The Big Beast
lxd2A new arrival this weekend is the kit for a Polish Lxd2 diesel, from Poland, brokered through a kind fellow member of the 009 Society. It’s a frankly terrifying maze of nickel-silver etches with no instructions* and nothing to make it go.
So have I gone insane? Well probably slightly, but I’ve been hankering after a “big” narrow gauge diesel for a while and the end result should if everything goes well look something like this. It is of course to HOe scale, but at over 11cm long it will definitely be “big” by typical 009 standards. In fact I fear it might even be too long for the loop headshunt on Fairlight, but that’s what creative shunting is for.
To make it go, I’m intending to use a Bullant power bogie (and matching unpowered one) from Hollywood Foundry – these devices are made to order and can be specified to exactly the correct wheelbase.
A prototype Lxd2 photo can be seen here. Definitely the kind of “big beast” an ambitious preserved railway needs!
* well, they would be in Polish anyway – although translations are forthcoming
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