A while ago a photo was posted of an extremely usual and very interesting critter. I immediately thought it looked like the Hartland MOW interurban. By good luck and a low bid I got one and immediately started thinking about how to bash it into the critter in the picture. The Yorke kits have me a lot of confidence in scratching together anything I might need to fabricate like the motor block. So here it is. In all senses it’s the Galloping Goose for my line.
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One of my favorite bashes to come out of the Borracho Locomotive Shops
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vsmith
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A while ago a photo was posted of an extremely usual and very interesting critter. I immediately thought it looked like the Hartland MOW interurban. By good luck and a low bid I got one and immediately started thinking about how to bash it into the critter in the picture. The Yorke kits have me a lot of confidence in scratching together anything I might need to fabricate like the motor block. So here it is. In all senses it’s the Galloping Goose for my line.
![Image]()
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![Image]()
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That is great fun! Well done. Although I gave up on freelance modeling years ago, I still recognize talent in that line of the hobby.
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great!
did you find any history on how the prototype came to be?
a steam tender with the front cut off and a steam cab plopped on top?
did you find any history on how the prototype came to be?
a steam tender with the front cut off and a steam cab plopped on top?
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I would tend towards a steeple cab chassis with a generator applied on to it. The trucks are very much like a famous manufacturer of steeple cabs.
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I was never able to find anything on it. The original poster also didn't know about it. It certainly looks like a cut down tender. The nose angles inward which makes me think it might have been a ground up found parts build or a serious rebuild of an old tender.
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I am not so much into anything but steam..... but I do like to see & puzzle about "homebuilt" Critters & such. An interesting machine..... IMHO: The Cab is obviously from a "Steeple Cab", or perhaps a steam loco Cab, the Radiator & Motor maybe are Case tractor products, the Tender looks like a scratched-up enclosure, the Trucks & Chassis look very much like some kinda "Electric Traction or Trolley" parts..... HM-m-m 
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At the far left of the photo, as well as on the right above the blue building, in the background there appears to be varieties of "Palm Trees", the other trees appear to be broadleaf varieties, and the terrain appears to be fairly arid..... the lettering, possibly "UDAI #3" (?) on the blue building is indistinguishable (to me), but the scene reminds me of a sugar cane or logging enterprise (perhaps in Cuba, or in Central or South America somewhere)..... the Critter number of 4163 seems a bit high for such an odd machine on any railway. These tidbits may be of some help in identifying the railway & location?
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It's from Cuba. I model Cuban sugarcane r.r.s Mostly Rafreal Freyre, my favorite line in Hoguin Provience
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Thanks to Jim, the great mystery has been resolved!..... My guess was pretty good, no?!
Rock On!!
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While we are on the subject of critters. I made this little diesel switcher way back when I started in gauge one in the early'80s, at the time I was starting a career as theater technician and didn't earn much; so modeling in gauge one on a budget was the rule. It is made from a tinplate mechanical diesel switcher in narrow gauge running on O gauge track which was my Christmas present around 1955 it was made by a small french toy maker of tinplate toys at the time and is now searched by collectors. By the time I started to do something with it it had a broken spring in the mechanism. I had bought a MDC speeder and thought that it would make a good mechanism to place under it so it would run on gauge one. I modified the body a bit so that I could fit this speeder under it and screwed it to this "shell". Although the MDc speeders wheels looked good I decided to make side frame for the engine, using a G1MRA white metal casting (available from G1MRA) of a Gresley bogie to make that underframe by shortening the wheelbase of the sideframe. I found a truck exhaust pipe and presto:
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It unfortunatly doesn't have very good performance which is too bad, because even though my operating concept is class 1 mainline railroads, it could fill the bill as an industrial switcher used on a private siding. But for that it would need nice reliable slow speed. Oh well...
It unfortunatly doesn't have very good performance which is too bad, because even though my operating concept is class 1 mainline railroads, it could fill the bill as an industrial switcher used on a private siding. But for that it would need nice reliable slow speed. Oh well...
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Speaking of criters: Here is a real gem in meter gauge that used to shunt around in a paper mill near Grenobles at Lancey in France. The industrial line was electrified and shut down in the seveties if I remember correctly. I remember seeing this wonderful operation when it was in service on the many scenic promenades we made with my grandfather in the Alps and Dauphiné in the 1950s before I left for the US.
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The funny thing is that when that company shut down it was purchassed by the MTVS in Valmondois which preserves historical meter gauge rolling stock. They put a diesel generator on the flat car body removed the trolley pole and it is still running today. I understand that you can rent it for the day. One can see where the trolley pole base was on the cab's roof.
Cheers,
The funny thing is that when that company shut down it was purchassed by the MTVS in Valmondois which preserves historical meter gauge rolling stock. They put a diesel generator on the flat car body removed the trolley pole and it is still running today. I understand that you can rent it for the day. One can see where the trolley pole base was on the cab's roof.
Cheers,
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Thanks I had a suspicion it might have been Cuban or something like that.
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