"Steamers" Builds and collection

[tracksntreadslou]

Was over at robs today and took a few photos of some of his coolection ..Some pretty impressive stuff.
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x63/tracksntreadslou/001-30.jpg
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x63/tracksntreadslou/002-27.jpg
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x63/tracksntreadslou/004-25.jpg
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x63/tracksntreadslou/009-10.jpg
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x63/tracksntreadslou/011-7.jpg]
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x63/tracksntreadslou/007-17.jpg
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x63/tracksntreadslou/008-13.jpg
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x63/tracksntreadslou/006-20.jpg
http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x63/tracksntreadslou/005-25.jpg

[Claus]

Wow!, I thought G scale was large. Very nice!!

[Espeefan]

No way! Live steam and an electric diesel electric! :D What scale are the locomotives? Looks like the kind that you can actually pull yourself around in a gondola or passenger car!

[Claus]

Judging by the Cat loader that SD40-2 has got to be close to 1/14.

[SonoranWraith]

That is awesome! Must have a very large space for that layout!! There is a park here that runs 15" gauge train that my kids love to ride. (McCormick Stillman RR Park) Very nice work on both of those!

[RCLogger]

I was over to his place as well, I think the CPR 5703 is 1/16. The model he is building now is WILD, I think he said it will be over 500 pounds when finished.

Very Nice Stuff

greg

[chaseracer]

wow impressive collection of large scale trains. there is something about trains that brings out the kid in us all

[Espeefan]

I'd have to guess the CP Rail SD40-2 is a little undersized, to be 1/16 or 1/14 scale. Maybe around 1/18 or so?

[steamer]

First of all I want to thank Lou for putting up the pictures of some of my trains. Espeefan, the SD-40-2 was built 1/16 scale form GM drawing and I think it's the way lou is holding his model that makes it look small. It's
52" long 7 1/2" wide and 11 1/2" tall. Has two 12 volt air conditioner motors in the fuel tank one powering each truck. I have easly pulled 10 people behind me on flat cars. I have all so built a F-40 thunder wagon in the same scale for GO Transit in Ontario. The little 2-6-0 is the OS World Engines Porter that was on the market back in the 80's and I got it when I sold a CN Hudson 4-6-4. Other loco's I built over the years are NYC Niagra 4-8-4. CP 4-4-0. 0-4-0 Tich, Four GE 20 ton 0-4-0 diesel electric. The big engine in the pictures is a 1/8 scale Baldwin Logging engine that was working here on the island. The real loco is about 40 miles from where I live so I am able to drive there to measure it. If anyone is interested I have more pictures on some of this stuff.

[Finster]

Sweet bunch of engines you have there! Have you built any rolling stock for them? Do you run the 1/16 engine on an elevated track?

[steamer]

Yes i've built a bunch of rolling stock over the years, boxcars, flats, gons and a caboose. There all sold off now and I've only kept the riding car. I prefer myself, to ride on the ground and the track here at my house was on the ground. Pulled it up as the ties all rotted. Next time the ties will be recycled plastic and they'll be around forever. The club here on the island is elevated and the results of a derailment are not pretty, having had one myself. When I get closer to running the logging engine I'll relay the track on the ground again. Rob

[Espeefan]

That is very cool, steamer. To the best of my knowledge, there are no 1/16 scale diesel electric kits out there, or am I wrong? You must have machined just about everything yourself. The trucks included? That kind of takes modeling to a whole new standard. I imagine how easy it is to super detail a model of this size. You don't even need tweezers to hold the parts and instead of glue, it can be bolted or welded together. Nice. :D

[steamer]

Thanks. Ya, I scratch built the SD back in 84 when I worked for a large company in Guelph Ontario. Had a large fabricating company at my disposal. Realy is nice to use a couple of mill $ of someone elses equipement. I realy miss that facility now, I would put it to good use building the 2-8-2.

[mog]

wow that's nice stuff there would be nice to see the 966 on a flat car going. i like live steam as well very nice done.

