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If you wish to communicate with me about steam train jigsaws and/or related railway art, or to respond to requests for answers to my queries, please email David, at : platt.precology@gmail.com

Saturday 23 October 2010

'Coronation Scot'

For today's post (23rd October 2010), I am focusing on a special express train, the 'Coronation Scot', as depicted in just three of many jigsaw puzzles.


The first pic shows a puzzle full of impact, Coronation Scot, a 500-piece example from KG Games. The close up view of a streamlined Stanier 'Pacific' locomotive No.6220 Coronation, in blue and silver livery and 3/4 elevation, can be compared/contrasted directly with the expansive trainshed of a huge mainline station. The train wins easily relegating the terminus to a minor role. The artist is not named.

Pic number two shows a picture from the famous railway artist David Weston. I know of only two of David's railway paintings, and they are certainly not his best, that have been reproduced in the jigsaw trade - as half of the 200-piece Steamtrains series by Falcon. The better one, Coronation Scot-LMS, shows a 'Coronation' class 4-6-2, in red (crimson lake) and gold livery, hauling the famous express. The backdrop is heavy industry (blast furnaces?) emitting what appears to be a 'golden glow'. The famous express, subdued lighting and heavy industry combine to make a memorable, but small, jigsaw puzzle.

I must admit that the jigsaw shown in the third and final pic is a bit of an enigma to me. Does it depict the 'Coronation Scot' as sent to the USA for the 1939 World Fair? No.6229 Duchess of Hamilton masqueraded as 6220 Coronation for the trip. Pictorial Publications (Leeds) Ltd., under the Grafton Major label, produced the 400-piece jigsaw titled British Express. A bell and headlamp are clearly shown in the puzzle - American adaptations. However, the locomotive, seven coaches and a first class sleeping car that were sent to America were liveried in crimson lake and gold, not blue and silver as in the puzzle. The name plate is also a long example much like City of xxxxxx  or Duchess of xxxxxxx. So the jigsaw and its title mystifies me. Can anyone shed any light?