Bachmann OO 31-677 BR E3056 Type AL5 / Class 85 Bo-Bo Electric Locomotive BR Blue Pre-TOPS Single Pantograph

One of the early designs of 25kV electric locomotives for the West Coast mainline electrification the AL5 type was built by BR works at Doncaster. Later class 85 under the TOPS system these were robust and reliable locomotives which had long service lives. Surviving the initial purge of less satisfactory types when the 'second generation' class 87s were built class 85s could still be found in charge of West Coast expresses and on many secondary duties like parcels trains until the late 1980s.

One of the classic British electric locomotives the 85 will be at home alongside the class 86, 87 and 90 locomotives available from Hornby and Heljan. Hopefully a model of the equally long-lived English Electric AL1/class 81 will follow and maybe the less successful 82, 83 and 84 classes to complete the fleet