The Origins of King Jack
The photograph arrived in December 2019 as an attchment to an e-mail in the 'Contact' section of the website. The e-mail was from Adam Roper who is the driver in the photograph.
Adam's e mail :
"The loco was built by Chris Summersall -
King Jack was one of his ancestors in the Pateley Bridge area
and was famous as a sheep rustler who never got caught.
The loco was inspired by a proposal in the book 'Locos that never were'
and is a King Arthur version of the LBSC 'Betty' design built 2:1 to double the gauge from 3.5" to 7.25".
The engine was a good runner and I drove it many times.
It ran at IMLEC (or similar) in the early 1990's but did not do well as it was overloaded -
efficient running needs the right loading. I think there was also a fault with the pony truck which did not help.
The boiler followed Chris's previous loco which was a 10.25" Simplex and therefore required a properly certified boiler
- the learning experience from this resulted in a very strong boiler for King Jack.
The first 10.25" boiler had to be scrapped as the inspector had not seen it during construction
- all Chris's boilers were extra solid after that. Link here:
https://modelengineeringwebsite.com/10.25%22_Burry_Port.html
Chris died relatively young and King Jack was sold a couple of years later.
I am not sure where it has been since but I am pleased that it is still running.
The photograph was taken by Chris in January 1991 (when we still got frost).
It wasn't the first test as the tender body was missing at that stage
but I think that this was the first run as a complete loco and the last before it was painted.
The picture shows the old track at Hollins Hall with me driving and Nidderdale in the background.
I am no longer involved with miniature railways as I moved on to narrow gauge instead
- if you are ever in the north please contact us as we will be happy to open the railway for you -
http://www.riponlightrailway.co.uk/
we're in the middle of the page somewhere.
Adam"
e mail ends.
DG adds :
I found a You-Tube of a "Betty.
The "LBSC" in the text was a person. Lillian Lawrence wrote under the pseudonym LBSC in various magazines,
(particularly "Model Engineer"), from the 1920s until his death in 1967.
These articles demonstrated how amateurs could build miniature steam locomotives.
It may be said that he founded the hobby of building and running miniature steam locomotives.
He is well worth a "Google"; the book below is a more complete account of his "interesting" life.
