April 2025 – 7mmloco.co.uk

LMS (ex Highland Railway) Jones goods 4-6-0 no. 17928

Mick Bayliss Locos now sold 16th April 202516th April 2025

LMS (ex Highland Railway) Jones goods 4-6-0 no. 17928. Another very unusual class of loco to see modelled is the Jones goods. This model has been well built (from a kit, not sure which?), painted and superbly weathered in the plain black LMS goods livery. With Slaters wheels (correct flangless drivers on the centre axle), the front driving axle has hornblocks and guides and is compensated with the centre axle. An ABC motor and gears unit mounted on the fixed rear axle provides the power, and wipers collect the current, it now works very well indeed. Much better than when I received it, even though it had been described by the seller as an excellent performer. Additional weight has also been added to the boiler and firebox to give greater adhesion. I’m happy with it now and it provides something different to my collection.

Highland Railway Jones Loch class 4-4-0 no. 132 Loch Naver

Mick Bayliss My loco collection 7th April 20258th June 2025

Highland Railway Jones Loch class 4-4-0 no. 132 Loch Naver. A very unusual class of model loco to be offered for sale. This lovely model has been built and painted to top quality (provenance of the builder unknown at present) using a kit (probably Lochgorm) as a basis of construction. Slaters wheels and an ABC motor and gear unit, using current collection by the American (my preference) method, which uses the tender wheels to collect from one rail and the loco wheels to collect from the other. The gear unit is positioned on the fixed rear driving axle. The front driving axle has hornblocks and guides and is compensated with the trailing axle of the bogie. Very clever and works well. The kit is not designed like that, so a fair amount of scratch building has gone into this model by the very competent builder. The leading and centre axles of the tender are also compensated together. The trailing axle is fixed. The inside cab detail of the backhead is of a quality that most modellers (including me) can only dream of. I have models in my collection that have been built by names like Geoff Holt and Laurie Griffin. The quality of this model is up there with those names.

LMS Stanier Princess Coronation class Pacific no. 6231 Duchess of Atholl

Mick Bayliss My loco collection 2nd April 20253rd April 2025

LMS Stanier Princess Coronation class Pacific no. 6231 Duchess of Atholl. This model is by Masterpiece Models and was constructed and painted in South Korea with DCC control and sound. The paint finish is second to none, as with all Masterpiece Models. Bought second hand, with a known and obvious chuff fault to the sound. Other faults found after collection were a missing cinder guard and a damaged speedo drive with the drive arm missing completely. The model has since visited my good friend Richard Pogson to fit a new “Zimo MS 950” decoder and loudspeaker. At the same time he has made a superb repair to the speedo drive, along with the correction of various other faults and maintenance issues. This model, after some rough treatment from some of her previous owners, now performs and sounds as good as she looks. Even better sound and maintenance wise than she was when she was new. In my experience, Mr. Pogson is a very good chap to have on your side and I would recommend his work explicitly.