7.25" Gauge Baldwin Build

[Steve Purves]

History:

The Bridgton and Saco River Railroad is one of the legendary 2-foot gauge lines in Maine, USA. Their number 7 (a 1913 built 2-4-4 Baldwin) was at the time the largest engine on their stock – only to be surpassed with Number 8 being delivered by Baldwin in 1924. The real number 7 worked until the very end of the line and its closure before being sold to the Edaville Railroad (maintaining its number 7) – here it ran until closure in 1992. Number 7 now resides at the Portland Narrow Gauge Museum and has been returned to steam.

 

 

 

The Model:

In 1977, engineer Don Young (a student of Doncaster) penned a build series for the American Live Steam Magazine describing the construction of what he called ‘Lucky 7’. The series was spread over 36 parts and described the loco he had designed based on the real Edaville 7. The design was primarily to produce a locomotive in 3.5” gauge as a realistic rendition of the prototype – this made quite a large locomotive for the gauge. There was also an option to build the loco to run on 7.25”/7.5” gauge by moving the wheels outside of the frames – This making a small loco for the gauge. Both had been built in good numbers and can be seen across the world in various conditions. Don at the time included a second set of measurements alongside his drawings – This was to build what he termed his ‘Maxi 7’ true scale model with outside frames (as per the original 3.5” version) but scaled up to run on 7.5”/7.25”. A formidable beast if ever there was one but sadly the geometry doesn’t scale well. A 2-4-4 of this size would travers a minimum of 140ft radius amongst other things. A few were built to the design but most that did get finished (still not many) were completed as a 2-4-2 Tender Loco, this is how I am planning on completing this one. Just a few stats for you to give you an idea…

 

 

 

Length – 175 Inches

Width – 28 Inches

Height – 45 Inches

Wheel diameter – 11.5 Inches

Boiler diameter – 14 Inches

Cylinder Diameter - 4 Inches

 

This Model:

This was started as a project many years ago by a chap in Cornwall. Apparently, a bit of a magpie, he bought and started engines but didn’t finish many (including an embryonic 10.25-gauge Rhodesian Hunslet ‘Hans Sauer’ which is also now in my possession). Upon the his death, the family sold his shiny engines from the workshop but anything no finished was moved out of the way – literally – they were placed outside!

Years pass and I come on to the scene, a chance find and a round trip to Cornwall to fill a van full of parts leaves me with what you see in front of you here.

 

 

 

As and when time permits, I’ve been sorting through the 4 boxes of parts that came with the loco. 3 of them are not relevant to this but there is a quantity of motion work and other small parts that have been made for the loco. All have suffered since storage but at least we have them – some parts pictured below

 

 

And finally, as a taste of what’s to come. A finished version named Megan (the completed loco pictured earlier)

 

 

 

[NickBrad]

That's quite the project, best of luck with it and I look forward to following the progress.