We missed a deadline and our regular advertisement didn’t
appear in the latest ‘Sixteen Millimetre Today’ magazine. You will want to know what you missed. This was the 16mm
model of a Baldwin Gas Mechanical locomotiv. We have taken a fascinating prototype and created a model to run on 32mm track.
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| 16mm scale Baldwin Gas Mechanical locotractor that we meant to advertise in winter 2019. Created by Wrightscale |
The originals were developed to run on the 60cm gauge
railways that supplied the trenches of World War One. We have long had an
interest in this vast but forgotten network – more below.
We produced these models about ten years ago, using the best
suppliers we could find. Unfortunately, these companies kept closing; and as small suppliers came up for retirement, they too just closed
their garage doors. It has required a lot of time and energy in finding new suppliers of the right calibre .
One of our best was Adrian Swain. We were relieved when
Sarah Smith of Sarum Models was able to take over as a high quality and efficient
supplier.
The steel laser-cut frames were even more of a head-ache.
Our first supplier did pass us on to another company but this in turn quietly
shut its doors and threw away its working tools. Well! When we did find another
company, Malcolm had to redraw the frames and present them in a form that their
laser computers could digest. This all had to be fitted in while we earned a
living and kept up with family matters.
Here’s what we were going to say in the advertisement.
‘A batch of these interesting locomotives is going to be
built or delivery early next year’ If you might like to buy one, let us know
your name.’
Unfortunately, we cannot yet commit to a price because our
suppliers in their turn cannot yet commit. They all quote a certain event which
we keep being told will happen, but which doesn’t. This event hovers like a
malign flying elephant, spreading uncertainty throughout the raft of small
businesses on which we float. Thus, we will take your name without obligation,
and give you an opportunity to buy once you know the price.
That is the substance of the advertisement.
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| THis part-assembled Wrightscale Baldwin Gas Mechanical shows the chassis frames, a standard Baldwin manufacturing feature. Photo and model MD Wright |
We’d also like to share with you our delight in the model.
The prototype popped up in 1917, half-way through the Great
War. In the early months, both the Allies and Central Powers realised a sad
truth about the War. It was not going to be a war of movement, over quickly
once one side had taken over the territory of the other. The French were not
overwhelmed by the Schlieffen Plan and the Germans had a secret supply of
ammonia for their ammunition. One side and then the other dug in along eastern France and the
French Belgian border. Temporary trenches became permanent and the Western
Front appeared.
Both sides were faced with a problem that few, at least on
the Allied side, had anticipated – how to feed, water and quarter millions of
soldiers and their artillery. The French, thanks to almost heroic efforts by an
officer in their Artillery, Prosper Péchot, had a 19th century
railway system which could be adapted. The Germans, always on the alert for
good ideas, copied this promising system in the 1890s.
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| Colonel Péchot in 1907. Photograph courtesy of Raymond PECHOT |
This wonder-working system depended on 60cm (roughly 2’) gauge prefabricated track which could be
quickly laid, or relaid wherever supply trains were required. Thanks to clever
design using sound engineering principles, these miniature railways could
support heavy trains, pulled by powerful locomotives. The horses, mules and
humans who would otherwise have had to transport millions, yes millions, of
tonnes of supplies in thoroughly inhumane conditions were spared. War Horse
could eat his oats in (relatively) safe conditions.
The system was rapidly adapted. Temporary track gave way to
proper permanent way. Importantly, a substitute was found for steam
locomotives. By day, these sent up a plume of smoke, by night, a shower of
sparks, an absolute gift for opposition artillery. By 1917, a number of designs
of internal combustion engines had reached the tracks. Among the range of
models put forward were rail-mounted cars. Outstanding among the Allied designs
were the Baldwin locotractors. On the German
side, Benzolloks (running on petrol) and Dieselloks appeared
For a number of reasons, the Baldwin Gas Mechanical locotractor
built by the Baldwin Works of Philadelphia
has inspired the greatest affection.
