5" GWR King

Here we have possibly the finest 5" gauge GWR King model ever made. A bold claim we know,..... but hear us out! 'King Stephen', built in 1998 by Peter Hissey, an exceptionally well respected model engineer who won the Gold Medal at London's Olympia model engineering exhibition that year with the loco, so it's already off to a great start. The loco works beautifully and has been run accordingly by Peter during his time at the Harlington Club track, so as you can see in the photos, the loco has a definite patina consistent with that use. Cosmetically there are a couple of bits and bobs that detract from the original exhibition quality finish of the model, but generally detailing and finesse is spectacular and so the overall impression is one of patina'd quality rather than scruffiness.

As you'd expect, the silver soldered copper boiler comes fully tested both hydraulically and in steam, indeed we sold the loco about 7 years ago, and have been involved with testing this loco over that period, so we know it's history. Lubrication is mechanical and very neatly packaged in the corner of the cab. There are two injectors and a hand pump in the tender, but there's also a particularly lovely three cylinder axle pump on the tender with bypass valve.

Detail wise, everything is there. All the oil pot's are real, and all the little lids work, as do the cab windows. The water scoop scoops, even the AWS bell cupboard in the cab opens with a little clasp. The tiny splined valve adjusters on the front of the cylinders are all exactly like the real thing, even down to the tiny castleated nuts and split pin that is only just visible to the naked eye! If you take the pivot pin that is just in front of that adjuster out, it has a hollow oil bath in the top and a square cut spiral oil way down it's shank. It's frankly spectacular. Certainly the finest 5" GWR King ever made, and arguably one of the finest examples of model engineering we've ever seen.