Scratch build coal fired loco, did anybody do it and succeed?

[justme igor]

Just as the title is telling, did someone do this?
I think it is possible for 1 at 32 scale, to use some copper tubing and a cast iron fire box, "mimic" the real thing.
Hard/acid solder the fire pipes into the boiler and the firebox, or must they be really swagged into the holes?
The driving rods, wheels and the other connecting mechanical should be made out of tool steel?
I am just to curios, and this idea is really shouting in my mind before i go to sleep.
Before i am able to start a project like this i will be ten years down the road, if i will ever get there to built.
But are there some snake(venomous) pits, do's or dont's?

I have the "student book" of my great grand father who was a loco driver himself.
Probably that is where this itch is coming from.
Any advice or starting point is welcome.

Thanks in advance, best Igor.

 

[Greg Elmassian]

Yes, quite often using coal.

I think people are still using hard solder for the flues

steel or stainless steel for the rods, usually the driver tires.

You should read the live steam sections on MLS or LSC, look for posts by Billie

Greg

 

[GAP]

This guy built this steam engine I saw it on display at a steam up it was impressive, unfortunately he has since passed away.

ERIC Index

It was a small scale live steam loco for 32mm and 45mm gauges designed by Brian Wilson, who wrote a book detailing how to build it, you would have to do a google search for a copy.
I found this on Amazon but it is expensive as the book is rare.

Steam Trains in Your Garden: Building Your Own Live Steam Locomotives and Rolling Stock by Brian Wilson (2015-03-25): Amazon.com: Books

Steam Trains in Your Garden: Building Your Own Live Steam Locomotives and Rolling Stock by Brian Wilson (2015-03-25) on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Steam Trains in Your Garden: Building Your Own Live Steam Locomotives and Rolling Stock by Brian Wilson (2015-03-25)

www.amazon.com

It was not coal fired but he did do concept drawings for one.

Coal Fired Loco (Concept & Design) index

This is his site Shishi-Ga-Tani_Light_Rail which has heaps of pictures of all the scratchbuilds he did.

 

[g-bits]

Many folks have, notably LBSC 'curly' Lawrence who advocated that coal firing was preferable even in the smaller sizes. His locomotives tended towards slightly overscale and no fine detail, but he also built an O gauge pacific that could pull a human driver as part of his life-long feud with Henry Greenly. If you can do that in O gauge, you can make it work in 1/32 and hide the working gubbins behind finescale platework.

Think he used copper and/or brass for boilers and most pipework, and mild steel for everything else. Stainless was much rarer then, I don't know what his views would have been - tyres perhaps.

His book, "shop, shed and road" if memory serves, is a good read and informative starting point.

Jonathan
g-bits.co.uk

 

[Paul M]

I know of a few chaps who have done it with great success, there was a write in 16mm Today a few years ago. A good idea for a first timer would be to buy a pre-built boiler. Coal fired steamers use more pressure than gas fired jobbies

 

[dunnyrail]

There are also companies about that do coal firing conversions some even kits I believe for Roundhouse Locomotives and possibly others. If this is your interest for the future a membership of the 16mm Society may be a worthwhile investment. Though they are predominantly interested in 32mm track gauge it is getting to be a broader Church and us 45mm heathens are accepted quite readily now.

 

[Rhos Helyg Loco Works]

Coal-fired in O Gauge (7mm to 1 foot scale) by my good friends John and Jack Shawe...

 

[Paul M]

Coal-fired in O Gauge (7mm to 1 foot scale) by my good friends John and Jack Shawe...

That was impressive, I watched it last year at their open day. I believe they were running 2 of them. Once up and running, they don't stop!

 

[dunnyrail]

Yes I saw that and I think a Scotsman running a lot of years ago. Great thing about Brambleton is that there is sufficient run to give live steam a good stretch of their legs. When not doing that sort of thing operations are battery with block bells used for offering and accepting trains round the loops. Oparating one of the signal boxes is a close as you can get to being in a real box plus you are never quite sure what loco will be appearing next. You can also see the extensive 32mm gauge NG line in places, once of one of the bridges and another with the 16mm line running parallel. One of my operators is a regular and it appears that things have got moving there again but in a modest way.

 

[Paul M]

Yes I saw that and I think a Scotsman running a lot of years ago. Great thing about Brambleton is that there is sufficient run to give live steam a good stretch of their legs. When not doing that sort of thing operations are battery with block bells used for offering and accepting trains round the loops. Oparating one of the signal boxes is a close as you can get to being in a real box plus you are never quite sure what loco will be appearing next. You can also see the extensive 32mm gauge NG line in places, once of one of the bridges and another with the 16mm line running parallel. One of my operators is a regular and it appears that things have got moving there again but in a modest way.

The narrow gauge lines have always been busy, they are now being extended by quite some distance. The O Gauge outfit is being revamped as there has been an influx renewed interest on the side of things. Mainly because the O Gauge engines are now easier to reliably batterify, and there are certainly some impressive beasts round.
They are now in the process of building a ride on 7" line too.

