OO Gauge GWR 28xx / 2884 2-8-0 Production Samples

The design team have been working hard on the 28xx / 2884 project and we are now at a stage where we can share CAD images with you. Whilst the team are still reviewing and making some final detail tweaks to the CADs the overall feeling is a very positive one with how this model is going to look and perform. In this update we will provide an overall image for each of the models we are proposing as well as some close ups shots of detail differences that are planned to allow us to represent this class of locomotive as closely as possible.

Prototype

The GWR prototype 2-8-0 locomotive 2800 (originally No 97) was built in 1903 and underwent two years of trials before further production began which resulted in 84 of the class being built. The design was much in advance of its time and this class and the slightly modified 2884 class were built from 1903 until 1942. They remained the standard freight design on the GWR for the rest of the Company’s existence and were used on the heaviest freight trains. 

Specification

General Specification Many original GA drawings were used in the development of these accurate and authentic models.   

Building on the many developments from the Dapol Mogul including Dapol's award winning slide in PCB in the boiler for tool free DCC fitting and sugar cube speaker enclosure (for sound models) and conductive drawbar providing tender wheel pick-up and connections for high bass speaker.  

 The locomotive will have all of the usual refinements that are expected to be found on all Dapol models including: 

• A diecast compensated chassis
• Detailed cab interior
• The front pony truck is also sprung and operates on a cam so the model will negotiate R2 curves with ease
• Churchward top feed boiler 
• Original and later Boiler support/motion bracket 
• Churchward (vertical drop) & Collett (curved drop) Footplates 
• Churchward (tapered) & Collet (Straight) sprung buffers 
• Smoke boxes with inside or outside steam pipes 
• GWR & BR smoke box doors (with separately added number plate)      

Technical Specification  

• A slide in PCB offers simple ‘tool-free’ installation of a NEXT-18 DCC decoder and a ’no-solder’ speaker connection. This board slides through the smoke box door and connects directly to the locomotive mother board.
• The tender to locomotive drawbar includes reliable electrical connections moulded within the close-coupling push-fit coupling. This eliminates wired plugs and unreliable wiper style connections. 
• The locomotive and tender have electrical pick-up on all driving and tender wheels 
• An optional base reflex speaker can be fitted into the tender. An audio frequency filter is integrated within the main locomotive PCB to ensure each speaker reproduces within it’s ideal frequency range* 
• Firebox glow (synchronised with sound*) 
• Dapol’s proven slow speed mechanism and high torque motor 
• Enhance your driving experience with our feature RealDrive*   

* Factory fitted models only 

Proposed Models - CAD Images

4S-009-001 28xx/2844 2831 Lined Great Western Green

2831 will be sporting a fully lined Great Western green livery. It will have a curved footplate drop at the front of the locomotive, tapered buffers, a small pony truck bell cover and the top front lamp bracket will be mounted on the smoke box. This locomotive has inside steam pipes and a large boiler cradle. It has the Churchward cab with the sand boxes situated underneath it and porthole windows in the cab front. The boiler is crowned with a straight chimney and large safety valve bonnet, this is the only model in this production run not to have top feed. 2831 will be paired with a smooth sided tender.

4S-009-002 28xx/2844 2804 Great Western Green

2804 will be sporting a Great Western green livery. It will have a straight footplate drop (only model with this feature in the first production run) at the front of the locomotive, tapered buffers, a small pony truck bell cover and the top front lamp bracket will be mounted on the smoke box. This locomotive has inside steam pipes and a large boiler cradle. It has the Churchward cab with the sand boxes situated underneath it and porthole windows in the the cab front. The boiler is crowned with a straight chimney and large safety valve bonnet. 2804 will be paired with a smooth sided tender.

4S-009-003 28xx/2844 2854 Great Western Green

2854 will be sporting a Great Western green livery. It will have a curved footplate drop at the front of the locomotive, tapered buffers, a small pony truck bell cover and the top front lamp bracket will be mounted on the smoke box. This locomotive has inside steam pipes and a large boiler cradle. It has the Churchward cab with the sand boxes situated underneath it and porthole windows in the the cab front. The boiler is crowned with a straight chimney and large safety valve bonnet. 2854 will be paired with a smooth sided tender.

