Steam & Excursion > question on scale steam loco

I was watching a machining video on youtube, and the guy had an axle and wheels to repair off of a leading or trailing engine truck. The wheels were 9 1/2" from inside surface to inside surface, and looked to be 5 or 6 inches in diameter. There was no mention of the rest of the engine or train, but I would guess this might have been something like a traveling carnival amusement ride. The wheel profile made me suspect that it runs on a relatively flat track surface rather than a standard rail head profile. I suspect this was about 10 1/2 to 11" gauge. 

Does anyone have a guess of what scale this would have been, or maybe a particular park engine? The machinist was in Cape Cod, so the engine is probably local. It is also fairly old, probably having been built between 1900 and 1930.
 

There were several railroads of that retaliative size back east about then. One was a religious sect they not only operated them at there compound I guess one might say but also built them. There name escapes me right now but a little research would tell you who. Some were built for the Worlds Fair back east around then and were sold afterwards to others. Some also still exist and operate on private layouts the gauge being from around 9" to I think as high as 18" with the size of the engine not much different.  A fellow had one on display that was from the Worlds Fair in Moses Lake WA until it was sold about 7 years ago at an auction. Cagney was one company that made them don't know about the spelling of it. Boyd in Chiloquin.

House of David.   12" gauge I think.

It was probably 1/4" scale, especially if it was an amusement attraction. The locomotives built for the Panama Exsposition in the early 1900s were said to be 1/3 but they rode on a much larger gauge. There are a few 1/4" scale railroads out here in California that are on 15" gauge.
 

They were not to any scale just built about like this and here we go. The coaches were larger than the engines from the pix I have seen. And yes it was the House of David have read several articals about them in Live Steam mag. Boyd
-------------------------------------------------------
> It was probably 1/4" scale, especially if it was
> an amusement attraction. The locomotives built for
> the Panama Exsposition in the early 1900s were
> said to be 1/3 but they rode on a much larger
> gauge. There are a few 1/4" scale railroads out
> here in California that are on 15" gauge.
>  

The House of David built copies of the Cagney's that the first acquired, Cagney's for the most part came in 12" to 22" gauge, all were 4-4-0's. Most of them left are in 15" gauge. Lakeside park in Denver has two in 22" gauge, A guy by the name of AL in Aurora has a 15" Gauge the Forney Museum has a 12" Gauge, And I think there is an operating one in Cheyenne. My Oscar Coffman in 18" gauge has a 9" pilot truck wheel.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/03/15 05:16 by RRMike.

 Thanks for the update as there has been some time since I read about those engines. Am glad that several have survived due to people like you taking them into your collection. I take it the pilot wheel has a 9" diameter making the whole engine about what size roughly? Some seem to be wide gauged compaired to size. Another thing people miss is what machine tools were around to build them. Boyd
-------------------------------------------------------
> The House of David built copies of the Cagney's
> that the first acquired, Cagney's for the most
> part came in 12" to 22" gauge, all were 4-4-0's.
> Most of them left are in 15" gauge. Lakeside park
> in Denver has two in 22" gauge, A guy by the name
> of AL in Aurora has a 15" Gauge the Forney Museum
> has a 12" Gauge, And I think there is an operating
> one in Cheyenne. My Oscar Coffman in 18" gauge has
> a 9" pilot truck wheel.