Powering Along the Mainline

120419_Midland2P_DSC_3840_BW, a photo by nevardmedia on Flickr.

It's a misty October morning in 1957, as and LMS 2P 4-4-0 is captured powering along the Midland Mainline a few miles south of Ambergate (location suggested by Model Rail's Ben Jones). Although it's misty, it appears to be a 2 coach train which to 40564 will be light work for such a graceful athletic engine.

Of course this is a model, quite an old one in fact, it being an ex-Mainline loco dating back to the mid-1980's. But proportion wise I think it's spot on, with it capturing the look and feel of these elegant machines so very well. The drive is one of those rubbish tender drive units, so less said about that the better, but Hornby have recently re-released this loco with a proper loco-drive, so I might will invest in one just for the chassis, that's if the new tooling matches the old.

The track is Peco code 75, but some proper chaired bullhead from the likes of C&L might be better for this period set piece along the addition of some fishplates to suggest 60 foot sections of track. I will add the fishplates in due course - time permitting! Flatbottomed rail started to be used in Britain from around 1950, so it's not too far off, but unlikely to have been seen on the outer slow lines in the mid-1950's.