LNWR Claughton class no. 1159 Ralph Brocklebank

Mick Bayliss Locos now sold
Ralph Brocklebank
LNWR Claughton class no. 1159 Ralph Brocklebank. Built and basically painted by myself from the David Andrews. At a later date, I had the model expertly lined out for me by John Cockcroft. In addition, also in the photo is LNWR George V class Perseus. This model, one of my early built, painted and lined (using P.C. transfers) jobs, is from the excellent value for money Javelin kit. I sold Perseus to the late Mr. Les Hargreaves of Derby around 15 years ago. Les, for a long time was the secretary of the East Midlands O gauge group,  The photos were taken on the LNWR shed scene layout of Mr. Simon Fountain. At the time, whilst the layout was on display at the Crewe Works open day in 2005, Simon was secretary of the London & North Western Railway Society.

The whereabouts of one of the original nameplates from Ralph Brocklebank is known to be held by the LNWR Society. The other was sold at an Adam Partridge auction in Liverpool in 2015 at a hammer price of £6,600. Consequently, the buyer then seems to have turned it round to the Great Central Railwayana Auction at Stoneleigh on the 10th March 2018 where it realised £8,800.

The original locomotive was part of the Claughton class designed by Charles Bowen Cooke and introduced in 1913. It became famous for two magnificent trial runs, made over the LNWR main line in 1914. Showing what the design was really capable of, it set new standards of power for British express locomotives. A maximum indicated horsepower of 1669 at 69 mph was recorded just above Tebay on the climb to Shap with the maximum permitted load of 360 tons.