USATC S160 and Manning Wardle 'L' confirmed

Rapido Trains has lifted the lid on two new 4mm:1ft scale (OO gauge) steam locomotive projects. A USATC S160 2-8-0 and Manning Wardle L Class 0-6-0 are to join its range line-up. 

Though details remain uncertain at the moment – stay tuned to World of Railways for updates – the manufacturer revealed both to crush circulating rumours, following a social media post hinting at the idea of producing the locomotives.

Rapido Trains UK commented, "It's a little early for us to announce which exact locomotives and liveries we will be producing. Rest assured we will share the news as soon as we are able. Until then we thought we would share the work-in-progress CAD work with you all.

Related: Read our exclusive interview with Andy Hardy, General Manager of Rapido Trains UK on these new locomotives in the October 2023 issue of BRM, free with a World of Railways Plus subscription.

Rapido Trains UK has been working on the locomotive projects alongside others for more than a year, its social media post earlier this month hinted at what was to come. 

Rapido Trains UK has said that the S160 locomotives haven't been the easiest project to work on, given that no two preserved locomotives are the same, though it has acquired plans from the locomotive builders to produce models of them in their 'as-built' guise, as seen across the UK during WWII.

The manufacturer added, "We will also produce tooling for several preserved examples to be modelled as closely as possible."

Having been in the top ten of wish list polls for many years, the much-requested model of a locomotive with links to North America "seemed to be a no-brainer", said Rapido.

A limited number of CAD images have emerged of the locomotive...

...alongside CAD images of its Manning Wardle 'L' CLass 0-6-0, also under development.

Rapido Trains said, "Since [we] started, we have been asked to produce a small industrial locomotive suitable for industrial and light railway use. With Andy's interest in such things, we didn't need asking twice."

Fifteen years ago, Rapido Train UK's General Manager, Andy Hardy passed his steam locomotive driving test on Matthew Murray, an 'L' Class locomotive built by Manning Wardle in 1903.

Rapido Trains' models is said to be in the final design stages, and will feature a number of tooling variants to allow for open and closed cabs, different pipework layouts, frame styles, and wheels. A list of liveries, the specification and prices for its Manning Wardles and S160s has yet to be revealed.

Related: Read our exclusive interview with Andy Hardy, General Manager of Rapido Trains UK on these new locomotives in the October 2023 issue of BRM, free with a World of Railways Plus subscription.