Prototype & Model
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Prototype & Model |
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The 326 was my second "grand" scratchbuilding project.
After almost finishing the Kandó Electric loco, I wanted a steamer as next project. First I was considering the marvellous MÁV Class 424, 4-8-0, probably the best known large Hungarian steam locomotive. After checking this possibility however I was rather discouraged. Those large engines are really complicated, and - being the most popular steam locomotive in Hungary - several scratch builders already made models of them. I wanted something simpler and more special.
My attraction towards the Class 326 originates in the deep past. In the '70s
some of these engines were still in use in smaller stations as switchers.
I loved them. In 1971, as a high
school student, I took my camera and hid myself in a bush behind the small
Óbuda station in an outskirt of Budapest. I took one single picture,
and I was very afraid of getting fined. In the Communist Era it was stricktly
forbidden to take photos about any railway items in Hungary.
The Class 326 engine (Class IIIe before 1911), 0-6-0, was the most numerous
MÁV steam engine in the 19th century. She was used as freight engine
on the plain, or passenger engine on mountain lines.
When at the late 1890's it became obsolete as line locomotive, many of them were
taken as switchers on larger stations. They survived two World Wars, and
some of them remained active up to the '1970s. Interestingly,
despite of their large number built, there is no original Class 326 engine
in working state in Hungary. Three of them are plinthed, and some supposed
to be stored at different workshops. One is plinthed in front of the Zagreb
railway station in Croatia.
The models were finished after many years building. The first model has been awarded
by a first prize in Category A1 (Scratch Built Motive Power) on the 48th
Annual Exhibition and Contest of the Hungarian Railroad Modelers' Association
in September 2001. The second model got the same prize on the 49th Annual
Exhibition and Contest of the Hungarian Railroad Modelers' Association in
September 2002.
Here you can read about this engine.
Forward to the Class 326 Model Building Page
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This page was updated last time on 22th March 2003
© János Erö