I don't think that there will be much argument if I say this is one of the strangest locomotives in the Museum. However, there is once more a good reason- or at any rate a reason- for what looks like pure lunacy.

Left: The Laferrère System Locomotive. This remarkable locomotive is a conversion. The upper part of this construction is a fairly normal 0-6-0 locomotive built for the metre gauge. However, the need arose to run it on the standard 1.435 m gauge, so rather than rebuilding it, the locomotive was placed on another frame carrying another set of suitably spaced wheels. The idea originated in Geneva, with an engineer called Laferrère. The original locomotive looks as if it was built somewhere around 1850. I have so far been unable to find out any details of date or place relating to the conversion.

The front two original driving axles were disconnected by removing the coupling rods. The cylinders continued to drive the original rear axle, which was connected to a jackshaft at the rear of the frame. This in turn drove three new driving axles, with wheels on a wider spacing, that were placed in a new frame below the original one. It has been said that the three lower axles and the operational upper axle were all braked, but this is not obvious from the only image that exists of this strange machine, (above) which appears to show a crude wooden block bearing on the forward driving wheels and nothing else.

It is difficult to believe that this is really a sound idea; apart from anything else, the centre of gravity is considerably raised. What effects this may have had on stability may however have been counteracted by the greater track width.

The market for this sort of conversion appears to have been very small, and the Laferrère System failed to catch on.

The nameplate reads: "Entreprise Geneve Laferrère".

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