'O' Gauge 3 rail locomotive on ebay

[Annie]

There's an 'O' gauge 3 rail loco on ebay at the moment that caught my eye; - not that I want to buy it as £75 plus is a fabulously unbelievably large sum of money for this woman of slender means.  Its wonderfully old tinplate non-scale appearance is exactly what I like and I've taken considerable notice of its construction so I could perhaps build my own.

 

The vendor has it written up as Bassett-Lowke, but I don't think so.  I think it's somebody's handbuilt loco on a commercially made mechanism; - not that I'm any kind of expert I hasten to add.

 

This is the link to it.........  https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1931-LMS-O-GAUGE-3-RAIL-ELECTRIC-POWERED-LOCOMOTIVE-BASSETT-LOWKE/192453238861?hash=item2ccf1b604d:g:gqsAAOSwj1hagAfG

 

I have no idea what forum policy is about posting photos 'borrowed' from ebay so if I've been naughty somebody please tell me and I'll go sit in the corner for a couple of hours without any prospect of getting a nice cup of tea.

 

 

I've often seen links here on the forum to what might be interesting things on ebay, but of course they go out of date after a while and end up pointing to nothing.  Posting the photos from an auction creates a far better record, especially if something is a rare item not often seen.

 

Anyway I think it's a nice old fashioned model that captures the look of a 'Precursor' tank engine without getting all picky over those silly marks on rulers.  I'm not especially a LNWR fan, - it was the Midland, the Furness and then the LSWR that floated my modelling boats, - but I find myself very much liking this venerable old engine  

[unravelled]

It looks B/L Precursor to me, but I'm more familiar with the G1 model. I'll try to scan a catalogue later if no-one else beats me to it.

 

Dave

[Nearholmer]

I don’t think it is Bing for BL, because the cab is disproportionally tall.

 

It might be a modified Maerklin, which had a taller cab, and possibly pre-WW1, because it doesn’t have the knob for speed control on top of the boiler. Over-painted from LNWR livery? Early post-WW1 production, before the knob ..... the ‘leather’ paint on the boiler suggests age?

 

If It is Maerklin, and Maeklinophiles spot it, it could fetch a tidy sum, more likely hundreds than tens.

 

But, there are things about it that make me too wonder if it is a homemade one, rather than an altered Maerklin one. In which case, less sought after.

 

Pictures below showing Maerklin (ignore the knob) and Bing.

 

Kevin

Edited February 13, 2018 by Nearholmer

[Annie]

Yes there's all kinds of little details that look more homebuilt than factory built as if somebody has made a copy of what was available from the trade at the time.  The driving wheel castings are different too and the coupling rods are held on with nuts instead of shouldered screws.

[Annie]

The old loco sold for £87.00 which I thought was a fair price.  Hopefully it's gone to a good home and will be returned to working condition again.  

Edited February 16, 2018 by Annie

[petethemole]

The boiler looks like a casting, with its moulded on handrail and raised bands.

[Nearholmer]

I think it’s got a blower pipe tucked in on top of the handrail knobs (where it would burn a persons hands in reality).

[Annie]

The other photos are likely to disappear now the auction has ended so I'm putting them here for future reference.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mark Carne]

The mechanism is Märklin, and I have more than a sneaky suspicion that the body is too, much titivated over the years.

[Nearholmer]

Hmmm ...... yes, the cab steps are very much ‘commercial tinplate’, rather than home-work, in their cnstruction. You couldn’t make them like that without a heavy press.

 

K