Red Devil
- Thread starter Perry
- Start date
Lobethalbahn2
Registered
Well, they say if it’s red it goes faster...
![th[2].jpg](https://cdn.gscalecentral.net/2018/07/464773_th2.jpg "th[2].jpg")
TLR
anything to do with model L/S loco's boats etc
What a smooth runner.....credit given to the restoration crew and the track maintenence crew! 
Rhinochugger
Retired Oik
Presumably we're looking at 3' 6" gauge - what a cracker 
TLR
anything to do with model L/S loco's boats etc
Presumably we're looking at 3' 6" gauge - what a cracker
Correct, if you can get hold of the book'The Red Devil and other tales from the age of steam' by David Wardale you can read about the trials and tribulations associated with this loco and others encountered with the rebuilding.
Shaun
TLR
anything to do with model L/S loco's boats etc
Not sure but generally smaller gauges than standard gauge [ 4'81/2"] tended to cost less to build although South Africa had many miles of 2' gauge as well.
Shaun
tac foley
Registered
Larger that what? It's Cape Gauge - 3ft 6in - the British colonial gauge of choice where difficult terrain was concerned. Most Sub-Saharan countries were at one time outposts of the British empire, and got Cape Gauge as a result. So did mountainous NZ, for obvious reasons, TBH, the terrain is suited to it, but Australia mostly [99.9999999% empty] went its own way, with a variety.
Oddly enough, Japan is also mostly Cape Gauge [the Shinkansen is standard gauge], but that is because the railways were set up by the British, and used British-built locomotives.
As for narrow gauge locos costing less than standard gauge, this is true of the smaller narrow gauge locos that we see in Wales and other places [you can still buy a brand-new Hunslet Quarry-class loco for less than £150K], but the Red Devil' is simply a full-size loco with the wheels a mite closer together. Bigger than ANY loco that ever ran in the UK apart from the LMS and LNER Beyer-Garratts.
How about this loco? Cape Gauge and quite large.
tac
OVGRS
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Rhinochugger
Retired Oik
Larger that what? It's Cape Gauge - 3ft 6in - the British colonial gauge of choice where difficult terrain was concerned. Most Sub-Saharan countries were at one time outposts of the British empire, and got Cape Gauge as a result. So did mountainous NZ, for obvious reasons, TBH, the terrain is suited to it, but Australia mostly [99.9999999% empty] went its own way, with a variety.
Oddly enough, Japan is also mostly Cape Gauge [the Shinkansen is standard gauge], but that is because the railways were set up by the British, and used British-built locomotives.
As for narrow gauge locos costing less than standard gauge, this is true of the smaller narrow gauge locos that we see in Wales and other places [you can still buy a brand-new Hunslet Quarry-class loco for less than £150K], but the Red Devil' is simply a full-size loco with the wheels a mite closer together. Bigger than ANY loco that ever ran in the UK apart from the LMS and LNER Beyer-Garratts.
How about this loco? Cape Gauge and quite large.
tac
OVGRS
Yes, for some reason the 3' - 0" gauge favoured in the USA for mountainous or difficult terrain was not a UK favourite. 3 ft lines in the UK being limited to the Southwold Railway, the Isle of Man, arguably the original Ravenglass & Eskdale, and an industrial line in Scotland (Lochaber).
Ireland, however, favoured the 3ft - almost all (if not all) their narrow gauge lines were 3 ft.
But, as you say, 3' - 6" was the gauge of choice in the colonies
It's wonderful to see this loco back in steam, although I gather that some of its advanced features are no longer present. I had the good fortune to see it in April 1981 when first rebuilt and to photograph it on its first passenger train duty. In those pre-internet days nobody had told us about the colour scheme and when 200-odd tons of pillarbox red steam locomotive came round the bend at Rayton I nearly fell off the hire car roof I was using as a grandstand! Anyone interested in this engine, and modern steam generally really should read David Wardale's book - it also explains the paint job !
I can't agree that 3'6" was necessarily the "gauge of choice" in the British Empire. The main secondary gauge on the vast Indian system was 1 metre, which was also the standard in East Africa, although later steam power there was designed to be easily convertible to Cape gauge if the system ever linked up with the railways further south. Of course, Indonesia also uses 3'6" and many attractive British-built steam locomotives were also supplied there.
G scale/45mm gauge would be perfect for modelling these railways. Modelling 3'6" prototypes on 45mm gauge gives a scale of almost exactly 1:24 or half an inch to the foot, really simple with the prototypes having imperial dimensions. Unfortunately, for the UK garden railway trade "British" narrow gauge equals tiny 2' prototypes on 32mm gauge so there's virtually no support, even for scratchbuilding parts. Even when we get a South African locomotive, it's an NGG13/16, a 2' gauge prototype. With the wheels pushed out to 45mm, it just looks wrong to me ! How about one of the smaller SAR Cape Gauge Garratts ?
But still, just look at 3450. Magnificent !
I can't agree that 3'6" was necessarily the "gauge of choice" in the British Empire. The main secondary gauge on the vast Indian system was 1 metre, which was also the standard in East Africa, although later steam power there was designed to be easily convertible to Cape gauge if the system ever linked up with the railways further south. Of course, Indonesia also uses 3'6" and many attractive British-built steam locomotives were also supplied there.
G scale/45mm gauge would be perfect for modelling these railways. Modelling 3'6" prototypes on 45mm gauge gives a scale of almost exactly 1:24 or half an inch to the foot, really simple with the prototypes having imperial dimensions. Unfortunately, for the UK garden railway trade "British" narrow gauge equals tiny 2' prototypes on 32mm gauge so there's virtually no support, even for scratchbuilding parts. Even when we get a South African locomotive, it's an NGG13/16, a 2' gauge prototype. With the wheels pushed out to 45mm, it just looks wrong to me ! How about one of the smaller SAR Cape Gauge Garratts ?
But still, just look at 3450. Magnificent !
tac foley
Registered
I take the point about metre/Cape gauge, but I guess I'll just have to learn to live with my Accucraft NG/G16 running on 45mm gauge track. After just over ten years you would have thought that the affront to my sensibilities vis-á-vis the appallingly incorrect appearance of too-wide tracks would have grown on me - sigh............................
Some of us just have to make the most of what we are forced to live with - it sure is a hard life, eh?
tac
Ottawa Valley Garden Railway Society
Port Orford coast RR - Eastern Sub
Some of us just have to make the most of what we are forced to live with - it sure is a hard life, eh?
tac
Ottawa Valley Garden Railway Society
Port Orford coast RR - Eastern Sub