Dapol - 2D-022-010 - Locomotive, Diesel, DRS, Class 68 - Direct Rail Services - 68026

Specific Item Information: The Class 68 is a brand new diesel-electric Bo-Bo locomotive commissioned by DRS for intermodal and passenger use. The design is based on the Vossloh Eurolight, with 4 axles and a 3800HP diesel engine and is to be built at the Vossloh plant in Spain. Initially, DRS initially ordered fifteen locomotives with the first to be operational early in 2014. The locomotive is capable of 100mph and has a state of the art adhesion control system which ensures high utilisation of available traction power. Further Locomotives have now been added to the UK fleet bringing the total to 25 and a further 9 on order. Stadler are now assembling the Class 68, alongside the Class 88 .

Road Name History: Direct Rail Services (DRS) is a rail freight company in Great Britain. It was created in 1994 by British Nuclear Fuels Ltd to take over British Rail's handling of nuclear material, and in 2005 transferred to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). It has since diversified into other freight operations and providing haulage for passenger services. DRS is one of six publicly owned railway companies in the United Kingdom, the others being NI Railways (the passenger rail operator in Northern Ireland), LNER, Northern Trains, Southeastern and Transport for Wales.
Since April 2021, DRS, as well as its sibling NDA subsidiaries Pacific Nuclear Transport Limited (PNTL) and International Nuclear Services (INS) have been operated by a newly-created NDA division, Nuclear Transport Solutions (NTS).From Wikipedia

Brand/Importer Information: Dapol Ltd is a Welsh model railway manufacturer based in Chirk, Wales. The factory where design and manufacturing take place is just over the border in England. The company is known for its model railway products in N gauge and OO gauge. Dapol's name is a play on its founders David and Pauline Boyle's names. He owned a model concern Highfield Birds & Models. In 1981 he first tried to buy the Airfix and Mainline ranges. The Dapol brand name was first used in a Railway Modeller advert of September 1983. The first Dapol wagons (for OO) were announced to become available on 20 November 1983. From 1 March 1984 ex Airfix railway kits became available.

Dapol manufactures a growing range of N gauge locomotives, coaches and wagons, and is the main competitor of Graham Farish in the British 'ready-to-run' market. Continuous improvement in model specifications has led to the introduction of 40:1 gearing in locomotive drive mechanisms, NEM couplings on all stock, and LED lighting strips for coaching stock (yellow for 'older' coaches, to represent incandescent illumination, and white for more modern coaches and EMUs to represent fluorescent fittings).