Steam locomotive "CLIVE"

No.43 2-6-2 Locomotive details: 1:3 Scale 14 feet 10 inches long including tender, over pulling lines. 2’ 3” wide 11½” driving wheels. 6½” leading wheels and 8” trailing wheels. Cylinders (2) 4” x 5½”. Piston valves. Baker valve gear. Steam operated drain cocks. Tractive effort 810 lb Weight in working order 2¼ ton.

This locomotive is one of the best Australian examples of the amusement park railway era, 1920s to 1960s. It has classic steam locomotive lines. It is at home on a circular portable track or meandering through the grounds of a large facility hauling a very long train. It is a copy of steam locomotive No.101 built for the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary, Qld, in 1964. Built in Brisbane in 1967 for Arthur Birch, the design brief was for a locomotive mechanically identical to No.101 but as a 2-6-2 and cosmetically dressed to be a 1:3 scale representation of a backwoods loco like those operated on the three-foot gauge Denver South Park and Pacific Railroad, USA. It operated at the Australian Reptile Park, North Gosford, NSW, from 1967 until 1975, on weekends and part of the school holidays. From 1975 until 1997 with gradually increasing public traffic it operated weekly at the Smoky Mountain and Grizzly Flats Railroad, Warnervale, NSW. It was then stored on site. In 2022 it was purchased by the Melbourne Steam Club. It was built at Warner, Brisbane, Qld. (adjacent to Qld. Model Engineers site) by Jim Jackson who has built 27 miniature steam locos, including 1 x 11” gauge, 3 x 12” gauge.