Bachmann Class 37s
The Class 37, as it would become under TOPS, was an English Electric mixed traffic design, which entered service in 1960. It became the largest of all the Type 3 classes with 309 built. Construction took place between 1957 and 1962, but, over the following years, modifications and refurbishments created six subclasses, four of which have been modelled by Bachmann. Their original allocation was to the Western, Eastern and Scottish Regions but they were eventually to be found anywhere in mainland Britain.
In 1984, refurbishment was seen as an alternative to locomotive replacement, as it
would give the British Railways Board a greater number of up to date machines within the
budget available. Of a class of 308, 135 underwent refurbishment at Crewe. The locomotives
in this 37/4 subclass were modified for passenger work by the addition of an electric
train supply (ETS) for heating the carriages.
Members of the 37/5 subclass were originally refurbished Railfreight locomotives, some of which were fitted with slow speed control.
The first Bachmann model of a Class 37 diesel arrived in 2002, however, the Class 37/4 version dates from 2006 and the 37/5 from 2008. The models have working LED headlights, metal roof grills and visible fans and sprung buffers. The two models reviewed here are 'DCC ready' with 21-pin decoder sockets fitted. They are 37/4 37427 Bont Y Bermo in large logo BR blue (32-388) and 37/5 37514 in Railfreight Metals grey livery (32-386).