Content to follow later….
But in the interim, a proud John with his DH.
A happy chappy.... and his loco...
This loco runs best under extreme pressure, it is just the driver that doesn’t…
John’s DH-57 Diesel Locomotive
Category Archives: Member Locos-Builds
Damiens Black Romulus
Gallery
This gallery contains 5 photos.
Damien brought his Romulus in today, but didn’t get around to running it.
The Koppel
We had the pleasure of having Koppel with us for a few weeks.
Koppel – Toowoomba
Blue Koppel with Blue driving..
Koppel all steamed up
Building a 7 1/4″ gauge Hunslet
In the beginning, there was Graham, and a concept.
Now we have to wait for an article on his build progress.
Hunslet Cackler
5″ gauge Rolling Chassis
Where possible I have re-cycled! The buffers were machined from plough shear bolts, pipe reducing unions, square washers and rewound bedsprings. The towing hook is part of a turnbuckle with a nut machined as a collar on the front.
The boiler feed axle pump was machined entirely from old brass plumbing and stock trough fittings. The stainless balls for the pump valves came from a ss ball race. It can push over 400psi off the dial of my test gauge! The axles are recycled bright round bar courtesy of the local tip, and the slip eccentrics were machined from a couple of 50mm tow-balls.
The smokebox was fabricated and welded from scrap steels, with the massive brass fittings on the stack coming from some huge phosphor bronze bushes from a friends junk-box. The handrails on the cab started life originally as flower pot hangers, but a few threads and bends changed that.
The crosshead slides are 3/8″ keys, with the crossheads fabricated from 11mm key and 3mm sheet steel silver-soldered together. They slide up and down just fine.
The majority of things are held together with 4mm bolts and nuts, cheap and readily available. So far everything has been done with only a Taig micro lathe, a drill press, portable drill, bench grinder, disc grinder, inverter welder, belt sander, and hand tools.
I have access to milling machines and large lathes at a friends around the corner, but much prefer the satisfaction of overcoming challenges and doing it myself. Quartering the wheels was an experience, but they measure up spot-on. The only major stuff-up to date was when I was drilling the holes in the wheels for the crank pins. The jig slipped or vibrated loose and I ended up with one wheel out by 0.5mm.
Took a while to figure out why the wheels were binding, then tracking down which crankpin was out of kilter took a lot of thinking carefully. The solution – I machined a new crank-pin for that wheel with a 0.5mm offset, keyed it and fixed it to the wheel. Works perfectly now with no binding of the gear.
Progress..
The Buffers
Wheels
Wheels and Rods
Progress..
Mockup Loco
Machining cast-iron wheels
The wheels were a real challenge on a micro lathe. Fortunately Taig supply a riser block set so that you can raise the height of the headstock and center and extra 40mm. This gave just enough clearance to spin the rough castings.
Machining Cast-iron Wheels
You can see the roughed out Loco wheel in the next shot.
Locomotive Wheel
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What’s a Phantom
The Phantom is based on a New Zealand built 7.25″ loco, and not the Ghost Who Walks.
At last – Murray’s Phantom. We are waiting for Murray to write an article and provide photos as his build progressed, so watch this space….
7.25" Phantom Live Steam Loco
7.25" Phantom Live Steam Loco at the crossing
Phantom departs station
Phantom Motion
Build a Smoke Box
The smoke box was assembled from a section of 5″ steel tube, a piece of exhaust pipe for the stack, and scrap metal for the door. The hinges were fabricated from scrap 3mm sheet, and the brass handle was machined from old plumbing hardware and water taps.
The handle is a bit of 3mm wire threaded and bent to shape, with 2 small nuts rounded off for collars. The hinge pin is a 3″ nail.
Smoke Box Door
Smoke Box on the Chassis
Making Axle Boxes
The axle boxes were machined from cast iron in a tiny TAIG lathe. They were first face dressed in the 4-jaw chuck, before the sides were machined. The ends or top and bottom were machined last.
Machining Axle Box
The bronze bush holes have not yet been bored. The holes were bored using the 4 jaw chuck and a boring bar.
Axle Box and Keep