Firstly a quick Happy New Year to all the readers of this blog as this is the first post of 2013, I wish you all a peaceful and prosperous year ahead with hopefully plenty of time of modelling all things Southern!

One of the regular sights on Fisherton Sarum is my Z class pushing loaded loco coal wagons up the incline to the coal stage. Maunsell Z Class 0-8-0T number 957 was allocated to Salisbury primarily for shunting the East yard, this was due in part to the fact that the yard was shunted 24 hours a day and being three cylinder locomotives the Z class had a much softer exhaust beat than for example the ‘bark’ of a traditional 2 cylinder locomotive such as the G6 Class. It was reported that on the days when the Z Class was on shed for routine maintenance such as boiler wash out etc. the locals would complain about the additional noise of its replacement in the yard!

My model of number 957 is built from an old Milholme white metal kit powered by a Portescap motor that ensures that like the prototype she is quiet, very powerful and does not slip. She may well at some time be pensioned off to be replaced by the excellent DMR etched brass kit that is in my pile of kits to build but that is likely to be some time off yet.

This is extract from my main blog at www.grahammuz.com

The full post including additional information and pictures can be found here