LNER Gresley A1 class Pacific no. 4479 Robert the Devil

Mick Bayliss Wally West scratchbuilt locos
LNER Gresley A1 class Pacific no. 4479 Robert the Devil
Robert the Devil
LNER Gresley A1 class Pacific no. 4479 Robert the Devil. Built (to 95% completion) from scratch by Walter (Wally) West circa 1980’s using driving wheel castings by Alan Harris and a massive Pittman gear and motor unit. For a reason unknown it was left unfinished, until in early 2020 I was asked and commissioned by his family to complete the model. This entailed, in the main, the soldered assembly of cab parts and the fitting of all handrails on the boiler, cab and tender. It also entailed the preparation of the model for final painting by Warren Haywood.

RSH 0-6-0ST Aberconway

Mick Bayliss Wally West scratchbuilt locos
RSH 0-6-0ST Aberconway
Aberconway, built from scratch with fully working inside motion, circa late 1990’s by Walter (Wally) West using wheels turned from good quality castings. The split axles and insulated spacers between the frames allow power to be collected through the non-insulated wheels and the frames to the JH motor and a double reduction gear unit. All brake blocks are made from non conductive material to eliminate shorting across the brake rigging. All loco axles have sprung hornblocks. Superbly painted in fully lined green livery by Alan Brackenborough. The detail of the hand applied lining in particular should be admired. A superbly built and painted model in every respect. The full size locomotive, which Wally fired as a lad, was a Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns 0-6-0ST no. 6942 of 1938 and worked at Cadeby colliery near Doncaster. She was scrapped in late 1963. I have had the model working with my rake of 20 mineral wagons and brake van. She has a modest top speed which is perfect for the job and would certainly pull twice that load, quietly and with no fuss.

BR(SR) N15 class 4-6-0 no. 30788 Sir Urre of the Mount

Mick Bayliss Loco commissions
BR(SR) N15 class 4-6-0 no. 30788 Sir Urre of the Mount
30788 Sir Urre of the Mount
BR(SR) N15 class 4-6-0 no. 30788 Sir Urre of the Mount.

Built from the Gladiator kit, which was originally designed by Adrian Rowland under the North Star Design label. I started building this model on the 11th November 2019 and finished it on April 30th, taking 131 hours. It has been built with sprung hornblocks on the first and second axles, otherwise straight from the box, with Slaters wheels and an ABC motor/gears unit. He will soon be with Warren Hayward for painting into BR green livery.

During the final stages of the build I got myself into a spot of bother with the left side motion. Throughout each stage of the build I had kept ensuring that there were no tight spots, with the coupling rods, then with the slide bars and crossheads, as any experienced builder does. Then when it came to the Walchearts valve gear. I built up each set exactly the same, (other than opposite hand of course) and fitted the right side first with no problems or tight spots. But when it came to the left side, something was wrong, too tight when the crosshead was at it’s end of the stroke on the slidebars. It took me some time to find the problem. As the right side had gone together so well, it couldn’t be a fault with the etches and I checked each side was built exactly the same. I can only put the cause down to tolerances (there is always a plus or minus tolerance on the location of everything) stacking-up all one way, needing the crosshead link to be extended by 1.5mm. All’s well now and he runs very smoothly.

When this kit was originally released, I was in the market to buy a King Arthur to build for myself and had a choice between the Modern Outline Kit and the North Star Design. I chose the MOK and enjoyed building it and have never regretted it. So when asked to build this on commission I looked forward to making the comparison. I can now advise that the MOK is a superior product, but is a good deal more expensive to buy. Sir Urre of the Mount here has built into a very nice model and I would say is good value for money. You pays yer money and makes yer choice.

BR Britannia class 4-6-2 no. 70006 Robert Burns

Mick Bayliss My loco collection
BR Britannia class 4-6-2 no. 70006 Robert Burns
Robert Burns
BR Britannia class 4-6-2 no. 70006 Robert Burns. A Masterpiece model loco, obtained in a swap deal, second hand and with only very minor repairs needed, otherwise mint condition. Switchable DC/DCC and sound. Truly amazing detail and surprisingly robust. I have photographic evidence that I spotted the original loco heading south on a goods train, at the signals at Syston North Junction, waiting to go round the sharp curve towards Melton Mowbray in 1966. Admittedly she was without nameplates and didn’t look as clean as depicted in the model, but still great memories.

Hawthorn Leslie 0-6-0ST Sprotborough

Mick Bayliss Wally West scratchbuilt locos
Sprotborough, built from scratch with fully working inside motion, circa late 1990’s by Walter (Wally) West using wheels turned from good quality castings. The split axles and insulated spacers between the frames allow power to be collected through the non-insulated wheels and the frames to the JH motor and a double reduction gear unit. All brake blocks are made from non conductive material to eliminate shorting across the brake rigging. All loco axles have sprung hornblocks. Superbly painted in fully lined green livery by Alan Brackenborough. The detail of the hand applied lining in particular should be admired. A superbly built and painted model in every respect. The full size locomotive, which Wally fired as a lad, was a Hawthorn Leslie 0-6-0ST no. 3658 of 1926 and worked at Cadeby colliery near Doncaster. She was scrapped in June 1966. I have had the model working with my rake of 20 mineral wagons and brake van. She has a modest top speed which is perfect for the job and would certainly pull twice that load, quietly and with no fuss.

