North British Class 29
IN effect, two different locomotives were released at the same time by Dapol which will be of value to Eastern and Scottish Region modellers of the 1958 to 1971 era: the Class 21 and Class 29 Bo-Bo diesel-electric locomotives; the latter being a mechanical rebuild of the former.
Twenty Class 21 locomotives were selected to be rebuilt as Class 29s in an effort to improve reliability, a conversion which commenced in 1963 with No. D6123 which was fitted with a new Paxman Ventura engine at the company’s Colchester works.
The remaining 19 locomotives were converted at Glasgow and Inverurie workshops, being allocated to Glasgow Eastfield depot for mixed traffic duties. All but the first Class 29s were fitted with four-character headcode boxes below the cab windows in place of the train reporting headcode discs, among other small changes relating to the new engines. The original
