In the Michigan Iron Industry Museum at Negaunee, MI is an odd, geared, 0-4-0RT steam locomotive. The locomotive has a vertical boiler and cylinders and other details that identify it as a product of Alexander Chaplin & Co. of Glasgow, Scotland.
Bob Johnson (Whistles in the Woods) has researched the locomotive and believes it to be a Chaplin and I trust his research but for two items: First: at one time there is said to have been a small plate on the boiler "Cuyahoga Steam Furnace Co." Second: In 1989 my freinds Earl and Beth discovered a locomotive in a nature preserve in Belize. The locomotive albeit narrow gauge is very much like the locomotive at Negaunee. Again almost certainly a Chaplin except that stamped in the frame is "Tredegar Engine Works, J.R.Anderson & Co., Richmond, Va."
So, did Alexander Chaplin & Co. licence other firms to manufacture their locomotives? Are the boiler on the Negaunee locomotive and the frame on the Belize locomotive replacement parts? The real question is: does anyone out there have any information (other than ads in trade journals) about the Chaplin Co., especially any export business that they may have had with North America.
As you may guess, I am spending a little time working on a new edition of "The Book". Thanks in advance for any assistance.
J. David
jdconrad@snet.net
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