100 A1 Lloyds

This post (29th January 2011) is dedicated to a special locomotive of the Great Western Railway (GWR). The 'Castle' class 4-6-0 locomotive No.100 A1 Lloyds was rebuilt from a G. J. Churchward 'Star' class locomotive, No.4009 Shooting Star in 1925, during the tenure of Charles Collett as the GWR's Chief Mechanical Engineer. She retained the number and name until 1936 when, at a naming ceremony at Paddington, she became 100 A1 Lloyds. She was known as an oil burner in the late 1940's before being withdrawn from service in 1950. 

The Falcon 300-piece series Steamtrains  included a set of four jigsaws reproducing the paintings of George Heiron. One of them was Castle Class - GWR showing No.100 A1 Lloyds leaving Bristol Temple Meads Station with a Paddington bound express. This jigsaw is shown in the accompanying picture. The other three jigsaws in this particular set are County Class - GWR, Clan Class LMS, and Claughton Class - LMS. 

If you wish to know more about this oddly numbered and named 'Castle' just Google 'locomotive 100 A1 Lloyds' and many references will appear.

Two from Ravensburger

When I recently counted the number of jigsaw puzzles in my thematic, UK steam railway collection, (nearly four hundred) I was rather surprised to see seventeen Ravensburger examples, more than I thought. I have chosen two for this post (26th January 2011) with original artwork by Trevor Mitchell and Kevin Walsh.

The Rivals is a 500-piece puzzle featuring a Great Eastern Railway (GER) class T26, (LNER class E4) 2-4-0 tender  locomotive, No.7490. The loco is heading a short passenger train beside a country road on which an old vintage bus (1920's?) is 'speeding' along. The battle for supremacy between road and rail is a popular subject among jigsaw manufacturers and Trevor Mitchell's artwork doesn't disappoint. The milk churns add to the country atmosphere. The locomotive, one of a class of 100 designed by James Holden from 1891, is preserved at Bressingham Museum. Can anyone send me information about the bus? (Email address at the top of the blog).

The 1000-piece jigsaw, Watching the Trains, is a wonderful study of two children, a small boy and an older girl, admiring 'The Flying Scotsman' train as it powers by. A small dog is held on a lead by the boy to add to the ambience, and the children wave to the engine driver and passengers. Kevin Walsh must have painted a scene from British Railways' days, (1950's) when the complete name of the express, including the definite article, was used on the headboard. The logo on the tender and the number 4472, both of LNER origin (pre BR days), are puzzling, however.

Age of Steam

Production of The Age of Steam series of steam railway jigsaw puzzles, by Arrow Games, began in the same year that the company was formed - 1965. All the series of four, 500-piece puzzles were made between 1965 and 1980. The jigsaws were made in Ireland even after Arrow became part of the Milton Bradley Group in 1972.  A series of 300-piece puzzles was also produced in 1985. This post (22nd January 2011) comprises two pics showing examples from the the first and third series, and a third showing a printed description of series one.

The first pic shows No.6105 Cameron Highlander of the LMS, climbing Camden Bank, after exiting Euston Station with the 'Royal Scot' express. Details of each of the four jigsaws in this first series were included with every  puzzle, as an A5 printed sheet. It is important to preserve this sheet with each puzzle; pic number two shows the printed sheet. The provision of such details meant that each jisaw had no box title. The original artwork for this jigsaw was by George Heiron, who in my view, was one of the best artists at replicating exhaust.
The third pic in the post shows a jigsaw from the 1980 series titled LMS Compound. The artist is not named. The class 4P 4-4-0 locomotive, No. 41125, heading a rake of BR carmine & cream coaches is depicted passing through a distinctively rural scene. One hundred and ninety five of the class were built by the LMS between 1924 and 1932. The Midland Railway had previously built forty five which were integrated into the LMS batch.
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Collages

Jigsaw puzzles in the form of composites/collages/montages are increasingly popular with jigsaw manufacturers today, with King and Gibsons to the fore. Today's post (11th January 2011) comprises two such jigsaw puzzles but from two other manufacturers - Ravensburger and Ryco Crafts (for the National Railway Museum, York). 

The first pic shows a rectangular composite of four equal parts from Ravensburger. Pictured are  the LMS 4-6-2,  No.6201 Princess Elizabeth designed by William Stanier; the LNER 4-6-2, No.4498 Sir Nigel Gresley designed by Nigel Gresley; the GWR 4-4-0, No.3440 City of Truro designed by George Jackson Churchward; the LNER 4-6-2 No.4472 Flying Scotsman designed by Nigel Gresley. The jigsaw, of 1000 pieces, is titled The Magic of Steam.

