Rapido Trains UK LNER Y7 (NER H) 0-4-0T loco now available for pre-order.

Contributed by: Graham Muspratt

28 Jul 2023 00:00am

Rapido Trains UK LNER Y7 (NER H) 0-4-0T loco versions have now been announced and are available for pre-order.

The Y7 started life on the North Eastern Railway and was classified the Class H. Its simplistic design made light work of the bad track work and tight radius curves it called home, and this led to the NER ordering a further 13 of the class. Incredibly, it was such a success that the LNER followed this by building an additional 5. These new locos along with their veteran counterparts were then reclassified as the Y7.

Of the 24 Y7s that were built, 17 of them were eventually sold to industrial concerns, and 2 were received by British Railways (one of which worked local passenger services on the North Sunderland Railway) with the remainder being scrapped. Thankfully two Y7s survived into preservation, and these can be found on the Mid-Suffolk Light Railway and the Middleton Railway.

Throughout their lifetime, many of the Y7s received alterations to better suit their working conditions. Nine livery variations of this charming little 0-4-0T locomotive being produced cover much of its long service history.

Variations include vacuum brakes, bell-shaped and organ-pipe whistles, BR number and shed code plates, cab roofs with installed vents, different length frames, alternate smokeboxes and even an improvised wooden cab extension on one version. key features include a Next18 decoder socket, factory-fitted speaker, sprung buffers, plunger pickups, coreless motor and flywheel for super-smooth slow running.

The nine versions, either in DCC ready or Sound Fitted, being initially released are as follows:
932001 NER H Class - No.24, NER Saxony Green Livery (1888)
932002 NER H Class - No.1310 NER Simplified Saxony Green Livery (as preserved)
932003 NER H Class - No.1303 NER Lined Black
932004 LNER Y7 - No.129 Darlington Works Livery
932005 LNER Y7 - No.1800 NE Wartime Livery
932006 LNER Y7 - No.986 LNER Livery
932007 LNER Y7 - No.1302 LNER Livery
932008 LNER Y7 - No.6 NCB
932009 LNER Y7 - No.68089 British Railways Livery
To pre-order your Y7, now in tooling and due 2024, click here >>>

Subject to alteration.

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