Fact: Here's my very first white metal kit in the form of a Wills LSWR G6. I recall at the time buying a Wrenn SECR R1 0-6-0 for the chassis. In 1979 when I built this kit, the missing centre flange on the heavy duty chassis was reasonably acceptable, with many ready to run steam locos from UK manufacturers featuring such.
31 one years on and the loco still runs very well, albeit with a nice ozone aroma. I do have to be selective about what track it runs on, with Peco and SMP being fine. C + L with its more pronounced chair detail is an issue. At some stage I might replace the heavy wheels with some Romfords - I've been saying that for the last 25 years though.....Combwich, the layout used as a backdrop here was started at around the same time that this loco was built, to me though it still sort of feels like a new layout, though some of the techniques like blobs of solder to depict rail chairs has been surpassed to some degree. The dash here and there with the Noch Grasmaster is a good way to bring the scenic aspect of older layouts back up to date easily.