On account of the numbers built, it was sighted everywhere. When
the USA
entered the War in 1917, their AEF ordered 109 BGMs and 61 of the 35 hp
version. Nineteen (or so) never crossed the Atlantic.
An even larger number were made for the French – between 535 and 600, depending
on the authority. If you want to know more about the numbering, Rich Dunn gives
a good account in his ‘Narrow Gauge to No Man’s Land’ pp 98 to 109. Another
excellent account is given in Dr Christian Cénac’s ‘Soixante centimetres pour
ravitailler les fronts de la guerre de 14-18’
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| Partly built Wrightscale 16mm scale Baldwin Gas Mechanical |
The BGM was seen in a number of settings – training camps,
forestry railways, maintenance, shunting and, most importantly of all, taking
supplies forward to the Front. The locotractors had the priceless advantage of
being less visible than steam engines. They could run all day and night, as
long as they were regularly refuelled. They were much easier to stop and start
than a steam engine. As the driver sat side-on, reverse was no more difficult
than going forward. Imagine how this
must have improved the lot of a squaddy under fire!
The BGM was truly international. We believe that the French/AEF
design originated with an earlier locotractor made for the Russian Government.
This was in 76cm (roughly 2’6”) gauge – the eastern front also had light
railways though never to the extent of the west.
The BGM had character – so much locomotive perched on so
small a wheelbase – the vast yet reassuring ‘face’ - the fascinating louvred
sides and the frames, the frames, the frames. It was not so much a chunk of
metal, but an embodiment of the spirit of US manufacture. The Baldwin Works
combined the rugged individualism with the new techniques of the assembly line.
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| A Baldwin Works Assembly hall pictured in 1915 showing how rugged individualism could be happily combined with the techniques of the assembly line. Photo courtesy Raymond PECHOT |
On the one hand, Baldwin
could not have achieved its vast productivity without a system. Each product
was built in a huge hangar where a team could perform an operation then move on
to perform the same on the next. Yet at the same time, these teams could improvise where needed. If
the factory drawing didn’t quite work, the foreman could devise a work-round
and trust the team to deliver. The BGM design shows the best of US flair of the period.
An enticing air of mystery still hangs about the BGM. Historians continue to
argue about the numbering and hoiw to track down missing examples.
When the US government placed the order with the Baldwin Locomotive
Company, they may well have stipulated 20 and 40 horsepower. What they got were
35 and 50. This may have been because the more powerful gasoline engines were
more readily available. Certainly, the greater power was more useful under
battlefield conditions – more likely to achieve the theoretical speeds of 6.4
kph (4 mph) and 12.8 kph (8 mph) in top gear.
They had disadvantages, the main one being that their power
output could be less than a third of a steam loco. It didn’t always achieve the
quoted top speed. Soon the people in the field did what they always do - demand more power.
Though track adhesion was quite good – four driving wheels
took 100% of the loco’s weight – the corollary of the neat wheelbase was a
large overhang front and rear. It tended
to jump off the track. Furthermore, as the design was pushing the envelope of
contemporary design, the gearbox and clutch were unreliable. There was another,
disadvantage, plain as the nose on its face. The gas/petrol/essence was carried
in a tank on top of the bonnet. When it had just been refuelled, this raised
the centre of gravity. When it was nearly empty of liquid, the cylinder
remained full of hydro-carbon gas, highly vulnerable to stray ordinance.
Some unpatriotic servicemen were photographed driving the
British Simplex and the French Schneider 0-6-0 petrol loco.
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| A lovely example of the 50hp BGM is preserved at Froissy, Somme |
The Baldwin locotractor has
had a long afterlife, partly because it was, in its own terms, an excellent
loco and partly because prototypes were plentiful. Long after the First World
War, they were used in military camps in the USA
– Camp Humphreys East Virginia, the Proving Grounds at Aberdeen Maryland,
Fort Benning etc. Many were sold as War surplus. Moelwyn on the Festiniog Railway is a heavily
disguised Baldwin locotractor. Lovely examples
are also preserved in France.
These prototypes keep interest alive; we have had
encouraging interest in the model |
| The Wrightscale model for comparison |
