7mm locos by Simon Dobson

These locos are part of my kitbuilt collection of O gauge finescale GWR in the 'early 1930s, i.e. before the shirt button, though I am fairly broad-minded – anything from about 1930 to about 1934 is ok.

42xx 2-8-0T
Warren Shephard kit, Crailcrest motor, Slater's wheels, Premier rods, Zimo decoder. Fully compensated. Built, painted and weathered by myself. Scale weight about 120 tons (should be about 90!) and would pull a house down. Photographed on my pal Ken Stansfield's layout of Swanage.

47xx Class 2-8-0 4704
Martin Finney kit, Portescap, Slaters wheels, Lenz decoder. Built, painted and (lightly) weathered by myself. Compensated per the kit instructions. Originally difficult to get around Peco points, (especially a crossover) but now does so with ease. Runs well, looks great on a Summer Saturday Special! Seen here on Ken Stansfield's layout.

1366 Class 0-6-0PT 1366
CRT kit – with as much or more scratchbuilt because the kit was "perhaps not as good as it could be" (you may translate this into a more current form of English if you wish!). ABC gearbox with Mashima 1612, and fully sprung. SD mouldings crew, Slaters wheels, Premier rods, Zimo chip. The motor is tiny but it will pull the boat train to Weymouth quay with ease (8 Mk1 coaches) albeit slowly! Again, built by yours truly, but in ex-works condition, as there is a photo in one of the GW loco albums of the original loco in mint condition, presumably just finished, outside Swindon – I thought one glossy loco would be interesting!

1366 is seen on my layout, 'East Quay' (otherwise known as the Greater Windowledge Railway!) outside the Metcalfe Goods Shed – which I rate as good value if you are prepared to accept the inevitable generic-ness of such a kit. The layout is really only a shunting puzzle, and test track, all in one, and whilst the track is down and ballasted, and there are bits of 'scenery' around, the ground cover is not done yet.