5 inch gauge LMS 3F 0-6-0T No.7267

A 5 inch gauge LMS 3F "Jinty" 0-6-0T, built to the Martin Evans design over a period of nearly forty years by an experienced model engineer - he was also responsible for the LMS Patriot currently listed.

The locomotive was never completed - it still requires a lubricator - and remains unsteamed from new. It has suffered from poor storage over the past few years, with surface rust to some of the brightwork and minor damage to detailed parts like the bunker coal rails - all easy to sort out.

Well built in the first place and nicely detailed - we like the wick feed axlebox oilers mounted on the side tanks, their lids fitted with retaining chains.

The engine runs well on air - some leakage past the pistons, but with clear, square exhaust beats in either direction.

The boiler - beautifully made and in excellent condition - is by Cheddar Boilers, complete with manufacturer's certification. However, supplied new in August 2002 it bears no CE mark, required for all boilers commercially built after May 31st of that year. A situation we come across now and again - several of the well-known boilermakers didn't start CE marking their products for some months after the cutoff date - something that didn't seem to be of any great importance then, but nowadays rendering a boiler un-testable.

So - a handsome display piece, or a good candidate for re-boilering to make a good example of this handsome - though curiously rarely modelled - design.