Re: Building a locomotive from erection drawings
Posted: Tue May 03, 2016 8:59 am
Hello James,
Having traveled the road you are contemplating here are a couple of my thoughts.
The erection drawings leave out a lot of details, especially piping and appliances. You will find that locomotives built for other railroads, and/or different classes on the same railroad, used the same or similar parts. To help with my project, a 1930 built Baldwin 4-8-4 built for the Southern Pacific Railroad, I used Lima erection, frame, piping and several detail part drawings for the GS-2 and later classes, drawings from classes ranging from 4-6-2's through the articulated locomotives and not limited to the Southern Pacific. The William Kratville drawing book of the UP FEF class 4-8-4's, drawings from the California State Railroad Museum for the Timkin 4 aces, PRR drawings for the tender buffer, the Union Pacific Historical set of drawings for their 0-6-0 through Big Boys and on and on. I purchased as many photographs as possible especially views other than the standard 3/4 view. As with the drawings you may find photographs of similar locomotives helpful. I have also traveled to several museums with similar locomotives on display and took as many detailed photographs as I could. Some examples are here on my Flickr page.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/dyungling/albums
Along with the lathe and mill, were you to want to fabricate assemblies like trailing trucks, rods and valve gear, a CNC mill along with a heliarc welder have proven quite useful. The mill does not need to be a machining center as a Bridgeport size has proven quite adequate for all of the projects myself and my dad have built. Some examples are in this thread.
http://www.chaski.org/homemachinist/vie ... 4&start=12
The mill being used is from the early 1970's built by Wells Index. It has been upgraded through the years with most of the original electronics replaced with a PC and driver cards. Without this machine fabricating my tender and trailing trucks would have taken years longer if machined on a conventional mill. This mill has also proven to be quite valuable in the construction of lost wax molds sunk into aluminum cavities.
Be sure to follow all of the build threads on this board there is a lot of good info being shared.
Fabricating parts will in many cases take considerably more time than machining a casting. Fabrication, or making your own patterns will give you a more accurate model. I also had the advantage of my father's vast knowledge in designing and building steam locomotives. Without his experience my locomotive would have never been attempted. My 4-8-4 is the second locomotive I have built and many parts for others were made before I started my project. That experience is what helped me get started with my own project.
Mike is making some very good points about using commercially available parts and designs.
Good luck with your project and keep us posted with your progress.
Donald
Having traveled the road you are contemplating here are a couple of my thoughts.
The erection drawings leave out a lot of details, especially piping and appliances. You will find that locomotives built for other railroads, and/or different classes on the same railroad, used the same or similar parts. To help with my project, a 1930 built Baldwin 4-8-4 built for the Southern Pacific Railroad, I used Lima erection, frame, piping and several detail part drawings for the GS-2 and later classes, drawings from classes ranging from 4-6-2's through the articulated locomotives and not limited to the Southern Pacific. The William Kratville drawing book of the UP FEF class 4-8-4's, drawings from the California State Railroad Museum for the Timkin 4 aces, PRR drawings for the tender buffer, the Union Pacific Historical set of drawings for their 0-6-0 through Big Boys and on and on. I purchased as many photographs as possible especially views other than the standard 3/4 view. As with the drawings you may find photographs of similar locomotives helpful. I have also traveled to several museums with similar locomotives on display and took as many detailed photographs as I could. Some examples are here on my Flickr page.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/dyungling/albums
Along with the lathe and mill, were you to want to fabricate assemblies like trailing trucks, rods and valve gear, a CNC mill along with a heliarc welder have proven quite useful. The mill does not need to be a machining center as a Bridgeport size has proven quite adequate for all of the projects myself and my dad have built. Some examples are in this thread.
http://www.chaski.org/homemachinist/vie ... 4&start=12
The mill being used is from the early 1970's built by Wells Index. It has been upgraded through the years with most of the original electronics replaced with a PC and driver cards. Without this machine fabricating my tender and trailing trucks would have taken years longer if machined on a conventional mill. This mill has also proven to be quite valuable in the construction of lost wax molds sunk into aluminum cavities.
Be sure to follow all of the build threads on this board there is a lot of good info being shared.
Fabricating parts will in many cases take considerably more time than machining a casting. Fabrication, or making your own patterns will give you a more accurate model. I also had the advantage of my father's vast knowledge in designing and building steam locomotives. Without his experience my locomotive would have never been attempted. My 4-8-4 is the second locomotive I have built and many parts for others were made before I started my project. That experience is what helped me get started with my own project.
Mike is making some very good points about using commercially available parts and designs.
Good luck with your project and keep us posted with your progress.
Donald