 

[dunnyrail]

The narrow gauge lines have always been busy, they are now being extended by quite some distance. The O Gauge outfit is being revamped as there has been an influx renewed interest on the side of things. Mainly because the O Gauge engines are now easier to reliably batterify, and there are certainly some impressive beasts round.
They are now in the process of building a ride on 7" line too.

Indeed so, I remember the very early days when they were reliant on Tri-Ang Blue Flyers and the odd converted Lima Class 33 plus great big boxes of C cell batteries. How things have changed in the Battery Train world. Think the 7“ will be 7.25”? Now if they dual gauge it with 5” they would at last by default have a 45mm line as well, at long last.

 

[PhilP]

Now if they dual gauge it with 5” they would at last by default have a 45mm line as well, at long last.

But only if they use 'bar-track'.. - Does need a little thinking about, IF it is wanted to happen?

 

[dunnyrail]

But only if they use 'bar-track'.. - Does need a little thinking about, IF it is wanted to happen?

No been done in the park at St.Neots, critical is the rail that they use. Has been done at another lone somewhere in UK, admittedly not on purpose it is just that a certain section of Steel Rail gives the sweet spot of 45 between the outer 2 rails.

 

[tac foley]

While not overly common in Gauge 1, there are certainly enough of them around to make a great impression - I'm betting that around 15 -20% of Gauge 1 models are coal-fired. I personally know of four.

Here's a coal-fired 'Britannia' in gauge 1 - built to 10mm to the foot.

 

[justme igor]

Yes, quite often using coal.

I think people are still using hard solder for the flues

steel or stainless steel for the rods, usually the driver tires.

You should read the live steam sections on MLS or LSC, look for posts by Billie

Greg

I encountered a soccer team (mls)and a Lego forum(lsc)???? can you post a link please?
With best regards, Igor

 

[justme igor]

Many folks have, notably LBSC 'curly' Lawrence who advocated that coal firing was preferable even in the smaller sizes. His locomotives tended towards slightly overscale and no fine detail, but he also built an O gauge pacific that could pull a human driver as part of his life-long feud with Henry Greenly. If you can do that in O gauge, you can make it work in 1/32 and hide the working gubbins behind finescale platework.

Think he used copper and/or brass for boilers and most pipework, and mild steel for everything else. Stainless was much rarer then, I don't know what his views would have been - tyres perhaps.

His book, "shop, shed and road" if memory serves, is a good read and informative starting point.

Jonathan
g-bits.co.uk

I can buy the book only by credit card (amazon) and a credit card is something i dont want to have, but the book i really would like to have.
Anyone have a solution for me please?

 

[tac foley]

MLS = My Large Scale

LSC = Large Scale Central

Better yet, join the Gauge 1 Model Railway Association and buy the book - 'Building the Project locomotive' or 'ARMIG.

 

[g-bits]

I can buy the book only by credit card (amazon) and a credit card is something i dont want to have, but the book i really would like to have.
Anyone have a solution for me please?

I don't know where you are in the world, but there are plenty of copies listed on eBay - for obvious reasons, the majority are probably UK/US sellers, but some at least I'd hope would be prepared to ship to you, and some copies might even happen to be more local.

lbsc shop shed and road for sale | eBay

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Please be aware that the book is basically a general treatese on how to go about things, and assumes some prior knowledge of small engines and machining in general. What it's not is a set of drawings for specific workable design.

The G1MRA project book, as I understand it, is much more focused on being a complete set of instructions, but I don't have a copy. I also don't know if the options include a coal-fired boiler? If memory serves, 'project' was for an 0-6-0 tender engine (MR/LMS, but you could reasonably clothe the mechanics to look like most similar sized things on other lines) and 'Dee' was for an SECR 4-4-0. Both these locos were inside cylinder, and I don't know how necessary desirable it was to have read/digested/built 'project' before starting 'Dee'.

Jonathan
g-bits.co.uk

 

[trammayo]

Nearly sixty years ago, as a youth, I was interested in model engineering and always purchased the Model Engineer magazine. LBSC usually had something under construction in the mag!

 

[tac foley]

@OP - And HERE is my best advice - make contact with our friend Bram Hengeveld in The Netherlands -

Welkom op de Exclusive Models site over Stoommachines, Sterling/Gasmotoren en Klassieke runabouts

Or Remco Vegting -

junction@exclusivemodels.nl

Both are not only dealers, but VERY well-versed in the mechanics of building locomotives - be warned, though - coal-firing is NOT a novice sport, and building a coal-fired model locomotive is a serious task for anybody, let alone somebody who has never built ANY kind of a live-steam loco before.

In each event, please tell them I sent you - we are all in the G1MRA and post on the FB page. It is a private group that you have to join, but there is probably a couple of thousand years of experience of building model live-steam locos right there to be asking.