Great Western Railway Prairie Tank 2-6-2 Fine Scale O Gauge Locomotive 1205

There being no kit for this class of only two locos, it was “scratch-built” by hand using a detailed photograph and scale outline drawings to design all the parts prior to marking out and cutting out brass sheet of various thicknesses. The end result is a detailed model which gives an accurate depiction of this unusual and handsome Prairie Tank Locomotive as running in 1948

The Alexandra Docks & Railway Company. (Newport & South Wales), having found that prairie tank locomotives best suited their needs hauling loaded coal trains from collieries to docks ordered two new locos with this wheel arrangement from Hawthorn Leslie. They were delivered in 1921, shortly before the grouping that saw the ADR amalgamate with GWR. These powerful locos were highly regarded and remained at Newport until WW2; there after 1205 (as renumbered by the GWR) spent her last years prior to withdrawal in 1956 as engine shed pilot loco at Llantrisant and Cardiff.