A new member of my Society arrived, cradling a boiler in his arms; part of an unfinished 5″ g. locomotive he had inherited. The model is apparently of a Bagnall saddle-tank, and designated (in model form) as “Ann of Holland” design, but I failed to find any reference to such on the Internet. I may have been searching wrongly, but anyway it is not in the Reeves and Blackgates catalogues so either no longer stocked by them, or that was the builder’s own name for his example of the Bagnalls castings Blackgates at least still supply.

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The boiler is fabricated to a very high standard, possibly professionally, but the new owner has not found any papers for it; or not yet.

It is numbered in “AS xxxxx” format, pre-CE marking. My enquiry elicited the NAME boiler register shows two other “AS” built boilers, one with Sheffield connections.

If as suggested, the five digits are their completion / initial test dates, this one of at least three was possibly made in 1998.

Even if no maker’s documents appear we can still test the boiler as “new” (it has not yet even been fitted in the frames), and certify it if it passes, by the standard NAME procedure.

It would be good to know, and the WSE and test certificates do request the builder’s name, but that could be quoted as “AS: private build”, as indeed possible.

So, does anyone know who “AS” was, or of course, is?