Hornby announced new tooled Great Northern Railway /LNER J13/J50 Class 0-6-0t and new class 60 liveries

Contributed by: Graham Muspratt

22 Nov 2024 00:00am

Hornby have announced new tooled Great Northern Railway /LNER J13/J50 Class 0-6-0t and new class 60 liveries.

The Great Northern Railway introduced its J13 Class in 1897. A total of 85 were built between 1897 and 1909 at the GNR’s Doncaster Works and private contractors Robert Stephenson & Co (10 examples) and Sharp, Stewart & Co (25). These would become the J52 Class under the LNER at the Grouping in 1923. Three of Stirling’s J14s were rebuilt with the larger boiler in 1922 to effectively become J13s, and the remaining 49 members of the class were similarly treated under the LNER, the last in November 1932.
The resultant 137 locomotives were split into two sub-classes by the LNER; J52/1 for the rebuilt Stirling engines, and J52/2 for the original Ivatts.

A withdrawal programme for the 0-6-0STs started in 1936, but was halted at the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, which meant a total of 132 locomotives survived until nationalisation in 1948. Their time under BR was limited though, as withdrawals once more got underway in 1950.The last to be displaced was in 1961, but one example survived to be preserved.

Three versions initially announced, due summer 2025 are as follows:
R30365 GNR Class J13 0-6-0ST 1257
R30366 LNER Class J52 0-6-0ST 4425
R30367 BR Early Class J52 0-6-0ST 68873

Class 60

The four new livery versions announced are :
R30354TXS Loadhaul Class 60 Co-Co 60008 Gypsum Queen II - Sound Fitted - Era 9
R30355TXS GBRailfreight Class 60 Co-Co 60056 Great Gable - Sound Fitted - Era 11
R30373 The OneOne Collection Class 60 Co-Co 60081 Isambard Kingdom Brunel - Era 11
R30374 DR Rail Class 60 Co-co 60029 Ben Nevis - Era 11

Hornby further advised: "Our aim is that the product will be released within 12 months of being announced. The announcement has been delayed until they are 12 months away or less from delivering the product. All the new releases in this announcement are an example of this given the release dates start from Feb-25 and run through to summer 2025.
The only issue with this approach is that another manufacturer could announce the same product, and this has been the case with the Class 60’s and J13/52. When other manufacturers announced new Class 60’s in the same liveries we were able to make some changes to avoid clashes. However, further liveries were then announced, and we couldn’t avoid there being a clash.
With the J13/52 we have tried to make our initial releases different to offer the consumer choice rather than duplication."

Subject to Alteration.

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