Lost & found NG locomotive referenced in ‘Duke The Lost Engine’

[RateTheFreight]

Evening all,

 

For those familiar with the Awdry’s Thomas books, in particular ‘Duke the lost enfine’, can anyone tell me which loco is referenced in the forward as being found in the South American/Brazilian rainforest?

 

The forward goes; ‘an engine lost in the South American jungle was found after 30 years. A tree had grown through its chimney and hornets nested in its firebox.’

 

I’ve guessed it’s a narrow gauge loco, hence posting here, as I can’t seem to find anything specific about it online.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Greg

[john new]

Evening all,

 

For those familiar with the Awdry’s Thomas books, in particular ‘Duke the lost enfine’, can anyone tell me which loco is referenced in the forward as being found in the South American/Brazilian rainforest?

 

The forward goes; ‘an engine lost in the South American jungle was found after 30 years. A tree had grown through its chimney and hornets nested in its firebox.’

 

I’ve guessed it’s a narrow gauge loco, hence posting here, as I can’t seem to find anything specific about it online.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Greg

My guess would be it is intended to be one of the L&B engines (Off the top of my head can't remember which) which went out to S America and disappeared.

[brack]

I think this may have happened to one of the locos on the Madeira Mamoré line.

[Nearholmer]

it was Lew that went to Brazil, but it was never found. I'm inclined to agree that this was the loco that The Rev was thinking of, but embroidered the story.

[RateTheFreight]

‘Lew’ was my first thought too however the Awdrys liked to use real stories (which would cover Lew going to South America) but not that he’d been found so I wondered if there had been another loco uncovered in the rainforest.

 

Taking on a more general note there must be lots of examples of NG locos (& standard) being found after being forgotten for years and then rescued/restored?

 

G

[Nick Holliday]

Although it doesn't quite fit the scenario, there is an instance of two expatriate Manning Wardle outside cylindered 0-6-0 saddle tanks, which were "found" in Brazil and have been subsequently restored, but are still in Brazil. The line involved was the 3' 3" Davington Light Railway, a short-lived line built to serve munitions factories around Faversham. They were sent to the Brazilian port of Imbituba, in the province of Santa Catarina. By the early seventies they were languishing derelict in the docks, but were discovered in 1983 and thoughts were given to their reparation, but an alternative scheme won out, and they were taken to the workshops of the Estrada De Ferro Dona Teresa Cristina Railway, which ran to Imbituba, and they have been cosmetically restored.

I'm not sure if the dates fit the timing of the publication, and there is no real indication of jungles or trees growing through the chimney.

It seems likely that the actual story of Duke, a Festiniog type loco, being trapped in a shed by a landslide, was inspired by the tale of Fire Queen, from the nearby Padarn Railway, which was stored in a small shed for some eighty years, before finally reemerging into daylight in 1969, once various ancillary buildings could be demolished to gain access.

[Orion]

I think this may have happened to one of the locos on the Madeira Mamoré line.

A picture or two of this appeared in the publication 'Railway Wonders of the World' in the 1930s. Awdry quite possibly read the article. I certainly rmember the photo of the loco in its discovered state with greenery growing through it.

[Nearholmer]

That sounds like the clincher!

[brack]

I'll expand - though this is from memory and a quick Google search to check I wasn't just making stuff up. I might be wrong.

 

George Church (US explorer/geographer/engineer) tried to build the line in the 1870s, thousands of workers died of a lovely variety of diseases and they abandoned the effort. In the early 20th century Brazil and Bolivia signed a treaty which included building the line, so they got on with it and hacked their way back through the jungle relaying/extending the track. On the way they found one of the locos church had brought over 30 years earlier in a bit of a state, but being a Baldwin product they managed to remove the vegetation, fix it up and get it working again (I think - might've needed a new boiler). I have a feeling the loco is preserved but it isn't one of those dumped out in the open at the current museum, they're too modern. I think it was a Baldwin 4-4-0.

Edited November 19, 2018 by brack

[seraphim]

I'll add a little to this, as I knew Teddy Boston well - he's the Fat Clergyman who lands on the loco, and Wilbert Awdry distantly. It was always stated that all the stories in the books were based, to a lesser or greater extent, on real events - with the exception of this episode, which was completely fabricated. For some reason, I have a recollection that the story (of the loco found in the jungle) was inspired by Mike Satow's discovery of Rishra in India. Duke the Lost Engine was published in 1970, and Rishra returned to the UK, having been restored in India, in 1971. Therefore, news of Mike's discovery would have been current at around the time of the book's publication. Not conclusive evidence, but it fits my recollection.

[Killian keane]

I would suggest Fire Queen, which was rescued from her shed at Gilfach Ddu in late 1969 a few months before the book was published

[Steamport Southport]

One of the reasons I don't think it was Fire Queen was that people knew it was there.

 

https://www.irsociety.co.uk/Archives/29/Fire_Queen.htm

 

Here's a photo from 1961.

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/train-pix/5548629246/

 

 

 

Jason

[Corbs]

It was 1878-built Baldwin 'Coronel Church' in Brazil

http://ttte.wikia.com/wiki/Coronel_Church

 

https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronel_Church_(locomotiva)

 

 

 

 

By the looks of things the museum was caught in a flood last year.

Edited November 24, 2018 by Corbs