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Hornby has released the first pictures of its new Class 56.

I DON’T NORMALLY talk too much about British railway modelling on this blog, as much of what I write tends to end up in the magazine I work for, but as Hornby has put artists impressions of its new Class 56 on its website - a loco type that I class firmly as a favourite - I couldn’t resist making a few comments.

I’ve been taking a closer look at the artists impressions on Hornby’s website and comparing them against my own information on this class, including measurements culled from locomotives at the Nene Valley Railway, which played host to three of this class earlier in the year, Nos. 56003, 56057 and 56098.

My earlier impression was that this was something of a mock up and not worth looking at in too much detail, especially the underframe, which at a glance didn’t look too dissimilar to the original Mainline chassis - I even surmised that it could have been a ‘cut and paste’ job in PhotoShop.

However, if you look closely, you’ll see that the underframe - bogies, bufferbeam and sandboxes, compressors and fuel tanks - is all new, so my earlier impression was incorrect. It actually looks rather nice, but the only way you can tell is by chucking it in your favourite photo editing software and ramping up the levels.

The reason it looks like the old Mainline one is because behind both the bogie sideframes and the underframe equipment are what appear to be solid rectangles (gear tower etc.) which stop you being able to see ‘through’ the model. The chassis is also missing all the piping (e.g. cabling and sandpipes) and gubbins that fill in the gaps, which gives the new Class 56 its slightly ‘1980s produced’ feel.

56075 is an old favourite which I’ll hope to model using Hornby’s new release.

I was also very concerned about the shape of the cab, although having poured over the photographs and measurements I have to hand, I now think that the only really questionable aspect of the pre-production model is the cab roof curvature. I previously thought the cab front windows were raked too far back, but my measurements suggest that the real thing is quite steeply angled, maybe more than we realised. However, I’d need a bit of plastic in my hands to be able to make any more informed comment.

There are still plenty of question marks over other aspects of this locomotive, especially as regards the various differences in batches between machines, and later modifications, so I do hope that Hornby has done its homework. The firm has shown with the various Class 31 releases that detail changes can present it with problems - something which was not really an issue with the superlative Class 60, which was built in one large batch.

Anyway, I feel much happier about the new model now, so I await any further images that Hornby can supply. Especially something which shows those all important 3/4 views that can make or break a new release.

Four locomotives make up the first batch: R2645 Romanian-built 56013 in BR Rail blue, R2646 56049 in Railfreight red-stripe, R2647 56128 West Burton Power Station in Railfreight Coal, and R2648 56059 in EWS maroon/gold. RRP is £95.00. The ‘Grid’ will also be released in DCC-fitted form, just look for the X after the product code, with an RRP of £110.00.

RAIL EXPRESS magazine is also producing a limited edition of the class, which will be produced at the same time as the first batch listed above. This represents Fastline Freight Class 56/3 No. 56302, one of just three of the loco type that is currently main line registered.