The pop music producer, Peter Waterman, is selling part of his collection of model railway locomotives.
Mr Waterman is well known amongst railway conservation and preservation groups. The sale is an attempt to make space and to underwrite the restoration of his various full-size steam locomotives…if the sale is a success, the resulting endowment will guarantee the project. Well done him.
There are some amazing models…hand-built from scratch and according to the measured drawings from the original manufacturers.
We usually think of models in relation to train sets. The more larger scale detailed models might have been made to attract investment or to provide a guide to the engineers building the actual machines….
But, quite apart from the technical quality of the models and the delight in miniature; the models are elements in an important historical archive….
Most full size steam locomotives have disappeared. Obviously there are are a number of preserved engines, but these are relatively few in number. Especially in relation to the whole story of the mechanical development of the steam locomotive…so, the models provide for a sort of record of mechanical and design development. In the absence of the actual machines, all we have are the models.