4S-009-004 28xx/2884 2884 Shirt Button Green

2884 will be sporting a Great Western green livery with the GWR Shirt Button on the tender side. It will have a curved footplate drop at the front of the locomotive, parallel buffers, a large pony truck bell cover and the top front lamp bracket will be mounted on the smoke box. This locomotive has outside steam pipes and a small boiler cradle. It has the Collett cab with the sand boxes situated forward of the cab. The boiler is crowned with a straight chimney and large safety valve bonnet and fire iron cover 2884 will be paired with a smooth sided tender.

4S-009-005 28xx/2884 3819 GWR Green

3819 will be sporting a Great Western green livery with GWR on the tender side. It will have a curved footplate drop at the front of the locomotive, parallel buffers, a large pony truck bell cover and the top front lamp bracket will be mounted on the smoke box door. This locomotive has outside steam pipes and a small boiler cradle. It has the Collett cab with the sand boxes situated forward of the cab. The boiler is crowned with a tapered chimney and small safety valve bonnet and fire iron cover. 3819 will be paired with a riveted tender.

4S-009-006 28xx/2884 3802 BR Black Early Crest

3802 will have a BR black livery with the BR Early Crest on the tender side. It will have a curved footplate drop at the front of the locomotive, parallel buffers, a large pony truck bell cover and the top front lamp bracket will be mounted on the smoke box door. This locomotive has outside steam pipes and a small boiler cradle. It has the Collett cab with the sand boxes situated forward of the cab. The boiler is crowned with a tapered chimney and small safety valve bonnet and fire iron cover. 3802 will be paired with a riveted tender.

4S-009-007 28xx/2884 2851 BR Black Late Crest

2851 will have a BR black livery with the BR Late Crest on the tender side. It will have a curved footplate drop at the front of the locomotive, parallel buffers, a large pony truck bell cover and the top front lamp bracket will be mounted on the smoke box door. This locomotive has outside steam pipes and a large boiler cradle. It has the Churchward cab (without porthole windows) with the sand boxes situated forward of the cab. The boiler is crowned with a tapered chimney and small safety valve bonnet. 2851 will be paired with a riveted tender.

4S-009-003 28xx/2884 2874 Great Western Green

2874 will be sporting a Great Western Green livery. It will have a curved footplate drop at the front of the locomotive, parallel buffers, a large pony truck bell cover and the top front lamp bracket will be mounted on the smoke box door. This locomotive has inside steam pipes and a large boiler cradle. It has the Churchward cab with porthole windows in the cab front and  the sand boxes situated forward of the cab. The boiler is crowned with a straight chimney and large safety valve bonnet. 2874 will be paired with a riveted tender.

CAD Images - Detail Differences

Chimney and safety valve bonnets 

Two chimney types will be modelled for the 28xx/2884 project, one straight and one tapered. Each locomotive will a correctly decorated chimney adorning the boiler. each locomotive will receive either a tall or short safety valve bonnet, an example of a tall and short bonnet are pictured below.

Cab types, boiler cradle, steam and footplate differences.

The two front on views above showcase many of the differences described in the previous section. In the image to the left you can clearly see the Churchward cab with the porthole windows in the cab front, where as the later Collett cab does not have these. You can also see the difference between the large and small boiler cradles as well as a front on view of how a locomotive will look with either inside or outside steam pipes.

The two images below show the difference between the stepped and rounded foot plate drop and how the locomotives appearance will vary depending whether they have steam pipes or not. You can also clearly see the different lamp bracket styles, on the smoke box and on the smoke box door.

Tender variations

Dapol will be offering two tender types to go with the 28xx/2884 locomotives. a smooth sided tender with a longitudinally orientated vacuum reservoir and a riveted tender where the vacuum reservoir is orientated in a transvers position across the underside of the tender. 

Recommended Retail Price

Project Update

The design team are currently reviewing the CAD drawings for each of the proposed models. They have already identified one or two small areas that still need fine tuning. when the team have finished their deliberations they will provide feedback to the factory to make the small corrections before the project can be signed off to move onto the toolroom.