Annnnnd straight out of the " What were you thinking when you bought this Fatman" Box
May I present to you Gennermen and Laydees.... ( drumroll)
Possibly one of the saddest and sorriest Hornby No.1 Special Southern Tank locomotives that still runs on a track 
Well may you ask kind folks, "Why Oh Why did you ever buy such a thing?"
In truth I can only shake my head and look sheepishly at my feet .... but then I will lift my head high and feel the quickening of my heart as I try to justify my actions here ...
First of all it was born sometime between 1929 and 1939, and when it left the factory it was the flagship of its kind , with a revised clockwork mechanism that was one of Frank Hornby's Finest , being a Southern it was made in lesser numbers than its more "hoighty-toity" L.M.S. or L.N.E.R Brethren and with its brilliant deep green and gold/white pinstriped livery it was the most striking. This fellow has been played with and loved for many generations, you can see its history, the poor fellow has been stepped on with his wonky cab and mismatched coal hopper , but he was bent back into shape , and at some point his wheels fell to pieces and his side-rods took off, but he was loved enough for someone to take on the job recreating him new ones turning up brass and soldering in place ... But most of all I love the paint wear around the keyhole ...and on the opposite side you can see a corresponding wear patch and also on the once painted boiler dome, where the fingers holding him when he was being wound has taken his once great finish back to bare metal ...
This fellow has LIVED , and his heartbeat in that beautiful mechanism still beats strongly, his spring shows no tarnish and his gears tho desperately needing a clean in modern times still look sharp .. The No.1 special mechanism is a good one and he was worth the price of admission just for that alone ... Sadly he must have fallen on hard times and he was advertised on ePay for the massive sum of $25AUD ( about USD$18.50) Buy it Now .... So how could I resist? ... I told myself he is worth that for just the mech alone , but looking at him now I think he deserves a clean up, a little drink of light oil and nothing further, no restoration, just appreciation for all the amazing times he shared with someone ( or ones) over the last 90 odd years ...
And somewhere along the line he picked up that gorgeous key that is coming with him 
