The Home Machinist!

I believe Manatee Central at Parish has a three-rail 3 1/2", 4 3/4" track.

I tried to bring Edison Yoder in from the dark, but the pixel level was very low. Yes, it looks like there could be a stoker below the cab. Are you sure this photo isn't from the 50s? Edison was older than my dad, Enos (born 1927). Was Edison then living in OH?

Dear guys and gals: Do any of you follow live steam modelling in Germany? Walk into any decent newsstand in the country and they will have 1-3 magazines for sale on the topic. Imagine that in the States! The one I’m showing here, “Gartenbahnen”, is a quarterly and this is the first issue for 2012. T...

Thanks for the cordial private mails - I appreciate it! Minimum radius on both locos is 25-30 feet. I think Dad always had bald middle drivers on 3-coupled locos. I'm not terribly enthused about that on the 2-6-0, for I think we derail more because of that. But the Manatee Central track does have a ...

Here's a second loco copied after Enos Yoder's 2-4-2 #5. My apologies for not having the name: The builder comes out of the vicinity of Council Bluffs, IA and completed the loco around 2008. Photo was taken at the Parrish, FL track in February 2009. Note that all 4 locos shown here have Southern val...

The good man Fred V. from Pensacola made a very understandable mistake in listing the above 2-4-2 lettered “Wild Acres RR” as built by my dad, Enos Yoder. It was in fact built from my dad’s plans by a good friend, Charlie Fair of Ohio. It was sold to Pete Fergus (spelling?) of NC around 1999. The sp...