Rapido Trains UK 834002 009 Fowler Resilient - Light Green 'Layer' No. 21294 Diesel Locomotive

• Large framed front windows
• Small square rear windows
• Cab-mounted cosmetic front headlight
  
• Cab-mounted cosmetic rear headlight
• Short ‘Hook and Loop’ compatible coupling factory-fitted
  
• Detail bag of optional parts for full customisation, including full-length ‘Hook and
• Loop’ couplings and a selection of cosmetic lamps
  
• Suitable for operation on 1st radius curves (228mm or greater)
• E24 DCC decoder socket
  
• Museum quality paint finish
• MoPower stay-alive
• Diecast metal and plastic construction
  
• Smooth & powerful mechanism
  
• Highly detailed
  
• NEM coupler pockets
  
• 1:76 scale, (009 gauge)

The name John Fowler is held in high regard by steam enthusiasts, but the company's legacy and fan base are primarily not that of railway locomotives, but those that ran on roads and farmers' fields. John Fowler & Co. of Leeds produced some of the finest steam-powered traction engines and farming vehicles ever built.

Not one to shy away from innovation, Fowler & Co. clearly understood the direction transport technology was heading and, as early as 1902, began working on early renditions of the internal combustion engine.

Sadly, the first traction engines to be fitted with internal combustion engines were not a success. But as the technology evolved, Fowler & Co. sensibly experimented further, and fitted their first railway locomotive with an IC engine in 1914.

Though results were mixed and early petrol renditions were proving on par, but not better, than their steam-powered predecessors economically, Fowler & Co. would make a complete success of the idea in the 1930s. They did this by utilising a diesel engine instead of petrol.

Having produced lots of narrow gauge steam locomotives for industrial work, the company designed many of its diesels with a similar spec in mind. Making them ideal for construction projects, quarries and aggregate haulage.

One of these designs was a 4wD and was assigned as the Resilient Class.

In 1936, Fowler & Co. built four diesel locomotives for the Essex Water Authority, to aid in the construction of the Abberton Reservoir near Colchester. Once they served their purpose, three of the four locos were sold in 1939 to the Alpha Cement Company for their site at Cliffe in Kent. These locos were named Abberton, Layer, and Peldon.

The locos continued to work the quarry until 1962, and the works subsequently closed in its entirety in 1970. In an unlikely turn of events, much of the remaining rolling stock was simply left to fall into a state of disrepair in the middle of the quarry.

Layer and Peldon were saved by the Brockham Museum Association, and No. 21295 Peldon would later be transferred to Amberley Museum in 1982. After extensive restoration from her derelict state, Peldon re-entered service in 1987.

Just like their steam predecessors, versions of the Resilient Class were built for railways across the world, and versions have survived into preservation in both India and Australia.