Month: January 2018

BR Standard 9F class 2-10-0 no. 92018

Mick Bayliss My loco collection
92018
92018
BR 9F class 2-10-0 no. 92018. Built and painted from the DJH kit by the late Graham Jaques and weathered by Pete Brinded. The full size locos of this class, designed by Robert Riddles, were the final standard steam locomotives built for British Railways. Knicknamed “spaceships” because of the daylight visible above the wheels and below the boiler, these very impressive locos were regarded by many as the best steam locos ever built. Some of which only had an operational life of less than five years.

BR (ER) A4 class no. 60017 Silver Fox

Mick Bayliss Locos now sold
Silver Fox
Silver Fox
BR (ER) A4 class no. 60017 Silver Fox. This is a DJH PIERCY No.1 Shop Custom Built model. Bought second hand with sellotape damaged paint to the left side of the tender. Rather than try to repair the tender by trying to match the paint finish, the difficult decision was made to strip the full loco body and tender of the factory applied paint and Warren Haywood has now given her a fresh coat. I must say that these DJH No.1 Shop models http://www.djhmodelloco.co.uk/djh-no-1-ready-to-run/ have a fabulous build quality, better than anything else that I have ever possessed. But in my opinion the paint and lining colours are not as accurate for a model as those used by Messrs Haywood, Brackenborough, Rathbone and the like. This model has now the best of both worlds and is the finest kit built model in my collection, no doubt. I just wish that I could lay claim to have built it.

I have vivid memories of Silver Fox at Peterborough North in steam days. She was on station pilot duties, facing south,  very clean and awaiting a diesel failure. These were the days after Top Shed had closed and some of the fleet of top link steam locos had been reallocated to New England shed. She looked fabulous that day and to think, as we now know, that she was only weeks away from scrapping is beyond belief. But that was British Railways in the sixties for you, the elimination of steam at all cost. Memories of days like that helped to formulate in my tiny mind an interest in railways, as a hobby and a profession, that has stayed with me ever since.