Holiday snaps....

[King Crab]

So, on our recent Swiss holiday there was a day of incessant rain. So we mooched around a few towns in the Rhone valley. Finally ending up in Bex. My wife was looking in the window of a second hand shop, while I was eyeing up the pastries in a Boulangerie. Then she called me over and pointed to the model railway equipment in the window. The shop was full of interesting stuff, and the owner was very pleasant. When I asked about the model railway equipment, she said there was more to see in the basement.

When I went down the steps, I had a pleasant surprise. There was a group of guys chatting away over an 0 gauge layout! It turned out to be a workshop and test track for Alex, pictured here.



He was scratch building some standard gauge electric locos, and what I think is a metre gauge steam loco.



So, a dull afternoon was turned into a pleasant hour of admiring his den.....
Kind of 'What's on the Workbench of someone you just stumbled over...'

And finally, here is a snap of a fascinating loco which was sitting on a spur, used as a service area for a Hydro water installation.
Unfortunately I didn't look at the maker's plate.
But it looks like a perfect example for a Judith Edge kit.



Happy New Year to all

Peter

 

[Rob R]

Peter,
Your pretty(?) little red loco is a WW1 vintage Baldwin Gas Mechanical, 60cm gauge rebuilt to standard gauge. They used to have a very similar one at Apedale although yours is a bit better built.

Rob

 

[Rob R]

Found a few photos of the Apedale machine taken in 2017.



Here you can see how the outside cranks have been re-used.
It is a little bit different from the regauged Armoured Simplexes.
I have more photos and if anyone is interested I'll start a new gallery thread.

Rob

 

[Simon]

How brilliant!

Is that Bex as in Bex Villars Bretaye railway?

If so then I went skiing there (very badly) in an earlier life, the (metre gauge) railway was terrific.

Simon

 

[King Crab]

Found a few photos of the Apedale machine taken in 2017.View attachment 154890
View attachment 154891

View attachment 154892
Here you can see how the outside cranks have been re-used.
It is a little bit different from the regauged Armoured Simplexes.
I have more photos and if anyone is interested I'll start a new gallery thread.

Rob

Rob
I had hoped someone with more knowledge than I would know what the Loco was!
Many thanks for the photos and info.

Peter

 

[King Crab]

How brilliant!

Is that Bex as in Bex Villars Bretaye railway?

If so then I went skiing there (very badly) in an earlier life, the (metre gauge) railway was terrific.

Simon

Simon

That's Bex, as in between Montreux and Martigny.
It's at the start of a narrow gauge line up to Villars sur Ollon, so yes the same.
There is another super route nearby, from Aigle up to Les Diablerets.

The Baldwin is at a place called the 'Cascade du pisse vache' ...

Peter

 

[King Crab]

Now that Rob R has identified the beast.
I searched the web for 'Baldwin Mechanical' and found that there were already two kits available!

The description at the Light Railway Store says:

"The Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia, USA constructed well over a 1’000 locomotives, both steam and I/C engined, for the British, French, Russian and American Governments. Of these where a 126 50HP Gas-mechanical in 1917 for the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) for use in France, in addition a number of dimensional smaller 35HP versions were also built. The French Army had around 600! 50HP locos built to the same design for use on its Artillery railways in mainland France and its colonies. Also the Imperial Russian Government had 350 76cm gauge locos built to a very similar design. The locos were fitted with 4 cylinder petrol engines driving the 4-coupled wheels via a two-speed gearbox and rod coupling. Speed was a stately 4 mph (6.4 kmph) in bottom gear and 8 mph (12.9 kmph) in top gear. The locos weighed in at 14,000 lb (6350 kg). Fuel carried in the 30-gallon (113.6 litre) tank was used up at 3 miles per gallon (12 km per litre).."

Peter

 

[AJC]

Now that Rob R has identified the beast.
I searched the web for 'Baldwin Mechanical' and found that there were already two kits available!

The description at the Light Railway Store says:

"The Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia, USA constructed well over a 1’000 locomotives, both steam and I/C engined, for the British, French, Russian and American Governments. Of these where a 126 50HP Gas-mechanical in 1917 for the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) for use in France, in addition a number of dimensional smaller 35HP versions were also built. The French Army had around 600! 50HP locos built to the same design for use on its Artillery railways in mainland France and its colonies. Also the Imperial Russian Government had 350 76cm gauge locos built to a very similar design. The locos were fitted with 4 cylinder petrol engines driving the 4-coupled wheels via a two-speed gearbox and rod coupling. Speed was a stately 4 mph (6.4 kmph) in bottom gear and 8 mph (12.9 kmph) in top gear. The locos weighed in at 14,000 lb (6350 kg). Fuel carried in the 30-gallon (113.6 litre) tank was used up at 3 miles per gallon (12 km per litre).."

Peter

The other - relatively well-known - example is Moelwyn which has been on the Ffestiniog since the ‘20s. The name is either the best or worst preservation pun I know. In Welsh, Moel means ‘Bald’ (and it’s also the name of a mountain), i.e., Baldwin.

Moelwyn - Festipedia

www.festipedia.org.uk

Adam

 

[simond]

I knew about the loco but the Welsh pun was beyond me

there is/was a collection of Baldwin GMs at a little line “Tacot des Lacs” a little south of Fontainebleau.

if anyone wants a 16mm scale version, the Wrightscale model was a joy to build