A painful (But helpful) find

In spite of the lack of an exact historical context for your loco, perhaps you could still enjoy it on your own terms?

Tinplate Art posted:

In spite of the lack of an exact historical context for your loco, perhaps you could still enjoy it on your own terms?

Trust me, I very much enjoy this little loco. She might not be a good puller (At least for the heavy cars that I currently have), but she's quick and cute. One day after I finish removing the new paint and touch up the original paint, I might loan her to the Bing Museum. But until then, she'll be my little Anne!

The TCA Quarterly has a wonderful column, "Who Done It" by John Newbraugh and this would be right up their alley.

I agree! Definitely a candidate for the "Who Done It" column!

Wait, really?

How do I apply!?

Berkshire posted:

Wait, really?

How do I apply!?

All the contact information is in every TCA Quarterly edition, including this quarters edition on pgs 36 through 39. Your TCA membership gives you access to these quarterly editions, access to full library and so much more that can help with your research and enjoyment of the hobby. A 6 month trial membership for $20 is available to get you hooked. I seriously believe this will connect you with resources (personal and literature) in ways that otherwise may not be possible.

https://traincollectors.org/page/MemberBenefits

https://traincollectors.org/ge...page=Become_a_Member

Berky , I am probably stating the obvious , but reading back thru your stuff on this , it was overpainted yeah, and you stripped off the coat of paint on it ... is the Great Western logo the original litho to the unit? Its hard to tell from a grainy video lol!

Good pics would help , but I am pretty sure this is just a different livery from the same loco Arne posted in your other thread when you first bought the locos ...

Its important to remember these things are OLD , and in that 90 odd years a lot can happen to them , as is evidenced by yours being repainted at some stage and then beat to hell at some other stage ... all of which can lead to different wheels being fitted, clockwork cutouts modified ( your V shape, instead of the semi circle) and a myriad of other things being changed . By their very nature little boys and men with trains are tinkerers lol, so unless something is mainly factory fresh its very hard to determine what has been done to it by grubby hands over time ... Sometimes you have to take a step back and look at the history of the loco, with something being changed so much in its life , its very hard to commit to "Thats a rare, I cant find one like it" stance ...

It may well be that the Great Western livery was produced for that loco a year or two before it was replaced by a later version with the different body... There would be no need to document it as that would just add to advertising cost by reprinting catalogues and it was the same item just in a different scheme...

ANY clockwork loco from the pre-war period is special

For instance I have a loco which looks a real "Frankenstein" LOL ... it has a clockwork reversing system I have never seen used, and the body looks like an old floor train that has had a mechanism fitted to it .. Maybe its some make I have never heard of or seen , or maybe its a product of a bloke in his shed in 1920 or so with a bit of time on his hands   ( in fact I need to post it here to see what people think LOL)

I guess what I am saying .. sometimes things are a mystery and we should rate them on what they are rather than what they might be  your loco IS the same as the one Arne posted in all details really, that much we know ... the rest is the mystery that keeps us going

The loco is  similar to arnes, but the paint job just cannot be found anywhere else. The inverted 've cutout was actually where the tin was folded inwards (probably to make room for a makeshift clockwork key in the form of a spanner) and has since been corrected. I will send you come more pictures on the engine, don't worry.

(Also how did you know I love being called berky?)

Trust me, I'll still love her. Shes an oddity, but I'll work to remove as much of the new paint so I can touch up the original

I might actually send her to someone to be touched up for me, is there anyone you could all recomend?

Berkshire posted:

 

(Also how did you know I love being called berky?)

Its an Aussie thing .. we always abbreviate stuff... its too hot here for more than 2 short syllables

( just as an aside yesterday was 49.7 deg C in the shade 121.5 F!!!! )

Had I done the other Aussie thing and added "O" to yer name , that would have been Berko... you can thank me I didnt cos Berko, also means " uber agitated, mad, lunatic ... "  ... "He just went berko and threw a chair thru the window ! "

Berkshire, don't get too stressed trying to figure out your little Bing loco, Bing made a bewildering amount of variations over the years, and this little loco is no exception. I've got 7 clockwork examples and no two are alike. And no one has to my knowledge, ever written a definitive book on the full range of Bing trains over the course of production, unlike Lionel or Hornby.

Cheers, Mark

bigmark75f posted:

Berkshire, don't get too stressed trying to figure out your little Bing loco, Bing made a bewildering amount of variations over the years, and this little loco is no exception. I've got 7 clockwork examples and no two are alike. And no one has to my knowledge, ever written a definitive book on the full range of Bing trains over the course of production, unlike Lionel or Hornby.

Cheers, Mark

One of the reasons I love Bing, there are so many hidden treasures out there, with so many variations. I might begin trying to find them all online, whether its screencaps of videos or pulled from the deepest corners of abandoned websites, it would be an interesting way to pass the time. 

And may you provide any pictures of your Bing locomotives? I love to see!

This one is for sale in Germany, it looks similar to yours, of course with better pictures it would be more easy to have an answer about it.... They where made in different paint scheme for Great Britain and this one in German livery. Back coupler is not original.

Very best,  Daniel

this is close in a few ways to mine, but the similarities are far less than the differences. Similarities I can make out:
-Footplate and front coupling
-Shape of cab and side tank
-Shape of key cutout

Differences:
-Color
-Wheel spoke count
-Existence of drive rods
-Type of reverse lever
-Fact that grid pattern extends into cab on footplate
-Back couple
-Funnel and Dome
-Buffers
-Side in which key cutout is
-Smokebox door

Berkshire, this is typical of the many variations of this particular loco across its years of production. It started around 1906, and 20 years later, was in the details, very different, but the basic body shell is the link through the years. Daniels loco is pre WW1, yours by the sound of it is mid 1920s. Photos from me later today, fingers crossed! 😊 

That, is actually very interesting. Reminds me of IVES with their series of locomotives, multiple series for every number, mine being the series one of the No. 6 engines. I found multiple locos like mine that were nearly 100% similar, with an exception of the paint, though I had collected plenty like that one online as well as others, a huge mass of links I had sent to myself in an email a while back. the best place to look would be in there

(If you would like the list of links I can look for it later, right now isn't much of a good time at the moment)

Here we go, 7 little Bing tank locos, from about a 20 year period of Bing history. First photo shows all of them, second photo shows the earliest example I have, a Midland Railway version from about 1908, and a London & North Western Railway version, circa 1912, much like Daniels. Photo 3 shows a Great Western Railway version from just before or just after WW1 and an unusual London, Midland and Scottish Railway version, which is a London North Western Railway version updated in the Bing factory by a bit of over painting and some added LMS letters. Photo 4 is a London North Eastern Railway version, still at this point with the embossing to the footplate, and photo 5 shows an LNER and an LMS example, probably the latest examples in my collection of this type, circa 1927/8, neither has any embossing to the footplate what so ever. I'd say yours is a similar age to the last 2 Berkshire. Mark.

beautiful pieces!