My interest in steam stretches back to when I was a kid in the early 1970's. I can just remember seeing mainline steam locomotives in and around Southampton and the little 0-6-0 Dock Shunters.
When I was at school I took metal work! My teacher restored a Burrell Single Crank Compound Traction Engine. A few years after school I was able to drive it for few hours at a rally. That was my first and only drive of a fullsize traction engine.
I joined the local model engineering society. They have a track in a local park and ran for the public most Sunday afternoons. It wasn't long before I started driving.
Being me, when I decided to build my own loco, it wasn't the normal starting loco, but then I knew it was going to take me more than a few years to do so I'd rather start on something that I was going to like. I started on a 5" Beyer Garrett. Not a small one either, I selected the Russian 4-8-2+2-8-4.
I started on the frames. These are 1/2" thick and I made four together. First they were chain drilled and then cut out by hacksaw. Then were then cleaned up with hand tools and the axle slots were machined on a milling machine at a school. Here's some pictures of the construction.
Well, progress slowed down a bit with moving and jobs etc. I ended up living not so close to a track and thought about a land based steamer instead. It was then I got hold of the crawler which is the current project.
Currently, the Garrett sits at one end of my bench. The frames are done and held together with the non-prototypical pivots - being made using angular contact and thrust bearings. I also have the smokebox and some of the tank surports.
There are several other engines that I may build one day.
The first is a saxon meyer - a 0-4-4-0 articulated compound.
Second is the Pensy T1 4-4-4-4 simplex non-articulated.
Visit the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania
Another I would like to build one day is a class 59 Foster Yeoman built by EMD.
This loco became a trend setter in the UK for privately owned locos and one of the railway companies followed suit with an improved version, designatated class 66 - same output power with a smaller engine. I still like the sound of the 16 cylinder two stroke starting a 4000 ton stone train - makes a great cab ride too. These locos are fitted with Creep Control which allows the wheels to run at slightly higher speed than the true ground speed to use the increased friction. An interesting technique, but I think there is a better way to make use of all the available friction. If you're interested please get in touch. I have tried talking with EMD but to no avail. Perhaps I'll just have to build one to prove it.