Exclusive ‘USA’ offer

Order our exclusive ‘OO’ gauge ‘ready-to-run’ ‘USA’ 0-6-0Ts.

Maunsell is one of the brightest liveried ‘USAS’ we offer, thanks to the time it spent at Ashford works in the mid-1960s. Built by Vulcan Ironworks in 1943 as USA Transportation Corps No. 1968, it became one of the 15 ‘S100s’ bought by the Southern railway in 1947, where it became No. 65. At nationalisation, the new No. 30065 was at work at Southampton docks until October 1962, when it joined classmate No. 30070 on departmental duties at Ashford works. Both were painted green, lined in yellow, and both were named - No. 30070 becoming ds238 Wainwright (after the Secr locomotive engineer) whereas No. 30065 was christened ds237 Maunsell (after the Southern railway’s first Chief Mechanical engineer). The pair remained in traffic until July 9 1967, but they weren’t sold until March 1968. En route to Barry scrapyard in South wales, they got as far as Tonbridge before they began to run ‘hot’, and were left there until the August, when they were re-sold to the Kent & east Sussex railway. Maunsell was withdrawn from service at the Kesr in early 2017, and now requires a full overhaul. Meanwhile, Wainwright should re-enter service this year, albeit painted in full Longmoor Military railway livery.