August 18, 2026 Graham Muspratt

EFE Rail Locomotive D6xx North British Warship - N Gauge

The EFE Rail D6xx North British Warship models in N Gauge were announce by Bachmann in September 2024. The model is produced by Kernow Model Rail Centre on behalf of EFE Rail and follows our award winning 00 Gauge versions.

The D600 Class, were diesel-hydraulic locomotives built by the North British Locomotive Company in Glasgow during 1957 and 1958. The fleet was ordered by the British Transport Commission (BTC) as direct comparison with the British Rail Class 40, and were not actually wanted by the Western Region, who preferred their production fleet of D800 Warships. The D600s were the result of power politics within the BTC and the WR: the former was unwilling to sanction radical, stressed-skin lightweight construction locomotives at the time, while the latter was equally insistent that at least some of the new Type 4 power range locomotives on order be equipped with hydraulic transmission.

From new the D600s wore standard BR green with a 4-inch (102 mm) light grey horizontal band between the cabs a few inches above the solebar. By the time of withdrawal D600 was in all-over rail blue with full yellow ends, D602 was blue with small yellow warning panels on each nose and D601/3/4 were still green, albeit with yellow warning panels.

All five locomotives were withdrawn on 30 December 1967. By this time they were non-standard, even for hydraulic designs, although according to Laira staff reliability was not a problem as many have thought.

EFE RAIL D600 ‘WARSHIP’ SPECIFICATION

MECHANISM:

Coreless, twin shaft motor with two flywheels providing drive to both bogies
Prototypical A1A-A1A drive mechanism with gearing to the outer wheelsets on both bogies
Electrical pickup from all driven wheels
Diecast metal chassis block
Gearing arranged for prototypical running speeds and haulage capabilities
9mm (N gauge) wheels to NEM310 standards with authentic spoked profile and detailing
Removable coupling pockets to NEM355 standards fitted to each bogie
Designed to operate on curves of second radius (263.5mm) or greater

DETAILING:

High-fidelity, injecton-moulded bodyshells covering locomotives fitted with either Disc Headcodes or Headcode Boxes
Bogies constructed from multiple components featuring full relief detail, including primary and secondary suspension, brakes and cab steps
Separately applied underframe components including battery boxes and pipework
Separately fitted metal handrails aside each cab door and on each nose
Detailed cab interior
Each model supplied with a full set of model-specific bufferbeam pipework and accessory parts, including a set of open and closed headcode discs where appropriate

LIGHTING:

Directional lighting, with tail lights switchable on/off via a circuit board switch on Analogue control. On DCC, directional lights or tail lights only can be switched on/off independently via dedicated functions
Cab lighting, switchable on/off via a circuit board switch on Analogue control, or via dedicated functions on DCC
Authentic light colours and temperatures selected for each model based on era and application

DCC: