Gaugemaster Collection - N Scale Class 66 773 'Pride of GB Railfreight'

[Gaugemaster Controls]

 

Given that it was named in Brighton almost exactly a year ago in August 2019, we thought that this locomotive was ideal to add to the Gaugemaster Collection.

Named by The Times journalist Matthew Parris, this locomotive wears rainbow colours along its bodyside. GB Railfreight says the locomotive recognises LGBT+ employees across the wider rail industry, and celebrates its on-going commitment to diversity and equality.

Produced for the Gaugemaster Collection by Dapol, this model will feature lots of details including etched grills, directional lighting and finely printed external logos and numbering.

 

• Detailed body with etched grills and separately fitted handrails
• RP25.72 darkened wheels with pin point bearings
• Directional lighting
• DCC Ready with NEXT18 Decoder socket
• Accessory bag with separate optional fittings
• Low friction mechanism for efficient quiet running

 

Expected January 2021, order now to ensure supply.

 

GM2210103 Class 66 773 ‘Pride of GB Railfreight’ GBRf Rainbow Logo

[norfolkchinaclay]

Shame it’s not a 00 gauge Bachmann one or I’d have ordered it!

[MGR Hooper!]

On 10/08/2020 at 07:23, Gaugemaster Controls said:

 

Given that it was named in Brighton almost exactly a year ago in August 2019, we thought that this locomotive was ideal to add to the Gaugemaster Collection.

Named by The Times journalist Matthew Parris, this locomotive wears rainbow colours along its bodyside. GB Railfreight says the locomotive recognises LGBT+ employees across the wider rail industry, and celebrates its on-going commitment to diversity and equality.

Produced for the Gaugemaster Collection by Dapol, this model will feature lots of details including etched grills, directional lighting and finely printed external logos and numbering.

 

• Detailed body with etched grills and separately fitted handrails
• RP25.72 darkened wheels with pin point bearings
• Directional lighting
• DCC Ready with NEXT18 Decoder socket
• Accessory bag with separate optional fittings
• Low friction mechanism for efficient quiet running

 

Expected January 2021, order now to ensure supply.

 

GM2210103 Class 66 773 ‘Pride of GB Railfreight’ GBRf Rainbow Logo

Brilliant! I've pre-ordered one. I think the rainbow GBRf logo sets it off really well.

[MrSimon]

Is there any news on this?  Expected delivery keeps moving back

[njee20]

I'd completely missed this evening being announced. I really hope it's because they're spending time getting the colours even vaguely close to accurate, rather than using the purple they used on "Lesia".

[njee20]

Was in the shop last week, the painted sample looks great. I was surprised to be told the first batch had been delivered already and the second batch was awaited “some time next year”, I never saw these appear anywhere, and I struggle to believe that an entire batch was pre sold to people who didn’t post pictures! What’s the latest?

[97403_Ixion]

On 12/11/2021 at 19:16, njee20 said:

Was in the shop last week, the painted sample looks great. I was surprised to be told the first batch had been delivered already and the second batch was awaited “some time next year”, I never saw these appear anywhere, and I struggle to believe that an entire batch was pre sold to people who didn’t post pictures! What’s the latest?

I wonder if they really meant the 1st painted sample rather than saleable stock?

...and a second sample (often with revisions) next year?

[njee20]

It’s possible he meant they’d all sold out, but  that’s definitely not what he said, he even checked with a colleague when I expressed my surprise, and he confirmed that they’d already had the first batch. I can only assume they were confusing models; I remain convinced they haven’t yet been delivered!
 

It looks really good though, proper colours, immeasurably better than recent Dapol efforts 

[97403_Ixion]

I expect it's a matter of confusion... unless they're holding back the 1st batch until the 2nd arrives so they all go out at the same time... not normal business practice though.

 

Pleased to hear it looks good though - hoping to place an order for one myself.  I'm glad some of these one-off liveries are being caught... adds for a bit of variation.

[Guest skully]

the main batch of Dapol class 66s hasn't even been produced yet. so I doubt GM have their special commission. 

[Gaugemaster Controls]

Morning everyone,

 

Apologies, our staff were mistaken - we haven't received any of the 66 773s into stock yet. They are being produced with the next run of Dapol's 66s which we believe are due for delivery in the early part of 2022 - depending on any problems with international shipping.

 

The good news is that there are still some available - it is not yet sold out. The  locomotive can be ordered directly from ourselves or from any Gaugemaster stockist.

Stuart

 

GM2210103 Class 66 773 ‘Pride of GB Railfreight’ GBRf Rainbow Logo

£119.95

Edited November 15, 2021 by Gaugemaster Controls

[njee20]

Perfect, I must admit I thought as much. Thanks for the clarification. 

[njee20]

18 hours ago, 97403_Ixion said:

Pleased to hear it looks good though - hoping to place an order for one myself.  I'm glad some of these one-off liveries are being caught... adds for a bit of variation.

“Some” of the one-off liveries?! It’s all there is! You can’t buy a post-Europorte GBRf 66, and the only normal Europorte one was from Farish 5 years ago! They do make for some visual interest, but it would be nice to balance it with some ordinary ones too. 

