The Home Machinist!

Flaming dinosaurs do not all smell the same! I have been around traction engines, both full size and model since the mid 1950s. Owned, driven and repaired all sorts. At this very moment I have a 4 inch scale Clayton wagon and a 3 1/2 inch gauge model railway engine loaded ready to go to club boiler ...

There is a big difference between models built for museums, which show all details scaled, as exactly as possible and models built to the same standard of workmanship, BUT actually made to work. Both have merit, but the ones made to run are much more fun ! I have a splendid 2 inch scale traction eng...

We, That is son James and I have mainly burnt coal, and will continue to do so as long as it is available. We have experimentally, and not always entirely successfully burnt other burnables ranging fron parquet flooring, pine cones, hardwood in the form of chopped up furniture and lately banister ra...

Take a journey with me. Richmond Hill Club, engine Caribou 0-8-0 in good order, one car behind, 4 adults load, Stand in station, 90 lbs on the clock, 3/4 glass, blower on, bypass open in full gear. Crack regulator, move off slowly, travel gently over traverser, open regulator to 1/2 notch up one tur...

For those interested in driving models as if they were full size engines 3/4 inch scale models give a really good opportunity. If you take a heavy but free running driver;s car , driver ( in my case now 200 lbs) and a passenger( Say a 100 lbs child) you have a reasonable load for an 0-4-0. If you ca...

The more conventional locos, ie those which have fixed wheelbases, such as 0-6-0 s 4-6-2s etc and are not articulated , have a hard time on many tracks with less than 30 ft radius curves. I am currently doing a running restoration on a Caribou 0-8-0 and I have only a half circle of 30 ft radius with...

I used to be a fairly quick worker, not so nowadays. Just recently I decided to build up a bit of a stationary generating plant as a change from my big coal fired models. So far I have spent two weeks simply cleaning up a Stuart 504 boiler, a 10 v engine, making a propane burner for the boiler, arra...

I thoroughly second Pontiacguy.s advice. I have repaired and brought back to use some really poorly built engines. It is FAR more challenging work than simply buying a simple set of castings and drawings and building to the best of your ability. I would recommend you build a small simple stationary ...

My 93 yr old machinist pal calls all verniers, be they plain, dial or electronic.. VERY NEARS. Probably the most important tool in a beginners toolbox is a good quality 0 to 1 ( or 0 to 25 if you work in metric measure) inch micrometer. You will not be building space rockets so a good secondhand one...

You do not need to be highly skilled to get acceptable results. This morning I made a sub base for a small model steam engine I purchased. I have all sorts of expensive machine tools, measuring equipment etc, Just for fun I did things the simple way, I used a couple of big files, a 1 /16 inch transf...

I would agree that MR Pete.s videos are about the best instructional ones on the internet. Watch them by all means, but do more than that, put his advice to work in your workshop. Read all you can, Live Steam and Model Engineer magazines are full of useful advice, drawings you can build from, and ab...

It was a bit of a hard start. Our first venture into scale models, after worrying the life out of Wilesco, Mamod and Bowman models was when we bought a finished, allegedly running 3/4 inch spirit fired traction engine for 20 pounds in 1963. Once steamed up she would not run, Dad went back to the bui...