Graham Farish - 371-062A - Locomotive, Diesel, Class 03 - British Rail - 03026

Specific Item Information: The Class 03 diesel shunters were introduced between 1957 and 1962 and with 230 built, the type was one of BR's most successful small 0-6-0 diesel-mechanical shunters and was adopted as BR’s standard small shunter. A development of the Class 04 ‘Drewry’ shunter, construction was shared between British Railways' Swindon Works and Doncaster Works and initial allocations for the class covered all regions except Scotland. Shunting was the main employment, with their short wheelbase and light weight making them particularly useful in areas where weight restrictions or tight trackwork existed. Examples were also assigned to station pilot duties and due to the short wheelbase, it was common for them to be coupled to a ‘shunter’s truck’ or ‘runner wagon’ to ensure sufficient length for reliable operation of track circuits.

Weighing in at 30 Tons, some 18 Tons less than the Class 08 diesel shunter, the Class 03’s were fitted with Gardner engines and their distinctive jackshaft drive arrangement gave the locomotives a top speed of 28½ mph. Despite their usefulness, a downturn in shunting requirements meant that withdrawals began in 1968, although the last remained in service on mainland Britain until 1987. Two examples operated on the Isle of Wight, with lowered cab roofs to account for the restricted loading gauge, and these remained in traffic on the island until 1993. One of these Isle of Wight locos, No. 03179, was resurrected by West Anglia Great Northern in 1998 to shunt their Hornsey Depot. Subsequently operated by First Capital Connect, the loco was finally withdrawn in 2008 after which the locomotive was preserved bringing the total number of surviving examples to 56.

Road Name History: British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages between 1994 and 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Commission, it became an independent statutory corporation in 1962 designated as the British Railways Board.

British Rail designed and manufactured rolling stock from 1948 to 1989, at which time its subsidiary British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL) was privatised.

1997 marked the end of the privatization effort in which the last assets of British Rail were sold to 31 regional freight and passenger operators as well as Railtrack (which was later brought under public control as Network Rail), which was given the track and infrastructure.

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Brand/Importer Information: Graham Farish is a British brand of N gauge model trains, that belongs to Bachmann Europe.
The company entered the model train business in the early 1950s, focusing on British OO gauge rolling stock, track and accessories.
In the 1970s, it started to produce N gauge models under the GRAFAR label. After the withdrawal of Lima and Minitrix from the UK market in the late 1980s, Graham Farish was the only major supplier of British outline models in N gauge, soon withdrawing from the OO scale market.
In 2001, Graham Farish was purchased by Kader Industries of Hong Kong, and absorbed by its subsidiary Bachmann Industries. Bachmann immediately closed the British manufacturing facility and moved production to China.
Bachmann have since increased the size of the Farish range, by duplicating models introduced to the Bachmann OO range; often, an OO scale Bachmann Branchline model is followed between 6 months to a year later by an N gauge Graham Farish model.

Manufacturer Information: Bachmann, a US company founded in 1835, was purchased by Kader Industries in 1987. Kader formed Bachmann Industries Europe in 1989 with their main UK headquarters in Moat Way, Barwell, Leicestershire, UK (former Palitoy location) and the following year launched the Bachmann Branchline range for the British market with the moulds that had previously been used for the Palitoy Mainline and Replica Railways model railway products. From this starting point Bachmann has developed the range further and now produce a large range of models.
In 2001 Bachmann Branchline bought Graham Farish, an N gauge manufacturer, and since then many of their models have been made available in both gauges.
Bachmann Europe portfolio also comprises other model trains brands such as Liliput.