The Home Machinist's 3/4" Scale Locomotive Roster

[JohnK]

If I may take the liberty of going one scale smaller for just a moment, here is Carl Purinton's ORIGINAL 1/2" scale President Washington by H.J. Coventry. The gauge is 2-1/2".

Mr. Purinton bought the castings section-by-section in 1928 and 1929 at $5.00 per section. I have his original order forms that he mailed at the time of ordering his castings, and I have his receipts from Mr. Coventry, all hand-written of course.

This engine ran at Marblehead MA of course, and at Danvers.

This is a piston-valved design; the slide valve cylinders that you see were installed decades later by Charlie Purinton.

This is not 3/4" scale, but is of historical significance and (I hope) of sufficient interest to others.....such that its inclusion here may be warranted.

Again, check your old Modelmaker magazines from the early 1930s......this engine's in there more than once!

This could be, like so many other engines, just a black-and-white photo in an 80-year old magazine. But here's Carl Purinton's original.....in color......in 2008 (photo taken 2 months ago). Enjoy.

-John K.

[JohnK]

Here's Charlie Purinton in his home shop last fall, showing me one of his Purinton 4-4-2s.

The other engine on the bench is Ed Leaver's (highly modified) LBSC "Maisie". The engine, and Ed, were shown (and written about) in 1930s issues of the Modelmaker. The engine ran often at Danvers.

When you read Carl Purinton's referring to or talking about Ed Leaver & his British 4-4-2, this is it. And here it is, in color, just a couple months ago.......and no longer just a black and white photo from 75 years ago. I don't have a better photo of it at the moment. This was actually a photo of Charlie and his 4-4-2, and the Maisie just happened to be there.

Carl and Charlie Purinton also talk about Ed Leaver in the video "Live Steam: The Early Years" that came out about 1990.

Mr. Leaver was a New Haven Railroad engineer who used to like to go faster than he was supposed to on the "Shore Line" route to Boston. One time, he stopped the train abruptly at Sharon, MA to go out and collect his false teeth that had fallen from his mouth and out of the cab. He found them after a few minutes, got back in the engine, and high-balled it into Boston.

By the way, Carl Purinton was an engineer on the Boston and Maine. He fired for a number of years, became an engineer, and quit after just one day in the engineer's seat. He had always wanted to become an engineer, so he worked his way up, and got the promotion. I remember him saying "I did it because I wanted to say that I was an engineer. Once I was an engineer, I could say it, so there was no need to run trains for the rest of my life......so I quit at the end of that first day."

He also was a pilot during WWI.

-John K.
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[LVRR2095]

John mentioned LBSC's Maisie, so here is a picture of a Maisie built by the late George Murray of Manchester, Connecticut. George was the first to publish a magazine devoted entirely to model live steam locomotives. It was called "The Live Steamer" and published in 1950 & 1951.
The oversized lad behind Maisie is yours truly
Keith

[Steve Bratina]

Here is the one that started it all for me. I was in the Hamilton HO club when an add came up for a "3/4" Pennsy 4-6-0 Mountain" The description of the engine was interesting so I decided to have a look.
The engine was started in 1935 by Mr Alex Skelton of Hamilton. He followed the G5 articles in the Model maker Magazine untill he bought the set of prints off of Mr Mahar. The engine was built as a project for a yet to be born grandson. He finished the engine in 1982. The reason he was selling it was his grandson did not want it.
I purchased the engine and with the help of Jack Greene and Berkeley Gilbert, was able to find out what the engine needed to run properly. One interesting point was the water glass. I was very green in steam at the time so when I put in the gauge glass fittings, they wouldn't line up. No big deal. I simply heated up the glass and bent a slight elbow in it so it would fit. Jack mentioned that I need to install the glass properly but should keep the old glass as a keep sake. He'd never has seen a bent glass before.
After a year or so of running on coal, I completely dismantled the engine for a redo. It was at this time that I met Tom Sullivan and talked about burners for engines. I built one for this engine in 1985. It also had viton rings put into the pistons and valves at this time. Its first trip to the states was to Southwick in 1985. It was a memerable trip because I left all my time worn steamin' clothes at home and had to buy all new stuff. I even had to buy a new hat. I really looked like a young geek. Now I am a fully qualified old geek.
The engine has travelled to several eastern clubs and has never failed me on the road. This is most likely due to Mr Skelton's work rather than anything I have done. While it still needs to be painted, I thought that I should paint Pennsy on one side of the tender to please the Pennsy fans. On the other side I would put Long Island as a tip of my hat to Mr Ed Loomie. He was a friend and always a pleasure to talk to at the meets.

