5 inch gauge Highland Railway Jones Goods 4-6-0

A finely built 5 inch gauge Highland Railway "Jones Goods" - more usually (although still infrequently) seen in 3 1/2 inch gauge to the Clarkson design and using their castings.

Built as a class of 15 locomotives by Sharp, Stewart & Company in 1894 they were notable as the first 4-6-0s - and, for a time, the most powerful locomotives - running in the country.

One example has survived in preservation, on display at the Riverside Museum in Glasgow (which, had we known when we were up there last weekend collecting a locomotive, we would have called in to see - as it was we spent the rest of the day at the fabulous Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum. Something for our next visit...)

This one has come to us direct from the builder, a capable model engineer who worked on it for many years before deciding, reluctantly, that - getting too big and heavy to handle - it was time to pass on to a younger pair of hands.

We'd put the engine at better than 90% complete. The boiler has had a club hydraulic test with certification issued, the chassis runs on air in either direction with further improvement in prospect following fine-tuning of the valve settings.