We are delighted to reveal decorated samples for our newly tooled SR Bulleid 'Light Pacific' 4-6-2 steam locomotives in OO Gauge - releasing as part of the Dapol Black Label premium range!

While these are early samples for the design team to review, we are very pleased with how these are shaping up and we're sure you'll agree that they look absolutely stunning. 

These all new models are the most advanced 'Light Pacifics' ever including pre-fitted DCC Sound and Steam Generator features, full diecast construction, working front lamps and headcodes (with user configurable destinations), firebox glow effect and so much more. These models have been  immensely popular  and pre-ordering is highly recommended!

We currently expect these models to arrive during Q3 2026! Please note - the nameplates and crests will be pre-fitted etched on production models, and will NOT be printed

As part of this update, we're also pleased to reveal a new addition to the range which many of you have been asking for - 34051 'Winston Churchill' in BR green with late crest.

Created at the height of the Second World War, Bulleid’s ‘Light Pacific’ was a locomotive designed to fulfil a variety of roles on almost the entirety of the Southern Railway’s network. Whilst taking many design elements from the ‘Merchant Navy’ class, Bulleid’s new design had to be both lighter and smaller to be able to access the lighter laid lines in Devon, Cornwall and towards the Kent Coast, but also be capable of handling faster passenger and freight traffic, and needed the power to match.

The first locomotives entered service in 1945, quickly becoming known as ‘Spam Cans’ due to their air-smoothed casing. The first forty-eight were named after towns and villages in the West of England served by the SR, with cast nameplates and crests adorning the bodysides. As further locomotives were built and spread further across the network, the remaining locomotives built by the SR commemorated RAF squadrons, airfields, commanders and aircraft that had participated in the Battle of Britain over Kent, Surrey and Sussex.

Further locomotives built after nationalisation until 1951 resulted in a final total of 110 of the ‘West Country / Battle of Britain’ class (as they were now known) in service. Despite a lot of success in operation on a cash-strapped post-war railway, some elements of Bulleid’s innovative design proved problematic and sixty of the locomotives were rebuilt by British Railways between 1957 and 1961. Fifty of the locomotives retained their original configuration for their entire lives.

With the ongoing electrification of larger parts of the Southern Region, the days were numbered for steam locomotive operation, but it is testament to Bulleid’s design that 37 of his Light Pacifics made it into the final year of steam operation (on the SR) in 1967. The class has proven equally popular in preservation, with no less than twenty remaining. Half of these in original ‘air smoothed’ condition as per our model including 34051 ‘Winston Churchill’ which takes pride of place in the National Collection.