5 inch gauge Midland 4-4-0

A particularly well-built 5 inch gauge model of a Midland 4-4-0, the work of a talented and highly prolific engineer who built many engines over his lifetime - several of them have featured here in the past, including his 5 inch gauge Caledonian Railway 2-4-0, 7 1/4 inch gauge "Locomotion No.1" and a beautiful LaFrance fire engine which was briefly in residence on our hall table before selling on the first day of Harrogate Show in 2007.

The Midland is an older engine, completed in 1997. Paintwork is on the bright side of "working clothes", however the engine remains in fine mechanical condition and runs beautifully, with sharply defined, square exhausts - there's some video of it on the rolling road here.

Boiler is silver soldered copper, fitted with combustion chamber and four flue tube superheaters. Feed is by injector, axle and hand pumps - all work effectively, the injector is fitted with a whistle type "pull to operate" valve which is unusual, although certainly effective.

Safety valves when it arrived were marginal on accumulation (which is the case for about a third of the engines that pass through the workshop, surprisingly) - they were replaced with a pair from our friends at Polly Engineering; high quality items which, in our view, are unbeatable for reliability.

Chassis runs quietly and will notch up nearly to mid gear in either direction.