Great Western 0-6-0 tank locomotive 2783 (Beeson for Bassett-Lowke)
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Great Western 0-6-0 tank locomotive 2783 (Beeson for Bassett-Lowke) |
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A green gauge 0 model 0-6-0 Great Western panier tank locomotive 2783 believed to have been made by James Beeson for Bassett-Lowke.
As well as the cabside number plate, the locomotive has "GREAT WESTERN" lettered along its side-tanks.
Background
Although B-L made all sorts of custom models with unrestricted prices, we believe this loco to have the distinction of being B-L's most expensive "catalogue model" of the time. Listed in the cataloge as "p.o.a." (price on application), we think it came with a hefty price tag of twenty-four guineas.
The model isn't hugely complex, but its execution is impeccable – looking at the top surfaces of the two pannier tanks, interrupted by a circular boiler, the surfaces look "optically" continuous. This extreme degree of geometrical precision (sometimes arguably more precise than the geometry of the actual locomotives!) was the hallmark of work by independent modelmaker James Beeson, and various knowledgable sources are convinced that this was an (uncredited) batch of locomotives made by Beeson and sold through Bassett-Lowke, and that it's Beeson's involvement that explains the otherwise anomalously high asking price.