[Finster]

I think all your builds are awesome, but personally I'd like to see more pictures of the SD40-2. Like from underneath, the motors, gearing, etc. What type of batteries and ESC did you use?

[steamer]

Thanks guys. If I known there was going to be this much interest when I built these engines I would have payed more attention. SD-40-2, the batteries are from a Sears jeep, two 6 volt 9 amp hr pack. All totaled there are four packs in there and it's enough to run about six hours. The speed control was built from drawing in Live Steam mag, March 89. Bought all the parts, just breadborded it and with a little fine tuning with a scope it works fine. The amp draw at full stall is 62 amp. Put a 100 amp shunt on the output and the meter is in the hand held controler. As I said before the traction motors are from an 18 wheeler cab mount air conditioner and I picked them up surplus. If you look at the large steamer, ones sitting on the rear frame. The motors are in the fuel tank and drive out to the truck with a Boston gear sliding drive shaft. there is a bevel gear box on the front axle and then a 25 pitch chain drive from axle to axle to axle, giving me two motor six wheel drive. Only ever saw it slip on aluminum rail in the rain. I should say that it ways in at 240 Lbs. I'll try to find pictures to post.

[steamer]

Well here goes my first try at photos. Hope this works. All these engines are 1/16" scale.
F40PH
http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/ff436/steamer2/img523.jpg
GE 20 Ton with two 20 Ton models
http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/ff436/steamer2/img528.jpg
Unlimited diesel power. Four of the same, MU'd together
http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/ff436/steamer2/img526.jpg
All of these engines are scratch built as there are no kits. All it takes is a little skill and a lot of patience.

[steamer]

Well I don't know what I did wrong but it didn't work, sorry about that. I'll try again, after I talk to someone who knows. Rob

[ihbuilder]

Steamer you got a major interest right here :D A GP38 will be my first . I just haven't found any drawings with some kind of measurement on them . I like your Idea for the traction motor . I had 2 of those ac units in my bone yard but they're fate is ugly (scrapped :( ) . I have the plans for a live steamer but thats on the back burner for now ( prob. till I get more grays ) are you trying to post your pics from photobucket ? you need to use the IMG code . I usually do copy paste that way nothing gets messed up.

IHSteve

[ihbuilder]

Well I don't know what I did wrong but it didn't work, sorry about that. I'll try again, after I talk to someone who knows. Rob

Rob
fixed it for you . you had double http://[IMG] in the beginning and the end

IHSteve

[steamer]

IHSteve. Thanks a lot. Still have a lot to learn with these confusers, sometimes I'd like to reboot it right out the window!!! Yes I use Photobucket and I though that I was following what Lou said, but must have missed something along the line. I'll keep trying and sooner or later I'll get it right.
Rob

[J Hall]

Just checked into the steam forum for the first time...Nice..Nice..Nice..

Jerry

[Espeefan]

Well here goes my first try at photos. Hope this works. All these engines are 1/16" scale.
F40PH
http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/ff436/steamer2/img523.jpg


Wow. That F40PH is gorgeous! Do you have any more pictures of that loco? Amazing, knowing you've built these up from raw materials.

[steamer]

Thanks Nathon, Glad you like it. Here's one more for you. What I regret most, when I was building these locomotives that I didn't take more photos of the builds. Here's another one from the same train show and I'll see what I can find this weekend. Rob
http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/ff436/steamer2/img525.jpg

[Espeefan]

Amazing. What do you build the carbody out of, and how do you make all the detail parts, like the radiator fans, steps, pilot, bell, horn, ect? If you weld that carbody together with sheet metal, you are talented. It looks so clean and smooth. What does a model like the F40PH end up weighing? It's just incredible.

[tc1cat]

Nice engines! I have dreamed of building a large scale 3 truck Shay for many years. Just don't have the necessary equipment to do the job. Always love to see the Shay's drive train in motion as they go by you.

