7 1/4 inch gauge LMS Black 5

A 7 1/4 inch gauge LMS Black 5, a finely made locomotive that has come to us direct from the builder. A highly experienced engineer, he had already completed a fine 5 inch gauge Black 5 before building this 7 1/4 inch gauge version.

Built to a high standard, the fit and finish of motionwork and valve gear is very good, platework is neatly formed throughout. The locomotive and tender are finished in lined LMS black livery, which remains in bright condition.

The builder has added much extra detailing, including a finely fitted cab and backhead, dummy pipework to the twin (working) Silvertown mechanical lubricators, prototypical safety valves and dummy "Stanier hooter" whistle on top of the boiler.

Other modifications have been made to assist in maintenance, such as the smokebox regulator which is easy to remove, simply requiring the removal of a pair of nuts.

Unused in some years - due first to illness of the owner, followed by illness of everybody else during COVID - on its arrival we tested the boiler and steamed the engine for the first time since 2015.

The silver soldered copper boiler, for which there is club history, proved structurally sound on test and leak free other than two minute, sub-pinhole leaks at the front tubeplate - nothing that would stop us running the engine (as, indeed, we did the next day!).

As might be expected, it goes as well as it looks - free-steaming on our test track and promising plenty of "go" when the regulator is cracked open on a longer line, it runs very quietly in either direction. Draincocks have something of a mind of their own, other than that everything worked as expected.

We can deliver the engine world wide, alternatively we would be more than happy to put it in steam for a prospective new owner at the works.