A Pair of Falcons

Following on from the previous Waddingtons post, today 28th October 2011, I have chosen two pictures featuring jigsaw puzzles from another of the UK's well known manufacturers, Falcon. Established from his home in 1976 by Harry Jondorf, Falcon proceeded to be a major force in British jigsaw puzzles manufacture; company factory and headquarters were established at Hatfield in 1977.  When Jondorf retired in 1996 the company was aquired by a Dutch manufacturer from Amsterdam but jigsaw production has continued under the Falcon and Falcon/Jumbo names.

My first photo shows a 2005 jigsaw puzzle featuring the artwork of Robert Nixon. She is heading a rake of GWR chocolate and cream passenger coaches and several passengers and station staff are included in the picture. The 'City' class of ten, 4-4-0 locomotives was designed by George Jackson Churchward in 1903. A year later while heading the 'Ocean Mails' train from Plymouth to Paddington, City of Truro attained a speed of 102 mph, the first time that a speed of 100mph had been recorded. Only one timekeeper was present, however, and two were required for authentification. As a result the record was never officially ratified; try telling that to a true 'dyed in the wool' GWR enthusiast though, and see what reaction you get.

The second pic is from the 1990's, Falcon Venture series and is titled At the Station. An early London Midland Scottish Railway (LMS) 'Royal Scot' class 4-6-0 locomotive, No. 6138 Fury, designed by Henry Fowler is pictured at a main line station with a small boy looking on. The station may be the one at Bushey as a strong resemblance can be seen in a painting in the book Railway Colour Album of 1932. The name Fury has been carried by three locomotives - an 1831 example built for the Liverpool & Manchester Railway, the locomotive in the jigsaw picture and the third, an LMS experimental high pressure locomotive No.6399. No.6138 was built in 1927, named Fury in 1928 but renamed a year later as London Irish Rifleman. Two station staff, a railway maintenance man and old enamel advertisements are also included by artist Gerald Broom. The puzzle comprises 500 pieces.

Two from Waddingtons

Today's post, 21st October 2011, features probably the most famous British manufacturer of jigsaw puzzles, Waddingtons. Many Waddingtons' puzzles depicted steam railways and two of them are shown in the following photographs.

The original company was founded in the 19th century by John Waddington and Wilson Barratt and renamed John Waddington Ltd., in 1905. The original printing business was successfully supplemented from 1922 with the introduction of playing cards. Jigsaw puzzles, using American cutting technology, were added to the company's expanding portfolio in the early 1930's. From the company headquarters in Leeds, Waddingtons produced circular puzzles from the 1930's and jigsaw puzzle books in the 1940's. Geographic jig-maps, made from the 1960's, were also very popular. The Christmas limited edition jigsaw puzzle range, revered by collectors, began in 1994, the same year that the company was purchased by Hasbro Inc., of America. The original name lived on, however, with Woolworths as a major supplier of 500 and 1000-piece puzzles. Woolworths survived until 2008 leaving the future of the Waddingtons name in doubt.

The first photograph shows the 350-piece puzzle titled An Audience with King Edward II. A man and his children are depicted overlooking a wall behind which the now preserved 'King' class 4-6-0 locomotive, No.6023 King Edward II, thunders by heading a rake of Great Western Railway (GWR) chocolate and cream passenger coaches. The Sydney Gardens form a majestic backdrop to this action on the Paddington - Bristol line. The only surviving Georgian gardens in Bath, they are now a public park. Built in 1840 the line is hidden in a cutting but trains can be viewed from vantage points clearly shown in Barry Freeman's superb artwork.

The second picture shows a magnificent Adams Radial Tank, 4-4-2 locomotive No. 488, designed by the Locomotive Superintendent of the London & South Western Railway (L&SWR), William Adams. The '415' class emerged from 1882 and eventually totalled 71 locomotives. They were called Radial Tanks as the trailing wheels were carried in a radial truck. The title of the 1000-piece jigsaw is, appropriately, Adams Radial Tank but the photographer is not named. The locomotive is preserved on the Bluebell Railway.

King George VI

Two jigsaw pics comprise today's post, 11th October 2011, both featuring locomotives named King George Vl (reigned 11th December  1936 -  6th February 1952).

The first shot shows a 72-piece, wooden jigsaw from Ponda (ex Ian Allan). 'Princess Coronation' class (8P) 4-6-2, 46244 King George VI, is depicted heading London Midland Scottish Railway (LMS) maroon carriages in a rural setting, presumably  on the West Coast Main Line. The artist is not named. This locomotive emerged with full streamlining in July 1940, the brainchild of the LMS Chief Mechanical Engineer, (Sir) William A. Stanier. The streamlined casing was removed in 1947; the locomotive  was withdrawn from service in 1964.

