Foggy Bottom Railroad 7/8n2: Egger-Bahn Contractor's Diesel in 7/8n2

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Egger-Bahn Contractor's Diesel in 7/8n2

I had put 7/8n2 on hold for a bit to work on my indoor HOn30 micro layout. However, in the process of researching products and themes for that layout, I happened to discover Egger-Bahn, a German company who formerly made HOn30 trains. Most of their locomotives were freelance-ish based designs. They were inspired by real trains, but were not prototyped exactly after real trains.

There are several odd and quirky engines in their lineup, but one of the more odd is the Contractor's Diesel (#1004).

It was apparently based on some sort of prototype, but the actual prototype was barely photographed. I can't actually find a picture of the prototype.

In any case, I immediately enjoyed this quirky engine and dreamed up in my head the idea of creating it in 7/8n2.

So that I did.

Feeling "highfalutin", I sketched out a scale plan in Illustrator. It's crude and simple but worked to get me started. The prototype seen here, though not completely finished, is built primarily out of matteboard.

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What is 7/8n2?

A way in which trains are classified is the width between the rails. It's known as the 'gauge'. In the United States, most trains people think of when they think of trains are Standard Gauge railroads. In standard gauge, the width between the rails is 4 ft 8.5 in.

Other gauges exist. In particular, anything skinnier than standard gauge is classified as "Narrow Gauge". Narrow gauge typically ranges from about 18" up to 36".

7/8n2 is a scale that is focused on 2 foot gauge; hence the "n2" part at the end. It stands for "narrow, 2 foot". 2 foot gauge railways (that is, 24 inches between the rails) were used throughout the world, but more notably in european countries and south africa. Narrow gauge trains were smaller in size. They hauled less cargo, but their advantage was they were cheaper to build and could negotiate tighter turns than standard gauge.

Most of the 2ft gauge railways there were in existence have gone, but some are still maintained. The most notable 2ft gauge in the US was found in Maine, and is the only 2ft gauge railway to haul general freight. Most other 2ft railways were typically focused on industrial use, for example, hauling peat or slate from a mine to a processing facility.

So if "n2" means narrow 2 foot, what's the 7/8? It means the scale is 7/8 of an inch represents 1 foot in real life. It's a ratio of 1:13.7. 7/8n2 is a fairly large scale. A 2 foot gauge boxcar that in real life was 10 feet long and 6 feet tall would be 8.75 inches long and 5.25 inches tall if modeled in real life.

If that was all too complex, think of it this way: 7/8n2 is a large scale to model small trains.