The recent post about H&N steeplecab No. 1 got me to thinking about two photos of a narrow gauge locomotive I recently saw on Don Ross's website. This four wheel steeplecab worked for the Walworth Valve Company and had been preserved by one of the companies workers in his front yard in Kewanee, Illinois where it was photographed by Mr. Ross in September of 1962. The locomotive has to be the smallest steeplecab ever made. The trolley pole was much longer than the locomotive and also much taller. The tiny cab had a door and narrow window on the side where the motorman entered it. The track gauge looks to be 2' and quite possibly less. I wish I could post a photo here on RyPN. Anyway, the reason for this thread is, does anyone know if this little gem still exists down there in Kewanee?

Les

Here's a link to the photo of the n.g. steeplecab:

http://donsdepot.donrossgroup.net/dr0102/wvb.jpg

If interested, check it out.

Les

Now we know, there really is a prototype for everything!

Bob Kutella

Does anyone know if this locomotive still exists? I was at a train sale recently and found this photo of the unit. It's just so cool!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGqzNDdhGrk[url][/url]

I too think that this little locomotive was quite a charmer. Incidentally, I once browsed an old
industrial supply catalog and saw a similar engine that was ordered for a factory in Japan (though
not exactly the same). My speculation is that this train was built for the Decauville gauge of 500mm,
or 19-5/8" gauge. This would have been produced as 20" gauge in the US. It seemed that a lot of
Decauville designs were produced by other factories outside of France.

I had the same question, knowing this was plinthed in the 1960s by the Don Ross photo.
What happened to it?

The recent book about the interurban or trolley system at Kewaunee does not mention this industrial railway.
I have asked about it on yahoo groups in the Midwest and nobody had anything to contribute. Frank Hicks
does not have information on it, and he does not include gauges less than 36" in his online database of surviving equipment.
Here is the response I got from the Kewaunee Historical Society.





The factory was built as National Tube and it had installed the railway system. The facility was acquired
by Walworth Valve in 1917. When I researched it about 8 years ago, I learned the factory area was leveled.
It is feasible you may find original tracks imbedded in cement somewhere, but I don't know.

The trolley car sat at the Park Lane Motel south of Kewaunee on US 34 and 78 until perhaps 1970 or so?
I have more supporting documents regarding this trolley and the factory in the files area at the group
NG-Traction at yahoo groups.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NG-Traction

Regards,
O. Anderson