NER Snowplough Pair No.900565 and No.900566 - BR Black Deposit

Never before seen in OO-Gauge ready-to-run, the NER Snowplough is an exciting addition to the rolling stock in our Railway Icons range. Brought to life in miniature by Bachmann Europe, meticulous care and attention was taken to produce an accurate and true to life example of this unique piece of North Eastern history. Sold as a pair depicting No.11 and No.12 in service with British Rail (BR) after renumbering to 900565 and 900566 respectfully. The ploughs were also repainted again to run in an all-over black livery.

Model Features:
- Metal detailing parts.
- Painted and detailed crew compartment interior.
- Separate accessories.
- Precision moulded body shell.
- Historically accurate running markings.

The first NER snowplough was built in 1887 and, despite an accident in 1888 where a plough train upended a locomotive at Annitsford, 23 more were made. All 24 were made of wood except the final two, which were metal. Built on an old locomotive tender frame, this wooden giant was the North Eastern Railway's (NER) answer to the threat of snow blocking its lines. As today, parts of the railway were isolated and exposed, and snow on the line presented a serious hazard to vehicles and passengers. During and after inclement weather the snowplough would be pushed by two steam engines and when it came across a snowdrift it would charge straight through, clearing the rails for traffic.

In 1938 while under LNER control, the LNER ‘Engineers Vehicle Renumbering Scheme’ decreed that all departmental stock was to be renumbered following standardised patterns. No.11 plough became 900565 and No.12 became 900566. Far from random, these numbers were designed to indicate key information on non-revenue earning stock. In the case of the snowploughs the second number indicated the area of intended allocation (0 for NE region) and the third number indicated the controlling department (0 for Civil Engineering).

No.900565 and No.900566 were withdrawn in the late 1950’s as new North Eastern Region ploughs came into service. No.900565 was not saved for preservation however No.900566 became part of the National Collection and is now restored into NER livery and showing the original No.12 running number.