Scale: 1:32. The tug ‘Mark Lane’ (1923) was built by Cochrane and Sons Ltd., Selby, for the Tilbury Contracting and Dredging Company Ltd., of Grays, Essex. The company had been formed in 1884 and, from 1915, was based in Greenwich. ‘Mark Lane’s’ official number was ‘147487’, and she was the first of a fleet of tugs built for handling and towing the company’s mud hopper barges. In fair weather she would tow barges up to 900 tons to dumping grounds in the Thames Estuary and for 40 years she was a familiar sight on the River and its approaches. She was fitted with a hinged mast and funnel to enable her to work under the Thames bridges, if necessary.

The model has been extremely well made and makes for an attractive subject, and one can immediately see why tugs are so popular among the amateur modelmaking fraternity.