What I got for Christmas

[Loco112]

Santa brought me i.v. antibiotics and steroids to fight pneumonia. At least he found my hospital room!

I'm home now but feel like I have been run over and still coughing up junk.

Too bad it is winter....I could really use a dose of steam vitamins!

Something to think about:

"Iron Man" James J. Jeffries, said to be the greatest heavyweight of all time, and one of the hardest hitters in history, once drank an entire case of whiskey in 2 days to cure himself of real diagnosed Pneumonia.

No, he didn't die of liver failure (that would have been my guess), and it is supposed to have worked, or he got better anyway, in spite of all the boozing he was doing.

I would not recommend that, but some of the old wives tales do include sipping whiskey for lung issues. Inhaled after sipping, and exhaled from the lungs in small amounts, that stuff could/maybe/just possibly, kill pathogens, or keep them from being able to multiply.

Santa Brought my little boy a fake bag of coal, that was really chocolate. I told him when he gets bigger I'll make sure Santa Brings him real bag of coal so we can burn it in a steam locomotive together.

Happy Holidays everyone!

[LVRR2095]

Santa brought me i.v. antibiotics and steroids to fight pneumonia. At least he found my hospital room!

I'm home now but feel like I have been run over and still coughing up junk.

Too bad it is winter....I could really use a dose of steam vitamins!

Something to think about:

"Iron Man" James J. Jeffries, said to be the greatest heavyweight of all time, and one of the hardest hitters in history, once drank an entire case of whiskey in 2 days to cure himself of real diagnosed Pneumonia.


Happy Holidays everyone!

Sounds like a plan to me!

Keith

[JoeKahan]

Hello all, I'm new to the forum because I got Kozo's Heisler book. I have no experience machining and almost no budget for tools and material. Talk about optimistic! I'm going through all the old posts and really appreciate finding all the info. Looking forward to planning and equipping my home shop.
Joe

[Greg_Lewis]

Hello all, I'm new to the forum because I got Kozo's Heisler book. I have no experience machining and almost no budget for tools and material. Talk about optimistic! I'm going through all the old posts and really appreciate finding all the info. Looking forward to planning and equipping my home shop.
Joe

Welcome to the forum. Your status sounds familiar. I think many of us can identify with that. With patience, you will prevail. Tools and materials will come your way, some free, some at giveaway prices, and skills will build as you go along. Each of us has a hidden "humility bin" to which we consign the results of our "research and development."

[FLSTEAM]

"research and development."

I represent that.... I have done a lot of that. I don't keep it around because it was taking too much of my shop space.

John B.

[Cary Stewart]

Hello Joe,
I would recommend that you start small and simple. A full live steam locomotive may be a little more than you can chew at first. Long ago there was a kit for a Open Column Launch Engine. It had a bore of 1/2" and a stroke of 5/8" and it was made all from bar stock. A small bench top lathe and perhaps a small mill to go with it would be a good start. If you are serious about starting out with a large scale (3-1/2", 4-3/4" or 7-1/2" gage) loco then you should as others have said get the biggist machine tools that will cover what you think you will build. How much you have to spend on machine tools is a big factor. Ask questions as you think of them. There are many here who can answer them better than I.
Good luck with your project. Cary

[Kimball McGinley]

Kozo's books are very educational. Just reading and studying them ( original shay, in my case) can teach you a lot about making parts.
I also highly recommend the old books by "LBSC" such as "Building the Tich." He really teaches machining! Such as: "Chuck a length 1/2" diameter brass bar in the 3-jaw. Face clean, center drill # 2, drill .500 deep .257 diameter. Turn to .480 diameter for .85 inch. Part off at .750 plus. Reverse in chuck and face to .730 final length."

[JoeKahan]

Thanks all for the encouragement. I'm looking forward to getting started but want to educate myself before spending big bucks on machines. I really want to build something in 7.5" but will probably start with something not as complicated as the Heisler as someone has suggested.
Joe

[FLtenwheeler]

Hi Joe

I see it all the time "Start on something small." The best thing to do is to start on something you want to build. A locomotive no matter how big is a bunch of small projects. My first project was my Allen 10-Wheeler. It first ran back in 1985 and I am still making parts for it. In most cases a locomotive will take years to build. Try to do something on it every day, no matter if it is only 5 minutes some days.

Tim

[FLSTEAM]

." The best thing to do is to start on something you want to build. A locomotive no matter how big is a bunch of small projects. My first project was my Allen 10-Wheeler. It first ran back in 1985 and I am still making parts for it. In most cases a locomotive will take years to build. Try to do something on it every day, no matter if it is only 5 minutes some days.

Amen

[Pontiacguy1]

I still say that a beginner in this hobby, especially in 7 1/2" gauge, needs a locomotive that they can reasonably build in 800 to 1000 hours or so of shop time. Moving along more quickly with fewer parts to make in the beginning will keep your enthusiasm up and help you keep moving forward. It's a lot harder to push on through when you 'hit the wall' (start getting distracted or losing interest) when you are 3/4 of the way through instead of only 1/3rd of the way there.

That's why I encourage people to start off with something small and simple like an 0-4-0 or 0-6-0, maybe a mogul at the biggest. I tell people not to make your first live steam project a Pacific or a Northern or something like that. There will always be that guy who did build his first locomotive as a large live steamer, and successfully finished it. But for every one person that does that, I would say that there are at least two others who started a similar size locomotive and 10 years later have not gotten it running. If you have a experienced relative or close friend helping you, or if you are an experienced machinist and/or fabricator yourself, then disregard what I've said and go build whatever you want.

The chances of a successfully completed first building project go up as the number of components and build time required go down. Once you've learned the skills necessary, and have gained experience building your first locomotive, then go out and build that dual-service 4-8-4, streamlined Pacific, or big 2-10-2 hogger you've always dreamed of. I'll say it again: A running 0-4-0 is a lot more fun than a half finished Pacific chassis sitting on the bench in your workshop.

I also really like Cary Stewart's suggestion that you build a small stationary engine first, and get that running. It would be a very small investment in materials, so if you mess something up you can just toss it and start the piece over. Once you have it finished and running, then you'll be a lot more prepared to tackle the larger project. Someone else on here always suggests building the tender first, both to build your skills up, and so that you'll be done with it when you get the locomotive done.

Best of luck to you.