That Eagleroost & Koontree locomotive is a mongrelish cross between something Welsh and something Coloradish.
E. L. Moore remarks on the lineage of E & K locomotive #5.
After a little searching based on E. L. Moore's remark that this locomotive is largely scratch built over a Kemtron Teakettle frame, it looks like he used Kemtron's brass HOn3 Teakettle 0-4-0 kit for the running gear, boiler and most of the structure forward of the cab. That's the American, or more specifically in Mr. Moore's terms, the Coloradish part of the model :-)
He didn't use the kit's cab but built his own, and it does resemble narrow gauge locomotive cabs of Welsh heritage. I can't point to a specific prototype, but it seems to capture the general look of cabs on those machines. You can also see that he added a set of wheels under the cab's back end.
Mr. Moore also noted that it has a couple of interchangeable pilots, making it a general purpose workhorse on the Wales-orado mountains of the Eagleroost & Koontree.
It must be the port holes and the cosmetic curves. Still, to be truly Welsh it needs an unpronounceable name (like Wyrgnsoch or Gfrndyn Hall) emblazoned on a brass plate bolted on the cab sides or saddle tank.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to defer on suitable naming to any Welsh readers, but wikipedia says that 'Moore' derives from the Middle English word 'mor' for 'open land' or 'bog'. 'Open land' has an expansive feeling. Google translate converts it to 'tir agored' in Welsh. So maybe, 'Tir Agored'? - at least it will fit on a nameplate :-)
DeletePerhaps the intrepid photographer off to the side is Mr. Moore himself.
ReplyDeleteI believe it's his HO scale avatar. That figure shows up in many of ELM's photos. I need to make a supercut post of all the photos where that figure appears.
DeleteWhat a great find. Many years ago I built one of these models which was actually a 0-6-0t. I remember that I converted it to a Colorado & Southern Mogul. I especially love the snow scene. Moore certainly had a sense of humor. That huge wedge plow had little or no chance of being effective against that much snow with only 4 tiny wheels and the engine over them for power. Sorta hidden tongue in cheek moment!
ReplyDeleteHere is a link to the 1977 catalog with a drawing of that engine on the front;
http://hoseeker.net/Kemtron/kemtronmasterspricelist1977pg01.jpg
If it won't open visit HOseeker on line and look under Kemtron
Thanks for the link! I'll take a look.
DeleteThe domes are not Kemtron either (at least not from that kit). I don't know where they came from but I happen to have several set of them myself - if anyone is interested.
ReplyDeleteIt would be nice to know more about this engine. It is as much Kemtronish as it is Coloradoish in the sense that it has a lot of something else-ish to it too. There is a story here...
I'll do some wild speculation :-)
DeleteMy guess is that this kitbash might have been one of the 14 articles ELM sold in 1961. I think he wrote up a few old projects that year, along with building new ones, and sent them off to publishers; however, if he wrote it up, it was not published. There might be a manuscript or photos out there somewhere.
Is there a date associated with the photos or Moores comments on when he built this engine?
ReplyDeleteThe only information I found was the note written on a card stuck to the back of one of the photos shown in this post: https://30squaresofontario.blogspot.ca/2016/10/down-brakes.html
DeleteYou'll notice that there are address labels for two different places. I think he moved out of the Pine St. apartment in the mid to late 50s, so my guess is the model might have been made in the early to mid '50s. I don't know when the Kemtron kit was released, but obviously that could put a bound on the earliest the model could have been built.
Here is something more accurate about this engine than my previous
ReplyDeletehttp://hoseeker.net/Kemtron/kemtron1stmasterscatalog1955pg22.jpg
You will have to cut and paste this into your browser and even then it might not work. If not, search HO seeker and under the "Literature" button (upper left) scroll down to Kemtron. Then under the 1955 catalog choose page 22 from the pull down.
E.L. did a lot to change this engine from the original kit. The domes and headlamp are not "original", he has moved the air pump to the E side and added a lot of "skirting below the boiler between it and the frame(not to mention the funny outside frame along the bottom edge of the cab to the steam cylinders). It looks like the drivers are original - there is a diagram of the Dockside on page 23 that suggests it was the same frame and those drivers look like the ones on Moore's model, along with the crossheads and valve gear.
However I came by them I have 3 or 4 pairs of the domes he used. I don't know who made them but they are turnings not castings.
In addition to his balsawood wedge snowplow (very DL&G-esque) he also used a straight stack as well as the diamond style. Note: the real railroads changed stacks in the attempt to balance the best draft with the least amount of sparks. More efficient coal burning with fewer damage claims. The straight stack was nearly always used with an extended smoke box because there was more cubic feet for spark arresting devices inside the box whereas the diamonds stack usually appeared on a short smoke box because the external spark arrester (the diamond) inhibited the drafting - like that on this model. The straight stack was an excellent drafter - too excellent on a short box so the E & K was probably having a lot of trouble with hot cinders starting unauthorized fires about the system. So they may have had to return to the Diamond. Too bad Moore didn't tell us more of the story on this item.
Thanks for that! I'm impressed that those parts are actually turned. No, unfortunately, I've not seen a background story, but one could view this as an opportunity :-)
Delete