The British Rail Class 71 Electric Locomotive is a Bo-Bo configuration engine which was built at the British Rail Doncaster works between 1958 and 1960, for mixed-traffic service on Southern Regionís Kent Coast Main Line.
The Class 71 was only able to work on the third rail power system although a pantograph was also fitted to allow overhead power to be used in some yards. Despite this restriction the engines worked high profile routes, notably the Night Ferry and the Golden Arrow.
The engines were relatively short lived, most of them being scrapped in fully working order, as Class 73 electro-diesels eventually made the Class 71 redundant. In addition, the increasing use of Electric Multiple Units for passenger work led to the eventual demise of the engines.
Using the revolutionary 3D laser scanning system, LIDAR, to accurately map the actual locomotive has allowed Hornby to recreate to a level of detail far more accurate than traditional mapping methods alone. It was still necessary to refer to historical photographs, plans and reference material to ensure that any differences from the scanned engine, such as modifications, were taken into account to produce the final model design.
Features of the DCC Ready Hornby model include:
- 5 pole skew wound motor with double flywheel dual bogie drive
- Working pantograph
- Sprung buffers
- Removable front valance panel
- Accurate running light modes
- Changeable headcodes
- Cab lighting