Author: Mick Bayliss

GWR Churchward Saint class 4-6-0 no. 2908 Lady of Quality

Mick Bayliss My loco collection

GWR Churchward Saint class 4-6-0 no. 2908 Lady of Quality. Built from the DJH Piercy kit, with a chain drive gear unit, Slaters wheels and plunger pickups to the driving wheels and (belt and braces) wiper pickups to the tender wheels. Since the kit was released some years ago I had admired the good looks of the loco and quality of the kit, so when a part built kit appeared on Ebay at a reasonable price I bought it, tender ready built, Severnmill “Lady of Quality” nameplates included. I have now recently had Bob Walker, of the Poachers group, to complete the build for me, and what a good job he has made of it. Superb painting by Warren Haywood adds the finishing touch. The full size Lady of Quality circa 1935, was one of the early Saints with lever reverse and stepped frames at the cab end. Bob has modified the standard kit to incorporate these unusual features superbly.

Midland Railway Deeley class 4P 4-4-0 no. 1035

Mick Bayliss My loco collection

Midland Railway Deeley class 4P 4-4-0 no. 1035. A recent Ebay find. Built from scratch with superb fully working inside motion. No provenance as to the builder but he certainly knew how to make a good model. I had it running at the recent Poachers running session and it performed without fault with my rake of five of Bernard Miller’s Midland bogie coaches. However, the livery is not perfect. The lining on the wheels is worn in places, the cylinders have lost their lining transfers and the numbers on the tender are dull. The crimson lake of the livery is a lovely deep colour and is smooth with no imperfections, (again no provenance of the painter). With more TLC and as time permits this impressive model has the potential to rise to another level of quality.

Unusually, this is a model of one of the few Midland Compounds that were built with shallow frames. Henry Fowler didn’t like those and had them all rebuilt with the deeper frames of the LMS compounds. Most models of this class are built from kits, which as far as I know, all have the deeper frames.

LNER (ex GNR) Ivatt class D2 4-4-0 no. 4390

Mick Bayliss My loco collection

LNER (ex Great Northern Railway) Ivatt class D2 4-4-0 no. 4390. Going back around 30 years to my early days of 7mm modelling, I joined the East Midlands O gauge group. In those days and with thanks to Nelson Keen and Les Hargreaves, we had test track running sessions at Silverdale in Nottingham (we still do), Nuthall and Willington Power Station. One member that I remember well, because he always ran lovely models, was a chap by the name of Tony Evans (now sadly deceased, I’m sure) and one of those models was an LNER D2. I am now lucky enough to own that model. Built from scratch with superb inside motion by Peter Everton, (his builders plate “Peter Everton Wickersley Made in England” is on the underside as provenance) and undoubtedly painted by Alan Brackenborough. “J.A.Evans” is also painted on the underside of the loco and tender. A top quality model with cast iron provenance and personal history to boot. It has been around the houses quite a bit, two other owners at least as I know of, but she is still in superb condition with no build defects and just a small paint defect, virtually unnoticeable on top of the running plate left side.

BR (ex LMS) Stanier class 5MT 4-6-0 no. 45353

Mick Bayliss Model for sale, My loco collection

BR (ex LMS) Stanier class 5MT 4-6-0 no. 45353. Very well built from the Javelin kit with Staters wheels and an ABC motor and gear unit and wiper pickups. Accurately painted in the livery that many black 5’s went into after nationisation of the British railways in the late 1940’s early 50’s and before the lovely LNWR style lining was applied on first repaint. Beautifully and skillfully weathered. No provenance of builder/painter/weatherer is known unfortunately. The O gauge finescale fraternity owe David Andrews for a great many quality locomotive kits. Many people wouldn’t realize that he designed the models that formed the original Gladiator range of kits and was joined by Alan Bullock, who later developed the Javelin range, the kits in which were also designed by David. At about the same time David sold the Gladiator range to Geoff Stratford, who continued to develop that range before selling it to the present owners Trisha and Dave Hill. David then concentrated on designing his new range of “David Andrews Locomotive kits”, until his retirement some years ago.

BR (ex LMS) rebuilt Royal Scot class 4-6-0 no. 46160 Queen Victoria’s Rifleman

Mick Bayliss Locos now sold
BR (ex LMS) rebuilt Royal Scot class 4-6-0 no. 46160 Queen Victoria’s Rifleman
BR (ex LMS) Royal Scot class 4-6-0 no. 46160 Queen Victoria’s Rifleman. I was offered this model, together with a Britannia, both in a part built/unfinished condition that was in need of a lot of clean up work, (there must be hundreds of similar build attempts sitting in cupboards or wardrobes around the country), at a very reasonable monetary cost. My challenge was to get them both completed to a working condition and to a standard fit to offer on this website. Here is the Royal Scot, (the Britannia awaits his turn on the back burner for now). Built from the (in my opinion) difficult but very well detailed College Models kit, with Slaters wheels. I have fitted an ABC motor and gear unit and current collection by plunger pickups bringing the model to a good working condition. The amount of detail on this model, all soldered, is superb, eg look at the AWS conduit clipped along the edge of the running plate and the detail of the sanders. Both areas where most modellers economise on the level of detail. Now completed with a Warren Haywood superb quality paint and weathering finish, the model is available to be offered at a price that reflects its original cost to me.

