BR(WR) Grange class 4-6-0 no. 6814 Enborne Grange

This model was built by J.K.Stansfield of Colne in 1993, from the Malcolm Mitchell kit. The motor/gear unit is by ABC and the wheels are good quality cast iron. The pick-ups are of the plunger type and it all has been built to a very professional and well detailed standard. It was then displayed unpainted in a glass case for 28 years. After purchase by me from auction around 2 years ago, it was thoroughly cleaned and serviced to an excellent running condition by myself and then expertly painted in BR lined black as no. 6809 Burghclere Grange. https://www.7mmloco.co.uk/?s=6809&submit=Search

Now it has been purchased and will be soon going to a new home. The new owner wanted a model of no. 6814 as it was a loco that his father used to drive, so rather than commission me to build a new model, he has bought 6809, I have stripped the black paint and asked Warren Hayward to repaint the model in the 1960’s livery of when his dad would have driven it, saving himself around a grand and a three year wait in the process. Good sense.

BR(WR) Hall class 4-6-0 no. 4983 Albert Hall

BR(WR) Hall class 4-6-0 no. 4983 Albert Hall. A model bought from auction last January (2023). This was not the loco that I wanted. The need to view the models available meant an early start and a long 3 hour trip North for a 9am viewing. There was a Masterpiece Models Castle class available, but someone else wanted it more than I did. But fortunately this Hall was also available and not getting the Castle meant that I was to be heading back home with my second choice. How lucky was I? Because this Martin Finney kit built model has been superbly built, with cast iron wheels on telescopic axles, the quartering secured by tapered pins. An MSC motor/gear unit and power collection by the American method. The original painting was quite good, but the lining applied by transfers was not good. So that has all been stripped, no remedial or repair work needed, and I have just collected it back from Warren Haywood, where he has made a superb job of a repaint. Albert also runs very well with no issues needing to be corrected. So a second choice Hall, not a first choice Castle, but at a total cost of a third of what the Castle would have cost me at that auction. Lucky me. This lovely model is for sale. If interested see the “Models for sale” section of this website.

LNER Thompson L1 class 2-6-4T no. 9000

LNER Thompson L1 class 2-6-4T no. 9000
LNER Thompson L1 class 2-6-4T no. 9000. This lovely model has been very nicely built from scratch, with superb detail, by the same builder as the model of Flying Scotsman, recently published. If the amount of good quality detail is anything to go by, my guess is that this very accomplished model maker, probably now deceased, built 4472 early in his modelling career and 9000 later. Good paint finish, the green colour to my eyes is more of a Darlington shade of apple green. Cast iron finescale wheels, driven by a Portescap RG7 motor/gear unit and plunger pickups. The model is wired for DCC control and good sound and works well on my rolling road to the address of “9000”.
No. 9000 was built at Doncaster in 1945 as Mr. Thompson’s prototype 2-6-4T and was thoroughly tested throughout the LNER system before the rest of the class were built, with various detail differences, three years later. It became BR no. 67701.