Great Northern Railway Ivatt class C1 4-4-2 no. 990 Henry Oakley

Mick Bayliss Locos now sold, Wally West scratchbuilt locos
GNR Ivatt class C1 4-4-2 no. 990 Henry Oakley. Built in 1966 from scratch by Walter (Wally) West, using a Pittman DC81 motor and gear unit. With the knowledge of the friendship between Wally and Bernard Miller at the time of build, it is very likely that the wheel castings are from the Miller Swan & Co. range. The split axles and insulated spacers between the frames allow power to be collected from the tender wheels, via sprung plungers/tender buffers, connecting with contact faces on the back of the loco. All brake blocks are made from non conductive material to eliminate shorting across the brake rigging. All loco driving and tender axles have sprung hornblocks. Superbly painted by Bernard Miller with hand painted lettering and numerals in the fully lined GNR passenger green livery.
I have a dislike of collecting models of preserved locos, but as the model is in it’s short smokebox (saturated) condition and the preserved loco has a long smokebox it is not a model of the loco as preserved. In fact the preserved loco wasn’t superheated until 1923, so I think I’m correct in saying that it would not have carried the GNR livery, as it has since it has been preserved, whilst it had a long smokebox.
A letter has come to light dated March 10th 1966 where Bernard tells Wally “I am delighted to hear about the GN Atlantic and shall look forward to seeing it very much indeed. Wally M. (Mayhew) tells me that you are also building one for him”.
This model, according to Wally’s widow Mary, was his favorite and for it’s age has been rarely used. The paintwork has needed no repairs and it still runs like a dream. The Gauge O Guild Gazette of January 1968 lists a “GNR 4-4-2 (Mr. West)”, on display at the A.G.M. of 1967 and of January 1969 a “GNR 4-4-2 Klondyke by W. West”, is listed as being on display at the A.G.M. of 1968.