A far as I know, there is only one other live steam model of the Baldwin 3003 (or its sister engines) in the world, built by the late Leonard Niemi, Greenville, SC, USA, in the 1980s. The pictures below were published in the Finnish Miniature Railroad magazine "Junat" in 1993:

Niemi, a Finnish descendant, built his engine using Little Engine 4-4-0 parts and castings. This, however, resulted in an engine that is not an exact model of the prototype. For example, the driving wheels are somewhat different, and the tender trucks are not the right type. The smokebox is also of a different shape, and the cylinders of the Little Engines design are slightly tilted. On the original, they're level, and are attached somewhat lower on the frame.

However, the livery is closely copied from the original. In order to get the model to look as much like the 3003 as possible, Niemi used photos and information that he got from railfans in Finland. One of them, my friend and fellow live steamer Juhani Saloranta received some photos of the engine when it was more detailed, such as below:

As you can see, it is very similar indeed to my model, both in shape and livery. That's why I'm so curious about where it might be now, since he engine was advertised for sale in Live Steam Magazine by Ruth Niemi in 1997. If anybody has information of the current whereabouts of this model, I'd be happy to get an e-mail (see e-mail link on main index page). I'd like to contact the current owner of the engine.

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