Hornby Rolls Royce Sentinel grows up through new tooling

WITH Hornby’s 0-4-0DH Sentinel having been available since 2013, the manufacturer has expanded to include the 0-6-0 version of this Rolls Royce-engined shunter.

The design team paid a visit to the East Somerset Railway as part of their research for the new tooling, where they thoroughly examined Port of Bristol Authority No. 39 to ensure accuracy.

The design includes some upgrades to the 0-4-0 counterpart, with a high degree of cab detail included and a die-cast chassis assembled separately to the body.

Built in 1965, No. 39 was one of eight allocated to Avonmouth Docks, replacing an ageing fleet of locomotives working there.

It was put into storage in a shed on the dock complex following its closure in the early 1980s, before being inspected, tested, and bought in September 1983. It then spent 15 years on the Dean Forest Railway before moving to Red Dragon’s workshops at Methyr Tydfil for heavy repairs in 1998.

Following this work, it moved to the East Somerset Railway in 1999 where it has remained since and underwent a full overhaul between 2010 and 2011.

Three versions of this shunter have been produced and included is the preserved example studied. R30083 PBA No.39 is presented in its Oxford Blue PBA livery, albeit with wasp-stripe frames and bufferbeam in contrast to the current black frame and red and white bufferbeam worn by the real loco at present. RRP is set at £108.99.