[steamer]

Good Morning. As I said there are not many pictures of my builds, as that never entered my mind to document them. The pictures were mostly of the real engines to give me an idea of the looks and size. Most of the time, I have been lucky to BS my way into the facilities to measure the real engines. Go Transit were very helpful and let me in there enough times to get all the dimensions of the F40 and here's a shot with my five year old.
http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/ff436/steamer2/img536.jpg
The next is with two locomotives being built at the same time, F40 and CN 5703 4-6-4 Hudson. You can see that the forty is built from 20 gauge sheet metal and was spot welded with 20 gauge angle in the corners. Most of the detail on the body is evergreen plastic fastened with JB weld.
http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/ff436/steamer2/img534.jpg
The steamer ended up like this
http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/ff436/steamer2/img537.jpg
The only other shot of the F40 is really not worth posting but it's all I could find. This was taken after I painted it and the paint is the same as on the F40. The company the made the paint donated it after seeing the model.
http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/ff436/steamer2/img535.jpg
As far as the detail goes cooling fans were small 12 volt motors, turned alum hubs, slit then at a 45 angle and JB in the blades. Never had a blade come back out. From memory I would say the engine with batteries was about 150 lbs. Hope this helps, but keep asking questions and I'll try to answer .
Rob

[bigpipespete]

i used to work at cpr , nice to see that engine

[kamyoncu]

I understand to making cars but What did you guys produce rails ? expecially curves ?

[steamer]

There is proper Aluminum extruded rail that is available but very expensive per foot. Our club in Ontario Coals used this rail for that layout. The only problem with Aluminum is it's very slippery when you run steam engines on it. A little oil add some water and it's like driving on ice. For my home track I just used 1/4" x 3/4" flat hot rolled steel in 22 foot lengths. I Used 2"x2"x8" for the ties. With a dado head on the table saw, set it up to cut one side a tight 1/4" and the other side a loose 1/4'. When you assemble the track lay out enough ties to cover about 30' or so. Start with one rail on the tight side and drive it in to the bottom of the cut,I made mine 1/4" deep. Set your curve and drive a long nail through the ties every 5' or so just to hold were you want it. now go back and push in the other rail and your away. Don't forget to stagger the two ends of the rail about 4' so that you don't get a kink at the joint. The other nice point about the steel is as it gets rusty you get better traction and the sun will not cause it to expand as bad as the aluminum.
Rob

[Espeefan]

Rob, you wouldn't happen to have any photos of your track layed out around your home, would you? I imagine it's kind of like a garden model railroad, but bigger models.

[steamer]

I was thinking what it would have been to have digital cameras 15 to 20 years ago.;) There's not many pictures in my albums from my home track but some from the COALS track in Brantford Ontario.
Hauling some freight
http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/ff436/steamer2/img546.jpg
Filling the NYC Niagara up with water.
http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/ff436/steamer2/img577.jpg
These two are my back yard.
Night run
http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/ff436/steamer2/img569.jpg
Double header steam and diesel,
http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/ff436/steamer2/img568.jpg
I never did build any buildings for my track but we had full signals, stations and a working water tower at COALS track.
Rob

[RCLogger]

Very Cool Rob It is crazy that they have enough power to pull adults around !

greg

[Espeefan]

Very cool indeed! Steel wheels on steel rails will always be the most efficient means of transport known to man. I've read many times that it takes 1 hp to move 1 ton of weight on rails, vs. 10 hp to move 1 ton on the road with tires. I sure could see myself getting into this end of model railroading. To bad things like the truck sideframes and gearboxes for the trucks aren't readily available. I could probably handle making the locomotive frames, carbody, cab, and the rest of the drivetrain, but the trucks would be a hang up for me. I don't think I could machine them to perfection, to the point where I would be happy with them.

[steamer]

Nathan. Just to let you know that I'm not ignoring you, I'm getting a bunch of photos together on how I built the trucks on the F40 and the SD40. As soon I come up with the pictures, I'll post them.
Rob

[vmilnik]

awesome pics

[Espeefan]

Nathan. Just to let you know that I'm not ignoring you, I'm getting a bunch of photos together on how I built the trucks on the F40 and the SD40. As soon I come up with the pictures, I'll post them.
Rob

No worries Rob! I'm patient!