Building a model railway part 6: New loco

I imagine very few men get given model locos from their spouse as a wedding aniversary gift, but I've long suspected my wife, Cathy, is the most awesome wife in the world!

Anyway, for my 13th wedding anniversary I was given a Hornby model of a Thompson L1 tank engine. It was, coincidentally, quite an unlucky class of loco. After a brief working life in the 50s and 60s, all examples of the class were cut up within 20 years of being built. None survived into preservation - a fact Cathy described as "very sad"

But in the world of model railways, one did survive into preservation, and is now on the manifest of the SCRHC. Number 67772 is known locally as 'Lacey', named by Cathy in honour of our 'Lace' anniversary. (Did you know that 13 is the Lace anniversary? no, neither did I.) Among the drivers, the dog theme means it also goes by other names - 'Black Dog', 'the Hound' (as in the Hound of the Baskervilles - a big black dog), or simply 'the Big Dog' because it dwarfs Pitbull and Snoopy.

Here's some pics of it 'running in'.