[gwrdriver]

>>I may also do a K4 as I have the number plate already

Andy,
I'll have to say, I've heard a lot of interesting reasons why folks started their locomotives but "I have the number plate already" really takes 1st Prize!
Harry

[Andypullen]

>>I may also do a K4 as I have the number plate already

Andy,
I'll have to say, I've heard a lot of interesting reasons why folks started their locomotives but "I have the number plate already" really takes 1st Prize!
Harry

What?? That's not how you do it??

A

[gwrdriver]

Well it certainly beats the folks who have found a piece of old drain pipe and . . . and I couldn't make something like this up . . . asked me if I thought that would make a good boiler for the loco they want to build. This has happend more than once.

[edhume3]

Kozo Hiraoka is responsible for getting a lot of new Live Steamers interested in 3/4" scale.

Here is a photo of Kozo Hiraoka's original Shay taken in Japan:



There are also photos of his Climax, Heisler, and 0-4-0 A3 on flickr -

http://www.flickr.com/photos/edhume3/se ... 449066273/

Ed

[Steve Bratina]

Here is a few more pictures for the files.
The first is a locomotive built by Harold E Peotter. Thus the H.E.P. on the tender. He was a visitor to the old Windsor track in the 60's. From what I was told by the boys, this engine ran on 300 p.s.i boiler pressure. As you can see, there is no jacket on the engine. Just good boiler plate!
The second engine was also a visitor to the old Windsor track. It was built by Larry Edwards of Green Bay Wisconson. This engine travelled around to the different meets with Larry. The last time that I saw it, it was at the Jersey Club in 1988. It was owned by Ed Loomie at the time.

[LVRR2095]

Steve, are you sure the engine you saw with Ed Loomie was Larry's engine? The reason I ask is I sold Ed a Friend's Atlantic that had been built by the late Jim Maxheimer. Ed ran that engine all over the northeast for many years. They were pretty much twins, as I recall.
Keith

[Steve Bratina]

Here are three engines modelled after the CNR's 5700 class Hudsons. The first # 5700 was built by Ivan Gray who was a member of the old Brantford Ontario Club. This was a fine running engine. Ivan also built a CPR Pacific and a CNR Mogul. The engine was sold by Ivan some time in the late 80's.
The second engine is #5702 built by Jack Hart of Windsor. Jack didn't run this engine too often because he preferred his lighter 4-4-0 to carry around tto the track. The frame on the engine was made from bar stock to get the banjo effect. This too was a real fine runner. Both Jack and Ivan are no longer with us.
The third engine was # 5703. The real 5703 is made up to represent the 5700 at St Thomas Ontario. The builder of this engine is Bill Hewitson. He is more famous for his O scale locomotives of the CNR and CPR that he builds for the Aberfoyle O scale club. He finished the engine to the point you see it here and had one tender side done before he sold it. I later purchased the engine and was going to finish it off before I had a brain cramp and sold it to buy two full size marine steam engines. "DOH!"
Anyway, she was a beautiful model and I believe it is on a shelf somewhere for the duration.

[Steve Bratina]

Ed said that it was Larry's engine because my chum Murray Bennell came to the 88 meet with me and Ed asked Murray if he wanted to buy Larry's engine back. Murray and Larry were good friends. Murray turned down the offer. Later at the 2007 fall meet at Jersey, Ed said the boiler was toast but he would sell the frame to Murray. Again, no go.