3 1/2 inch gauge LNER A1 Pacific No.2581 "Neil Gow"

A 3 1/2 inch gauge LNER A1 Pacific No.2581 "Neil Gow", celebrating its centenary this year, having been completed shortly after the full-size locomotive was outshopped from the North British Works in 1924. In the builder's family for over one hundred years the model has, as might be expected, a fascinating story.

John Simpson Ballingall was born in Springburn in 1867, brought up in a large family which included his brother James, two years his senior. Previously a rural hamlet of weavers, Springburn had undergone rapid growth in the years before his birth into a major centre of railway engineering in Scotland, with railway workshops at St Rollox, Cowlairs and Hyde Park.

Both brothers served apprenticeships in the local works - John as an iron turner, James as a brass turner - rising to be foremen of their respective sections. It was perhaps inevitable that both men shared a keen interest in the full-size locomotives they worked on by day, with the skills to build models of them in their spare time.

Their first model was a Dunalastair 4-4-0, the original built at the St Rollox works. Built to 3 1/2 inch gauge, the engine remained in the family until 1971, when it was sold through Christies in London - John's grand-daughter remembered seeing it displayed in the front room when she visited her uncle as a child.

Inspired by the Gresley-designed Pacifics introduced in 1922, John set about drawing up a version in 3 1/2 inch gauge. "Neil Gow" was completed in 1926, prototypically correct with three cylinders and Gresley-Holcroft valve gear. The engine was steamed on a few occasions after completion but, following the builder's death in 1928, was loaned by the family to the Glasgow Art Galleries and Museum at Kelvin Grove, before later being move to the Glasgow Transport Museum. On relocation to their magnificent new riverside premises in 2011 the model was put into climate-controlled storage due to lack of space to display it there.

Finally returned to the builder's grand-daughter earlier this year, almost exactly 100 years after her grandfather had completed it, the engine remains in original condition, offering a remarkable example of model engineering in the 1920s.

Whilst the chassis turns over freely, in deference to its age and history we've made no attempt to test the boiler.

Complete with a detailed history of the locomotive and builder kindly supplied by his grand-daughter, along with original correspondence from 1928 documenting the loan to the museum.

(Having mentioned Kelvin Grove Art Gallery & Museum, it behoves us to recommend that magnificent collection as well - a place we've visited on several occasions now, and with still more to see. Fulton's Grand Orrery; Dali's Christ of St John on the Cross; a full-size Spitfire hung up in the main gallery above a stuffed elephant, still bearing the bullet holes of where it was shot by soldiers after "going rogue"... You could spend all week there!)