HO Northwest Short Line Dunkirk

M

Mean Old Man

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Feb 19, 2005
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Hello. Finally got one of these after 25 years of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Figured it might be of interest, as almost nothing comes up in a google search for these.

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It's not a very big model; in fact, it's tiny- about 4" over the footboards.

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Did I mention it's 30" gauge?

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The solder's a bit blebby, and the detail's kinda primitive (take a good look at the sideframes and that headlamp), but I'm totally enamored with this little beast. I'm strictly armchair, but this may actually be enough to kick me into building a tiny layout.

Anyone else out there have one?
 
The size of this neat loco means it would be N gauge. From the look of it it could be a Climax but there is no drive system such as pistons or rods. The underneath photo shows the drive shaft to the wheels OK. Just not finished is all. Does it have an electric motor in it?
 
Matthyro said:
The size of this neat loco means it would be N gauge. From the look of it it could be a Climax but there is no drive system such as pistons or rods. The underneath photo shows the drive shaft to the wheels OK. Just not finished is all. Does it have an electric motor in it?
Click to expand...
Ummm...

It's definitely HO scale, just that it runs on N-gauge track. Works out to 30" gauge in HO scale. And it's a Class B Dunkirk, which is kind of like a Heisler, but with the V-twin engine's cylinders inside the cab.

The model has a tiny Sagami electric motor in it. Once I greased the geartrain, it ran like a Swiss watch.
 
Thanks for the info Mean. I hadn't heard of a Dunkirk before. Very interesting. With the V cylinders in the cab there couldn't have been much room for the driver and fireman.
 
I had one of their small Shays that came with Std and narrow guage trucks but have never seen one of these. As with almost anything that old, you will probably want to replace some castings and customize it some. I would strongly reccommend bead blasting proir to painting it to smooth out the solder blobs and remove the tarnish. I have a booth from my days as a custom painter and can do it but hopefully you could find someone locally.
 
Here's the original ad, from the November 1979 issue of Model Railroader:

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The list price was $189.50 US. Note how they mention the HOn2-1/2 version almost as an afterthought. I have the David Hoffman book, too.

I'm actually a huge fan of the Maine 2-footers (less of the locomotives than of the architecture that surrounds them), and am thinking of using this model in an industrial Atlantic Coast setting. Now that I've found what seems to be a competent mail-order distributor of Bemo HOe track and turnouts, I've resurrected ideas for a little Timesaver switching layout with a seabiscuit factory, a bronze foundry, and a saltwater pier. This locomotive looks East Coast enough that I think I'll get away with it in that environment.
 
www.carendt.com has plenty of plans for layouts, especially narrow-gauge ones, that fit in four square feet or less--easy to put in the living room for convenient access from your armchair!

I'd recommend getting some N scale flextrack and finding out how sharp of a curve that little beastie can manage--0-4-0's in HOn30 can turn on a dime and give back change, but sometimes geared locomotives' gearings need a little more leeway, even the really teeny ones.
 
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