GWR de Glehn compound 4-4-2 no. 102 La France

Mick Bayliss Loco commissions, Locos now sold

GWR de Glehn compound 4-4-2 no. 102 La France. Built from the superb Modern Outline Kit, with Slaters wheels and an ABC motor and gear unit. An existing client commissioned me to build this model for him. However, a colleague at Poachers and model builder himself, Bob Walker, had built one of these kits recently, quite honestly I bottled it and passed the buck onto him. I have no regrets as he has built this challenging kit brilliantly. Warren Haywood’s paintwork has made this into a stunning model, which has been tested with six coaches and just glides around the Poachers test track. I should take some of the credit as I did all of the organising, running around, added the coal in the tender and even put it in the box prior to handover. A very successful team effort!!

The full size locomotive was built in 1903 specifically for G.J.Churchward of the GWR by Société Alsacienne de Constructions Mécaniques for comparison with his own design two cylinder Saint/Scott class Atlantic locomotive Albion. It did not provide any significant improvement in either performance or economy.

La France was repainted into the standard GWR green livery in 1905, rebuilt with the GWR standard no.1 boiler in 1916 and was withdrawn in 1926.

Great Central Railway Robinson 8A (Tiny) class 0-8-0 no. 48

Mick Bayliss Loco commissions, Locos now sold
Great Central Railway Robinson 8A (Tiny) class 0-8-0 no. 48

Great Central Railway Robinson 8A (Tiny) class 0-8-0 no. 48. I am still taking on commissions to build models and this is my latest. Built from the very good, but in some areas very difficult, Gladiator kit, with an RG7 Portescap motor and gear unit and Slaters wheels. Power collection is by my favoured American method, which uses the tender wheels to collect power from one side of the track and the loco wheels from the other, this method avoids the use of plunger pickups, which in my opinion often prove troublesome. The superb GCR fully lined black livery was applied by Warren Haywood.

BR (ex LNER) Gresley V2 class 2-6-2 no. 60860 Durham School

Mick Bayliss Locos now sold
BR (ex LNER) Gresley V2 class 2-6-2 no. 60860 Durham School

BR (ex LNER) Gresley V2 class 2-6-2 no. 60860 Durham School.Built from the Limited Edition DJH kit by John Dunn, and believed to have been very well painted by him also. Powered by the second to none ABC motor and gear unit, with Slaters wheels. Power collection is by the American method, collecting power from one side of the track by the tender wheels, the other via the loco wheels. A mini plug and socket alongside the drawbar makes disconnection of the tender very easy.

BR (ex LNER) Thompson rebuilt J11/3 class 0-6-0 no. 64375

Mick Bayliss Locos now sold
BR (ex LNER) Thompson rebuilt J11/3 class 0-6-0 no. 64375

BR (ER) Thompson rebuilt J11/3 class 0-6-0 no. 64375. Bought from a recent auction. A client had asked me to build him a Pom-pom. This looked to be a good model, and it certainly has prooved to be. I tried to save him some money by buying this with the intention of stripping the paint, improving it where necessary, and having it repainted to his liking. That plan backfired on me, due to my lack of knowledge of Pom-pom’s. He wanted a model circa 1920’s. The J11/3’s were rebuilt by Edward Thompson from the mid 1940’s, with piston valves and the boiler raised by 4″ to accommodate them. So no good for my client. Never mind, I have still stripped the original hand applied paint and repainted it myself to my own liking. I am very pleased. Built from the Gladiator kit. It runs very well indeed, on Slaters wheels with power collection by plunger pickups.

LNER Gresley A3 class 4-6-2 no. 2750 Papyrus.

Mick Bayliss Locos now sold

LNER Gresley A3 class 4-6-2 no. 2750 Papyrus. A Loveless model, obtained recently as part of a swap deal. DCC control with sound. Since purchased the sound has been upgraded to a Zimo MS 950 decoder by Richard Pogson, a vast improvement. The model is in the condition that the real loco ran to 108 m.p.h. Indisputably the first British locomotive to run at more than 100 m.p.h. Regular viewers of these pages might realise that the Gresley A3 class is up there as one of my favourite locomotive classes, whether in LNER green, BR blue, BR green, single chimney, double chimney, smoke deflectors, they always look good to me.

BR (ex LMS) Stanier Princess Coronation class 4-6-2 no. 46232 Duchess of Montrose

Mick Bayliss Locos now sold

BR (exLMS) Stanier Princess Coronation class 4-6-2 no. 46232 Duchess of Montrose. This superb model is by Finescalebrass and as all other imported models that I have been in contact with, it runs very smoothly indeed. Surely painted and lightly weathered by Warren Haywood. I can say from experience that this is not up to the quality of a Masterpiece Duchess. But for value for money, it is well and truly right up there with the fabulous City of Nottingham that I once owned.

Duchess of Montrose will always be a special name for me. I’m sure I am not alone, it was my first Hornby Dublo loco. That company must have sold millions of them.

GWR Collett King class 4-6-0 no. 6019 King Henry V

Mick Bayliss Locos now sold

GWR Collett King class 4-6-0 no. 6019 King Henry V. Professionally built from the superb Malcolm Mitchell kit, with working motion to the inside cylinders, Slaters wheels and a Portescap RG7 motor and gears unit. Current collection is by the American system, where the loco collects from one side of the track and the tender from the other. The drawbar and fallplate are both insulated to prevent short circuits. Well painted and fully lined out in GWR bronze green with “Great Western” in full on the tender and the twin shields emblem of the company between the two words. A recent buy from auction. Not quite in the basket case category, but considerable remedial work has been required to get this model into the lovely condition that you can see here. He now also runs very smoothly and quietly and looks pretty good too.

BR (ex LMS) Royal Scot class 4-6-0 no. 46148 The Manchester Regiment

Mick Bayliss Locos now sold

BR (exLMS) Royal Scot class 4-6-0 no. 46148 The Manchester Regiment. Extremely well built and detailed, from the David Andrews kit by John Taylor of Halifax. AGH (Alan Harris) cast wheels and an ABC motor and gear unit. A very impressive model which I recently found in auction and have been lucky enough to acquire for my collection. When purchased, this model was portrayed as 46156, but at that time I already had a model of rebuilt 46156 and as the paintwork was not up to the quality of the build, I stripped it for a repaint and a new identity and you see the result here, courtesy of Warren Haywood. I must say that this repaint has transformed this well built model to a particularly attractive loco.