Our first collaboration with Model Rail magazine brings you a ready-to-run ‘OO’ gauge model of the famous LNER ‘J70’ 0-6-0T. Best known for their work on the Wisbech & Upwell Tramway in Cambridgeshire, as well as on East Anglian dock branches, the ‘J70’ was immortalised  as the character Toby the Tram Engine by Rev. W Awdry in his Thomas books.Â
As for the real locomotives, just 12 were built  by the Great Eastern Railway at Stratford Works between 1903 and 1921 as class ‘C53’. The whole fleet passed to the London & North Eastern Railway (LNER) on the 1923 Grouping, where they became ‘J70’. One ‘J70’ was withdrawn in 1942 but the remaining 11  transferred to British Railways ownership at Nationalisation in 1948. All but two survived in service into the 1950s with the final ‘ J70’ being withdrawn in 1955.
Part of the ‘J70’s’ appeal is its unconventional appearance. The Board of Trade stipulated that locomotives used on unfenced roadside tramways required sideplates that covered the motion, cowcatchers and bell. As with Thomas Worsdell’s earlier ‘Y6’ 0-4-0Ts, designer James Holden gave the ‘J70s’ a wooden body, with a cab at each end. When working away from tramways, the sideplates were removed and the model has been tooled to allow for locomotives in this condition with the Walschaerts valve gear exposed.
Model Rail has commissioned four styles of LNER liveries (lined, unlined, wartime and post-war) and British Railways lettering and ‘cycling lion’ in ‘skirted’ and ‘non-skirted’ form. As no two ‘J70s’ were alike, etched parts have been supplied to enable you to get your ‘J70’ detail perfect.
Specifications:
• Coreless motor
• DCC Ready with a six-pin socket
• Provision for DCC sound
• Two different styles of central lamp iron
• Two different nose end door catch styles
• Replacement cowcatchers with no coupling aperture
• Separate etch for two and three bolt end mounting plates
• Choice of opened and closed nose end doors
You can now order your Model Rail/Rapido Trains ‘OO’ gauge ‘J70’. Click HERE to visit Model Rail’s ‘J70’ order page.
