Erm... 

I will have to admit that until VERY recently I was not aware of any Climax locomotives in New Zealand -now I have found out there were in fact 7 of various types. When I first saw this drawing in a book I was immediately taken with how close it looked to a type 'A'... I was right!!! However following the information in the little book from Napier -the lokey is not in fact a Climax -but is a Climax clone built from native parts and ingenuity -and quite possibly it was more efficient -but most importantly to me it was different.

Ackermann Rubicon

This is the working drawing for the lokey. It has a vertical boiler and a centrally mounted Vee 4 compound engine -in fact a 'Delphine' marine engine. The engine drives a long chain (which is very common on NZ lokeys) driving the inner of the axles and then power is transmitted via cranks in the normal manner.

See Picture 1

At a later date the loco found itself a new engine from a ferry -a most unusual one... It was a Stirling Beta engine and the steam from the boiler was directed onto the receiver and thus there was no boiler pressure, (maybe this had been a problem....)

At about the same time the cranks were swapped for chains and cogs. The single cylinder Stirling engine drove a chain to a prop shaft under the side of the loco and thence to a worm and spur gear. There was a cog from the spur gear to the rear bogie where it linked to the main chain drive between them.

There are no records of how long this mechanical mongrel survived -or if someone quietly parked it in a sidding and let die with dignity. But, for what it is worth I felt that I had to build a model of the last version...

The picture below shows the partially completed model on the workshop test track.

See Picture 2

The cranes are in the correct position although their pillars are not yet in position -hence the droop!