Charles Collett was the Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Great Western Railway (GWR) from 1922 to 1941. His giant 'King' class 4-6-0 locomotives were built between 1927-1928. Picture number two shows the Victory 100-piece, wooden  jigsaw titled King George VI. The locomotive of the same name appeared on GWR 'metals' in April 1928 and was withdrawn from service in December 1962;  she  is shown heading GWR chocolate and cream carriages in a rural setting with two lineside maintenance men to the fore. The artist was George Heiron.

Trains and Automobiles

Steam versus internal combustion has always been a favourite subject with railway artists. Many steam railway jigsaws feature this intriguing pairing, inviting people to think about how the  motor car made major inroads into the railway's domination of transport in the early to mid 20th century. Today's post, 3rd October 2011, comprises two pics of jigsaws from my 400+ British steam railway collection portraying this subject pairing in slightly different ways.

The first picture shows a jigsaw of 500 pieces from the Dutch company King International. Racing the Train is the title but I rather think that the vintage Singer car, an open top 1936 Le Mans, might have struggled in a true run race against a mainline passenger locomotive such as the example in the jigsaw picture, a Bulleid 'Pacific'. The driver and lady passenger seem to be enjoying the race, however. The locomotive is a 4-6-2 'Merchant Navy' class, No.35022 Holland America Line, designed for the Southern Railway by Oliver Bulleid, and  currently at the preserved East Lancashire Railway, under restoration. The artist is R. Wheatland.

The second picture, showing a 500-piece jigsaw from Gibsons, offers a different perspective on the post title. In this jigsaw, titled Brighton Bound, a vintage 1920's/1930's Bentley (?) car is portrayed, parked beside a railway line, as the elderly driver and his lady passenger stand alongside waiting to view a passing steam train. The latter is a London Victoria to Brighton Pullman express. Both locomotive and car look majestic and combine to make a superb jigsaw from the original artwork of Malcolm Root. The latter artist is well known for his love of all types of transport and its interaction with the general public. The locomotive in the picture is a Marsh/Billinton 4-4-2 'Atlantic' No.424, one of the 'H2' class of six, built in 1911-1912,  at Brighton Works. The superb livery of the London Brighton & South Coast Railway is best described as umber.

Two vertical format jigsaws

The landscape format is, and always has been, the dominant shape for jigsaw puzzles and easily accommodates a picture of a train or locomotive. The vertical format is quite rare in comparison but can produce a very effective puzzle. The two puzzles I have chosen from my collection, for today's post, 24th September 2011, emphasize the latter point.

The first picture shows a Victory wooden puzzle of 100 pieces titled Southern Railway Express "Bournemouth Limited", from the mid 1930's (T6). The express was introduced in July 1929 and ran from London's Waterloo Station to the popular Dorset seaside town. The service was curtailed during World War II but reinstated in 1945, without its name. However, the origin of the express was in a 1911 service  when the London & South Western Railway began a Waterloo - Bournemouth express until the outbreak of World War I. The 'Bournemouth Limited' was renamed 'The Royal Wessex' in 1951 under British Railways. The locomotive heading the Southern Railway (SR) green passenger stock in the jigsaw picture is SR 'King Arthur' class 4-6-0, No 789 Sir Guy. The class was originally designed by Robert Urie of the London & South Western Railway between 1919 and 1922. From 1923 the Chief Mechanical Engineer (1923-37) of the SR, Richard Maunsell, redesigned the class and built additional locomotives. The class eventually totalled seventy four.

The second picture shows a 100-piece wooden puzzle from Bes-Time titled The Royal Scot. The jigsaw picture has been painted in a poster-like style, with lots of impact, but neither the artist or details of the jigsaw manufacturer / retailer are known to me. The class of seventy 4-6-0 locomotives were originally designed by Sir Henry Fowler. The first fifty were built by the North British Locomotive Company in 1927 and the final twenty by British Railways Derby Works in 1930. However, the class was completely rebuilt between 1943 and 1955 by Sir William Stanier and George Ivatt. The location in the jigsaw picture appears to be a large terminus station (Euston?); a signal box is included next to the line.

The picture in jigsaw number one incorporates a wider angle and a higher viewpoint  than jigsaw number two and hence, may appeal more to pictorialists.

