DJB Coolum

[railwayman198]

A good friend of mine took delivery of this little beauty today. As both of us are coal firing novices I arranged to be there for the instruction session and demonstration that was given when the loco was delivered.

 

[playmofire]

That looks very nice indeed. What loco is it based on, please?

 

[railwayman198]

It is based on a Roundhouse Lady Anne chassis. The open cab design seems ideally suited to coal firing. The prototype was a Fowler that ran on an Australian Sugar Mill line , I believe.

 

[jabsteam]

Very nice engine!
Was it a kit? or Ready To Run?

 

[playmofire]

It is based on a Roundhouse Lady Anne chassis. The open cab design seems ideally suited to coal firing. The prototype was a Fowler that ran on an Australian Sugar Mill line , I believe.

Thank you. I'd mark your post as useful if I knew how.

 

[maxi-model]

Now that is a very nice looking loco you have there. I could go for that. Could you make a video of her being fired up and running ?

I wonder if DJB would concider re-making and existing lady Anne or provide the boiler and a kit of parts to convert one ?
Max

 

[tagorton]

Now that is a very nice looking loco you have there. I could go for that. Could you make a video of her being fired up and running ?

I wonder if DJB would concider re-making and existing lady Anne or provide the boiler and a kit of parts to convert one ?
Max

ELR already do this so it really would not be cost effective. DJB already do their coal fired 'Robert' locomotive based on Roundhouse mechanicals and they also do one based on the Accucraft Edrig and Ragleth. I have both these models, each with resonator whistle and working automatic draincocks and they are superb runners, the Edrig approaching six years old and with many miles under its belt with no sign of wear. A Ragleth RTR (with whistle and draincocks) and will cost under £2000 and very much cheaper as a kit. These are superb value and get more running than any other locos in the stud.

 

[tagorton]

whoops how did I end up with two pics :-(

 

[dudley]

Twins, only their mother could tell them apart. Should have reversed the photo Tag, we wouldn't have know.

 

[railwayman198]

Very nice engine!
Was it a kit? or Ready To Run?

Ready to run, but the batch has all been sold.

 

[Glengrant]

I'm not terribly interested in live model, steam mainly because it is way outside my technical and financial base, but this little engine brought back a memory. Some years back not very far from where I live a local business man and some enthusiasts built a short 2 foot gauge railway and tagged it on to what had been an old GNoSR standard branchline, long gone of course, at a place called Alford. A petrol steam look alike did most of the work, but back in the early '80s the businessman, through his earlier career which had been at a sugar mill in South Africa discovered that two of the engines which used to work that line, I think it was the Sezela Sugar Corp, still existed, and somehow or other he managed to get one of these engines and shipped it to Scotland. Tongue in cheek, he named it "Sacharine" The engine was a 2 foot gauge Fowler 0-4-2T built in 1914. These rather ordinary pics are of that engine at work on 20/7/87. There were restrictions on its use; because of a sharp radius curve on the line, the engine was not permitted to use the full length of the line. Alas, for various reasons, not the least of which was the suggestion that it might have to be re-tubed, "Sacharine's" days were numbered at Alford, and it went away, and I don't know where it is now. A year later I went to South Africa to mop up, photographically, the last years of mainline steam, but one day, at a gold mine site which was still operating steam, I think it might have been Welkom, I found the sister engine to Sacharine, by now stuffed and mounted. I do have a picture somewhere, but where? Fowler 0-4-2T? Oh well, I though it might be a relation to Coolum?

 

[Glengrant]

.....sorry, messed up posting my Fowler pics, but they're all there...........

 

[Rhos Helyg Loco Works]

Like many other narrow gauge locos that fell on hard times, Saccharine is now fully restored at the Statfold Barn Railway:

 

[Neil Robinson]

"Sacharine's" days were numbered at Alford, and it went away, and I don't know where it is now.

This is a rather old entry. Search for Fowler works number 13355.
http://www.heritage-railways.com/locosdb/locosdb.php < Link To http://www.heritage-railw..com/locosdb/locosdb.php
The photo suggests it has visited Statfold Barn near here and may even now be part of their collection.

Edit, Ah Tony was quicker off the mark.

 

[Glengrant]

Well, isn't that delightful to discover that the old girl is still alive and well, I had a feeling someone would come up with news of Saccharine. In my mono pics she was green, probably approximating to GNoSR green, but I'm not an expert. With the restriction on her use on the Alford Railway she was very much underused, and rather overpowered I think for the one coach light train. I'm afraid today's petrol driven steam outline thing does not excite me one little bit, so I don't bother to go to see it

 

[playmofire]

looking at that little loco again, if I ever were to be able to afford live steam, I think that's the loco I'd go for. Does the £2000 include RC?

 

[tagorton]

looking at that little loco again, if I ever were to be able to afford live steam, I think that's the loco I'd go for. Does the £2000 include RC?

No. I don't see much point in R/C on a coal fired loco but with water in the tanks and a grate and ashpan under the firebox there is no room for it. Of course a gas fired version of Ragleth with R/C is under a grand.

 

[Doug]

Here's a pic of the loco at Stoneleigh in 2009:

 

[GTB]

Nice model.

Coolum had a twin sister named Eudlo, if you want something a little different, or can afford two of them............

They ran on the Moreton Mill tramway at Nambour, now closed along with the mill. Both survive in preservation, but are not in running condition. The tramway ran down the middle of the main road in Nambour and in it's heyday you could sit on the balcony of the Royal George Hotel with a beer and watch anything up to 70 trains a day pass by.

There are good photos. of Coolum on this site, along with Eudlo and the other steam locos that worked at Moreton Mill.

http://www.starfieldobservatory.com/MapletonTramway/29Where.htm < Link To http://www.starfieldobser...tonTramway/29Where.htm

Regards,
Graeme

 

[bobg]

That must have been a pretty big beer Grah!

Good link , I'd put some of those photos around late 50's early 60's