Prototype High Speed Diesel Train Power Car No.41001 - DCC Ready

The first model announced under the Railway Icons brand, the OO Gauge Bachmann Prototype HSDT Power Car model boasts an impressive specification and was meticulously recreated from the preserved Power Car which now resides in MAIN HALL at Locomotion. Our model shows No.41001 not in its as preserved state, but represents an earlier stage of its preserved life, the period before 2011 when it was housed in the National Railway Museum in York. In 2011, the NRM entered into an agreement with the 125 Group to restore the power car to working order and to use it from its Ruddington base. This was undertaken at Neville Hill Depot, Leeds with the power car then entering service for a short while in 2014.

Model Features:
- High fidelity, injection moulded body shell.
- Separately fitted metal handrails, windscreen wipers, corridor end pipework, and underframe equipment.
- Sprung metal buffers.
- Powerful five pole, twin shaft motor with two flywheels which drives both bogies.
- Every axle is geared and runs in separate metal bearings.
- All-wheel electric pickup.

The prototype High Speed Diesel Train (HSDT), British Rail Class 252, was devised by staff at the Railway Technical Centre in Derby. The prototype power car was originally built as part of a pair, and both were built at British Rail Engineering Limited at Crewe Works in 1972, with accompanying Mark 3 coaches constructed at BREL in Derby. After extensive trials on the Western Region, the production versions of the trains (with redesigned cab fronts) consisting of 197 power cars entered service in 1977. Initially they were only in traffic on Western Region lines, but were eventually used on the East Coast, Midland and Cross Country routes.

Until the introduction of the Hitachi Class 800 series of bi-mode trains to GWR in 2017, the HSDTs were the main stay of services on non-electrified lines. During the privatisation of railways between 1995 and 1997, 193 power cars carried the liveries of several operators before their withdrawal. These trains have subsequently undergone extensive refurbishments, with three different types of diesel engine fitted during major overhaul works. Now, after many years of service, some remain in traffic with ScotRail and GWR.

With the introduction of the production HSTs, the prototype power cars were withdrawn from serviced in late-1976 and both entered Departmental stock, returning to the RTC in Derby where they were used to haul various test trains for a number of years. By the mid-1980s the two vehicles had been stored out of use and whilst one was later scrapped, the other, No. 41001, was preserved as part of the National Collection and now takes pride of place at the Locomotion Museum in Shildon, Country Durham.