The two puzzles described in today's post, 5th August 2013, are marketed under the B.R. label. The latter to any railway buff is an acronym for British Railways or British Rail but the relationship between the label and jigsaw puzzles is unclear. The four puzzles in the series all relate to the British Railways era however, the steam locomotives all carrying the post 1956 'rampant lion and wheel' logo. If anyone out there can shed any light on this please contact me.
The first picture shows a 400-piece jigsaw titled No.46102 The Black Watch. The LMS 'Royal Scot' class of seventy 4-6-0 locomotives was originally designed by Henry Fowler, but rebuilt later by William Stanier. No.46102 is pictured speeding past a group of track workers, hauling a rake of carmine and cream carriages. The artist is named as Michael Turner. Studying the signature on the jigsaw painting points me in the direction of the famous aviation and motor sport artist of the same name and similar signature. Born in 1934 in Harrow, Michael may have been persuaded to turn his experienced hand to railway painting. The printing quality of this puzzle picture is better than in the second one below, resulting in denser colour saturation.
Leslie Carr is the famous artist named on the second jigsaw puzzle picture titled No.46245 City of London. The 'Princess Coronation' class 4-6-2 locomotives were outshopped between 1937 and 1948 from Crewe Works. They were designed for the LMS by (Sir) William Stanier and numbered thirty eight on completion; all had been retired by 1964. The first locos to grace LMS lines were streamlined and the previous post describes why. Three 'Princess Coronation' class locos are preserved - No.6229 Duchess of Hamilton, No.6233 Duchess of Sutherland and No.6235 City of Birmingham. The loco in Leslie Carr's water colour painting is speeding through countryside on the west coast main line, in charge of a rake of BR maroon coaches.