Hornby R40491 RailRoad: GWR – Class 800 – 813001 – MS Coach (OO Gauge)

This newly tooled GWR Class 800 Motor Composite (MC) coach is one of the five coaches you need to recreate a full GWR Class 800 train. This is the perfect complement to the GWR Class 800 train pack that consists of the drive and dummy unit – you can add just this coach or any of the other two coaches available.The Class 800 trains were developed as replacements for the long-serving Class 43 HSTs and were first introduced on the Great Western Main Line in October 2017. Manufactured by Hitachi Rail, 36 five-car sets were built between 2014 and 2018 as part of the UK Government’s ‘Intercity Express Programme’ (IEP) and branded ‘Intercity Express Train’ (IET). The trains are bi-mode, capable of working along the newly electrified sections of the route, while diesel engines allow them to reach destinations that have not yet been electrified. An intended fleet of purely electric Class 801 ‘IETs’ were instead built to bi-mode specification in 2017/8, due to delays in completing electrification work, and these were designated as Class 800/3s. There are currently 21 of these running as nine-car sets.

Sets designated Classes 800/1 and 800/2 operate as nine and five-car sets respectively under ‘Azuma’ branding for operator LNER on the East Coast Main Line. The GWR ‘IET’ sets are numbered 800001-800036 and 800301-800321 and several of these trains have been given two names, one on each of the driving units. These are mainly the names of well-known people from history, including famous sportsmen and women, politicians, decorated war veterans and members of the Royal Family, with the driving units each carrying a different name (some sets do have just one name). Interesting exceptions include 800010 which has ‘Paddington Bear’ at one end and his creator ‘Michael Bond’ at the other, and 800316 which is named ‘Lionesses’, in honour of the England Ladies football team. The GWR’s historic past is not forgotten either, and 800004 is named ‘Isambard Kingdom Brunel’ and ‘Sir Daniel Gooch’, both eminent engineers associated with the original Great Western Railway.