The swansong of the magnificent ‘Castle’ class 4-6-0s was marked by the production of the 70XX series, built at Swindon between 1946 and 1950. The very fact that a design that first appeared in 1923 – with its DNA going back to Churchward’s ‘Stars’ of 1906 – should still have been in production in British Railways days is extraordinary, but even more remarkable is that the type was still turning in performances that outshone much later designs. As the engines got older and were modified so their performance improved.

These final ‘Castles’ embodied many refinements that had been introduced over the years, but it was following the introduction of revised draughting, double chimneys, reprofiled outside steam pipes and four-row superheaters that they really attained their ultimate form. They truly were the ‘Super Castles’.

To complement the earlier 50XX ‘Castles’ already produced by Masterpiece Models, we commissioned a strictly limited run of 108 models of 70XX ‘Castles’ (and a few 50XX Castles all with double chimneys) covering the engines in GWR and BR guises where applicable as single and double chimney variants. It must be stressed that this is a COMPLETELY NEW model and sets standards hitherto unseen on any RTR GWR 4-6-0. Split axles, hornblock pickups, fully enclosed gearbox with ball bearings on all shafts and a state of the art aerospace grade Swiss coreless motor were unique features of these locomotives.

Ten of these models were built as the Davies and Metcalfe valveless mechanical lubricator double chimney engines with an oil tank reservoir fitted on the smokebox side. These engines included 7014 Caerhays Castle, 7013 Bristol Castle, 5084 Reading Abbey, 4088 Dartmouth Castle and 4087 Cardigan Castle. Despite naysayers predicting that nobody would want this configuration, these engines were in high demand and sold out immediately!