Walter West passed away approximately two years ago and this category has been created to showcase his models that have been through my workshop, for servicing, restoration, or completion, prior to the sale of twelve of them.
For fifty years, between the mid-1950’s and circa 2005, he built O gauge model locomotives from scratch, the first, a J11 pom-pom, in coarse scale, then all in finescale, until the last in scaleseven. The chassis of every model being very fine examples of engineering in miniature. In the main, the locos are from the constituent companies of the LNER.
He was for many years a close family friend of that master craftsman Bernard Miller, who built and painted models for famous layouts of Stanley Norris, Neil Corner and David Jenkinson. I am sure that Wally was greatly inspired by Bernard. Model making ideas and techniques passed from one to another, throughout their friendship. Jack Ray wrote in the March 1992 Gauge O Guild Gazette “No transfers were ever used by Bernard, every letter and numeral being done by hand – and shaded!” https://www.gaugeoguild.com/secured/gazette_archive/Vol11-10//offline/download.pdf
On checking with an eyeglass the crests and lettering on some of the earlier models have indeed been painted by hand. In fact an invoice from Bernard to Wally dated 18th Sept. 1970 for the painting of “Yorkshire” has been found, confirming that Wally used him to paint his locos, until Bernard sadly and inconveniently passed away in 1980.
Wally was also very good friends with the other “Wally”, Mayhew. Much correspondence has been found from Mayhew to West and it is obvious that friendly competitiveness took place with Wally West building a GER Claud (Mayhew’s territory) and Wally Mayhew building a GCR Fish engine.
In later years it is a known fact that Alan Brackenborough was his painter of choice, painting for him the Claud, one of the GCR Fish engines, the NER A class, Sprotborough, Aberconwy and the two Tennants.
Having been asked by the family of Wally, to try to find buyers for many of his model locos, they are generally of such fabulous quality, it has not been a difficult task. All of Wally’s model locos on this site have been built using wheels turned from good quality castings, older models probably by Miller, Swan & Co. and the later ones since Bernard’s passing, probably by Alan Harris (AGH). The split axles and insulated spacers between the frames allow power to be collected, usually from the tender wheels, via sprung plungers mounted on the front face of the tender at drawbar level. When the tender is coupled these make contact with insulated faces on the back of the loco. the power is then simply wired to the motor. These sprung plungers also double up as tender buffers……what a great idea that is? 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. All of these models are now in fully working condition. At least five are over 50 years old, proving that Wally built his model locomotives to last.
Caledonain Railway 766 class (Dunalastair II) 4-4-0 no. 780. Built from scratch by Wally West circa 1978 using a John Hart RM (short) type motor and wheels turned from extremely good castings, probably by Miller, Swan & Co. This model is unusual for Wally as it does not rely on the tender to collect it’s power, perhaps because it is a bogie tender? Well painted by Bernard Miller in the Caledonian Railway fully lined passenger blue livery. The “CR” initials on the tender have been expertly painted by hand.
LNER Gresley A1 class Pacific no. 1470N Great Northern. 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 Great Northern (and his twin brother Robert the Devil, who appears on a separate posting on this site) were left unfinished until in early 2020, when I was commissioned by Wally’s family to complete the models. 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. I am very proud to have completed the model to a standard worthy of the builder and honoured to have this fabulous model as part of my collection.
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 Robert the Devil (and his twin brother Great Northern, who will be appearing on this site very soon) were left unfinished until in early 2020, when I was commissioned by Wally’s family to complete the models. 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. This model is now in the possession of Wally’s daughter Jane, as a memento of her father’s modelling skills.
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.
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.
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. 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 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. 1463. Built circa 2005, from scratch with fully working inside motion, by Walter (Wally) West using wheels turned from castings by Alan Harris (AGH). The split axles and insulated spacers between the frames allow power to be collected from the tender wheels, via sprung plungers mounted on the front face of the tender, connecting with contact faces on the back of the loco. The plungers also double up as tender buffers. 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 in fully lined North Eastern Railway passenger livery by Alan Brackenborough. This model also features very fine cab interior detail, is powered by a Portescap motor/gear unit and is in superb (virtually unused) working condition. A superbly built and painted model in every respect.
GER S46 (Claud Hamilton) Class 4-4-0 no. 1885. Built in the mid 1980’s from scratch by Walter (Wally) West using a John Hart RM (short) type motor no. 1352 and wheels turned from extremely good castings, probably by Alan Harris (AGH). The split axles and insulated spacers between the frames allow power to be collected from the tender wheels, via sprung plungers mounted on the front face of the tender, connecting with contact faces on the back of the loco. 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. Superbly painted by Alan Brackenborough in 1986 at a cost of £100, in the GER fully lined passenger livery.
