Hi
And thanks!
Its a LGB Aster loco . Only 500 were made ..its made out of brass( as is its sister loco in green) and is a fantastic runner, sounds as good as it looks..digical with sound ect..weighs a ton so it pulls great..
The Prototype
During the late 19th century, the Württemberg State Railways built several 750 mm narrow gauge lines to serve areas with difficult terrain, where standard gauge railways were considered not cost-effective. Locomotives with a long rigid wheelbase were not suited to these meandering lines. Thus, the first locomotives to run on the Württemberg narrow gauge lines were equipped with the complex "Klose" system of radially adjustable axles.
When new locomotives were ordered in 1899, the Esslingen locomotive works built articulated Mallet locomotives, which were popular at the time. Typical for early compound Mallets, the new locos were equipped with outside frames on the rear drivetrain and inside frames on the front. The nine "Tssd" locomotives built between 1899 and 1913 proved very successful. When their lines became part of the Deutsche Reichsbahn in the 1920s, all were still in service. After 1945, four still remained on the roster of the newly formed Deutsche Bundesbahn. During the 1960s, more and more trains on the remaining narrow gauge lines in Baden-Württemberg state were hauled by the new V51 diesel-hydraulic locomotives. In some cases, trains were double-headed by Mallets together with the new diesels. The last of the Tssd locos to remain in active service, No. 99 633 was made surplus in 1969.
No. 99 633 has survived as a museum loco. This loco is one of the best-known German narrow gauge locomotives, because it was featured in the introduction to the German TV program "Eisenbahn-Romantik" (romantic railways).