This is another one of those short posts concerning the history that is revealed by everyday objects.
There is a “fundamental dichotomy” (1)
in looking at the history this object reveals: that of the product itself and then that of the subject of the picture on it.
“Victory” wooden puzzles were produced from the early 1920’s by G. J. Hayter & Co at the “Victory” Works, Oxford Road, Bournemouth, Dorset. In 1970 the family-run firm was bought by J. W. Spear & Sons (2) best known as the British producers and marketers of the Scrabble board game. Wooden puzzles are hand crafted and by the 1980’s became uneconomic to make resulting in their production being phased out and they are no longer made.
The exact date of manufacture of this precise specimen is difficult to ascertain. However, judging by the box’s design and the quality of the cardboard from which it is made the best guess would be the late 1940’s / early 1950’s in that period of Post-war austerity.
The subject matter helps somewhat in the dating process as the “Silver Line” locomotive did not enter service until 1935 and the express Silver Jubilee Train service only ran from 1935 until the commencement of World War Two. This locomotive does however; possess an iconic status so its image continues to be displayed on jigsaws and elsewhere until the present day.
This brings us nicely to the second aspect of the history of the object. Somewhat in trepidation, knowing there are many people with expert knowledge of this subject, I give a potted history of The Silver Line locomotive. As already stated it entered service with the London North-Eastern Railway on 29th September 1935.
Designed by the L.N.E. R’s chief mechanical engineer, Sir Herbert Nigel Gresley, it was built at that firms works in Doncaster, Yorkshire and as is shown on the jigsaw it was allocated the locomotive number 2509. It was I believe an “A4 Class Pacific”. The late 1930’s was a period of intense rivalry between the two railway companies’s vying for supremacy on the lucrative and prestigious Scotland routes.
After The Silver Link broke the speed record on its inaugural journey with a speed of over 112mph a continuing contest developed into a “Speed war” between the L.N.E.R. and The London Midland and Scottish Railway or L.M.S. the record speed achieved changed hands several times with the L.M.S.’s “Coronation” reaching a speed of 114mph on 29th June, 1937 with the record (3) finally resting with “Mallard” another of L.N.E.R.’s A4 Pacific’s with a speed of 126mph on 3rd July, 1938. The approach of war brought an end to this focus on ever increasing speeds and the world record for a steam powered locomotive remains that of “The Mallard”.
THE COMPLETED PUZZLE (ALMOST)
Finished jigsaw, completed today, sadly with two missing pieces. I couldn’t help speculating on who were the people who had previously done this puzzle and what was happening to and around them whilst they were doing it.
Pictures; courtesy of Tony Goulding
© Tony Goulding 2020
NOTES:
1) I must admit to an indulgence in using this phrase as it was one that I used in numerous essays during my university course many years ago and couldn’t resist yielding to the urge to use it to assuage my feelings of nostalgia.
2) J. W. Spear & Sons, themselves have a really interesting history. They were started up in Furth, Nr. Nuremberg, Germany, by Jacob Wolf Spier in 1879.
In 1932 just before Hitler became the Chancellor of Germany the company had opened a factory in Enfield, Middlesex. This was fortunate for some of the Spiers family as being Jewish they were able to flee Nazi oppression. Settling in Britain they anglicised their name to Spear. The factory in Nuremberg was “appropriated” by a German businessman and was late in the war destroyed by the Royal Air Force. Continuing to trade into the 1990’s the firm was taken over in 1994 by the toy firm Mattel who wound down U. K. operations and in 1997 closed operations in Britain altogether.
3) “Top speed obtained by a steam-powered locomotive pulling a train.”
in looking at the history this object reveals: that of the product itself and then that of the subject of the picture on it.
“Victory” wooden puzzles were produced from the early 1920’s by G. J. Hayter & Co at the “Victory” Works, Oxford Road, Bournemouth, Dorset. In 1970 the family-run firm was bought by J. W. Spear & Sons (2) best known as the British producers and marketers of the Scrabble board game. Wooden puzzles are hand crafted and by the 1980’s became uneconomic to make resulting in their production being phased out and they are no longer made.
The exact date of manufacture of this precise specimen is difficult to ascertain. However, judging by the box’s design and the quality of the cardboard from which it is made the best guess would be the late 1940’s / early 1950’s in that period of Post-war austerity.
The subject matter helps somewhat in the dating process as the “Silver Line” locomotive did not enter service until 1935 and the express Silver Jubilee Train service only ran from 1935 until the commencement of World War Two. This locomotive does however; possess an iconic status so its image continues to be displayed on jigsaws and elsewhere until the present day.
Designed by the L.N.E. R’s chief mechanical engineer, Sir Herbert Nigel Gresley, it was built at that firms works in Doncaster, Yorkshire and as is shown on the jigsaw it was allocated the locomotive number 2509. It was I believe an “A4 Class Pacific”. The late 1930’s was a period of intense rivalry between the two railway companies’s vying for supremacy on the lucrative and prestigious Scotland routes.
After The Silver Link broke the speed record on its inaugural journey with a speed of over 112mph a continuing contest developed into a “Speed war” between the L.N.E.R. and The London Midland and Scottish Railway or L.M.S. the record speed achieved changed hands several times with the L.M.S.’s “Coronation” reaching a speed of 114mph on 29th June, 1937 with the record (3) finally resting with “Mallard” another of L.N.E.R.’s A4 Pacific’s with a speed of 126mph on 3rd July, 1938. The approach of war brought an end to this focus on ever increasing speeds and the world record for a steam powered locomotive remains that of “The Mallard”.
THE COMPLETED PUZZLE (ALMOST)
Finished jigsaw, completed today, sadly with two missing pieces. I couldn’t help speculating on who were the people who had previously done this puzzle and what was happening to and around them whilst they were doing it.
Pictures; courtesy of Tony Goulding
© Tony Goulding 2020
NOTES:
1) I must admit to an indulgence in using this phrase as it was one that I used in numerous essays during my university course many years ago and couldn’t resist yielding to the urge to use it to assuage my feelings of nostalgia.
2) J. W. Spear & Sons, themselves have a really interesting history. They were started up in Furth, Nr. Nuremberg, Germany, by Jacob Wolf Spier in 1879.
In 1932 just before Hitler became the Chancellor of Germany the company had opened a factory in Enfield, Middlesex. This was fortunate for some of the Spiers family as being Jewish they were able to flee Nazi oppression. Settling in Britain they anglicised their name to Spear. The factory in Nuremberg was “appropriated” by a German businessman and was late in the war destroyed by the Royal Air Force. Continuing to trade into the 1990’s the firm was taken over in 1994 by the toy firm Mattel who wound down U. K. operations and in 1997 closed operations in Britain altogether.
3) “Top speed obtained by a steam-powered locomotive pulling a train.”
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