing, all leaving by early September 1944. Until the days of preservation, the only S160 in the UK post-war was WD 93257 (later No.700) Major General Carl R Gray Jr, used to train military personnel in driving and caring for steam locos at the Longmoor Military Railway. Following WW2 the S160s were scattered across the globe, from China to Hungary. Whilst in the ownership of a plethora of different railways they were often refitted to accommodate their owners’ needs. As time went on the original shape and details of many of the locos would evolve, which was in part, due to the interchangeable nature of their original design. Eight locos have been repatriated to the UK in preservation and all of them are different from their counterparts, some more subtly than others. Despite all having key visual differences, several of the preserved versions have been returned to running order, with no less than three examples currently in operation with a number of others under restoration. These models are currently in the tooling stage and samples are expected in the autumn. Each model is fitted with two factory-fitted speakers (one in the loco and another in the tender), dual LED firebox glow with dynamic fire draw effect, a large motor with twin flywheels, pickups on driving wheels and tender and a 21-pin DCC decoder socket mounted in the tender. The tooling suite covers a large range of variations including different lamp irons, smokebox doors, air pumps, left and right hand drive, pole and screw reverser with straight or stepped running boards, different tenders and different pipework configurations. Details of the specific tooling for each model, along with a brief history of each locomotive we are producing is available in each product description. Edited June 6 by RapidoCorbs 17 1 5 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Ian Hargrave Posted June 6 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 6 And what an appropriate day to announce it. 3 4 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BVMR21 Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 Now to decide which to get... 🙈 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators AY Mod Posted June 6 Administrators Share Posted June 6 @RapidoCorbs - what an absolutely superb presentation video; some great footage and images I have never seen. 👏 4 11 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rapido staff Popular Post RapidoCorbs Posted June 6 Author Rapido staff Popular Post Share Posted June 6 6 minutes ago, AY Mod said: @RapidoCorbs - what an absolutely superb presentation video; some great footage and images I have never seen. 👏 Thank you, it's been a great team effort - we believe the footage of the locos being unloaded at Cherbourg has never been shown before (not on the internet anyway) - the IWM scanned a film from their archives especially for this. 19 2 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rapido staff RapidoCorbs Posted June 6 Author Rapido staff Share Posted June 6 15 minutes ago, BVMR21 said: Now to decide which to get... 🙈 Quite a lot of the staff are putting their orders in now! 5 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
No Decorum Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 I’m seriously impressed by the choice of subject, the variety of models and the honesty of pointing out where strict accuracy on one variant would have been too expensive to do. Excellent launch video too. Well done, Rapido! 3 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Garry D100 Posted June 6 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 6 I was impressed by the amount of information for each variant in your official email. This helped me make my choice. Order placed with my favourite retailer for the Crewe based LMS version. Thanks 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSpencer Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 Nice video presentation, though occasionally, tiny bits of it sounded like Boris Johnson 😅 Spoilt for choice, 10 main ones and 3 exclusives. A couple of years back Rapido announced they were working on a smoke generator for a big loco and I half expected it for this model (being a big loco). So was it dropped? Or is there a bigger loco in the works? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JhornG201 Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 Been looking forward to the livery announcement for ages, and didn’t disappoint! 5820 DCC Sound and 6046 DCC Ready were must haves. Can’t wait for the day these arrive. Agree also that the video was superb with some great archive footage! 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rapido staff RapidoCorbs Posted June 6 Author Rapido staff Share Posted June 6 17 minutes ago, JSpencer said: A couple of years back Rapido announced they were working on a smoke generator for a big loco and I half expected it for this model (being a big loco). So was it dropped? Or is there a bigger loco in the works? No smoke gen on this model, but TRS Trains offer an aftermarket smoke generator service and there should be space in the smokebox to fit it if the forward speaker is removed. 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SDJR7F88 Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 Decisions, decisions... Sure I can justify on on the Somerset & Dorset... 