Last year I bought a completed McGowan Models LNER C4, and it rather threw the inadequacies of my hackbashed C5 'King Edward VII' into sharp relief.

I had already decided that something had to be done about the compound's chassis- I had bought a Hornby 'Patriot' chassis to replace the existing hacked-about B12 running gear- but a scheme to rebuild the loco below the running plate was shelved whilst I considered how to proceed. ,

A few months later a whitemetal C4 body came up on ebay and was secured for around £40, and at this point the putative project suddenly moved from being a mere chassis replacement to replacing the whole loco.

So when I was putting together my 2015 build programme it was almost inevitable that a new C5 would figure prominently in it; more than anything else I now had a new donor chassis and a semi-completed body taking up valuable storage space, part of which can be cleared for other projects just as soon as the one is introduced to the other.

In the meantime I started gathering my research materials; a copy of Volume 13 of Yeadon's gave documentary evidence that what I want to model actually happened in real life (that being, LNER lettering on GCR livery)- even if only for 6 months in 1924. Etched numberplates were ordered and I suddenly found myself with all the necessary bits to do the engine, even if the motor and tender would have to wait a while... well that wouldn't stand so a motorised Hornby tender was bought- which just leaves the tender body to acquire (and I'm pretty adept at making those from scratch).

First step of course is to turn the 4-6-0 chassis into a 4-4-2, and I'll be covering how I am doing this next time.