The jigsaw from Ryco Crafts for the NRM is shown in pic number two. The jigsaw of 520 pieces depicts four locomotives from the national collection; the design is similar to the previous puzzle. Pictured

 are the following - Gresley's 4-6-2s, No.4472 Flying Scotsman and No.4468 Mallard; George Stephenson's Rocket; Samuel Waite Johnson's 4-4-0 (Midland Compound) No.1000. The jigsaw is titled Festival of Steam.

Wartime Steam

The railways played a crucial part in transportation throughout the Second World War. This post, our first for 2011, comprises two jigsaw puzzles each one showing a different aspect of wartime railway traffic.

The first picture shows a Waddingtons' jigsaw puzzle of 500 pieces titled Christmas Leave. Featured is a  typical wartime station scene by artist Trevor R. Owens.  A southbound train is slowly pulling into Lancaster Station headed by LMS 'Black 5' locomotive No. 4905. Waiting on a snow-covered platform are men and women of the Armed Forces, ready to board and travel home for Christmas. The sunset and low level of natural lighting complement the artificial station lights to impart a warm, evocative ambience to the picture.

The second photograph features a 1000-piece puzzle from Gibsons titled The Evacuees. On August 31st 1939, the government issued the order "Evacuate Forthwith" and the operation to evacuate nearly 2 million of Britain's school children began. 'Operation Pied Piper' became the biggest and most concentrated mass movement of citizens in our history. Within a few days 1.9 million school children had been transported from major towns and cities, in danger from German bombing raids, to places of greater safety in the countryside. Many other children of wealthy families were evacuated privately. The jigsaw reproduces an original painting of Stalbridge Station in Dorset, by Kevin Walsh.  In Kevin's superb picture children and their chaperones (including teachers) have disembarked from a train. At the head is a  'Lord Nelson' class 4-6-0 locomotive designed by Richard Maunsell. Children are gathered in the station approach yard, some boarding a bus (a Guy?), whilst others are enjoying stretching their legs or taking refreshments from assembled members of the WVS (Women's Voluntary Service). 

UK Heritage (Preserved) Railways

This post (30th December 2010) focuses on two of the 75 or so UK Heritage Railways - The Bluebell  Railway and the East Somerset Railway. Whitman covered many such railways during the 60's and 70's with their 400-piece 'Steam Railways' series. There were three 'Steam Railways' series, (7414, 7525 and 7714) each of four puzzles, all reproducing photographs of variable quality. Also collectible is the 'Great Little Trains of Wales' series (7695) of six, 400-piece puzzles.

The first photograph depicts a Whitman jigsaw titled 'East Somerset Railway',  showing one of the engines purchased by artist David Shepherd.  BR Standard class 4, No.75029, which he named  The Green Knight is the one in the pic, the other was giant 2-10-0 class 9F, 92203, which he named Black Prince. David purchased Cranmore Station and a small section of railway line in 1972 on which to house and run his two locomotives; thus, the East Somerset Railway was born. The ESR is a small railway of around three miles between Cranmore and Medip Vale and around five steam locos are operated by the railway.

The second photograph features another Whitman puzzle 'The Bluebell Railway Limited' showing a short train on the Bluebell Railway in Sussex. This railway boasts that it was the first preserved, standard gauge, steam operated passenger railway in the world; the first train ran in 1960. The line is approximately 9 miles long with stations at Sheffield Park, Horsted Keynes and Kingscote. Depicted is the ex South East & Chatham Railway 0-6-0, C-class locomotive No.592,  built in 1902, one of 30+ steam locomotives operated on the railway.

Brunel's Broad Gauge

An excellent jigsaw puzzle depicting an early broad gauge locomotive is the 500-piece example from Country House Treasures, produced for the Science Museum, London. It is titled Iron Duke at Chippenham c1850 and is reproduced from a superb 1984 watercolour, by artist Sean Bolan.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel built the original Great Western Railway to the broad gauge of 7ft 1/4ins after convincing his board of directors that the wider gauge would offer greater speed, efficiency, stability and safety. The GWR was opened in stages from 1838, the Chippenham to Bath stage, in 1841. Iron Duke was the first member of a class of 29 remarkable locomotives all of 4-2-2 wheel formation. Designed by Daniel Gooch they were the epitome of power and speed on the GWR for many years. The smaller gauge, 4ft 8 1/2ins, as adopted by George Stephenson, eventually proved to be more popular than the broader gauge. With over eight times the mileage, the smaller gauge became standard from 1845, as a result of a Royal Commission investigation. The latter ackowledged the superiority of the broad gauge in most aspects of travel, but had to bow to the waggonway standard, originating in north-east mines, adopted by many other railways.  The Gauge Act was passed by Parliament a year later. The GWR ran dual gauge in places for a time but the last broad gauge track was lifted in 1892.

