10 1/4 inch gauge EMD "Lightning Stripe" F7

The mortal remains of a 10 1/4 inch gauge EMD F7 diesel, comprising chassis with bogies and body. We believe it was originally powered by a Reliant 750cc engine which disappeared shortly before the shed housing the locomotive was cleared.

Of some considerable age, it's quite a good approximation to the prototype - we'd be interested if anybody knows its history.

There's a driver's seat at one end, the chassis is fitted with twin bogies, the rear one providing a mounting for the original car back axle and differential, with sprockets fitted to the half shafts providing drive to the wheels via a countershaft.

With some work it looks possible to regauge to 7 1/4 inch if required - we'd be tempted to fit new wheelsets rather than modify the originals.

Reliant engines still crop up for sale regularly - they make a particularly nice power unit for a locomotive: compact (they had to fit in a Reliant three-wheeler), light (all alloy), quiet (water cooled) and capable of pulling the heaviest trains on little more than tickover (they're rated at 40bhp when used in anger, which is probably ten times what you'd need to pull the average heavy passenger train).