No.92 Class (of) Forty – the arrival of Bachmann 32-451 (D369)
This week saw the arrival of Bachmann 32-451, otherwise known as D369. The ‘Bible’ in 1960 The introduction of the English Electric Type 4 took place back in 1958. This was some 56 years ago towards the end of my ‘train spotting’ career. More like class of sixty than class of forty. Despite being a diesel locomotive as opposed to steam, the Type 4s made a lasting impression and I bought my first Bachmann model, D325 (32-477) in May 2007. This was the ‘custard dip’ version and it was soon followed in the June by D210 (32-478) new from Hattons, a BR (LMR) engine. After some searching it was followed by D368 (32-475) with small yellow pane new from Scalerail, which seemed to fit better with my north east memories. The Bachmann Type 4s were super smooth and powerful runners compared to the split chassis steam outline models of the period and I was fortunate to find a fine example of D396 to make a set of four. I was never happy with the all yellow front of D325 and it was so...