Re: NNG(L-131 live steamer at royal gorge)is not 15 inch gauge

Ralph's locomotives were all 14 and 1/8 inch gauge not 15 inch. Ralph was a purist when it came to building to 3 inch scale. I saw his stuff in operation several times when he lived in Boulder. Ralph also put an extra steep taper on the tread of his wheels to theoretically allow it to go around curves. Doing so and the lack of proper equalization made his locomotives very slippery and two people could hold the tender of that mallet and the wheels would just spin. His 4-4-2 would barely pull it self never mind a train. Alex Schneider and I had Ralph up to Loveland when we were building our 18 inch gauge prairie which is now the John Blue House in Laurenberg NC.