Two from Wentworth

In the hands of an expert artist a painting of surreal ambience and drama can result from the absence of sunlight in a railway scene. Accentuated highlights, reflections and ghostly shadows resulting from artificial light sources and traces of moonlight combine to produce that all important quality, called impact.

Malcolm Root's Duchess of the Night - available in various sizes and corresponding numbers of wooden pieces from Wentworth - is a typical example with impact to spare. The 500-piece version is featured in pic number one. The locomotive is a LMS 'Princess Coronation' class No. 6233, Duchess of Sutherland, without smoke deflectors ('blinkers' as we used to call them in the halcyon days, were added from 1945). She is shown in a shed setting at twilight, in a cold, smoky atmosphere, and the qualities previously described are inherent in the picture. Little is lost in the transfer of engine shed atmosphere to canvas, and finally, to jigsaw puzzle. The 'Coronation Scot' in blue livery, is just visible, lurking in the background.

The second picture also shows a Wentworth wooden jigsaw of 500 pieces and Malcolm Root is, again, the artist involved. The title is the The 'Duke' and the Clan. Two BR Standard creations of R.A. Riddles are pictured in the coaling plant at Carlisle Kingmoor (shed 12A), class 8, 'Pacific' No.71000, Duke of Gloucester and class 6, 'Pacific' No.72001, Clan Cameron. Only in preservation, following rectification of design inadequacies, has 'The Duke' lived up to the hype that preceded its inaugural run in 1954. The original painting has translated well into an impressive jigsaw.

Specially shaped pieces or 'whimsies', a feature of Wentworth wooden jigsaws, can be seen in both puzzles.

More Small Puzzles

In the November 13th post I featured three small jigsaw puzzles. I described them as puzzles produced with children in mind, even though they would enhance any adult steam railway jigsaw collection. They, and others like them, certainly enhance my own collection.

This post (14th December 2010) comprises two more pictures of smaller jigsaw puzzles although they are not straight forward examples like those in the earlier post. The puzzles also continue a previous post on 'Shapes',  featured on 18th November.

Pic number one shows an excellent puzzle, of unknown origin, titled Trains and Engines. It was advertised as both a cut out toy and a jigsaw puzzle and comprises 72 pieces. Eight types of steam train, a station, a water tank, a signal box and a coloured lights signal can be separated from 60, semi-interlocking pieces. The 12, separated pieces can be used as stand-alone models and wooden bases are provided for this purpose.

A not dissimilar puzzle is the rare Waddington's Quiz Teaching Jigsaw of 1963, shown in pic number two. It comprises eight, separate locomotive puzzles each of between 6 and 12 pieces. Each locomotive is numbered (1-8) but identifying clues, numbers and names for instance, are absent from the designs. Written clues to help identify the class and name (if any) of each locomotive are described on the box. Locomotives ranging from one of the first, Rocket, to the last, Evening Star, are included. An American 'Wild West' wood burner and a 'Western' diesel hydraulic are also featured, with four other British engines.

Valentine's Wooden Puzzles

The Valentine Company was set up in 1851 by James Valentine in Dundee and became Scotland's most prominent photographic company. Using pictures from in-house artists and photographers, the company produced postcards at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Greetings cards and calendars followed on but it was the mid 1930's before jigsaw production began. The cutting of Valentine's wooden puzzles is difficult to research but like so many other printing companies at the time, this task may have been outsourced. Waddingtons took over the company in 1963 and sold it on to Hallmark Cards of the USA in 1980. The Dundee premises finally closed in 1993.

In this post (8th December 2010), I have included two photographs of Valentine's wooden jigsaws from my collection. Strangely, both are untitled, although superbly boxed. I will show a picture of a third Valentine's puzzle from my collection, in a future post.

The first pic shows a 60-piece puzzle from an Alan Anderson painting, featuring an interesting 'Streak'. Gresley 'A4' class No.4495 is shown liveried in 'Garter Blue'. Apparently when this locomotive emerged in 1937 it was painted in 'Apple Green' but was returned to Doncaster almost immediatley to be repainted in 'Garter Blue' to match the coaching stock of a special, new express. The original name of Great Snipe was also changed to Golden Fleece. The engine was one of two chosen to head the train to be named the 'West Riding Limited'. The latter was originated at the behest of Yorkshire woollen merchants so that they could quickly access the London Wool Exchange, and return in a single day; hence the change of locomotive name. The express ran Bradford & Leeds to Kings Cross and return, and a special poster was produced by the LNER.

Pic number two is far easier to 'read'. BR class 'A4', No.60034 Lord Faringdon, in 'BR Blue' livery is shown heading BR 'blood and custard' coaches, exiting Kings Cross for the East Coast Main Line. The puzzle comprises 180 pieces and is reproduced from an original T.E. North painting.

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