BR Britannia class no. 70052 Firth of Tay

Mick Bayliss Loco commissions, Locos now sold
Firth of Tay
BR Britannia class no. 70052 Firth of Tay. Built and painted  by myself from the DJH kit. This was the first model loco that anyone commissioned me to build. Lining transfers by Fox Transfers. My client was to become a very good friend, Stuart Tebbert. He had two DJH Britannia kits at that time and asked me if I would take the second as part payment, to which I agreed. That kit became 70049 Solway Firth, which is part of my collection. Very sadly I had to attend Stuart’s funeral earlier this year. He taught me a lot, (mainly about wheeling and dealing!) and is greatly missed.

LNWR Claughton class no. 1159 Ralph Brocklebank

Mick Bayliss Locos now sold
LNWR Claughton class no. 1159 Ralph Brocklebank
Ralph Brocklebank
LNWR Claughton class no. 1159 Ralph Brocklebank. Built and basically painted by myself from the David Andrews. At a later date, I had the model expertly lined out for me by John Cockcroft. In addition, also in the photo is LNWR George V class Perseus. This model, one of my early built, painted and lined (using P.C. transfers) jobs, is from the excellent value for money Javelin kit. I sold Perseus to the late Mr. Les Hargreaves of Derby around 15 years ago. Les, for a long time was the secretary of the East Midlands O gauge group,  The photos were taken on the LNWR shed scene layout of Mr. Simon Fountain. At the time, whilst the layout was on display at the Crewe Works open day in 2005, Simon was secretary of the London & North Western Railway Society.

The whereabouts of one of the original nameplates from Ralph Brocklebank is known to be held by the LNWR Society. The other was sold at an Adam Partridge auction in Liverpool in 2015 at a hammer price of £6,600. Consequently, the buyer then seems to have turned it round to the Great Central Railwayana Auction at Stoneleigh on the 10th March 2018 where it realised £8,800.

The original locomotive was part of the Claughton class designed by Charles Bowen Cooke and introduced in 1913. It became famous for two magnificent trial runs, made over the LNWR main line in 1914. Showing what the design was really capable of, it set new standards of power for British express locomotives. A maximum indicated horsepower of 1669 at 69 mph was recorded just above Tebay on the climb to Shap with the maximum permitted load of 360 tons.

LNER (ex NBR) D32 class no. 9887

Mick Bayliss Loco commissions, Locos now sold
LNER 9887.
 LNER (ex NBR) D32 class no. 9887. Built and painted (unlined) by myself on commission from the Majestic Models kit, with Portescap motor and gears unit and american pick-ups. Lining added using a bow-pen by John Cockcroft.

The Majestic Models proprietor and designer of this excellent kit, the late George Dawson, was a smashing chap. After I had bought my first kit, a Connoisseur J71 tank,  from him in 1990, he became a very good friend. To say that he taught me loads about building O gauge models, is a massive understatement.

BR Standard 9F class 2-10-0 no. 92018

Mick Bayliss My loco collection
BR Standard 9F class 2-10-0 no. 92018
92018
BR 9F class 2-10-0 no. 92018. Built and painted from the DJH kit by the late Graham Jaques and weathered by Pete Brinded. The full size locos of this class, designed by Robert Riddles, were the final standard steam locomotives built for British Railways. Knicknamed “spaceships” because of the daylight visible above the wheels and below the boiler, these very impressive locos were regarded by many as the best steam locos ever built. Some of which only had an operational life of less than five years.

BR (ER) A4 class no. 60017 Silver Fox

Mick Bayliss Locos now sold
BR (ER) A4 class no. 60017 Silver Fox
Silver Fox
BR (ER) A4 class no. 60017 Silver Fox. This is a DJH PIERCY No.1 Shop Custom Built model. Bought second hand with sellotape damaged paint to the left side of the tender. Rather than try to repair the tender by trying to match the paint finish, the difficult decision was made to strip the full loco body and tender of the factory applied paint and Warren Haywood has now given her a fresh coat. I must say that these DJH No.1 Shop models http://www.djhmodelloco.co.uk/djh-no-1-ready-to-run/ have a fabulous build quality, better than anything else that I have ever possessed. But in my opinion the paint and lining colours are not as accurate for a model as those used by Messrs Haywood, Brackenborough, Rathbone and the like. This model has now the best of both worlds and is the finest kit built model in my collection, no doubt. I just wish that I could lay claim to have built it.

I have vivid memories of Silver Fox at Peterborough North in steam days. She was on station pilot duties, facing south,  very clean and awaiting a diesel failure. These were the days after Top Shed had closed and some of the fleet of top link steam locos had been reallocated to New England shed. She looked fabulous that day and to think, as we now know, that she was only weeks away from scrapping is beyond belief. But that was British Railways in the sixties for you, the elimination of steam at all cost. Memories of days like that helped to formulate in my tiny mind an interest in railways, as a hobby and a profession, that has stayed with me ever since.

Small Prairie no. 4519

Mick Bayliss Locos now sold
Small Prairie no. 4519
Small Prairie 4519
GWR 45xx Class no. 4519. Malcolm Mitchell kit, bought ready built and basically painted from the Reading bring & buy ten years ago and has been a regular performer at the Poachers test track. Recently stripped of original paint by myself and re-painted and lightly weathered by Warren Haywood. This lovely little loco is powered by a top quality multi-stage gearbox by Ron Chaplin, with a Canon motor and a small flywheel. The models adhesion is very good. All driving axles have axle boxes and guides without springs. On my test track, which has curves of only 5′-5″ radius, I have a rake of six Lionheart coaches for testing locos with and it can pull those easily, more if required, I’m sure. This model is for sale. Please see the models for sale page of this website for more details.