K Where?

The news that K1 is departing the Welsh Highland for an unspecified sojourn at Statfold got me thinking I should post a wee gallery of our 4mm scale version on Bron Hebog.

This development was not unexpected to those in the know, indeed we dropped a cheeky hint at the Greenock exhibition of what was coming down the line.

Call me a pessimist but I’m not expecting to see it steaming again on the WHR any time soon.....

K1 and the FR is a relationship which has blown hot and cold over the last 50 years, and this seems to be one of its chillier periods.

It was as purchased in what can only can be seen as a spasm of romantic optimism, was shipped off  -  with relief -  to York after a period languishing at Harbour station, and then picked up again in the 90s as a convenient curiosity to give the WHR project a veneer of heritage.

But I don’t think the FR’a heart was ever in it.

I well remember the nickname ‘K-when?’ during its protracted restoration.

Yes, I fully understand the commercial logic of concentrating on a core fleet of NGG16s, and that is is not kind to the track, but I cannot believe there is not some role for it.

Consider this season just gone where there have been all kind of exotic double headed combinations to keep the service going when a Garratt ‘goes tech’.

It’s not as if the FR doesn’t have other indulgences - I guess K1’s face just doesn’t fit.