GWR steam railmotor enters production, now with sound

Kernow Model Rail Centre received decorated samples for evaluation of its GWR steam railmotor project for evaluation in September, including minor tooling amendments since its first engineering prototypes. The review highlighted a small number of minor corrections to be incorporated during production. The final delivery schedule is still to be confirmed but is anticipated to be early 2023.

DCC provision of models has been upgraded to Plux-22 and DCC sound-fitted versions for each of the five liveries have now been added to the range. The KMRC exclusive sound project has been produced in association with YouChoos and combines a dedicated sound file with a Zimo MS series decoder.

In addition to the sounds recorded from the preserved No. 93 GWR steam railmotor, the sound file exclusively includes a range of station destination announcements matching the destination boards supplied with each model. In turn, destination boards are chosen to align with the allocation of each railmotor during the period for its livery.

Despite the current worldwide challenges KMRC is maintaining the existing pricing of its models at £189.99, reduced to £179.99 for pre-orders. The DCC sound-fitted version is to retail at £299.99, reduced to £289.99 for pre-orders. Customers with existing pre-orders are being contacted regarding upgrading to DCC sound-fitted if they wish.

Graham Muspratt, Development Manager said, “The full and intricate decoration really brings these models to life, it is good to now progress to the production stage of the project and we are pleased to also be able to offer dedicated DCC sound fitted versions.”

The tooling allows for both the Diagram ‘O’ type and the Diagram ‘R’ type steam railmotors to be produced in five livery versions, as listed below. The diagram O type most obvious differences from the diagram ‘R’ are the larger boiler room windows, double leaf passenger doors and ‘Fishbelly’ rather than ‘Equalising’ bogies.

• (K2301) GWR steam railmotor Diagram ‘R’ number 93 in GWR lined crimson lake (as preserved)
• (K2302) GWR steam railmotor Diagram ‘R’ number 97 in simplified GWR chocolate and cream (Late 1920s onwards)
• (K2303) GWR steam railmotor Diagram ‘O’ number 63 in GWR lined brown (1908 – 1912)
• (K2304) GWR steam railmotor Diagram ‘R’ number 85 in GWR lined crimson lake (1912 – 1922)
• (K2305) GWR steam railmotor Diagram ‘O’ number 61 in GWR fully lined chocolate and cream (1903 – 1908)

The preserved railmotor No. 93 was laser scanned at the Didcot Railway Centre, and the CADs were produced using further reference to original GWR archive drawings and the kind assistance of Graham Drew, Great Western Society Railmotor Project Manager.

Pre-orders are now being taken via the KMRC website.