5 inch gauge "Vale of Ffestiniog" battery-electric

A 5 inch gauge battery-electric Bo-Bo "Vale of Ffestiniog", the South African Funkey brought over to the UK in 1993 and heavily (and, to our eyes, rather attractively) rebuilt into the twin-cab form seen here to suit the Ffestiniog loading gauge.

Steel bodied and weighing in at just under 140 pounds without batteries, like its full-sized counterpart the locomotive is a large, robustly proportioned machine.

We've tested it with a pair of borrowed batteries - runs ok in both directions - however it will require a set of batteries of its own. Bogies have one motor apiece, chain driven to the axle. Motor control board is in the front cab - from the look of its die-cast enclosure, we suspect it's by Parkside.

The driver is yet to be positively identified, although pretty sure we've seen him in Spooner's late of an evening.