Do you recognise this?

[dajo]

A friend has restored a locomotive that he acquired years ago.  He knows nothing about the provenance of the locomotive.  If you can provide information, please do.
dajo









Here are the pictures of the gauge 3 engine I spoke to you about, before any work was done. I know virtually nothing about it. It appears to have had a long working life, after which time it was repainted and fixed up cosmetically as a display model. The lovely paint work showed no sign of damage from heat. As supplied to me, the safety valve was just a solid lump of brass in the shape of a safety valve. Based on the splashers at the ends of the side tanks, the engine may have started life as an 0-6-0 (?). The Smithies boiler was covered in soot and was non functional. All controls had been rather brutally stripped off. All of what would normally have been sheet-metal work (side tanks, cab) were actually castings, as is the frame, as can be seen in the pictures. No identifying marks were found anywhere. Any information on the maker, age, and/or history of this engine would be of interest.

I've restored the engine mechanically and it's now a working locomotive once again.

[IanT]

Well no one seems to be able to recognise your little engine Dave - although I have to say it looks very attractive in its restored state.

The bodywork somewhat reminded me initially of LBSC's '0' Gauge Mollyette, which was an 0-6-0 simple inside cylinder job, which might have suggested a one-off scratch built engine that's since been 're-modelled' perhaps. However, the body castings mentioned are more reminiscent of those 'standard' castings available from early railway modelling sources such a JLS and Bonds, which could be used to make up a 'kit-of-parts' for various different loco types. I have browsed through my various catalogues though and cannot find any exact matches to your engine.

I do think a small outside cylindered 0-4-0 live steam loco would be a useful engine to design/model in G3 though - there was so much emphasis (from LBSC and others) on large tender engines in 2.5" gauge.

Nice restoration job by the way.

Regards,

IanT