OUR Model of the Week is this super Swiss Krokodil locomotive by P Brien pictured on display at Harrogate. It makes a large and impressive model in 3 1/2in. gauge.

The RhB Ge 6/6  is a metre gauge  electric locomotive operated by the Rhaetian Railway (RhB), the main railway network in the Canton of Graubünden, Switzerland, nicknamed the Rhaetian Crocodiles. The first six were delivered in 1919 from Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works, Brown, Boveri & Cie  and Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon.

Further deliveries of these locomotives were made between 1922 and 1929. The 15 Ge 6/6 locomotives, replaced all remaining steam locomotives on the railway’s main network, and Ge 6/6s hauled the heavy and headline trains, including the Glacier Express.

The Ge 6/6s were 13.3 metres (44 ft) long, and weighed 66 tonnes . Power reached 940 kilowatts (1,260 hp), and gave a top speed of 55 kilometres per hour (34 mph).

Only in 1974, after more than 50 years of service, was the first locomotive of the class withdrawn from service, following to an accident. Others followed as newer classes were introduced.

Six of the locomotives are still in existence, with two of them still in service with the Rhaetian Railway as operational locomotives. Others are in museums. The original of the model, no 413, was broken up for spares in 1996.