Hillcrest Collieries #11

[cx500]

I would be willing to bet that the cab interior was probably stripped of anything removable years ago, as is the case with most "stuffed and mounted" park engines.  Back in 1983 some folks discovered the missing dome cover for the safety valve (I think) still in the long-derelict engine shed, hauled it over to the engine, hopped the fence and put it in place.  Nobody in the town even asked what they were doing, so you know how closely they care for it.

Various publications have backhead pictures, albeit of other engines.  Why not go over to Heritage Park here in Calgary and check out one of the 0-6-0s.  Stettler is not too far away, and has another small steam locomotive operating regularly.  While the backhead details will not be identical with the Hillcrest engine, they will provide the general idea and perhaps suffice for your modelling purposes.

 John

 

[Kootenay Central]

That poor old Mogul needs quite a bit of TLC.

[sallesublime]

Hi folks. 

I'm just wondering if anyone out there has any photos of the cab interior and backhead details of Hillcrest Collieries #11 in Blairmore, Alberta, that they might be willing to post.  I'm in the planning stages of a model based on it, and while I have plenty of photos of the exterior, the cab is a blank.  I'm working in 1:29, so I'd like to include at least some detail.  The prototype lives behind a chainlink fence, and while the gate is quite low, I didn't fancy the RCMP grabbing me for hopping it.  Alternately, if anyone has any interior photos of another Canadian Locomotive Co. Mogul from around 1914, they'd probably be close enough for my purposes.

In some of the exterior photos I've seen online the loco looks really good, but when I was down there a year ago, it looked like it was rotting on the rails.  Does anyone know if the cosmetic restoration is recent, or did I see the sad end of someone's forgotten efforts?

Many thanks,

Nathan