History

Even as a small boy I was interested in “0” gauge trains. Small nursery sets were followed by Hornby trains instigated by my father who had much better trains kept safely in a cupboard, but which came out on occasional Sunday afternoons when a track was laid out on the living room floor.

As we grew my brothers and I spent many happy summer holidays playing trains on the lawn with a growing collection of second hand trains.

In the mid sixties I read “Model Railways 1900 to 1939 by Hamilton Ellis”. Suddenly I discovered there were more trains out there than just Hornby.

Leaving school and getting a job meant I had “disposable income”. I collected trains when and where ever I could find them and built up quite a large collection.

One wife, 4 children and a mortgage meant that toy trains not only had to take a back seat but at times even had to go. But children grow up and mortgages get paid and doors open, so the opportunity arose to make tin plate trains.
A number of things combined to make this possible, most importantly a supply of castings to my patterns at a sensible price and the sourcing of a good quality motor gearbox assembly.

The first choice of loco was a Johnson 4-2-2 “Spinner” for the Midland Railway. Why? Firstly, I’ve always liked the prototype. Secondly, which collector doesn’t want a Bing version and many can’t afford one. Thirdly, outside frames and no coupling rods make a simple chassis. Fourthly, the last generation of express locos have been well covered by Ace and Bassett Lowke in recent years.

This first choice has dictated what other models we have chosen. The Caledonian 123 is a fairly obvious choice. A famous loco, preserved and not previously modelled in commercial tin plate. Although Tri-angs “00” version is still popular with collectors.

The LNWR Bloomer although still a single wheeler is completely different and I don’t know that any loco’s from the mid 19th century have ever been modelled in tin plate.

What of the future, extending the range of figures crafted by my specialist team is planned and there is still plenty of “single wheelers” to model; the Ivatt 4-2-2 from the GNR and the Dean Single from the GWR are but two examples of a whole range of loco’s going all the way back to Stephenson Rocket.

Some suitable rolling stock would also go well with this range of classic loco’s, but there is no reason why any loco should not be considered, from the humblest shunting engine to the biggest express. From Puffing Billy to Evening Star. Although persuading Evening Star round 2ft radius curves might be a challenge.