Large Scale Central

Roundhouses' new loco? Tony Walsham and Gordon Watson to see

Electronics Live Steam
#1

I really don’t know why it never occurred to me before, but I guess that I was blinded by the need for it to be an American loco in narrow gauge.

Let’s see the requirements and the answers together…

  1. American? Yup, built by Baldwin locomotive Works of Philly.

  2. NG? Yup, 2ft 6in.

  3. American-looking, even in preservation? Certainly is - cow-catcher, big headlight and big cab.

  4. Running as we speak? Certainly is. One of the most popular preserved railways on the planet, too.

  5. Different colour schemes? Yusp - homey black and near-LNER apple green.

Gentlemen and ladies, I give you PUFFING BILLY!

tac
www.ovgrs.org
Supporter of the Cape Meares Lighthouse Restoration Fund

#2

I know nutting. Nutting I tell you, nutting!!!

What on Earth are you on about TAC?

If you really think Roundhouse would do a scale model of Puffing Billy, I have this easy to get to bridge, longing for a buyer…

#3

That Terry, he’s such a tease.

#4

<Gentlemen and ladies, I give you PUFFING BILLY!>

Still waitiing for the grand entrance.

#5

Well, guys, it’s like this. Roger Loxley, boss of Roundhouse, has been asking around the fora and shows over here in yUK for ideas for a new ‘American’-style locomotive to build.

So I’ve suggested the NA Class prairie tank loco now forever associated with the Puffing Billy line just outside Melbourne, Victoria, a 2ft 6in gauge preserved railway with an average annual visitor number hovering around 350,000 or so.

The first two of these prairie tank locomotive were built by Baldwin of Philadelphia, the rest in Australia. So THERE is the American connection.

A few more points in favour - there are still six survivors, all in different paint scheme. They are a great little loco idea for 16mm scale - measuring just under 18 inches long in that scale. IP Engineering already make a whole series of suitable passenger cars to replicate [with minimal bashing] the open-sided design.

There would be plenty of room for a whistle, a Regner ‘Westinghaus’ water-pump and/or gas-regulator system, all the r/c you could possible want to fit, and it would pull the house down.

So, sorry, but NOT a tease.

My take, is all.

tac
www.ovgrs.org
Supporter of the Cape Meares Lighthouse Restoration Fund

#6

Well, Tony old floon, look at it this way - these are the just-about-scale live-steam models they already make -

Tom Rolt, Taliesin, VoRh, Darjeeling Model B, Argyll, SR&RL #24 [if you squint]…

None of them at the bottom of the trough, price-wise, and very popular, if the waiting lists are anything to go by.

With the general love-afaair that most foks seem to have with RH products, my take is that it would be a success and fit in most anywhere on ANY layout. If you are an American, then it’s almost a Maine two-footer, if you are a Brit, then it’s the same gauge as the Welshpool [a line that has A mix of British, Sierra-Loenian, Franc-Belgian and Romanian locos, as well as Hungarian and Austrian rollong stock]. If you are an Australian of New Zealander, well, there is no problem at all…

Gordon Watson [boss of Argyle Locomotive Works and a true gentleman] sold all the NAs that HE built, and they were priced according to their worth. A true-scale model in 1/15th, with full Stephenson valve gear and all the right doo-dads, I only wish that I could have found one when I was rich, back in the good old days…

Best

tac
www.ovgrs.org
Supporter of the Cape Meares Lighthouse Restoration Fund