Lee Stephens Southern PS-4

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dnevil
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Lee Stephens Southern PS-4

Post by dnevil »

Does anyone have a copy of Lee Stephens drawings for the Southern PS-4? He advertised a set of castings for the PS-4 in Live Steam magazine in the early 1970's.

http://ibls.org/mediawiki/index.php?title=Lee_Stephens

Regards,
Daris
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Rob Gardner
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Re: Lee Stephens Southern PS-4

Post by Rob Gardner »

I'm also curious what happened to the patterns that Lee used to make his castings?

Rob Gardner
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Dick_Morris
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Re: Lee Stephens Southern PS-4

Post by Dick_Morris »

Concerning the patterns, did you do a search at Chaski? I think there was a discussion that included mention of Lee Stephens Pacific several years ago.
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dnevil
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Re: Lee Stephens Southern PS-4

Post by dnevil »

The patterns were sold by Lee Stephens to Terry McGrath of the former Texas Railway Supply when Lee's health failed. Terry ran several advertisements in Live Steam magazine about 1973.

http://ibls.org/mediawiki/index.php?title=Lee_Stephens

Terry's son Michael now has the patterns. I put out a request for drawings because Michael did not have a set. Thanks to a reader on this site we now have a set of original drawings.

Another locomotive design preserved!

Regards,
Daris
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Berkman
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Re: Lee Stephens Southern PS-4

Post by Berkman »

Any photos of what a finished one looks like? I'm guessing about the same axle spacing etc as a LE pacific. Likely 10 3/4 inch OD boiler, 10.5 inch driver spacing etc?
Pontiacguy1
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Re: Lee Stephens Southern PS-4

Post by Pontiacguy1 »

It is totally different than a L.E. Pacific, which is modeled after an SP design. The PS-4 had smaller drivers and was a little bit smaller locomotive, had the Hodge's trailing truck instead of the Delta. There are several other differences too. Quite a few of the green Southern Railroad Pacifics you see running are actually just LE locomotives painted green. There are a few out there that are done from these castings that are much more true to the prototype.
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Fender
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Re: Lee Stephens Southern PS-4

Post by Fender »

The PS-4s had lower drivers (73”) than the SP pacific (80”) the LE pacific is based on. This was due to the undulating track profile the Southern Railway pacifics had to traverse in Virginia and the Carolinas.
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Berkman
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Re: Lee Stephens Southern PS-4

Post by Berkman »

So does anyone have a photo of what the Lee Stephens locomotive looks like built?

Seems there were a few Ps4 casting sets.

East Coast/Klamath loco works
Mammoth loco work?- maybe?
Lee Stephens
Tech Trainer? - not sure on the name of this one, the one in the pic in this thread though is from this casting set I believe.

Ps-4 was a much heavier and more powerful locomotive than the SP P4, which were a high drivered light pacific. Boiler, firebox and cylinders, and tractive effort of the Ps4 were much larger. The only dimensions on the SP P4 that were larger were the driver diameter and thus overall driver wheelbase. But the cradle/ trailing truck frame were shorter since a shorter firebox.

If going 1.6 scale, the LE pacific is actually pretty close in basic chassis dimensions as 73 inch drivers come out to 9.73 in 1.6. Big difference then is length of cradle/ trailing truck and delta vs hodges trailing truck. Of course the valve motion also looks different, then a 10 inch boiler is required.


I think there was one on DLS for sale that was built from Roger goldmanns castings for a USRA pacific.
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dnevil
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Re: Lee Stephens Southern PS-4

Post by dnevil »

The drawings from Lee Stephens are titled "Tech Trainer", which I believe was the name of his company.

Daris
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michaellynn2
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Re: Lee Stephens Southern PS-4

Post by michaellynn2 »

I have been reading this discussion about some folks using the LE parts to build a Southern Ps4. I am one who built a locomotive using the LE parts. There is one big difference in how I built my engine. When I could, I cast parts to put on my engine to get away from the LE design. For instance, I built a Hodges truck and put it on my engine and I have been going back over the years and removing LE parts and putting on the engine the correct parts. I have been lucky to live close to the 1401 in Washington to use it as a reference along with the Fitts prints. I just completed a new pilot, steps and other front end parts removing the simple castings that the LE design provided. One could say I never have finished building my locomotive as I continue removing LE engines parts and castings. My next project on it is to add the air and water pump to the side of the boiler.
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michael george
Brian Hilgert
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Re: Lee Stephens Southern PS-4

Post by Brian Hilgert »

dnevil wrote: Mon Dec 23, 2019 2:56 pm The patterns were sold by Lee Stephens to Terry McGrath of the former Texas Railway Supply when Lee's health failed. Terry ran several advertisements in Live Steam magazine about 1973.

http://ibls.org/mediawiki/index.php?title=Lee_Stephens

Terry's son Michael now has the patterns. I put out a request for drawings because Michael did not have a set. Thanks to a reader on this site we now have a set of original drawings.

Another locomotive design preserved!

Regards,
Daris
The question that is begging to be asked; Will castings and drawings be available for willing modelers? By far, one of my favorite engines.

Thanks,
B
Last edited by Brian Hilgert on Fri Dec 27, 2019 12:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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gwrdriver
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Re: Lee Stephens Southern PS-4

Post by gwrdriver »

Brian,
You might approach McGrath about loaning the patterns to a foundry for a 1-time run of castings. It wouldn't hurt to ask.
GWRdriver
Nashville TN
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