Stoomtram Hoorn Medemblik No 26

Prototype: the Hanomags 21-30, 31-35

These locomotives were ordered for operation on the standard gauge lines of the Limburg Tramway Company (LTM). They served on the lines Maastricht-Vaals and Roermond-Sittard and its four branches. They were supplied by Hanomag in two batches in 1922 and 1925.

They were relative "muscle cars" as they needed to operate on a "mountainous" line, the Maastricht line being laid out in the hills of Limburg with relatively steep gradients. They were the heaviest 0-4-0 tramway locomotives of the Netherlands. They performed well and could easily go faster than the designated speed limit. Yet, in hindsight, lighter locos would have sufficed.

The engines showed every mark of the Verhoop design like its feedwater system with Verhoop pump, vacuum brake preheater, smokebox feedwater heater and water treater.

The locos 21 and 34 collided head on at Wahlwiler on July 14,1935 resulting in heavy damage on both engines. The already strained finances led to the decision not to repair the locos and they were scrapped soon thereafter.

Twelve engines were sold to Dotremont metal traders at the cessation op operation on the line Maastricht-Vaals in 1938. One loco was sold to the State Mines directly and two others were acquired from Dotremont.

SHM26 at Hoorn depot on the day I figurated as assistant fireman.

No 26

No 26 was sold to Dotremont. After some time it was sold to a German company and via various other mean time jobs it was bought back into the Netherlands by the Tramway Foundation in 1972. After a thorough restauration it re-entered service in 1972, numbered 21. This loco was actually a composition of the frame of 26 and the boiler of 21. The frame of 21 was scrapped. During its 2000 rebuild it was soon dicovered and it was numbered correctly after its frame number, 26. The loco was returned to its original state as much as possible. It received a new cab, a new boiler and of course new number plates

The model

I built the model from a Philotrain kit I bought in Dec 2013. The loco was completed in May 2015.

This kit was produced in 1982 in an edition of 250 pieces. The kit itself was not bad but certainly not up to standard with Philotrain's renowned quality. It was clearly an early model. A complete drive mechanism was included, a Tenshodo SPUD, which basically has two speeds: stopped or sonic boom. It is terrible and despite several attempts to get it to run decently I gave up on motorising this kit altogether. One day when I grow up I will scratch build a drive for this loco. Verdict on the kit: it is expensive not very accurate and it doesn't run. Although the result is a pretty loco, I regret investing time and money in it that I could have used to build other models.