The Home Machinist!

John: My goal had been to be able to take it to other railroads, although the lap seam boiler may be an issue with such plans. Many thanks for the lead. Sounds like a great place to visit. Keith: Call it stubbornness, but the goal had always been to keep it 15” gauge with an eye on visiting other 15...

With a bit of a push from Glenn, I plan to get back to work on the old Hershell. In 2017 I got the pony truck back together and then things came to a grinding halt as other projects came along. Much of the spare time has been spent working on a full sized caboose and a couple of old Farmalls. The tr...

The tender pricing actually looks half decent, but in looking at the photos it sure looks like the bottom of the tank is wood. Seems rather old school, perhaps helps date when the locomotive was built. https://www.ebay.com/itm/TENDER-SHELL-CHASSIS-CNW-3-4-SCALE-3-5-GAUGE-ATLANTIC-LIVE-STEAM-LOCOMOTI...

I had asked him for a price for the whole package. He responded with $2800.

Glenn:
No idea who built it. No indications on it.
J.R.

I had looked at this little locomotive some years back when it up for sale by a local antique shop. Its unusual. Its quite small actually for its gauge, but the kicker is the tiny wheels and sharp edged square flanges. The wheels pass through openings in the body under the motor so regauging to 15” ...

Well, that is an intriguing photo. By the looks of it, the locomotives are electric powered judging by the simple controller and what may be the hand brake wheel on the side. Perhaps a third rail or battery power. Looks to be two sets, one behind the other. Going by the pant legs of the guys, all th...

The idea proposed here was to expand the the market for 3/4” scale into perhaps the garden railroading arena. Could it be done? The answer is certainly yes. Some like the idea, some don’t. For me, I prefer running small full sized steam locomotives, say the 7 ton to 50 ton range, 3’ gauge is where I...

You do find odd things on Craigslist. In this case we had a 8-1/2” gauge mogul show up as being for sale in southern New Jersey over the past couple of weeks. It had been for sale back in the 2008 time frame and I looked at it at that time. Seemed at that time and even today, to be an odd gauge and ...

Its really an old wives tale that laps seams are completely illegal in the US. While certainly not allowed in many states, here in NJ if under a certain diameter (of hand I think its 30”) they are legal with a couple of caveats one of which is that the lap seam itself can not be repaired if a proble...

A new code boiler, built to look like a proper Herschell boiler, is being built by the Strasburg RR. Its one of many projects at Strasburg so not moving on a fast track which is just as well as the chassis is not yet ready for it. If the chassis is done before the new boiler, with some careful use o...

With a nudge from Glenn, I thought I would provide an update on my 15” gauge locomotive project, a Herschell-Spillman 4-4-0 built in 1907 that ran at Cedar Point in Ohio. First though a bit of history, which in all honesty has an element of conjecture to it. By all accounts, this is a 1907 Herschell...