Rapido Trains announces new OO industrial loco

Despite their modest size and range, the Manning Wardle’s iconic look has always been popular with industrial railway enthusiasts. This popularity favoured them in the preservation era, and a healthy number of standard and narrow-gauge locos survived across the World, with 2 Class L’s amongst them.

The Rapido L Class model will feature a smooth-running mechanism, a factory-installed speaker, NEM coupler pockets, and an ESU Next18 decoder socket. Individual models will include variations of the cab, cab steps, frames, wheels, buffers and buffer beams, smokebox and smokebox doors, valves, tanks, and backhead.

The models can then be personalised with a selection of interesting polybag parts such as vac pipes, coupling chains and the commonly seen dumb buffers.

The design is complete and in tooling. The order book is open, and you can pre-order your DCC Ready (RRP £149.95) or DCC Sound Fitted (RRP £249.95) version directly from www.rapidotrains.co.uk today or from any of its official retailers.

Available liveries

• Manning Wardle L Class - 'Matthew Murray'
• Manning Wardle L Class - 'Arthur'
• Manning Wardle L Class - 'Sir Berkeley' (as preserved)
• Manning Wardle L Class - 'Sir Berkeley (circa 2000s)
• Manning Wardle L Class - Logan and Hemmingway No.20
• Manning Wardle L Class - 'Forward'
• Manning Wardle L Class - 'Bombay'
• Manning Wardle L Class - Plain Red

About the prototype

Manning Wardle's origins go back to the earliest days of railway history.

With Manning Wardle sending locos around the globe, an element of standardisation within their design and manufacturing process was deemed a sensible step forward. So, the Manning Wardle designers conceived these standard classes, a selection of locomotives of varying sizes and power, so that contractors and private owners could choose a suitable loco for their needs. Each class was simply given a different letter to denote their type.

The L Class was a loco that was favoured by civil engineering contractors, and also worked on several light railways, with two versions surviving into preservation. So it was the obvious choice when we decided to produce a ready-to-run Manning Wardle in OO Gauge. It also happened to be the class Andy, our General Manager, passed his steam loco driving test on.

Originally intended to be a smaller version of the larger M Class, the L Class design was changed so it became a souped-up version of the K Class, and inheriting the K’s wheelbase, barrel length and cylinder diameter. However, its uprated areas were both its boiler diameter and cylinder stroke. These changes meant the L’s had a moderate pulling power, while still retaining an unmistakably Manning Wardle Aesthetic.

Though each MW Standard class maintained a similar frame, boiler, and overall size and power to their class mates, there was a multitude of detail and cosmetic differences from batch to batch. These included alternative wheels, buffers, steps, smoke boxes, valves and even with or without a covered cab. The L Class is no different.

The L Class received three key variations, the first was alternative valve gear, thanks to a court case in which Manning Wardle lost and subsequently had to change their designs, the second was the addition of a second injector, replacing a mechanical pump, and finally 7 locos received steam braking apparatus. When coupled with the cosmetic differences previously mentioned, the result was quite a few variations throughout the class.

Around 100 Class L Manning Wardle’s were built, with examples being shipped to places such as Sweden, Mexico, Hong Kong, and China, there was even a converted crane locomotive that was sent to India, which used the class as a basis. Of course, we can't forget the eclectic mix of British contractors that also had L classes on their books, completing a multitude of work the length and breadth of the nation.

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