Locos now sold

Glasgow & South Western Railway Manson 381 class 4-6-0 no. 386

Mick Bayliss Locos now sold

This lovely and very unusual model was built from scratch by the famous Ian Middleditch. Famous because he has won the Gauge O Guild Chairmans trophy for scratch-built models, more times than I have had hot dinners. So he must he good. Built from Nickel silver, with Slaters wheels, a Slaters GB30R-3M motor and gear unit and with power collection by plunger pickups on the loco and with wipers on the bogie tender for good measure. Originally painted by Ian and part of the David Thompson collection. But that paintwork had become scratched, so now stripped, refurbished with the Slaters motor unit, and the new paintwork is by Warren Haywood. At the lack of suitable transfers, he has hand painted the numbers and tender lettering. True artistry.

BR (ex LNER) Gresley rebuild of the Holden B12 class no. 61570

Mick Bayliss Locos now sold
BR (ex LNER) Gresley rebuild of the Holden B12 class no. 61570. This refurbished model was originally very well built from the superb Connoisseur Models kit, with a noisy (read on) motor and gear unit, Slaters wheels (centre drivers are flangeless, which should help the model to negotiate tighter curves) and power collection by plunger pickups on loco and tender. This model was a recent and risky on-line auction buy. To be honest, not that risky for me really, as I had previously bought another model from this seller, so I was already aware of the very good build quality of the models that he was selling, on behalf of the widow of a deceased friend of his. Not too far for me to travel to collect either, which reduced the risk even more, as not needing to use the postal service. Now stripped of original paint, refurbished where necessary, an ABC motor and gear unit replacing the noisy one, a top quality repaint, light weathering and a new identity by Warren Haywood, doesn’t she look good?

BR (ex SECR) Wainwright C class 0-6-0 no. 31575

Mick Bayliss Locos now sold

A lovely model, recently bought from auction in an unfinished plain black livery. The quality of this model was so good, all that I have needed to do to it has been to strip the original paint, repaint it and add transfers. No remedial work and no repairs required. The level of detail is so good that I now regret not having it professionally repainted into the fully lined SECR green livery, polished dome and all. In fact it wouldn’t be too much trouble to strip my new paint that you see here and still have that fabulous livery applied by Warren Haywood…..food for thought. Portescap RG7 motor and gear unit, Slaters wheels, wiper pickups on loco and tender, all make this loco a very smooth and powerful performer. An H class tank, of the same quality, was also acquired at the same time as this C class. It has already been stripped and will be professionally repainted as 31518 at the request of a friend who has reserved it.

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.