Live steam Nigerian 4-8-0

[MikeWilliams]

Well, I've never seen one of these before.

Lacy, Scott and Knight have a sale at Bury St. Edmunds.

"Spirit fired 4-8-0 locomotive and bogie tender, 2.5'' gauge based on a Nigerian Railways Nasmyth Wilson & Co Ltd Manchester, lid named ''Emir or Zaria'' No 3 ''Emir'' class Nigerian Railways. Some obscure documents relating and possibly made by Bassett-Lowke, loco has 8 wick removable burner and reservoir, 2 outside cylinders (fixed). Slip eccentric valve gear, one unflanged drive, set whistle, safety valve, backhead has regulator manometer and sight glass. Tender has water supply valve and filler cap, supplied with 2 sleeping coaches, a dining/kitchen car and a baggage car all with wiring for lighting. A display cabinet for the loco and tender and a quantity of 2-5'' gauge track"

Starting price £1500 which seems high, but it is nicely made.

[IanT]

No pictures of the carriage stock that seems to be part of the deal Mike - but if you collect Lionel or Tinplate - there is a lot to choose from. I only looked through about 20 pages - too late now to do all 84 I'm afraid - but some very nice stuff there. The Meccano reminded me of a friends' collection we used to play with a long (long) time ago - he had several large boxed sets - would be worth a small fortune today most likely...

Regards,

IanT

[MikeWilliams]

That's a good point Ian, if the coaches are OK and especially if it can found to be Lowke, then the price suddenly seems reasonable.  Compared to many I like the way the boiler mountings fit perfectly and the shapes are spot on - details like that suggest it may be Lowke, or at least a nicely made engine.

It is lot No.49.

Mike

[MikeWilliams]

Roger Olding saw the post above and wrote to say "browsing through the Model Railway News for July 1925 I found a photo and reference if not to the exact one Mike noticed then almost certainly one with the same origins. Judging from the MRN article it must have been made before 1914."

START QUOTE
A Nigerian Story
To The Editor, Model Railway News.
Dear Sir
Here is a photo of an excellent little model loco which may interest you.
It is a good many years ago since they were supplied, but nonetheless interesting.
They are a representative model of a type of mixed-traffic locomotive that we found most serviceable in Northern Nigerian, especially on the Bara-Kano section.
To propritiate one of the native chiefs, an Emir, it was decided to present a model of the engine, that would travel through his territory, together with a suitable circular track of rails where the engine could run in steam for his delight.
The presentation ceremony was a great palava at which the Emir, with his head men, attended in state with their umbrellas.  They sat in a circle round the track, and after the little models had completed a few circuits and they had appreciated the novelty, they danced around about in high glee.
Yours sincerely,
C.E.Williams
London
END QUOTE

The accompanying picture is exactly the same as the auction model and the caption says "This model was presented to the Emir of Katsena."

So, probably the engine and four carriages at the auction (which appear not to have sold) are quite historic and suddenly the asking price seems very reasonable!  Thank you very much Roger Olding.

Mike

[John Candy]

Blimey!

Perhaps it should be in the British Museum!

John.

[MikeWilliams]

Its back at ASHLEY WALLER AUCTIONEERS in Cheshire with an estimate of "2000 - "5000 and an opening bid of £1200.

Surely it will sell at that price.  Cheap for such a piece of history.

[MikeWilliams]

Most peculiar.  Yesterday it had an opening bid of £1200.  Today it shows as hammer price £1000 with the implication that it sold. That sounds cheap to me and I really hope a G3S member has bought it and will bring it out occasionally for us all to see.

Mike