Neff Model Manufacturing Company

Neff Model Manufacturing Company was owned and operated by Roll G. Neff of East Worcester, New York.

History
Nickie, Classic Toy Trains, wrote on 8 March 2006:

There was a complete history of the Neff Model Manufacturing Company printed in Live Steam Magazine (see References).

Roll Neff was a machinist of exceptional skill. He built his first O gauge locomotive in the late 1930s as a test platform to see what would work and what would not. Over the next 25 years, he custom built many O gauge locomotives - they were propane fired some were remote controlled. Usually this was not necessary - with a heavy train and a good track with well banked curves, additional control was not necessary. The locos would run until the fuel was exhausted - the boiler capacity and tender water supply being sufficient to keep the water level up so as to avoid running dry.

Neff's locomotives ranged from a 4-4-0 with Stephenson gear to at least one 2-10-4 and several UP Big Boys. He was located in New York state and died either in the 1960s or 70s. I had a letter from him in the mid 1960s when I was trying to find an O gauger - at that time he had only one Big Boy in stock which was too big for my purposes.

Little Engines sold about 600 sets of O gauge castings over the years. Occasionally I see one of their locomotives but they are few and far between. Neff built between 50 and 100 locomotives. There were other custom builders during the 20s and 30s however most live steam locomotives were either Bassett-Lowke low pressure models or Bowman oscillators.

Gallery
Neff live steam Pacific. O scale propane fired. Extremely rare.This is a live steam locomotive made by Roll Neff. It is estimated that Roll Neff only made about a total of 50. Published on Nov 1, 2012

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