Locos now sold

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.

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?

North British Railway Reid class A 0-6-2T no. 386

Mick Bayliss Locos now sold

A recent auction buy and addition to my collection of pre-grouping liveried locos. Superbly built from the very good 62C Models kit, a quote from their website reads “George Dawson kindly agreed to do the artwork for the etches and the equally highly acclaimed Pete Westwater has made the patterns for the whitemetal components”. Beautifully painted, probably by Paul Moore (if you read this let me know please Paul). These locos were built by the North British Locomotive Company Ltd. in Glasgow. Number 386, (NBL 19165 of 1910), became no. 9386 of class N15 when the NBR became the LNER, and 69132 in BR days. George Dawson (now sadly deceased) was the proprietor of Majestic Models and he specialised in preparing the artwork for locos of the NBR. I first met George in 1989, when I bought a Connoisseur Models J71 class tank kit from him. That day was the start for me of my O gauge modelling journey. He became a great friend and I owe him for more model building knowledge than anyone else.

Great Central Railway Robinson 8K class 2-8-0 no. 102

Mick Bayliss Locos now sold

Great Central Railway Robinson 8K class 2-8-0 no. 102. Built using the Gladiator kit as a basis, by Colin Garton of Lincoln, a model engineer of the highest calibre. This model features additional chassis improvements of a heavy machined brass frame spacer above the trailing drivers, and tender wheel wiper current collection to supplement the usual plunger pickups on the loco driving wheels, all added by Colin. painted by Conrad Cooper and signed on the underside “painting by C.L.Cooper” as provenance.