Wentworth, Chad Valley and Good Companion

This, my second post, comprises three photographs of jigsaw puzzles from my collection, all made by different British manufacturers.

Considering that Wentworth was only formed in 1994 global recognition of the company's wooden jigsaw puzzles, including 'whimsies', has been achieved in a short period of time. Examples depicting steam trains feature strongly in Wentworth's portfolio, all of them, made from wood. They exceed 70 in my inventory. Original paintings from several famous railway artists including Terence Cuneo, Barry Freeman and Malcolm Root have been used by the company. My first photograph is of a 250-piece jigsaw showing a rebuilt 'Royal Scot' class 4-6-0, 46108 Seaforth Highlander, heading maroon passenger coaches through Hartford Station in Cheshire; the artist is Malcolm Root. The jigsaw is also titled Seaforth Highlander.

The jigsaw in the second picture features Flying Scotsman - both the locomotive and named train. The 200-piece puzzle is a wooden example from Chad Valley; it is contained in an unusual pink box. The vertical format puzzle is eye-catching and includes the following legend "The "Flying Scotsman" runs non-stop from London to Edinburgh, the longest non-stop journey in the world."

The final photograph in this post depicts an example from Good Companion; the latter is possibly connected to the Tower Press Company*. The 400-piece puzzle is titled The Irish Mail. A Hughes/Fowler 2-6-0, locomotive, 42758, (known as a 'Crab') is shown hauling the train past Conway Castle in North Wales. The Irish Mail, the oldest named train in the world, began running in 1848 between Euston and Holyhead. The Good Companion range of puzzles included at least twenty-one examples featuring steam trains.

* Many identical jigsaws are produced under both brand names.