Salt and saddle-tanks in Cheshire - looking for information

[Trent]

Hello all - Trent here, back after a lengthy hiatus.

I mainly do US modeling but I'm looking to put something in a small space that's opened up since I lifted the US layout up by 15cm to bring it closer to eye height. Probably a switching puzzle or small operating diorama. For variation's sake I'm keen on doing a British outline bit here.

There's one bit of British rolling stock that's always caught my eye and that's the peaked roof salt wagons that were around from the 20s to the 50s - Peco do it in kit form. I'm researching their history at the moment. I can find lots of stimulating information about how salt works operate, and where most of them were - Cheshire, near me - which is all looking good in terms of reference for making some kind of salt works to run the wagons into. Maybe based on the Lion Salt Works or fictional.

What I'm struggling to work out is what kind of locomotive you might have found shunting wagons around a factory in Cheshire in the period 1920-50, and also, more to the point, who makes a reliable one in N.

Now my assumption here is that this region was first covered by the LMS, and would then later be taken up into British Rail. (I could be wrong about LMS though as I understand the LNER came into Cheshire sometimes?) I'm also assuming that at the point where wagons are being loaded up at a factory, they'll have been detached from a large tender locomotive and will be pushed or pulled by a saddle-tank loco of some kind. Before buying anything though I was wondering if I could get your collective eye on this. I'm also aware that some LMS locos were red and some were black, and I'd like mine to be black.

Cheers - and I'll try to be round here more often from now on, it's been too long.
   

[PLD]

What I'm struggling to work out is what kind of locomotive you might have found shunting wagons around a factory in Cheshire in the period 1920-50, and also, more to the point, who makes a reliable one in N.

Now my assumption here is that this region was first covered by the LMS, and would then later be taken up into British Rail. (I could be wrong about LMS though as I understand the LNER came into Cheshire sometimes?)

Cheshire was prime territory for seeing locos from several companies in the same place...
Prior to  the grouping of 1923 when the Big 4 companies were formed, the predominant operator in the northern parts of Cheshire was the "Cheshire Lines Committee" a Joint company owned in equal shares by the Great Northern, Great Central and Midland Railways. IIRC The Great Central provided the majority of the locos and rolling stock, though there was also some Midland coaching stock used.
Further south, the dominant operator was the LNWR and there were also incursions at the edges by the GWR and the Lancashire and Yorkshire.

In 1923 the GCR & GNR become part of the LNER, the Midland and the LNWR part of the LMS. The CLC continued as a "joint line" with both companies operating over it's routes.

[Newportnobby]

You really need an expert on small shunters as all I can put forward for the late 40s is the J94 0-6-0 saddle tank. This is available as a Farish item in black and will be produced by DJ Models sometime in the future too, also in black.
The Farish one will, I'm sure, have to be sourced second hand as I can't imagine you'll find a new one anywhere

[LAandNQFan]

Have you tried the archives of the Salt Museum in Northwich?  They have lots of old photographs.