As part of our Winter 2022 British Railway Announcements, we are delighted to welcome the WD Austerity back to the Bachmann Branchline range and this model is now available with SOUND FITTED for the first time. Depicting a locomotive in wartime use is No. 77196 in WD Khaki Green livery.

The WD 2-8-0 Austerity locomotives were some of the strongest freight locomotives to operate on Britain’s railways and the Branchline model conveys all the strength and power of the prototype, making it an imposing addition to any layout or collection. Featuring a wealth of detail, the uncomplicated appearance of the real locomotives is captured in miniature from the long, parallel boiler and smokebox arrangement to the large, angular tender. With a powerful drive train the WD Austerity is ready to handle the goods, and what’s more, with SOUND FITTED this model allows you to enjoy the added dimension of realistic sound effects when operated on analogue control or DCC straight out of the box!

MODEL FEATURES:

Bachmann Branchline OO Scale
Era 3
Pristine WD Khaki Green livery
Running No. 77196
Removable Coal Load with coal space modelled below
Adjustable Tender Drawbar
Accessory Pack
NEM Coupling Pockets
Sprung Buffers
Powerful 3 Pole Motor
SOUND FITTED – Fitted with a ESU Loksound V5DDC Sound Decoder – See below for the function list
Length 268mm

SOUNDS:

F1 – Sound On / Sound Off

F2 – Brake (Non-Latching)

F3 – Cylinder Drain Cocks

F4 – Whistle (Playable)

F5 – Normal Load / Heavy Load

F6 – On – Firebox Door Opening / Off – Firebox Door Closing

F7 – Injectors

F8 – Fixed Length Whistle

F9 – Flange Squeal (Speed Related)

F10 – Shovelling Coal (F6 must be On to activate this function)

F11 – Blower

F12 – Hand Brake (locomotive will not move with the Hand Brake applied)

F13 – Water Tank Filling

F14 – Coupling/un-Coupling Clank

F15 – Safety Valve

F16 – Guard’s Whistle & Driver’s Response Toot

F17 – Coasting

F18 – Sound Fades Out / Sound Fades In

F19 – Shunt Mode (Reduces Speed)

F20 – Acceleration/Deceleration inertia off

F21 – Volume Control (LATCH = Volume On/Off) or (TRIGGER = cycles 6 Volume Levels)

F22 – Rail Join Clatter

F23 – AWS

Analogue Users: Normal-load running sounds, acceleration steam chuff sounds and any other automatic and randomised sounds can be enjoyed when using this model on analogue control (DC) straight from the box – these sounds will play automatically when power is applied!

WD AUSTERITY HISTORY

The War Department (WD) “Austerity” 2-8-0 is a type of heavy freight steam locomotive that was introduced in 1943 for war service. Designed by R. A. Riddles, who had been appointed Director of Transport Equipment at the Ministry of Supply with the outbreak of World War Two, the WD Austerity met a clear demand for locomotives to aid the war effort in Europe.

Riddles based his new locomotive on the Stanier 8F, which he had adopted as the staple military goods locomotive during his time with the Ministry of Supply, and construction began in January 1943. The WD Austerity had many parts in common with the 8F but was given a simpler parallel boiler with a round-topped firebox. Low cost was prioritised over design life and cast metal parts were kept to a minimum as that material was in short supply for armoured fighting vehicles. There were a few problems with the design, most notably with regard to the firebox and its drop-grate mechanism, and many of the WD Austerities were adapted and fitted with improved parts following the war.

A total of 935 were built, making this one of the most numerous classes of British locomotive, but until the D-Day landings, the British Army had little use for the Austerities and as a result many were loaned out to the ‘Big Four’ railway companies. From June 1944 to February 1945, all of the initial locomotives were shipped to the Continent. Following the end of World War Two, the army proceeded to repatriate the Austerities, beginning in November 1945.

Now army surplus, the first company to step in was the LNER which purchased 200 of them at the end of 1946. These were reclassified as Class 07 in January of the following year. In 1948, 533 more were purchased by the British Transport Commission. With the formation of British Railways, the 733 locomotives were renumbered into the 90000–90732 series, and of these, 123 remained in service at the start of 1967. Two locomotives continued to be held in WD stock, seeing service on the Longmoor Military Railway in Hampshire. One WD 2-8-0 has survived in preservation at the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway.