The Home Machinist!

Looks like light rail and small wheels. Wonder if that's some kind of trolley or light rail transport vehicle. Amtrak Amfleet and Superliner cars had dual disks on each axle inboard of the wheels. Believe this was done to get away from wheel tread clasp brakes as a result of excessive braking would ...

John...check out Clippard.com. See if you can find a local distributor. I'd stay away from plastic fittings. Seen those get mangled under cars (particular if mounted on trucks). Was really difficult to find an air leak when one of those plastic tees got cut. Would caution you...not all 1/4" od x 1/8...

Hoppercar...will 2nd other comments here. Ran into the same problem with a 10-wheeler pilot truck years ago. The builder tried to shim a turnout guardrail to fix...but the pilot truck was still picking the frog. Laying down on the ground an pulling the loco thru the turnout...I could see the inside ...

Whoops...better make that 29 years. Well, at least I remembered the day! Carl B.

Congrats Greg! That's some milestone. Sadly, there are fewer and fewer other people reaching that point in their relationship. This due to personal differences or worse, health matters. Spending time involved with hobby endeavors (shop, club track and more)...just tell the wife (and others too)...th...

John, think this is what you're referring to from Pat McCarthy's Big Creek and Southern RR...wasn't easy to squeeze into that tower to get a decent photo of the CTC panel. IMG_4911.JPG Just goes to show, there's something in this hobby for everyone. The guy "manning the tower"...signalling was his b...

Russ...not saying your idea of venting steam during steam up is valid or not...but would say, I don't leave the steaming bay area until at least one...or both...of the safeties have lifted. Creates a shower under the canopy, but it's more important to know the safeties will lift as needed during ope...

Kimball...another name for those is "R" clips, hairpin clips or hairpin cotter clips. McMaster Carr seems to have a good size selection and in various materials such as zinc plated spring steel and stainless. Personally prefer the clips that have to go thru a hole and not held in place in a slot. Go...

I've been down this path before. Might have posted something on Chaski some years back. However, this problem arose recently and thought I'd share with the Chaski community...for those using Clippard quick connectors (QC) for air brake systems (or other), take note... While bringing my loco back to ...

Agree with comments made about using WD-40. Leaves a film on metal surfaces. Took some effort to get that "film" off the rods. For rods and valve links now...started using citrus scented wipes to cut thru oil and grease. Sometimes follow that with a towel wipe down. Used to use those same wipes on t...

Dave...you might consider stainless Swagelok fittings. These use ferrules that compress around the outside of the tubes...with the ferrule outside having a tapered surface that seals against the mating fitting. Would steer clear of brass compression fittings due to softness. Carl B.

Anthony...KUDOS to you! Not only have you envisioned a fantastic piece of live steam "jewelry", you gave ample consideration to injector operation AND another important aspect...service! Over the years, have showed many live steamers how to service a few different types of injectors...while the loco...