Hornby Class 08s

The 08 diesels (as they became under the TOPS coding scheme in the early 1970s) were based on a pre-war LMS development. British Railways went on to build 1,193 of these small shunting engines over a ten year period. As railway yards disappeared and pilots were no longer required for railway stations, the fleet was steadily reduced - many going to industry and preserved lines. Today there are about 240 still in use with the main operators but only 180 are registered for use by Network Rail.

Hornby and its predecessors have modelled the 08 three times. The first was the Tri-ang Railways model of 1956 which was replaced (when the tooling wore out) by the second version in 1976. Neither of these models had correct wheel spacing or outside frames but made use of an existing 0-6-0 chassis. The 1976 model is still in production, supplying models for the Thomas the Tank Engine series and the new RailRoad range. Recently added to the latter is 08500 Thomas 1 (R2774), in red livery, which is based on a real locomotive that was based at York Wagon Depot.