The award-winning Graham Farish 4MT Tank returns to the range with this model of No. 80117 which entered service at Whitby in 1954, before moving to Leeds Neville Hill and finally to Scotland where it spent its final three years in traffic. Being one of the younger members of the class, No. 80117 was built with plain coupling rods and water tank vents in the revised position – the vent on the driver’s side having been moved forward to improve visibility from No. 80059 onwards.
The largest of BR’s standard tank engine designs, the mighty presence of the Standard 4MT Tank is captured by this masterpiece in miniature which boasts a precision moulded bodyshell adorned with all manner of separate parts, from the metal handrails and safety valves to the individual tank filler caps and tool rests. Inside the cab, the moulded back head detail has been decorated to pick out the individual gauges and controls, and flush glazing adds the finishing touch.
Additional detailing is found on the diecast chassis with pipe runs, brakes, footsteps, sandboxes and metal wire sandpipes all present, along with moulded springs. A powerful coreless motor provides drive to the centre driving wheels and each driving wheel is fitted with separate metal bearings; electrical pick-up comes via all six driving wheels. The leading pony wheelset is sprung for assured track holding, behind which the cylinders and Walschaerts valve gear make an impressive sight, even more so when the locomotive is in motion. The trailing bogie is also sprung, with the bogie frame being an accurately detailed replica of the prototype.
MODEL FEATURES:
- Graham Farish N Scale
- Era 5
- Pristine BR Lined Black (Late Crest) livery
- Running No. 80117
- Plain Coupling Rods
- Four Lamp Brackets
- Water Tank Vents in the Revised Position
- Clamp-Toggle Locks on the Water Tank Filler Caps
- Powerful Coreless Motor
- Detailed and decorated cab interior
- Accessory Pack
- NEM Coupling Pockets
- Equipped with a 6 Pin DCC Decoder Socket – Recommend Decoder item No. 36-568A
- Length 58mm (over couplings)
BR STANDARD 4MT TANK HISTORY
The BR Standard Class 4MT Tanks were the largest of BR’s standard tank engine designs, and one of its most successful thanks to its easy steaming and good turn of speed. Introduced from 1951, the fleet of 155 locomotives was built at Derby, Doncaster and Brighton and all were in service by 1957.
The design was the final evolution of the LMS 2-6-4 tank engine which really started with the Fowler design of 1933, through to the Fairburn Tank of 1945 – the forerunner to BR’s Standard type. Allocated across the BR network except for the Western Region, the Class 4 tanks were intended for mixed traffic duties ranging from local trains to semi-fast expresses, to which they were well suited thanks to their impressive acceleration.
During the build programme the water tank ventilator on the driver’s side was relocated to improve visibility, and at around the halfway point the fluted rods used until then were substituted for plain rods as the former had proven problematic on other classes, but otherwise there were very few variations across the class.
During their career several of the 4MTs were reallocated, leading to the Western Region obtaining 15 by 1964, meanwhile the Scottish and Southern Regions were the final stronghold sharing 25 engines that were still in traffic at the start of 1967. All had gone by the summer of ’67 with the final nine being withdrawn in England when steam ended on the Southern Region in July that year.
Quite remarkably no fewer than 15 Standard 4MT Tanks survive in preservation, making the Class the most prolific of all the Standard designs in perseveration. All but one came via Barry Scrapyard. The 4MT Tank is ideal for many heritage lines and four of the survivors have even operated on the mainline in the preservation era.
