I count myself as one of the lucky few... about 37 years ago a Trax 12 class locomotive arrived courtesy of the parents for a very significant birthday. Since then, I have lovingly nursed the 12 along, always concerned that I would overburden its tiny motor or bend its fragile frame.
It goes without saying that I think watching any class of steam locomotive move is a special thing, it terms of technology, physics and the sheer aesthetics. But there is something very special about a 12 class in flight - prototype or model. I think it has something to do with the large driving wheels, the location of the rods and the high running board. They make movement look effortless.
And then there is the tender. Beauty is a Baldwin tender. Recently I have been swiping the 12's Baldwin tender, to couple it to 'lesser brass' - a Bergs 30T that I spent most of my teenage years saving up for. I never saw it in real life but a 30T with slide bar covers and a Baldwin tender looks mighty fine.
Even more recently I have been just captivated by the Casula 19 class locos. But after going through the great divestment of locos which did not run through Dubbo regularly between 1955 and 1975 (the Harman coal stage era as I like to refer to it), I have not succumbed to the temptation of a 19 shunting Dubbo. The last 19 class on the Dubbo depot allocation (1955) left in 1938.
But then this happened....
It has been cold and rainy and windy and I had to do a RAT this weekend, but I haven't stopped smiling. Even when I reflect that I am going to be a poor man for many more years.
12 classes were a staple on the Coonamble Mail until replaced by 30Ts in 1954. In their last years, especially when there was a bit of holiday loading, the Mail was even double headed by 12 classes.
If any of my few readers that aren't computer bots engaged in the invasion of the Ukraine are reading, please please sign up to make this next offering from Casula Hobbies a reality. Lets make this a popular movement! And I am just waiting a more skilled 3D printer than I to do the conversion kit for the 12 to make it a 14 class.
And yes, 'my' running era is now 1950 - 1975.
