2021 marks the 20th anniversary of Hornby’s super-detailed ‘OO’ gauge model of Bulleid’s air-smoothed ‘Light Pacifics’, which has proved immensely popular over the past two decades. MARK CHIVERS looks back at this and some of the other significant releases across ‘N’, ‘OO’ and ‘O’ scales.
Above: Hornby’s current model of the Bulleid airsmoothed ‘Light Pacifics’ is 20 years old this year. ‘West Country’ 34107 Blandford Forum leads a parcels train towards Twelve Trees Junction and passes a Bulleid ‘Q1’ 0-6-0.
110 of Oliver Bulleid’s ‘Light Pacific’ design were built between 1945 and 1950, in the aftermath of the Second World War. They were constructed in batches by the Southern Railway and subsequently British Railways, primarily at Brighton Works. Early examples were named after locations in the West Country, while a later batch was named after Royal Air Force squadrons, bases and senior figures associated with the Battle of Britain, reflecting their future use on services between London and the Kent coast.
Designed to be lighter than Bulleid’s previous design of ‘Merchant Navy’ 4-6-2s, there were many similarities including their distinctive air-smoothed casing, which gained them the nickname ‘Spam Ca…