Lumar and Intalok Zig-Zag

Today's post, 14th September 2011, features two photographs of jigsaws made by different manufacturers, the latter not as well known as others described in previous posts.

The first pic shows a wooden Lumar puzzle of 220 pieces from c1933. 'The Flying Scotsman' express train is featured steaming through a very picturesque landscape. The jigsaw title is simply The Flying Scotsman; it is incorporated into the puzzle as a striking legend. The locomotive in the picture may be one of (Sir) Nigel Grsley's class 'A1' or 'A3' 4-6-2s. The famous express occupies a small part of the overall picture but is an integral part of it. The artist is not known to me. The name Lumar was a shortened form of the company name, Louis Marx Ltd., of London.

The second picture shows an untitled wooden, Intalok Zig-Zag jigsaw of about 150 pieces, part of the Winners series. The locomotive heading what appears to be London & North Eastern Railway (LNER) teak coaches is of 4-6-0 wheel configuration. Can anyone identify it? If so please email me (email address is at the top of the blog). The identification of both location and artist is also unknown to me but the artwork is strong, poster-like and reproduces as a fine jigsaw puzzle. Zig-Zag was a London-based company manufacturing a huge range of jigsaws in the early 20th century. The Intalok Zig-Zag branded puzzles probably resulted from a joint venture with the Richard Art Company Ltd.; some were branded as RACO.

The Busy Junction

Busy railway junctions have proved to be very popular with artists and jigsaw manufacturers over many years. A location with many railway lines, converging or otherwise, offers the potential for more traffic and the two jigsaws chosen from my collection for today's post, 8th September 2011, show this potential to real effect.

Picture one shows one of my favourite puzzles of this type, a 200-piece wooden example from Victory titled Southern Railway Atlantic Coast Express. The location is Seaton Junction, East Devon but the artist is not named. The painting appears to be a direct copy, in colour, of a monochrome photograph in the collection of the Royal Air Force Museum. The photograph, titled A busy scene at Seaton Junction, is accompanied by the following legend "Southern Railway King Arthur class N15 locomotive E451 Sir Lamorack with an express passing S15 824 light engine and 0-4-2 D Class on a local train". The same junction is featured in Barry Freeman's painting Heavyweights at Seaton reproduced as a 1000-piece puzzle by Gibsons - this puzzle was featured in the post of 13th July.


The Busy Junction, a 400-piece jigsaw from Good Companion is shown in the second picture. The jigsaw shows a busy East Coast Main Line with 'A1' class locomotive No.60130 Kestrel hauling a passenger train passing a similar train hauled by a main line diesel locomotive. The artist is not named**. Above, a long freight train crosses the main line over an arched girder bridge linked to a long brick viaduct. The locomotive is a mixed traffic type but the number, on the smokebox door, is unclear. It may be No.60800 Green Arrow, one of (Sir) Nigel Gresley's 'V2' class 2-6-2 workhorses. Arthur Peppercorn, Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London & North Eastern Railway from 1946 until nationalisation of the railways in 1948, designed forty-nine 'A1's, delivered after nationalisation.

** I have been reliably informed by Jez Gunnell that the artist is T. E. North. Jez is the owner of the original artwork signed by the artist. Thanks for the information. This adds to the many other pieces of North's artwork reproduced by Good Companion.

Rural Steam

Steam train enthusiasts prefer to see their icons in a railway infrastructure setting but manufacturers of jigsaw puzzles cater for more cosmopolitan tastes. Jigsaws depicting a steam hauled train in a picturesque rural environment are popular with jigsaw enthusiasts of many persuasions, and manufacturers are quick to target the sales potential of this pairing. In today's post, 30th August 2011, I am using two pictures of jigsaw puzzles that fit the rural steam genre.

The first picture shows a 500-piece puzzle by Waddingtons titled A Country Life. The superb artwork is by Don Breckon. In the picture a small branch line train on the Great Western Railway (GWR) is relegated to the background while integrating perfectly into a strictly rural scene. A small 'Manor' class 4-6-0 locomotive, No.7807 Compton Manor, is shown heading GWR chocolate and cream carriages. A country cottage and adjacent small-holding, with goats, chickens, ducks and a horse to the fore, complete the picture. This is certainly one of those jigsaws that radiates peace and serenity from a quiet corner of the British countryside.