1 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToledoRails Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 YES! YES! YES! The S160 has been a top of the want list of OO Gauge locomotives since I started modeling in this scale about 12 years ago. Simply over the moon this announcement and cannot wait to bring 1604 home... but it does need to be paired with one from the Lima Locomotives Works... but which? 😁 Now I have to mention my HO friends are quite jealous, they're hoping the Canadian team can develop some in 1:87! 5 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted June 6 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 6 1 hour ago, AY Mod said: @RapidoCorbs - what an absolutely superb presentation video; some great footage and images I have never seen. 👏 Including excellent footage of one passing Bramley (GWR) very fittingly filmed from the connection into the exchange sidings which served the extensive - 30 miles of track - WD network serving the large ordnance depot and army camps in the area. (I wonder what else was filmed there that day?) 3 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Ian Hargrave Posted June 6 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 6 It’s truly a day for pausing and thinking about the USA and its mammoth and decisive contribution in terms of material input ….the S160 being part of it….and of course the GI’s who served and gave their lives so that Europe could be freed from a monstrous tyranny. I was a small child of two on D Day. But before that my mother & father gave a billet for a short while to two of them . They apparently were very kind and generous and helped our frugal ration situation with goodies from their PX. We never heard subsequently of their fate. But they were never forgotten. The S160 did operate on the GWR.That’s well documented and photographed. I have a dim memory of walking with my grandfather & hearing that “siren” across the valley in the direction on the Vale of Neath. Just a plume of steam .But then grandpa said..Oh..It’s one of them Yankees. 4 1 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Ian Hargrave Posted June 6 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 6 1 hour ago, AY Mod said: @RapidoCorbs - what an absolutely superb presentation video; some great footage and images I have never seen. 👏 I’ll second that.Best ever . Just watched on widescreen YouTube channel . What a great treat. The video is award winning material….pure genius 👏 2 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
class8mikado Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 Superb, suspect its not been noticed that Big Jim has a different chimney but still brilliant. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rapido staff RapidoCorbs Posted June 6 Author Rapido staff Share Posted June 6 1 minute ago, class8mikado said: Superb, suspect its not been noticed that Big Jim has a different chimney but still brilliant. A Lempor IIRC - a bit hard to do without altering the chimney base but we're hoping people understand the original chimney is close-as-possible. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chatham.mrc Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 Brilliant presentation. By far one of the best if not the best I've seen and as a man who models Preservation. Sound fitted Omaha and 6046 have been ordered. Can't wait 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
No Decorum Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 11 minutes ago, class8mikado said: Superb, suspect its not been noticed that Big Jim has a different chimney but still brilliant. I wonder what Mrs. big jim thinks about that. 😄 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenGiraffe22 Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 SR variant for me =) I shall pretend it was operated out of Brighton along the West Sussex coast 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karl Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 2 hours ago, JSpencer said: Nice video presentation, though occasionally, tiny bits of it sounded like Boris Johnson 😅 Spoilt for choice, 10 main ones and 3 exclusives. A couple of years back Rapido announced they were working on a smoke generator for a big loco and I half expected it for this model (being a big loco). So was it dropped? Or is there a bigger loco in the works? Hi, I've seen the two Rails special but I haven't seen a third. Could you point me in the right direction? Intrigued by what it could be. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul.Uni Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 1 minute ago, Karl said: Hi, I've seen the two Rails special but I haven't seen a third. Could you point me in the right direction? Intrigued by what it could be. 2044 in WD Drab Green https://clarkrailworks.com/blogs/news/rapido-usatc-s160-2-8-0 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karl Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 35 minutes ago, RapidoCorbs said: A Lempor IIRC - a bit hard to do without altering the chimney base but we're hoping people understand the original chimney is close-as-possible. Fairly certain that exhaust system was added during the overhaul ahead of its return ti service in 2014, so it'll be right for preservation in the 1980s and 1990s anyway I think. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rapido staff RapidoCorbs Posted June 6 Author Rapido staff Share Posted June 6 Fun easter egg for the eagle-eyed.... The loader on the 25pdr in the intro is me back in 2016! 3 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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