A number of Ruston 48DS locos were built to narrow gauge, mostly 3'6", 4' or metre gauge. All went overseas except one which was built to 3' gauge and was sold to British Railways for their Beeston sleeper depot and was numbered ED10. BR sold it in 1965 to TW Ward who passed it on to Cleveland Bridge and Engineering, being used on the Tinsley Motorway Viaduct near Sheffield. It went to Shepherd and Hill in 1969 and then to Trackbed Hovercraft where it was fitted with rubber tyres and outriggers and travelled on a 'Hovertrack' (whatever that is...). It eventually ended up at IrchesterNarrow Gauge Railway Museum in Northamptonshire where it was converted to metre gauge.

So onto the model. I'm not going to try and make an exact copy of ED10, rather another 3' gauge 48DS. I'm using 12mm gauge to represent 3' gauge. The basis will be an A1 models cab and bonnet with a scratchbuilt chassis and footplate. The footplates and frames on the narrow gauge locos are, from what I've seen, longer than on the standard gauge ones so new frames and footplate will be fabricated from brass. The chassis has been started with the frames being cut out from .025" brass and bearings on the drive axle fitted (the non-driven front axle will be compensated, all will become clear...). Power will come from a Mashima 10/15 driving the rear axle through a High Level Slimliner Compact+ 54:1 gearbox. I don't expect that it will pull much but the real thing wasn't that powerfull anyway. Wheels will be Gibson 10.5mm discs. At the same time I'm building an EM version, this is seen in the photo below with the gearbox test fitted and the frame sides for the 12mm gauge version in front. The next job is to work out the width of the frame spacers for the NG version and build that chassis up.

Also in the photo is the body and spud (shown next to the scratchbuilt chassis for comparison) of my existing A1 48DS.

Inspiration for the chassis came from an article in the first MRJ Compendium which tackled the Impetus kit. (I do have an Impetus one knocking about waiting...)

Information on ED10 came from 'The Ruston Class 48DS and 88DS Locomotives' by David R. Hall, published by the Moseley Railway Trust and an Irchester Narrow Gauge Railway Museum guide. (Must visit them again...)

See also 'Ruston and Hornsby Locomotives' by Eric Tonks (Industrial Railway Society).

Paul.