Baby Face

Here is another photo of D6319 at the head of a rake of wagons for the coal depot.

She is missing one of her side valence panels so, presumably, someone forgot (or couldn't be bothered) to replace it following a recent service. Apparently it was quite a common occurrence for these locomotives to have missing or ill-fitting valences in later life.

I must admit that I personally love this diminutive loco and have wanted a model of a Class 22 for a long time now. So, congratulations must go to Dapol for doing a truly excellent job in creating a scaled down version of this long defunct class.

I have owned one or two Hornby Class 29's, and I liked those too, but it was always the 22 that I really wanted. Maybe it is because of the loco's sad 'expression' or, perhaps, it is because none of them survived into preservation. 

Whatever the reason I am delighted that we have been able to add one to our fleet and it has already been put to good use on both local passenger services as well as a variety of goods trains. 

It has even been used to haul demolition trains away from the former goods yard prior to us remodelling the northern half of the layout. Hmm, shades of their duties on the S&D during the late 1960s methinks!