BR (ex War Department) Stanier class 8F 2-8-0 no. 48774

Mick Bayliss Model for sale, My loco collection

BR (ex War Department) Stanier class 8F 2-8-0 no. 48774. A top quality model in all departments. Kit – David Andrews. Build quality – superb. Motor/gears – ABC. Power collection – American method. Paint quality – superb with red inside frames. Weathering quality – astonishing. Good looks – judge for yourself. Performance – very good. If I had the ability to produce this model myself (I wish) I wouldn’t have done it any differently. Bought from an auction (risky) and I cannot fault it. Even the slightly drunken lamp irons at the front are now standing to attention. Strange how I need to see photographs before spotting slight anomalies like that.

LNER Gresley A4 class 4-6-2 no. 7 Sir Nigel Gresley

Mick Bayliss Loco commissions, Locos now sold

LNER Gresley A4 class 4-6-2 no. 7 Sir Nigel Gresley.

This is the second of my A4 restoration projects. “Kingfisher” is already elsewhere in these pages and another, (with skirts), is on the back burner awaiting its turn. I bought the three original models (all from Martin Finney kits) around the same time and they were in varying degrees of condition. One (Lord Farringdon) had been dropped and the resin body shell was seriously broken, but otherwise good and to scale 7 standards. I then found in an auction in Huddersfield a job lot of A4 parts. Again all Martin Finney. Two resin bodies and two tenders (both corridor type) included in the job lot. So I then had the parts to get on with “Project three Streaks”.

As I said earlier Sir Nigel here is the second and has turned out very well. It was originally “Merlin”. Bought from auction, in well built, but care worn condition, with a slightly damaged tender. An existing client of mine heard about my three streaks project and asked if one of them could be made into an LNER garter blue without skirts, and this is the result. Now with a new identity and a Huddersfield tender. Paintwork is by Warren Haywood. At a cost to him of roughly 50% of a Finney7 professional build and paint, I’m hopeful that my client will be as pleased with it as I am.

BR (ex LNER) Gresley double chimney A4 class no. 60024 Kingfisher

Mick Bayliss Locos now sold

BR Scottish Region (ex LNER) Gresley double chimney A4 class no. 60024 Kingfisher. Built from the Martin Finney kit, with an ABC motor and gears and current collection by plunger pickups. Builder unknown (now deceased) who was a good builder, but didn’t have a clue how to finish off a top quality model to look at its best. Bought last year from Ebay as Golden Fleece, in good working condition, but looking very sad indeed. I have now stripped the original paint, made the necessary repairs and improvements and given her a new identity with Severnmill nameplates, all with the help of Warren Haywood, who has made a superb job of the painting and light weathering. Modelled in the condition as transferred to Aberdeen Ferryhill shed in 1965 for use on the 3 hour expresses to Glasgow, which extended her working life for 18 months until withdrawal in September 1966 and ultimate sale for scrap.

BR (ex LMS) Fowler Patriot class 4-6-0 no. 45511 Isle of Man

Mick Bayliss Locos now sold

A lovely model of top quality. Built from the David Andrews kit by Dave Murdoch, with Slaters wheels and an ABC gear and motor unit, with power collection by plunger pickups. I obtained this model as part of a swap deal. It was well painted in LMS crimson lake livery as Private W. Wood V.C., but whether it was that I have many lovely models already in that livery, or whether it was because the “LMS” on the tender had been positioned offset to avoid rivets, it just didn’t cut it with me. So rather than just move it on again, and because it was a very well built model, I decided to have it stripped and repainted, with a new identity, by Warren Haywood. “Isle of Man” was the only unrebuilt Patriot that I spotted in use, (most others were in store by this time), on the ex Midland line at Thurmaston. I am very pleased with the result and it reminds me of happy times.

BR Peppercorn A2 class 4-6-2 no. 60529 Pearl Diver

Mick Bayliss Locos now sold
BR Peppercorn A2 class 4-6-2 no. 60529 Pearl Diver
BR Peppercorn A2 class 4-6-2 no. 60529 Pearl Diver. A DJH model, builder unknown, with a Slaters GB30R-3M spur drive gear unit and plunger pickups. A recent purchase from Ebay(risky)/Rails of Sheffield(very risky). They were selling it “cheap” because the return crank on one side had become adrift and the motion damaged. That alone is not a serious problem to me, but on arrival by Royal Mail, more damage was visible to a smoke deflector, again not serious. I didn’t like the original weathering. The long and short of it is, it was horrible. I considered sending it back as damaged, but a Peppercorn A2 is a rare beast and the opportunity arose to show it to Warren Haywood, worts and all. He told me to keep it, repair it, strip it and he would repaint it. “It’ll be alright”. Judge for yourself?