Description

BR 4-6-2 A3 Class ‘Prince of Wales’ 60054

Railway companies in the 1930s were starting to feel the increased competition from air and road travel as the demand for speed, efficiency and luxury grew. These pressures at the time meant LNER had to develop locomotives to enable them to compete. During the 1920s a series of experiments to improve performance were carried out on the A1 Class locomotives. This resulted in the birth of the A3 Class.

In July 1927, ‘Enterprise’ No. 2544 was converted from an A1 to an A3. A1 Class locomotive No.2553 named ‘Manna’ entered service in December 1924 and was re-named ‘Prince of Wales’ two years later. It was converted to an A3 Class locomotive in 1943. Following nationalisation of the railways in 1948, it was re-numbered on 9th April as No.60054.

This model represents ‘Prince of Wales’ when it was painted in BR Blue between April 1950 and November 1951. ‘Prince of Wales’ had a Great Northern Railways tender for its entire working life making it the first Rail Legends model to have this type of tender.