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If you wish to communicate with me about steam train jigsaws and/or related railway art, or to respond to requests for answers to my queries, please email David, at : platt.precology@gmail.com

Monday 29 November 2010

Double Headers

In my teenage days two locomotives heading a train, or double headers as they were called, always caused great excitement and optimism among train spotters for the obvious reason; they provided the possibilty of two 'cops' rather than one. This post (29th November 2010) is dedicated to jigsaws highlighting such pairings.
 
A superb puzzle shown in pic number one, is Double Header at Dainton, part of the Waddingtons' 500-piece Great Western Railway series of four jigsaws. All four puzzles replicate excellent Don Breckon original paintings. 'Grange' and 'King' class 4-6-0s of Charles Collett are pictured working hard on a severe incline hauling a seemingly endless rake of 'chocolate and cream', GWR carriages. Resting cyclists, mother and child possibly, and a small dog are watching intently from a wall. On the heavier trains such as the summer 'Cornish Riviera Express', a pilot locomotive, introduced at Newton Abbott, was often used to overcome Dainton and Rattery Summits.

 Reproduced by Falcon from a George Hieron painting, Claughton Class - LMS was one of four puzzles that comprised a 300-piece Steamtrains series. Pic number two features this puzzle. Two of C. J. Bowen Cooke's locomotives are shown double heading a London & North Western Railway express. The pilot locomotive is No.5908 Alfred Fletcher, the second one is difficult to identify but is probably 5905 Ralph Brocklebank. The 'Claughton' class, introduced in 1913, comprised 131, large 4-6-0 express passenger engines. The first member of the class was named after the L&NWR chairman, Sir Gilbert Claughton.