The second picture, of a 636-piece 'Panoramic' Gibsons puzzle, shows a British countryside farming scene titled Bringing in the Barley. The jigsaw is reproduced from original artwork by Derek Roberts. At the head of at least two, British Railways (BR) maroon, suburban passenger coaches is an ex-GWR, 5700 class 0-6-0 pannier tank (No.7725?).  In the foreground - a cut barley field - a picnic appears to be taking place including adults, a child and the obligatory dog. A bright red tractor, attached to a crop-filled cart, and a Morris Minor Traveller car are also included in a busy scene. Two other small children wave at the train from a trackside gate and the engine driver reciprocates.

Both of the locomotives shown in the above jigsaw photographs were common on GWR and BR Western Region branch lines serving countryside communities. Both jigsaws depicted would appeal to steam train officianados and jigsaw enthusiasts with broader affiliations.

Two more from Victory

For today's post, 23rd August 2011,  I am using two photographs of small jigsaw puzzles from the famous G. J. Hayter stable, more famously known as Victory. Both puzzles are small and probably aimed at children, but for serious collectors of steam train jigsaw puzzles, they are a must have.

The first picture features the famous experimental 4-6-4 locomotive of (Sir) Nigel Gresley as a 45-piece Victory jigsaw puzzle. The locomotive was placed in class 'W1' and numbered 10000. Because of the secrecy surrounding her ground-breaking design and development, she became known as the 'Hush Hush' locomotive. After entering service in 1929 from Darlington Works, the locomotive suffered many problems and, as a result, was completely rebuilt in 1936. She re-entered service on the LNER a year later as a class 'A4' look-alike, but retained the 4-6-4 wheel configuration. In BR days she was renumbered 60700 and finally withdrawn from service in 1959. The jigsaw shows the rebuilt locomotive in a works environment but is untitled; the artwork was by T. E. North.

The second picture features a 'Royal Scot' class 4-6-0 locomotive as a 45-piece Victory jigsaw titled Merseyside Express. The parallel boilered class was designed by Henry Fowler and entered service in 1927. The locomotive in the picture is LMS No. 6117 Welsh Guardsman; she is shown heading LMS maroon coaches. The artist is from the 'F. Moore' range of the Locomotive Publishing Company. The class of 70 was rebuilt with tapered boilers by (Sir) William Stanier/George Ivatt from 1943; smoke deflectors were added later.

Compare and Contrast

The title of today's post, 18th August 2011, is self explanatory. I want you to study the pictures of the early, pioneering locomotive of George Stephenson (left) and an example of a 1943 'giant', designed by Sir William A. Stanier (right), and come to your own conclusions.

It is doubtful if communities have ever been as involved with railways, as the thousands of people who turned up to watch the opening of the Stockton & Darlington Railway (S&DR) in 1825 or the Liverpool & Manchester Railway (L&MR) in 1830. Similar crowds had gathered to witness George and Robert Stephenson's Rocket claim the £500 first prize at the L&MR Locomotive Trials, at Rainhill, in 1829.  At all of these events, the physical presence of steam powered 'monsters' caused fear among some beholders, curiosity among others and admiration among the majority. A few, particularly landowners and those with canal interests, who realised that they might lose out financially, showed contempt. The L&MR is well represented in jigsaw manufacture, the S&DR, less so.

George and Robert Stephenson's north-east engineering works also won the right to build the initial locomotives for the L&MR. A superb painting by Alan Fearnley, Rocket at Rainhill, reproduced as a 1000-piece jigsaw by Waddingtons and titled Stevenson's Rocket, (with incorrect surname spelling) is shown above. The painting / jigsaw expertly conveys the crowd's emotions displayed at the Rainhill Locomotive Trials, of 1829. 

The battle for speed and supremacy between the East Coast Main Line and the West Coast Main Line for the London to Glasgow / Edinburgh rail traffic, (which had begun as early as1888), eventually resulted in huge 4-6-2 locomotives being designed by (Sir) Nigel Gresley and (Sir) William A. Stanier, respectively. The latter built his 'Princess' and 'Princess Coronation' class locomotives in response to Gresley's 'A1/A3' and 'A4' class equivalents. Stanier's class of thirty-eight, 'Princess Coronation' 4-6-2 or 'Pacific' locomotives, were built over many years, 1937-1948, as World War II intervened. The picture I have chosen shows a 120-piece jigsaw titled Ready for the Run. Illustrated is one of  Stanier's 'Princess Coronation' class locomotives, No.6248 City of Leeds, in the maroon and gold streamlining of the London Midland & Scottish Railway. However, the jigsaw manufacturer / brand name (Ian Allan?) and artist are unknown to me.