North Eastern Railway W class 4-6-2T (Whitby Tank) no. 688

Mick Bayliss Loco commissions
North Eastern Railway W class 4-6-2T (Whitby Tank) no. 688
Whitby Tank no. 688
North Eastern Railway class W 4-6-2T no. 688. Built predominantly from a spare set of nickel silver etchings from Nick Dunhill, but as is always the case, a fair amount of the build had to be from scratch. Most lost wax castings are from the Laurie Griffin range, including the representation of static inside motion. Wheels are Slaters and the motor and gearbox unit are from ABC. The lovely paintwork, with lining by bowpen, has been expertly applied by John Cockcroft. Number plates by Diane Carney. The etches were collected from Nick at Kettering 2019, work started on the 28th May 2019 and was completed on the 10th February 2020, with 125 hours booked for the build, exclusive of painting.

LNER (ex NER) J72 class 0-6-0T no. 524

Mick Bayliss Wally West scratchbuilt locos
LNER (ex NER) J72 class 0-6-0T no. 524

LNER (ex NER) J72 class 0-6-0T no. 524. Built circa 1966 by Walter (Wally) West using wheels turned from good quality castings, probably by Miller, Swan & Co. The split axles and insulated spacers between the frames allow power to be collected through the non-insulated wheels and frames to the Pittman type motor and gears. All brake blocks are made from non conductive material to eliminate shorting across the brake rigging. All loco axles have sprung hornblocks. Originally painted by brush, believed by Wally Mayhew, in fully lined LNER black livery. This lovely little model has seen some use, but still works well and is shown on Arthur Dewar’s layout in Jack Ray’s book ‘Model Railways and their builders’ published by Atlantic Press. The original care worn paintwork has now been stripped by myself and been repainted exactly as it was by John Cockcroft, at the request of the West family.

Midland Railway 0-4-4T passenger tank no. 1832

Mick Bayliss Wally West scratchbuilt locos
Midland Railway 0-4-4T passenger tank no. 1832

Midland Railway 0-4-4T passenger tank no. 1832. Built circa early 1970’s by Walter (Wally) West using a set of pantograph milled parts produced by Ron Spiers and wheels turned from very good castings, probably by Miller, Swan & Co. The split axles and insulated spacers between the frames allow power to be collected through the non-insulated wheels and frames to the John Hart RM type motor no. 1048. All brake blocks are made from non conductive material to eliminate shorting across the brake rigging. All loco axles have sprung hornblocks. Superbly painted in fully lined Midland Railway passenger livery by Bernard Miller.

LNER D49 (Hunt) class no. 366 The Oakley

Mick Bayliss Wally West scratchbuilt locos
LNER D49 (Hunt) class no. 366 The Oakley

366 The Oakley
LNER D49 (Hunt) Class 4-4-0 no. 366 The Oakley. Built circa early-sixties from scratch by Walter (Wally) West using non-insulated wheels turned from good quality castings, probably by Miller, Swan & Co. The split axles and insulated spacers between the frames allow power to be collected from the tender wheels and transferred to the loco via strong springs, which also represent water hoses under the fallplate. The motor and 12:1 gears are of the short Bonds type. Power is also collected by plunger pick-ups on the driving wheels. 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. Painted by Wally Mayhew in fully lined LNER passenger green livery. This model has had a hard life, but still works well and is shown in use on Arthur Dewar’s layout in Jack Ray’s book ‘Model Railways and their builders’ published by Atlantic Press.

North Eastern Railway Tennant 2-4-0 no. 1477

Mick Bayliss My loco collection
North Eastern Railway Tennant 2-4-0 no. 1477

North Eastern Railway Tennant 2-4-0 no. 1477. Expertly scratch built and painted (circa late 1950’s) by Bernard Miller with hand painted lettering and numerals in the fully lined NER passenger green livery. Built with very fine quality cast wheels and a John Hart RM (short) type motor no. 862. She collects power from the tender wheels and from plunger pick-ups on the loco. A belt and braces job and there is nothing wrong with that. This model was built for the famous layout of Stanley Norris and featured in the Model Railway News magazine of February 1960 and in the Railway Modeller magazine of January 1971 when on a visit to Wally Mayhew’s Stanley to Stratford St. Andrew layout.

On Bernard’s passing in 1980 she was obtained by Arthur Dewar and is shown on Arthur’s layout in Jack Ray’s book ‘Model Railways and their builders’ published by Atlantic Press. She also featured in the Gauge O Guild Gazette on Arthur’s layout (see page 338 of the link at the bottom of this page). On Arthur’s death she passed onto Wally West and as part of his collection she has now found her way into my collection.

When obtained, her paintwork had deteriorated with age, the black paint on the outside frames in particular had become unstable and had worn away completely in places. Fortunately, most of the green areas have survived well. I have now had Bernard’s paint restored by the museum conservator John Cockcroft, who has managed to preserve the hand painted numbers and lettering. I must say that he has made a superb job of it. A powerful loco, I have had her pulling eight coaches with ease. A good load for a 2-4-0.

https://www.gaugeoguild.com/secured/gazette_archive/Vol11-10//offline/download.pdf