Garden Railway Forum

Can anyone help me identify the maker of this model of a Fowler petrol-mechanical loco?



It bears some resemblance to the ESSEL Engineering Fowler model, especially in the drive arrangement, but it is nowhere near as detailed. Bodywork is a mixture of brass and polyester resin on a steel chassis.

It carries an Archangel builders plate, but I didn't think Stewart built battery powered diesel models....

I've found a single photo on the net of what seems to be the same model and it was described as a Merlin 'Motor Mule'.

I found it at a toy train swapmeet last year. It was cheap, but needs a lot of TLC. It seems to have been built with battery power and manual speed control (there is still a potentiometer under the air cleaner), but it was subsequently butchered to convert it to track power.

The plan is to restore it to manual battery power, along with adding some basic detail like handrails, windows, etc and a treat it to a new coat of paint.

Regards,
Graeme

My immediate reaction was Merlin but i'm no authority.

i think that is one of the Merlin Motor mules, not sure if Stewart Browne had a batch made to sell through Archangel

Not sure what it is but I like it. Nice find & good luck with the resto!

Thanks for the ideas. They got me thinking and I found this advert in an old Railway Modeller.



Looks like Tom Cooper sold them for a couple of years in the late '80s under his Steamlines business, after he parted company with Merlin. No idea where the Archangel plate came from though, unless Stewart made them for Tom.

A pity models can't talk, as I think this one would have had quite a story to tell........

Regards,
Graeme