Ahead of the International N Gauge Show 2026, Graham Farish have announced a new range of Class 20/3 diesel locomotives in N Gauge - a variation which has never been produced in this scale before - and builds upon the recent announcement of original-style Class 20s from Graham Farish too!

The range initially includes four different models, available to pre-order now, in iconic Direct Rail Services blue and Harry Needle Railroad Company orange liveries. Production of these models is nearing completion with the models expected to arrive during Late 2026.

The impressive technical specification takes full advantage of the new chassis that debuted on the Scottish Class 20/0s and includes a Next18 DCC decoder interface, a pre-fitted speaker and SOUND FITTED options as standard. A comprehensive tooling suite has been developed with all sorts of minor locomotive variations catered for!

The Class 20s were built from 1957 with a pilot scheme batch of 20 locomotives ordered as part of British Railway’s 1955 Modernisation Plan. Another order quickly followed and by 1962, a total of 128 had been delivered. As the standout Type 1 machine BR ordered 100 more giving a 228-strong fleet once the construction programme finished in 1968. The Class 20s were primarily used for freight but by the late-1980s withdrawals began as they were replaced by more powerful types and newer designs. By 1994 only 28 remained in main line service.

However, alongside the Privatisation of Britain’s railways in the early-1990s and the sale of the existing Railfreight businesses came the creation of a new one, the government-controlled Direct Rail Services or DRS. Created in 1994, DRS was part of British Nuclear Fuels Limited and was responsible for nuclear traffic. Like the new private freight operators, DRS had to obtain motive power but whilst others were looking for the strongest machines, DRS required lower powered locomotives and instead set its sights on a simple, robust and reliable design.

The Class 20 fit the bill and DRS acquired 15 from RFS which had been using them for track laying trains in conjunction with the Channel Tunnel project. A refurbishment programme was drawn up and the best five were sent to Brush in Loughborough to complete the works which included the shaving of each end to remove all the lights and fittings, to be replaced with BMAC light clusters. The train vacuum brakes were removed along with the blue star multiple working and instead a multi working jumper socket was fitted at the nose end only – with the expectation that the locos would work in pairs coupled nose to nose.

Some electrical components were upgraded with modern replacements, and a pair of fuel tanks were also mounted to the solebar to extend the working range. New aluminium-framed cab windscreens were fitted along with a cab to shore radio pod on the cab roof. The cabside windows were also changed with large, square-cornered windows fitted in place of the originals. The five locomotives were numbered 20301-20305 and all had entered traffic by 1996.

After their initial success a further ten Class 20/3s were created in 1998, with the work this time being completed by Wabtec at Doncaster. The donor locomotives were selected from the remainder of those acquired from RFS and from a second batch of ex-BR Telecomms machines. Unlike the first five, these newer 20/3s had multi working jumper sockets at both ends to provide operational flexibility and numbers 1 to 5 later had the cab end socket added retrospectively. The second batch of locos also differed in having a top marker light fitted at either end. In the early-2000s an aerial was retrofitted to the cab end of them all, except for 20302.

DRS put the Class 20/3s to work on nuclear traffic as well as occasional freight use, infrastructure trains and intermodal workings, and they have also been employed to haul diverted passenger trains and charters. Their use for route learning and on Railhead Treatment Trains has seen the Class 20/3s reach many parts of the country, but by 2013 the first examples were set aside as work dried up or replacements arrived.

Two of the fleet were sold to Harry Needle Railroad Company and received a striking orange paint scheme before being hired to GBRf for the delivery of new London Underground trains from Derby to London. Harry Needle has now been taken over by Swietelsky who have acquired further ex-DRS Class 20/3s to use for spot hire, with several being reactivated and repainted whilst others are more likely to provide spare parts.