OO GAUGE P CLASS [0-6-0] - KIT BUILT LOCO AND PUSH PULL COACH

OO GAUGE KIT BUILT "P" CLASS
Southern Railway Livery   No.1556 [0-6-0]
Pictured here with it's accompanied Southern Region liveried 'Push Pull' Coach, it's an ex SECR (South Eastern and Chatham Railway) and both were built from kits by my late father Geoffrey Tyler. Research suggests this locomotive would have most likely been a 'Wills Finecast' white metal kit, I am not so clear on the coach but another example of a white metal kit painted and detailed to a high standard given these would have been early attempts by him at kit/scratch modelling in OO long before he moved onto O Gauge efforts for which he built many outstanding locomotives.

Model is a white metal kit which I believe was one from the Wills Finecast range, has been on display in a glass cabinet together with it's accompanied coach for around twenty years alongside with other models created by my late father. .

Conceptually, the P class locos were intended for working motor (pull-push in Southern parlance) trains. In practice though, they were found to be a little under-powered, and by the late 1920s the whole class was relegated to shunting work in locations where their small dimensions were found to be an essential asset. However, they remained fully equipped as passenger locos throughout their lives (although they lost their passenger livery after 1936) and did occasionally work passenger trains.  

The 'real' locomotive that Dad based his kit on is owned by the Kent and East Sussex Railway and is at present stored requiring a major boiler overhaul. The locomotive was withdrawn from service in 2010 when the boiler certificate expired. Its overhaul was suspended in 2017 and the locomotive was temporarily re-wheeled and moved to their carriage shed for storage. Our version of this P Class has been tested and still runs nicely which given it had been on display and not run for so many years was a pleasant surprise.

It's accompanied coach is in wonderful condition for it's age and goes extremely well with the loco. 

Although the roof to the coach is not as secure as I would like it's probably the 'glue' that has expired over the decades and will see about getting it fixed. No damage here does also give you access to the interior if you like to add passengers to enhance the realism. Pictured the underside which shows it's a kit and although looks basic there it's not as though you going to see it!! Everywhere else looks superb in my opinion.

P Class locomotive background

The South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SECR) P Class is a class of 0-6-0T steam locomotive designed by Harry Wainwright.  They were inspired by, and loosely based on, the more successful LB&SCR A1 Class "Terriers" and eight were built in 1909 and 1910.  All eight locomotives passed into Southern Railway ownership at The Grouping in 1923, and into British Railways ownership at Nationalisation in 1948. Withdrawals took place between 1955 and 1961.