The Yorkshire Steam Wagon is a further example of Matchbox Toys reverting to the very successful days of the First Series with the inclusion of popular steam driven vehicles. The Yorkshire Wagon was originally scheduled for release in August, but eventnally came out in September 1987 in the livery of Johnnie Walker.
Matchbox Toys Ltd's original licence agreement with Johnnie Walker & Sons Ltd expired in October 1987 and it was not renewed by United Distilleries, the new owners. Production was curtailed at this time and so only 70.000 models were made.

Livery: (Tampo)
'JOHNNIE WALKER WHISKY' in red or maroon on both canopy sides.
Johnnie Walker figure in red, gold, black and white on both canopy sides.
'KILMARNOCK & LONDON' in gold on both wagon sides.
'No 7' in gold on both cab doors.
'JOHNNIE WALKER' in gold on boiler.
'NU 1108' in white on black on boiler.
Gold coachlines.

Variations/Rarities: The model had a strawberry red body, black chassis, boiler and seats with a light brown canopy and red wheels.
It had a grey cab roof which was originally to be made in zinc and fixed in place by only two rivets. It was discovered that there were problems with overspraying, so the roof was changed to self-coloured plastic and ultimately an extra rivet was added.
One of the more significant variations recorded was the colour of ink applied to the side of the canopy tampo decoration which can be in either bright red or light or dark maroon.
Another variation concerns the Johnnie Walker figure. Early production models were shown to the trademark owner who raised objections to the walking style of the figure. The figure was then re-positioned so that he did not appear to be goose-stepping. An excellent reference photograph can be found in the 1990 Matchbox Models of Yesteryear Calendar.
After the first run it was also noticed that the gold tampo print did not adhere well and so a layer of clear lacquer was applied over the print.

Scale: 1:61

Johnnie Walker Whisky

Cab roof rivets

Johnnie Walker figure