James Waite - Narrow Gauge Panorama: Steaming Along the Rustic and Narrow

Very much an international machine! 700mm gauge 0-4-0T no 4 (KM 3175/1895) is the oldest steam loco in Luxembourg and on 12 September 2010 posed for her photo at Fond-de-Gras station on the Miniresbunn Doihl in the south western corner of the country. She is one of three steam locos at the railway to have been built at the Munich factory and first worked on the Collart steelworks 700mm gauge railway at Steinfort. In 1941 she moved to Tannerie de Cuir Ideal at Wiltz and was rebuilt to run on their 800mm gauge line. She was withdrawn in about 1960 and after a close shave at a scrapyard near Steinfort was bought by Hubert Bauldauff, an enthusiast from Luxembourg City. For the next forty years she was stored in the garage at his home. The countrys Service des Sites et Monuments Nationaux recognised her historic importance and bought her in 2001, after which she was restored to working order at Meiningen loco works in Germany. She first steamed again at Fond-de-Gras in 2004, now as a 700mm loco once more. Much of the railway runs in tunnel and its far terminus is at Saulnes, just over the border in France.

STEAMING ALONG THE RUSTIC AND NARROW

J AMES W AITE

First published in Great Britain in 2021 by

Pen and Sword Transport

An imprint of

Pen & Sword Books Ltd

Yorkshire - Philadelphia

Copyright James Waite, 2021

ISBN 978 1 52677 621 1

eISBN 978 1 52677 622 8

Mobi ISBN 978 1 52677 623 5

The right of James Waite to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

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Welcome to my second album of photos of the narrow gauge around the world. There can be few happier and more peaceful sights than that of a small train going about its business. Compiling these pictures has brought back many happy memories of travels to see the little lines, usually in beautiful countryside and always in the company of friendly and helpful people, both professional railwaymen and fellow enthusiasts. This friendship is one of the enduring pleasures of the narrow gauge as I hope will be apparent from many of the photos.

As I did in my first book Twenty First Century Narrow Gauge , Ive laid out these photos to present an imaginary journey around the world, starting with Alaska and finishing in New Zealand. They are mostly of steam locos or scenes around them, generally as heritage attractions, though there are some from railways where steam was still in everyday service. Ive treated everything that runs on track narrower than 4ft 8ins as being eligible and so there are photos of enormous Garratts in Kenya and South Africa, far larger than any standard gauge locos in many other countries, as well as trains which are much smaller. Ive tried not to repeat information which appeared in my first book and have done so only where I thought it was needed to give a coherent account of what the photos portray.