Miller's Backyard Railroads
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Steve Bratina
- Posts: 1061
- Joined: Tue Jan 16, 2007 9:39 pm
- Location: Cambridge Ontario
Re: Miller's Backyard Railroads
That tender behind Mr Rose is probably from this loco. It was the one Bill Daney sold to Dave Rose. This picture was from an article in Modeltec.
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Steamingdanny
- Posts: 157
- Joined: Sun Feb 12, 2012 10:34 am
Re: Miller's Backyard Railroads
Does anyone have any photos or drawings of how the American was built? Looks like the engine was in the boiler. Specs? Living replicas?
Re: Miller's Backyard Railroads
A little more on Miller Backyard Railroads,
Previous posts of Miller, Bethlehem and Texas RR Supply (Terry McGrath) are very interesting.
I started this hobby about mid/late 60`s. Still use some Diesel switcher trucks and couplers. The Cone friction drive I still have but have changed to Electric from gas. I made a bracket with pillow blocks in place of the large drive system casting. Before that I used a shopping cart rubber wheel in place of the Leather drive disc. (messy yes but it worked.)
I have most of the steam engine castings, plans for the steamer, cars, trucks, switcher and hand pump car. Darn!! No F-type diesel nose casting or GP plans--If those plans were available, I don`t know. I made one of my first cars, a high side gondola from the shipping crate of several Bethlehem castings. Still have the car and a few other truck parts I might use for other builds as-if needed. And a couple Old catalogs. "I Think" that first 75 cent catalog has since cost me Unknown amount of dollars. (no regrets)
chooch
Previous posts of Miller, Bethlehem and Texas RR Supply (Terry McGrath) are very interesting.
I started this hobby about mid/late 60`s. Still use some Diesel switcher trucks and couplers. The Cone friction drive I still have but have changed to Electric from gas. I made a bracket with pillow blocks in place of the large drive system casting. Before that I used a shopping cart rubber wheel in place of the Leather drive disc. (messy yes but it worked.)
I have most of the steam engine castings, plans for the steamer, cars, trucks, switcher and hand pump car. Darn!! No F-type diesel nose casting or GP plans--If those plans were available, I don`t know. I made one of my first cars, a high side gondola from the shipping crate of several Bethlehem castings. Still have the car and a few other truck parts I might use for other builds as-if needed. And a couple Old catalogs. "I Think" that first 75 cent catalog has since cost me Unknown amount of dollars. (no regrets)
chooch
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Pontiacguy1
- Posts: 1572
- Joined: Thu Apr 26, 2012 10:15 am
- Location: Tennessee, USA
Re: Miller's Backyard Railroads
Paul Brien from Nashville built a steamer from the Miller backyard Railroad parts. He changed it up quite extensively, from the original drawings, which he gave to me. The main feature of the steam locomotive was the fact that there was only a simple eccentric valve gear. The locomotive was reversed by moving a plunger located in the casting between the cylinders, which changed the piston valves from inside steam to outside steam, thus reversing the direction. The thought was that there were a whole lot fewer parts to make, and if you could get the cylinder set machined, that was the biggest part of the construction.
From looking at the original Miller drawings, the 4-4-0 looked like it was made without a full frame. The boiler was built using pipe and a pipe reducing bell, thus giving the locomotive boiler a 'coke bottle' shape to it. From looking at the drawings, there was a short section of frame where the driver journal boxes rode, that was attached to the boiler (possibly welded?). The boiler was made long enough so that the smoke box was made onto the front of it with no joint. The boiler was really the strength of the locomotive, and everything looks like it attaches to that. It was a much-simplified way to build a steam locomotive, but apparently it worked well.
Paul built his locomotive using the wheel castings and the cylinders, and the major boiler dimensions, and the valve gear layout, but that's where the similarities ended. He built his with a full frame under it, a modified lead truck, mainly to be able to handle rougher trackwork, and a few other things that I can't recall right now. The valve gear and reversing mechanism remained the same, and the locomotive was known to be a good performer. A young man near Nashville owns this locomotive now.
I have also seen pictures of a miller 4-4-0 steamer with a big tank in place of the boiler. It was shaped like the boiler was, but had no firebox, tubes, etc... The ones I've seen had a gasoline engine in the tender that powered an air compressor, which then powered the locomotive. The locomotive was designed with pretty large cylinders for such a small 4-4-0, which leads me to believe that it was designed that way so that it could run well at a lower pressure when powering by air. The cylinders were 2.5" bore x 3" stroke.
This is just what I happen to know about it, albeit going from my memory and what Paul told me about it when I visited him not long before his death. He built the locomotive sometime in the 1970s/very early 1980's. He may have gotten the castings from Miller, or bought them second-hand from someone else. The drawings (about 5 or 6 sheets of them) say Miller on them.
From looking at the original Miller drawings, the 4-4-0 looked like it was made without a full frame. The boiler was built using pipe and a pipe reducing bell, thus giving the locomotive boiler a 'coke bottle' shape to it. From looking at the drawings, there was a short section of frame where the driver journal boxes rode, that was attached to the boiler (possibly welded?). The boiler was made long enough so that the smoke box was made onto the front of it with no joint. The boiler was really the strength of the locomotive, and everything looks like it attaches to that. It was a much-simplified way to build a steam locomotive, but apparently it worked well.
Paul built his locomotive using the wheel castings and the cylinders, and the major boiler dimensions, and the valve gear layout, but that's where the similarities ended. He built his with a full frame under it, a modified lead truck, mainly to be able to handle rougher trackwork, and a few other things that I can't recall right now. The valve gear and reversing mechanism remained the same, and the locomotive was known to be a good performer. A young man near Nashville owns this locomotive now.
I have also seen pictures of a miller 4-4-0 steamer with a big tank in place of the boiler. It was shaped like the boiler was, but had no firebox, tubes, etc... The ones I've seen had a gasoline engine in the tender that powered an air compressor, which then powered the locomotive. The locomotive was designed with pretty large cylinders for such a small 4-4-0, which leads me to believe that it was designed that way so that it could run well at a lower pressure when powering by air. The cylinders were 2.5" bore x 3" stroke.
This is just what I happen to know about it, albeit going from my memory and what Paul told me about it when I visited him not long before his death. He built the locomotive sometime in the 1970s/very early 1980's. He may have gotten the castings from Miller, or bought them second-hand from someone else. The drawings (about 5 or 6 sheets of them) say Miller on them.