Mehano HO 'Camel Back' Loco

As it seems that I'm branching out a bit I thought I'd share with you today's latest arrival. A USA outline model of what is apparently known as a 'Camel Back' locomotive. This is a steam engine that has the stoker in the normal cab position, but the engineer in a cab astride the extra size boiler. Quite a weird beast, but in a nice way as it has plenty of character...

[Super]

Wow...that is one of the oddest looking engines I have seen...I like odd. After seeing this I searched for some more info and noticed there are some variations like this monster...

Couldn't agree more Super, the stranger/quirkier the better as far as I'm concerned and this one qualifies on all levels. Until I saw this model I'd never even heard of it, but apparently they were quite widely used in the western USA

The camelbacks were built to burn anthracite waste as coal was expensive at the time. The firebox and boiler needed to efficiently use this fuel source was also too wide for the driver to have decent visibility from the conventional can position, so the cab was placed astride the boiler to ensure better visibility.

Hope this helps.

[Super]

Thanks Chrizzly

Yup that's what it says on the leaflet in with the loco too along with a bit more about the usage and how their usage spread over time