Tuesday 14 June 2011

The ones that got away... No. 2: 'Pioneer'

Another of those locos that got started but unlike a Mastermind question, never finished.  This loco was born out of a desire to build a small pleasure railway loco for a box file layout that would use some 4 wheeled coaches I had built.  Rather than re-invent the wheel, I opted to model what is possibly one of the oddest ' steam outline' locos to ever grace 15" rails, the 1947 machine built by Ken Rosewell of Bristol, 'Pioneer':


Now in case you think I am making this up, here is a YouTube video of the loco in action at Pixieland near Bude, Cornwall, courtesy of Nick Tozer: Pixieland Miniature Railway - 1993.  The original machine had a somewhat hazy history, but was eventually sold to Pixieland by the Trago Mills shopping chain.  After replacement by an Exmoor Steam Railway 0-4-2T loco 'Dennis', the loco was grounded, eventually being re-united with it's wheels by the Sherwood Forest Railway when it moved there late in 2007.  As can be seen, at some point (pre move) the body was rebuilt to a loose 'diesel outline'.  The loco is very much in need of an overhaul and is seen here on a rare outing on a passenger service in Nottinghamshire:


Coming next in the series... well, I'll have to find it first...!

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