SCHOOLS OUT! Maunsell's Masterpiece on Summer Specials

Breaking up for the Summer Holidays was always my favourite time of the year as a kid. 6 weeks seemed like an eternity and visits to various heritage railways with my Dad beckoned. Just as exciting was staying with my grandparents up in the Lake District for a couple weeks where I had full access to the huge model railway in the loft. To celebrate the beginning of the summer holidays in 2022, here we have a pair of Hornby Schools Class 4-4-0's. 30915 "Brighton" is a long term resident of Neville Grove and wears BR green with a late crest and polished / in use weathering. 30917 "Ardingly" also makes a guest appearance and was visiting from my customer Ryan. Ryan had bought it at a bargain price but in the guise of 927 "Shrewsbury" in Southern war time black livery which didn't fit the theme of his BR steam era collection. 927 was therefore renumbered, renamed, and rebranded into BR Black liveried 30917. "Ardingly" fitted the bill perfectly as it had the same cab type and the huge, and distinctive Lemaitre chimney (a Bulleid modification to several of the class). As an alternative to reapplying the lining, we opted to recreate a very heavily weathered member of a class instead using a reference photo for guidance. Not a hint of lining was visible on the real one it was so filthy, yet a typical look for so many British Railways steam locomotives in the 1950's and 1960's. Thanks for watching everybody and have a great summer!