[97403_Ixion]

On 15/11/2021 at 09:56, njee20 said:

“Some” of the one-off liveries?! It’s all there is! You can’t buy a post-Europorte GBRf 66, and the only normal Europorte one was from Farish 5 years ago! They do make for some visual interest, but it would be nice to balance it with some ordinary ones too. 

 

There are plenty of one-offs out:

    DRS:

      66405 Malcolm Logistics

      66411 Stobart

    GBRf:

      66779 Evening Star

      66789 British Rail

      66783 Flying Dustman

      66731 Thank You NHS

      66709 'Sorento'

      66705 Medite...

    EWS:

      66111 with Highland Stag

      66177 white cab roof...

...doesn't have to be GBRf specifically (Europorte or other).

 

But I do agree, it would be good to see more 'ordinary ones' though.

Edited November 20, 2021 by 97403_Ixion
Formatting...

[njee20]

I drew on GBRf because they have lots of special editions, but we've also had only one model from Farish (66731 - since repainted as Captain Sir Tom Moore) in Europorte livery, and nothing else since. So there are no models that represent the GBRf 66 fleet as they currently are. There are plenty of EWS/DB/FL (although no DB with anything other than "DB Schenker" logos, carried by a minority of the fleet, and the hybrid EWS with DB logos only available from Dapol in a set with some IKAs, but those are both easily remedied with some modelling).

 

Other GBRf specials:

- 66780 Cemex

- 66720 'children's rainbow livery'

- 66737 "Lesia"

- 66711 "Sence" in AI green/blue

 

So that's at least 10 special editions, many duplicated by Farish and Dapol, yet only 1 model representing the last 10 years of 'normal' liveries.

 

Anyway, not the topic for this thread! The rate GBRf are going they'll have no 'standard' liveries left - we've still got Maritime, construction sector, NWT etc to do! Despite thinning my collection of 66s I imagine this one will find its way into my collection. Just be good for Dapol (via GM or direct) to follow up with a 'vanilla' GBRf 66!

[MrSimon]

This is now available (and is sat, paid for, in my Hattons Trunk), but it seems to be the wrong colour.  All the pictures

of the model are all pretty poor pictures it’s hard to tell if they’ve chosen to paint it a much much darker orange than the prototype.  The pictures on the gaugemaster site show two different finishes and the real loco for reference, neither are an exact match but the one that seems to be the production version looks incorrect.  https://www.gaugemasterretail.com/magento/model-railways/gm-collection-brand5/gaugemaster-gm2210103.html
 

Has anyone got there’s yet?  Does it look better in the flesh?  

The rainbow colours look right which I guess is important to sell out during Pride Month, but I’ve waited well over a year for this and from the pictures I’ve seen I feel disappointed with the end result.

 

Many thanks in advance

Simon

Edited June 1, 2022 by MrSimon

[Steven B]

Hopefully poor photos - only one of the "more images" looks anywhere near the correct shade of orange. On all the  others the blue looks dark too.

[bmthtrains - David]

I was also looking to purchase this release but having seen the same photos so far I’m holding off. Looks totally the wrong colour to me too.

 

David

[Steadfast]

Photos on Rails of Sheffield don't look much better. 

https://railsofsheffield.com/products/gaugemaster-collection-gm2210103-class-66-773-pride-of-gb-railfreight-gbrf-rainbow-logo

 

I'm not convinced by the rainbow colours either looking at photos of the real thing. Here's one linked from Flickr to compare.

 

 

 

So, the orange is too dark and the stripes too light? Combined they exaggerate each other

 

Jo

 

 

[njee20]

 

This is the only one where the orange looks even vaguely acceptable, and the blue does look too dark. Their last GBRf 66 was purple, is it that hard?!

 

Definitely waiting until I see it. I darent count the Dapol models let down by stupid and wholly unavoidable livery errors. It’s shambolic. 

[MrSimon]

Hattons took a fresh set of pictures.  Have asked for a refund.  (To confirm, it was only sat in my trunk, I hadn’t had it sent to me yet so have only ever seen pictures online so I’ve not had to send it back, just picked back out my trunk).
 

https://www.hattons.co.uk/559226/gaugemaster_collection_gm2210103_class_66_7_66773_pride_of_gb_railfreight_in_gbrf_livery_with_rainbow_logo/stockdetail

Edited June 8, 2022 by MrSimon
Pressed go too soon

[njee20]

Yeah… that looks awful. i saw the painted sample at Gaugemaster and it looked far better. How do they manage it?!

[Steadfast]

Something I've noticed with every single 66 Dapol have produced lately is that the front handrails are not straight. They're always lower to the left hand side. They're not exactly easy to remove and replace with wire either.

 

Jo

[bmthtrains - David]

That’s actually really frustrating. I have no GBRF stock and had been for a 66 in the livery for a while. This looked great in the sample model but this is far too orange. I will pass on this and hope a standard livery 66 gets released again.

 

David