Product Preview | It’s T(3) Time!
Our OO Scale models of the LSWR Adams T3 first broke cover at the Swanage Railway during the 2024 Bachmann Collectors Club Members Day, and today we are delighted to share the livery samples for the five colourful locos that make up our launch range!
The London & South Western Railway (LSWR) T3 Class was part of a family of four 4-4-0 locomotives. The first T3 was built in 1892 and by the end of 1893, the twenty-strong fleet had been completed.
The elegant appearance of the T3 carried many hallmarks of a locomotive designed by William Adams, with long frames extending beyond the smokebox and stovepipe chimneys. Their Victorian splendour was only enhanced by the vibrant and ornate liveries that the LSWR, and later the Southern Railway (SR), adorned them with during their working lives, which extended to half a century or more for some members of the class.
Today, the sole-surviving T3 is No. 563 which can be found operating at the Swanage Railway thanks to the Swanage Railway Trust 563 Locomotive Group who restored the locomotive and returned it to steam in 2023.
Both the locomotive group and the South Western Circle have aided the development of the new EFE Rail model, which has been designed to accurately portray each of the T3s at various points in their working lives, capturing the numerous changes that the real locomotives underwent as their careers progressed.
The first five models span LSWR operations and the SR years, alongside a model of the preserved locomotive which is depicted in its current form, so let’s take a look at each of them in all their glory.
LSWR Adams T3 561 LSWR Adams Green (E85019)
Our first T3 is No. 561 which carries the light and vibrant ‘Pea Green’ livery employed during the tenure of William Adams. The locomotive is very much in as-built form in which it entered traffic in 1893 and sports original Adams features like the chimney and smokebox door along with equalising beam suspension, front bogie wheel splashers and beading around the driving wheel splashers. No. 561 remained in this condition and livery until circa. 1907.
LSWR Adams T3 564 LSWR Urie Green (E85023)
William Adams was succeeded by Dugald Drummond and thereafter Robert Urie, each of whom graced the LSWR with their own signature liveries and it is the style used by Robert Urie that adorns our second model depicting No. 564. We have fast forwarded to 1917 to depict No. 564 in the condition it would remain until early-1924 after the Southern Railway took over. By this time the locomotive had gained a Drummond chimney and smokebox door along with traditional suspension and tender coal rails.
LSWR Adams T3 560 SR Lined Maunsell Green (E85024)
Following their acquisition by the Southern Railway, the T3s gained a new look when their vibrant paintwork was replaced with the olive tones employed by the SR’s Chief Mechanical Engineer Richard E. L. Maunsell. In physical terms, No. 560 is very similar to No. 564 albeit sporting a second whistle, welded lamp irons as opposed to sockets and a Adams pattern smokebox door. The running number is prefixed with a ‘E’, used to denote that this is a former LSWR locomotive (E standing for Eastleigh, the LSWR’s principal locomotive works) and distinguishing it from other locomotives inherited by the SR at Grouping that may have carried the same running number. No. 560 would remain in this condition from the March 1926 through to May 1932.
LSWR Adams T3 558 SR Lined Maunsell Green (E85025)
Whilst our next model also carries Maunsell’s Green livery and has the ‘E’ prefix to its running number, look a little closer and you will notice that No. 558 is one of just two T3s that were fitted with the Drummond boiler. Beyond the boiler, this second Southern machine differs from its stablemate in having plain coupling rods, a single whistle and an additional tool box fitted to its tender top and would have appeared like this between March 1926 and October 1931.
LSWR Adams T3 563 LSWR Drummond Green (E85030)
The final model in our launch quintet is none other than No. 563 which is depicted in all its preserved glory as found operating on the Swanage Railway today. Filling the gap in the LSWR liveries, No. 563 carries Drummond’s scheme and is maybe the most eye catching with its rich green paintwork contrasting with the red elements on the tender and splashers. The physical features of the locomotive are mainly original and replicate in miniature the stunning work of the Swanage Railway Trust 563 Locomotive Group.
These livery samples are now under review and improvements and refinements will be made where necessary and incorporated into the production versions. As is often the case with samples like these, the fit and finish of parts will also be improved in production and the process of providing feedback to the factory has already commenced.
We hope you agree that our new T3s are shaping up very nicely indeed and if you want to add one to your collection, place your order today with your local Bachmann retailer to ensure you don’t miss out. The order book for our new T3 closes on Wednesday 16th July 2025!
