♦ GAUGE ‘OO’

♦ MODEL Bachmann Branchline 35-915 Class 08 08617 Steve Purser, BR blue

♦ PRICE £209.95

♦ AVAILABILITY Bachmann stockists Webwww.bachmann.co.uk

I’m already a proud owner of a handful of Bachmann Class 08s, one of which dates back to the very first releases in the early 2000s. Having laboured to try and improve the look and performance of Lima’s version, it felt like an epochal moment when Bachmann’s model arrived, offering super-smooth running and far more detail finesse.

My old ‘08s’ still perform faultlessly today, but the arrival of Bachmann’s all-new model – received just a few days before this issue was completed – felt like another important milestone in the hobby. Announced exactly a year ago, the new Class 08 has been redesigned from the rails up, and the difference is tangible when extracting the model from its packaging.

Six versions of the Class 08 have been produced in this initial batch, plus a pair of Class 09s, catering for various segments of the prototype’s long career.

Accordingly, the tooling suite allows for different lighting configurations, lamp brackets, LMS or Oleo buffers, radiator access ladders, steel or wooden cab doors, horns or whistles, air compressor cabinets and even straight or angled running plate corners.

Bachmann kindly supplied 08617 Steve Purser, which depicts an example that has been operating with Alstom at various traction maintenance facilities in recent years, including Oxley and Eastleigh, gaining its faux BR blue scheme, I believe, in the late 2010s. The uplift in detail finesse is immediately apparent, with the injection moulded plastic bodyshell featuring crisp definition, with myriad prototype specific fittings accurately rendered.