Rapido 959012 OO Gauge LNER D40 4-4-0 49 'Gordon Highlander' GNoSR Green Railtour Condition

The Great North of Scotland Railway served all of the major towns and cities Northeast of the Cairngorms. So, despite its grandiose name, the railway covered a rather modest area of Scotland when compared to the other major Scottish pre-grouping companies.

As the turn of the 18th century approached, the GNSR experienced an upturn in traffic. To accommodate this newfound busy period, 10 brand-new 4-4-0 locomotives were ordered from Neilson, Reid & Co.

It was requested that the new locos be similar to the T Class that Neilson, Reid & Co had built for the GNSR only a few years before; these new locos would have saturated boilers and be fitted with cab-side windows. They would be classified as Class V.

Despite the original order being for 10 Class V locomotives, when the GNSR took delivery of the first five in 1899, they decided that the remaining five locos were surplus to requirements as they were struggling financially.

Neilson, Reid & Co. had already completed the other 5, so they needed to find a buyer. Thankfully, the newly formed South Eastern and Chatham Railway were desperate for new locos, and this urgency played into builder#s hands nicely; they sold them to the SECR at a noticeably higher price. The SECR would classify these 5 locos as the G Class.

It wouldn#t be long before the GNSR wanted additional locos. Throughout the next 12 years, several proposals to increase the fleet of V Class were made by the railway#s Locomotive, Carriage and Wagon Superintendent, William Pickersgill. Each time, the Directors would take many years to agree, and build only a small number of the proposed number. In total,13 V Class would be built between 1899 and 1921.


Pickersgill's replacement, T.E. Heywood, requested additional locos to replace old stock at the end of the Great War; however, these otherwise similar locos would have superheated boilers, and they were classified as the F Class. A total of 8 F Class locos were built, and unlike the V Class, these engines were given names

Pickersgill's replacement, T.E. Heywood, requested additional locos to replace old stock at the end of the Great War; however, these otherwise similar locos would have superheated boilers, and they were classified as the F Class. A total of 8 F Class locos were built, and unlike the V Class, these engines were given names

Upon the grouping of the railways, the LNER inherited both the V and F Class locos and due to their similarities combined them into the Class designation of D40.

Many of the Scottish-based locos would continue to serve Britain's railways for many years, and with only 3 being withdrawn by the LNER, 18 would pass to British Railways.
British Railways would condemn the surviving locos throughout the 50s, with the last being withdrawn in 1958.

BR retained a sole superheated survivor, which was reserved for railtours and was earmarked for eventual preservation.

This locomotive, No.62277, better known as Gordon Highlander, was restored at Inverurie Works. Even though this was not technically a livery that it would have carried during its pre-grouping days, it was renumbered as No.49 and repainted in the eye-catching early GNSR Green livery.

Gordon Highlander enthralled crowds across Scotland until 1966. Upon retirement, it spent many years at the Museum of Transport in Glasgow; but is now currently on loan to the Bo#ness & Kinneil Railway and the Museum of Scottish Railways.

- GNoSR F Class/LNER D40
- GNoSR smokebox door (reconstructed)
- Square running plate valance
- Short covered Ramsbottom safety valves
- Late tender springs with dampers Westinghouse and vacuum brake fitted
- Suitable for operation on 2nd Radius curves (438mm or greater)
- Dynamic firebox flicker
- 21-pin DCC decoder socket
- MoPower stay-alive capacitors
- Factory-fitted speakers in all models
- Sprung buffers
- Museum quality paint finish
- Smooth & powerful mechanism
- Highly detailed
- NEM coupler pockets