HN Rail orange '37' promised for 'OO'

Accurascale is to produce a model of ETS-fitted 37405, as-owned by Harry Needle Railroad company. The locomotive is to retail in 'special presentation packaging' with certificate and is only available direct from the manufacturer. Modellers are to carry a price of £169.99 for DC/DCC ready and £259.99 for DCC sound-fitted with deliveries expected in Q1, 2024.

The model is said to match Accurascale's 'modernised' Class 37/4s from its first production run, complete with plated bodyside windows, LED tail lights, DRS multiple working socket, speedo cable and rectangular-style buffers.

With the inclusion of the Heavy Tractor Group (HTG) limited-edition model of its Class 37, Accurascale will see a total of ten new Class 37s in run two with the addition of 37405.

While Harry Needle is most closely associated with Class 20s, his railway company has now acquired 11 Class 37s as they have slowly come up for sale by Direct Rail Services. ETS-fitted 37405 was the first member of the Class 37/4 fleet to be divested by the Kingmoor-based operator, joining the second batch of locomotives for tender in February 2022, exactly one year after it was placed into store. Resurrected at Barrow Hill, it returned to the main line in November 2022 in an extraordinary shade of 'tango' orange that originally debuted on his former Class 20/3 machines in 2012. Now on hire to Colas Rail, it has principally been working infrastructure trains out of Shrewsbury Coleham depot with Network Rail's fleet of Class 97/3s.

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