Great Eastern 'Buckjumper' Locomotives Announced - Pre Order Now!

New Product Announcement - Accurascale 'Buckjumper' 0-6-0Ts

Accurascale have announced their first OO gauge steam locomotive - the J69 'Buckjumper' 0-6-0 Tank locomotive. These iconic eastern regionlocomotives, produced by one of Britain's leading model railway manufacturers are a must have for anyone modelling the railways of eastern England. Four liveries have been announced, with the pre grouping era No 84 in Great Eastern Railway ultramarine livery, LNER liver and British railways early and late crest black liveries.

Early History of the 'Buckjumpers':

The Great Eastern Railway’s ‘Buckjumpers’ were a class of steam locomotives designed for high-intensity suburban commuter traffic. The locomotives were built in batches between 1890 and 1901, and a total of 140 engines were built, split into 100 passenger types and 40 goods/shunting locomotives. Passenger locomotives were finished in the GER’s Ultramarine Blue livery, with Vermillion lining, while goods/shunting locomotives were finished in the GER’s standard unlined Black, although there were instances of Vermillion lining being added.

As suburban traffic increased, the GER modified its 4-wheel coaching stock by widening them and increasing the seating capacity, which naturally led to an increase in overall train weight. This necessitated an improvement in haulage capacity, and so between 1902 and 1921, an improvement programme resulted in the rebuilding of 95 R24 Class locomotives to R24r types. The locomotives selected were rebuilt with 180lb boilers and larger sidetanks, resulting in the firebox extending further into the cab, the fitting of 4-column safety-valves on the rear of the boiler barrel and the widening of the sidetanks by 5” on each side, with the footplate widened throughout to suit.

In 1904, a further 20 passenger-fitted locomotives were built, the S56 class, as further passenger 0-6-0Ts were required by the GER to meet the growing demand. These were identical to the rebuilt R24rs but featured wider cabs and bunkers to match the wider side tanks. 

As much as i would like to continue with some history alas I do not have the time (lots of new announcements recently! , however you can read more about the brilliant little 'Buckjumpers' here ! (Cheating i know..)

Below we can see an early mock-up by Accurascale, and as you can see this model is absolutely ram packed with detail!

The Locomotives!

Locomotives retail at £139.95 for DCC Ready, and £239.95 for DCC Sound versions - but remember you can pre order without paying until release! Just click 'Pay on Release' when prompted at the checkout!

S56 Class No. 84 – GER Ultramarine Blue

S56 Class No. 84 was one of the last batch of ten locomotives built for the Great Eastern Railway, to Order P57, at Stratford in 1904 and incorporated many of the improvements made to the R24 Class in the 1902 Improvement Programme. No.84 is portrayed in the classic GER livery of Ultramarine Blue with Vermillion lining and shaded lettering, as it operated from Stratford Shed until being repainted into the GER’s ‘austerity’ grey livery in 1915

DCC Ready - Buy Here

DCC Sound - Buy Here

LNER J69 No. 359 – LNER Lined Black

LNER J69 No. 359 came from an earlier batch of ten locomotives built at Stratford in 1892 and was rebuilt in 1904 into the R24r Class, gaining new safety valves, a new boiler design and 1180 gallon side tanks, but retaining the original narrow cab and coal bunker. No. 359 is portrayed in the earliest 1923 version of the LNER livery of Black with Red Lining, with fully shaded L&NER initials.

DCC Ready - Buy Here

DCC Sound - Buy Here

BR J69 68535 – BR Black Early Crest

BR J69 68535 was from the same 1892 batch as No. 359, being originally numbered as 358 under the GER and 7358 under the LNER and was also rebuilt as R24r in 1904. Along with 19 other J69 locomotives, 7358 was transferred to the Scottish Area during 1927/28 and while 11 of those locomotives were returned to the South between 1944 and 1952, the now renumbered 68535 remained in Scotland allocated to Dundee Shed 32B, until withdrawal in August 1959

DCC Ready - Buy Here

DCC Sound - Buy Here

BR J68 68646 – BR Black Late Crest

BR J68 68646 was built in September 1912, part of the first batch of A.J Hill’s improved C72 Class, the final development of Holden’s 0-6-0T classes. First numbered as 50 under the GER, then 7050 under the LNER, 68646 spent its life working the ‘classic’ Buckjumper suburban services out of Stratford shed; firstly, on the Enfield Town and Chingford ‘Jazz’ services and then in places such as North Woolwich, Palace Gates and Blackheath. 68646 was, along with 68649, the only J68 to receive the ‘late’ British Railways crest.

DCC Ready - Buy Here

DCC Sound - Buy Here

All of these locomotives will share these features:

• Scale length of 110.66mm over headstocks, 36mm across body.
• Minimum Radius Operation: 438mm (2nd radius set-track).
• Die-cast metal chassis and boiler, target weight in the region of 260g-275g.
• Factory fitted brake rigging.
• All wheel pickup, DCC ready with stay alive arrangement.
• Scale width wire handrails and sand pipes.
• Fully detailed cab area, with easily removable roof, fixed by magnets.
• Fully detailed bunker area.
• Moveable roof ventilator.
• Eroded metal/plastic detail parts, including grab handles, steps, buffer pipework, lamp irons etc.
• Brass turned whistles/valves fitted.
• Etched metal pre-painted numberplates and plaques (where applicable).
• Fully sprung metal buffers, factory-installed pipework, and screw couplings.
• Accurate liveries including fully lined where applicable, and detailed crests/emblems.
• Magnetically removable smoke box door for access to decoder.
• Small, flexible neck NEM compliant coupler mounts set at correct height, with mini-tension-lock couplers.
• Next18 DCC ready (to suit ESU LokSound V5 Micro, or similar), slot mounted in smokebox.
• Factory installed DCC Sound option, with two quality sugarcube speakers contained in sound capsules located for best possible sound, in the side tanks (DCC Sound models only).
• Flickering/steady Firebox glow (depending on DCC fitting).
• Large coreless motor, for a haulage capacity of not less than 1kg, from a standing start, on a 3% incline.
• Helical gear box for maximum performance and slow speed running.
• Gearing arranged so locomotive can achieve a scale maximum top speed of 50 mph (80 kmh).