A fantastic new Bachmann model of City class 4-4-0 no. 3440 City of Truro was launched in fine style at Toddington on the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway on Friday 4^th December, using the prototype as a backdrop.

The news was exclusively broken on this website (click the link below to see this story).

The model has been produced in conjunction with the National Railway Museum and is initially, being released as a limited-edition 'Platinum' version, presented in a special box. The model will be available later in standard packaging.

The launch saw the leading model railway media present and after enjoying some of the Toddington 'Flag & Whistle' bacon butties the assembled journalists enjoyed a return trip behind the National Railway Museum's iconic locomotive, to Cheltenham.

Then at mid-day, the model was formally revealed and photographers were let loose with the exquisite '00'-gauge model posed on the real thing.  The detail even left the notoriously-critical model railway journalists searching for adjectives.  Without question, the detail was regarded as breathtaking.

There had been a lot of speculation about the forthcoming model and this website released the news at precisely midday.  Within an hour the story was on several railway modelling websites and forums and was being discussed online - the article achieving nearly 1,000 hits during the afternoon.

"This was a hugely successful launch," said Dennis Lovett, Bachmann's head of PR.  "Everyone seemed impressed by the model of City of Truro.  We have spent a couple of years planning and our technical team have spent hours with the locomotive measuring and taking detail pictures.  I'm delighted with the reach that the GWR's website achieved."

"You would be hard put to find any detail missed and the locomotive is certainly the talking point of the industry."

Enjoy this small selection of pictures taken by Bob Sweet for Bachmann.

NOTE FOR YOUR DIARY: Enjoy 'City of Truro' (the real thing) at work during the Christmas Cracker on 29^th and 30^th December.