MECHANISM:
- Coreless motor
- Electrical pickup from all wheels
- Separate metal bearings fitted to each axle
- Diecast metal chassis block
- Diecast metal gearbox, with gearing arranged for prototypical running speeds and haulage capabilities
- 16.5mm (NG7/O-16.5 narrow gauge) wheels to NEM310 & NEM311 standards with authentic profile and detailing
- Detachable coupling pockets to NEM362 standards fitted at each end, into which a standard NG7 coupling is fitted (alternative couplings provided for optional fitting)
- Designed to operate on curves of first radius (371mm) or greater
DETAILING:
- Precision moulded plastic bodyshell, cylinder block, frames and footplate
- Authentic outside-framed running gear with valve gear constructed completely from metal components
- Highly detailed and decorated cab interior including separately fitted regulator, reverser leaver, handbrake and gauge frames, and hinged firebox door which can be
posed open/closed
- Separately applied details including reverser, injectors, handrails, smokebox dart, whistle, brake blocks, springs, and tool brackets & Lamp Irons (where applicable)
- Each model supplied with a set of authentically decorated etched name plates and works plates
- Each model supplied with an accessory pack including alternative couplings, bufferbeam filler plates and fire toolsLIGHTING:<ul
- Firebox Glow (on analogue) / Firebox Glow & Flicker (on DCC or when SOUND FITTED models are used on analogue)
DCC:
- Next18 DCC decoder interface
SOUND:
- Speaker installed in all models for optimum sound reproduction
- Zimo MS590N18 DCC Sound Decoder fitted to SOUND FITTED versions
- Sound files produced specifically for the Bachmann Narrow Gauge Quarry Hunslet using recordings from real locomotives
- SOUND FITTED models operate on DCC and Analogue control as supplied
LIVERY APPLICATION:
- Authentic liveries applied to all models
- Multiple paint applications employed on each model
- Logos, numerals and text added as appropriate using multi-stage tampo printing incorporating authentic typefaces, logos and colours
QUARRY HUNSLET HISTORY
The Quarry Hunslet locomotives were built by the Hunslet Engine Company of Leeds. Rather than denoting a single design, the term Quarry Hunslet refers to several different locomotive types, each built to a similar design, but with specifics suited to their intended use. The first Quarry Hunslets were the Penrhyn Port Class, built for shunting duties at Port Penrhyn, the coastal port of Penrhyn Quarry – once the largest slate quarry in the world. These locomotives sported a 4ft wheelbase and the first example was delivered in 1883.
In 1886 the nearby Dinorwic Quarry, Wales’s second largest slate quarry, took delivery of its first Quarry Hunslet, named ‘Velinheli’. Smaller than the Penrhyn locos with a wheelbase of just 3ft 3in, the second Dinorwic loco, delivered in 1889 and originally named ‘Alice’, would lend its name to the locomotive type and by 1904 eleven Alice Class Quarry Hunslets had been delivered to the Dinorwic Quarry. All were built to fundamentally the same design, although details inevitably changed over the years, but a notable feature of the Alice Class locos was the angled frames and resulting shallow bufferbeams at the front and rear. At the quarry the locomotives were moved between the various galleries and to and from works via the steep inclined planes – straight frames would bottom out on these steep inclines, a problem avoided by building the locos with angled frames.
Five similar locomotives were built for use at Port Dinorwic during the same period, these shared much the same design as the Alice Class locos but had straight frames which resulted in them sporting much deeper bufferbeams. The Alice Class also provided the blueprint for six more engines which were built for smaller concerns; the Pen-Yr-Orsedd Quarry which took three, Moel Tryfan Quarry had two, and a single example was delivered to the Dorothea Quarry. The Penrhyn Quarry placed orders for four of these smaller 3ft 3in. wheelbase locomotives too – these became known as the Penrhyn Small Quarry Class to avoid any association with their rivals the Dinorwic Quarry. Penrhyn Quarry would later order another six Quarry Hunslets, but these reverted to the 4ft wheelbase used on the Penrhyn Port Class locos; whilst very similar in design, this final batch of Quarry Hunslets were different enough to be known instead as the Penrhyn Large Quarry Class.
By the mid-20th century quarrying in Great Britain began to decline and the 1960s saw the closure of both Penrhyn Quarry and Dinorwic Quarry making the Quarry Hunslets redundant. Some locomotives were sold whilst others were simply left in situ to rust away however with an emerging preservation scene, there were enough willing enthusiasts determined to save the locomotives for future generations. Remarkably then, all of the Quarry Hunslets survive today, in private ownership and with heritage lines and many are in full working order.