Hornby Virgin Trains Class 87 Bo-Bo 87019 Sir Winston Churchill Era 9 Model Train

Hornby Virgin Trains Class 87 Bo-Bo 87019 Sir Winston Churchill Era 9 Model Train

The Class 87 locomotive design resulted from a requirement for a more powerful mixed traffic electrical locomotive by British Rail, needed to cope with the route gradients of the West Coast Main Line between Weaver Junction and Glasgow. Electrification had been newly authorised over this section in 1970 and was scheduled for completion by May 1974, leaving little time to design a completely new locomotive from scratch and so British Rail decided to base the new class on the existing Class 86 locomotives.The British Railways Board placed an order for thirty four locomotives, later to be increased to thirty six, with British Rail Engineering Ltd at Crewe, GEC Traction providing the electrical equipment.