Description
The Rapido 913002 is an OO gauge DCC Ready model of Lion, the Liverpool & Manchester Railway locomotive, depicted in its 1980 Rainhill condition as restored by apprentices at Ruston Diesels in Newton-le-Willows.
Built in 1837 at a cost of £1,100, Lion and its sister locomotive Tiger were the first engines built by Todd, Kitson and Laird in Leeds. Designated a “luggage engine,” Lion began life as a banking engine before resuming luggage duties and finally working as a ballast engine. Sold in 1859 to the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board, it was eventually converted into a stationary pumping engine and might have been lost entirely had it not been “discovered” by members of the Liverpool Engineering Society, who arranged for the Dock Board to present Lion to the society in 1928.
The familiar shape of Lion as preserved today dates from an LMS overhaul at Crewe works, after which it took a prominent role in the Liverpool & Manchester Railway’s centenary celebrations in 1930, hauling a train of specially built 1830s-style coaches. Lion’s fame only grew from there: it appeared in the 1937 film Victoria the Great, took part in the London & Birmingham Railway’s centenary in 1938, and was moved to the safety of the Crewe Works paintshop during the Second World War.
Lion’s best-known moment came in 1953, when Ealing Studios cast it in the starring role of The Titfield Thunderbolt — the first Ealing comedy filmed in colour, telling the story of a village saving its branch line by running it themselves with the help of an old engine from a museum. Lion was specially overhauled and repainted at Crewe for the role.
After decades on static display, Lion was awakened from retirement once more in 1979 for the 150th anniversary celebrations of the Rainhill Trials, overhauled by apprentices at Ruston Diesels and starring at the famous Rainhill Cavalcade in 1980 — the condition captured by this model. It returned to traffic again in 1987-88 to celebrate its own 150th birthday before being permanently withdrawn. Lion remains on display today as one of the star exhibits at the Museum of Liverpool.
This model is finished in Ruston green with black frames, and includes open tender spring boxes, a firebox-mounted pressure gauge and a fireman’s toolbox among its many separately fitted details. As a DCC Ready model, it features a Next18 decoder socket, ready for a sound decoder to be fitted at any time, alongside die-cast metal and injection-moulded plastic construction and NEM coupler pockets throughout.
Model features:
- Rapido Trains UK OO gauge
- 1980 Rainhill/Ruston Diesels restored condition
- Ruston green livery with black frames
- Next18 DCC decoder socket
- Open tender spring boxes
- Firebox-mounted pressure gauge
- Fireman’s toolbox
- Die-cast metal and injection-moulded plastic construction
- High quality motor and mechanism
- Lots of separately fitted detail parts
- NEM coupler pockets
