Welcome to the "EAR Tribal 31 Class"
page of the FSMR site.
Page updated
EAR Ensign and badge thanks to Martin
Grieve
More to follow but here are some brief
facts and pictures on this new oil burner loco
The
3 inch to the foot scale
East African railway and harbours 31 class metre gauge
Following completion in 1998 of the NYC
Niagara, John turned his attention to his other project, the 31 which had been
started and abandoned in the 60s and purchased as a bag of parts in 1977 by
John. Apart from a start in 1977/78 at erecting the frame, the majority has
been completed over the last 10 years and commissioning on the line commenced
through September and October 2008 with the loco entering passenger service on
the 12th October at a special invitation private ceremony with the
new station also being opened by Dr Pete waterman OBE
The Tribal class 31 was one of the last
orders for steam locos built at Vulcan’s Newton-Le-Willows works and in fact, a
31 class from that order was the last steam loco tested at the works in January
1956. A few survive in preservation
Note that the earlier class 29 and 30s
were also given the Tribal class name.
The full size loco being metre gauge,
means the loco is quite large when scaled to fit on 10 ¼” track compared to the
other locos and is nearly as big as the Berkshire and certainly wider giving a
very comfortable space in the drivers cab
As per the prototype, the loco is also
fired by oil, albeit a lighter grade (Kerosene) than its bigger brother but it
has proved to burn very efficiently with no soot and little fumes (important
with open stock in our tunnel)
The loco has also proved today, that it
can handle fully loaded nine car sets from a standing start on the Haven bank
unassisted as it was unveiled for the first time at the new station opening in
front of invited guests
Including Dr Pete Waterman OBE who also got a
chance to sit in the cab!
Below is the original locomotive build log
from the Vulcan
Foundry website showing the last batch of export locos built for the EAR in
1955-56 as the
Below is the works magazine detailing the
last batch of export locos built for the EAR in 1955-56 as the
Thanks to the Vulcan
Foundry website
See the following
link for more detailed information on the Vulcan Foundry
at
And if you have
any archive material, that they can use,
They would be very keen to hear from you
Be warned
though, you could be on there for hours as there is so much information to
browse!