Somewhere along the line, I gained an affection for big trains. As a matter of fact, it all started with a box full of rusty old 0-gauge track I once found at the local market. One day, I thought, I will do something with that. Nothing much happened though, until I went to my workshop and started experimenting.

Hornby No. 0 locomotive 8327 in LMS black livery, dating from around 1930.

Since then, I have spent hour upon hour planning and building a track system in 0-gauge, using clapped out tinplate rails and real wooden sleepers. Of course, track alone was never going to be enough, and I had to have a way fo testing my innovations - I had to have a train! A suitable specimen was procured from a local train shop. Sad though it looked, all rusty and covered with dust, it was just full of character, and I felt compelled to save it.

 Working drawing of a set of scratch built 0-gauge points.

That single purchase quickly became an obsession, and a sizeable collection of Hornby trains now fills a cabinet in the hallway. The robust nature of the clockwork trains makes them perfectly suited to a layout set up on the fly, to then be packed away again. I certainly could think of worse things to do on a rainy afternoon.

A Hornby goods train awaiting departure. 

Of course, I did not stop there. I wanted to know what else I could come up with, I wanted to build an 0-gauge locomotive. There was no plan, no big picture, not even a scale to start with; rather, every part was designed around available materials, all the while bearing the next stage in mind. I already had a set of wheels, a bunch of Meccano brass gears and a decent motor, which became the basis for the design; the rest just kind of evolved.

Ge 2/2 No. 1

The result is Locomotive No. 1. It is made of old computer cases and other recycled bits, is powered by a 12V DC motor and weighs around 1400g! A prototype for it does not exist, however, it is meant to represent a typical Swiss narrow gauge engine, that could have been built in the 1930s. The scale is approximately 1:22.5, which would be 720mm gauge in fulll scale. The Swiss designation 'Ge 2/2' describes a  'narrow gauge electric locomotive with two of a total of two axles powered'.

 
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