This scale model is of the WWI Alco 2-6-2 locomotive which was commissioned by Great Britain but built by the Cooke Works in the USA for use at the Somme, France.
The original of this loco was used to transport people and goods to and from the Somme. After the war it was used on a sugar refinery in France where it was eventually discovered in a very sad and dilapidated condition by an English railway enthusiast.
After ‘retiring’ the loco was purchased by John Ranson of the London Area Group of the Festiniog Railway in the 1960s. Initially, the loco was transported to Isleworth in West London where a short length of 2' gauge track was put down in the grounds of the Osterley Sea Scouts.
John offered the loco to the Festiniog Railway when he moved from London and the loco needed a new home. In 1967 the loco was moved, steamed and tested satisfactorily before entering service the following weekend. At the Festiniog, Mountaineer has been rebuilt several times into a reliable locomotive with oil firing (installed 1972), superheating and piston valves, and fitted with a new boiler in 1983.
Main dimensions are: cylinders 9"x14"; nominal wheel diameter 2' 3”; boiler pressure 175lb.; rigid wheelbase 5' 6"; tractive effort (85% BP) 6,240lb., and weight 17 tons. Mountaineer has bar frames and outside Walschaerts valve gear.
Only two other WDLR Alcos survive, both in France. No 1257 works on the Chemin de fer touristique Froissy-Cappy-Dompierre in the Somme and the other Alco is at Pithiviers.
This fully working model was built as a tribute to the people who fought at the Somme and, as far as is possible to ascertain, is painted in the original colours and livery. A great deal of research went into its history and construction as the Cooke Works were destroyed in a fire and no records exist. It took six years to build, and was completed in 2014, in time for the commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the First World War.
The model is large and impressive in 3 1/2 in. gauge. Don Young produced a Mountaineer design in the 1970s and many have been built since. Length is 38.75in.; cylinders are 1.5in. dia., and the boiler 4.75in.
