Oxford Diecast - NSDF002 - Truck, Forklift, SD Freightlifter - British Rail - LLU 748

Prototype History: In 1952 the Company was asked by the London Brick Company to produce a Heavy Duty Forklift Truck similar to the American Hyster design. Import restrictions prevented London Brick from purchasing the Hyster product. C.K.Edwards designed the highly successful Freightlifter range which resulted in 170 orders from London Brick where some of the vehicles were in service for 21 years.

Shelvoke and Drewry Ltd. (Letchworth, Herts, England) 'Freightlifter' Heavy Duty Fork Lift Truck, Model 100 Dualdrive version:
When heavy loads were moved (such as heavy girders) two of these machines could be used working together. It could be driven like a normal truck between sites at 22 m.p.h. and then controlled from the separate operating cabin. It was developed after the magistrates, at Slough, convicted British Railways for using a vehicle on the road in which the driver's vision was obscured by a 'jungle of steel'. The earlier design (which remained in widespread use in industry) had no cab as such, the operator sat in a centrally mounted seat underneath the two curved bars.

Principal dimensions: over-all height; fork raised 28 ft. (8.5 m.), Capacity: 18,000 lb. (8,164 kg.) at 33 in. (83 cm.). Engine: Diesel 65 bhp. or petrol 70 bhp. Outside turning radius: 16 ft. 11 in. (5.2. m.).

Road Name History: British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages between 1994 and 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Commission, it became an independent statutory corporation in 1962 designated as the British Railways Board.

British Rail designed and manufactured rolling stock from 1948 to 1989, at which time its subsidiary British Rail Engineering Limited (BREL) was privatised.

1997 marked the end of the privatization effort in which the last assets of British Rail were sold to 31 regional freight and passenger operators as well as Railtrack (which was later brought under public control as Network Rail), which was given the track and infrastructure.

Read more on Wikipedia.

Manufacturer Information: Established in 1993, Oxford Diecast is a British Company that specializes in high-quality die-cast metal vehicles. Produced in various scales, the firm's models are marketed as collector items, gifts, and promotional products. Their largest production goes to OO scale (1:76) and in 2015 they introduced railway products under 'Oxford Rail' brand.
Their N-scale collection is using the 1:148 scale ratio as most British manufacturers.