Sold March 2014 Back to Archive

A pair of beautifully constructed Great Western Pannier tanks in 5 inch gauge. Started in 1959 by a toolmaker, he worked on this project in his spare time for the next fifty years - they passed to a friend when he died, who had some further work done on them before deciding that he probably didn't have enough years left to see them in steam.

All work you see in the pictures, excepting the paintwork and soldering of the boilers, is by the original builder - it is exceptionally fine and repays a careful study of the pictures, the detail work is superb. I particularly like the cab plate work, the bunker door with interconnected (working) bolts; toolboxes with working hasps, hinges and including a padlock for each; the safety valve bonnets, with a lip machined in top and bottom to simulate the rolled edge of the full-sized part, which virtually nobody replicates in a model; the beautifully made couplings - have a careful look for the "GWR" stamped into them, I can only assume he made his own punches at that size.

Both locomotives are at roughly the same stage, there are two sets of just about everything. In addition to the engines themselves, there is a large quantity of fasteners, rivets, snaps, injector reamers, a pair of well-made wooden cases and a full set of drawings.