Most of my locomotives so far have been of what I suppose you could call the 'Big, green and named' variety:

- a couple of Directors

-a Jersey Lily

-a 'Lord Faringdon'

I've therefore decided that my next project (make that, actually, my current project) is going to be a more everyday machine. Specifically one of the large pacific tank engines built to haul suburban trains.

A few months ago I bought an A5 off of Ebay. It arrived in LNER green livery (I didn't think any of them wore apple green?), which didn't really suit the loco.

So, what to do with it? A bit of research in the relevant Green Bible found a few rather interesting photographs of the mid-1920s, with these locos in LNER black with GCR pattern lining. Which I think is how I'm going to finish this model.

This is going to be quite a quick little project. The loco is sound in construction and sufficiently detailed to please me- I don't intend to make any major alterations to it. It's just going to be a repaint (he says.....)

Anyway, I've already given it a few coats of matt black to start off.