Another Livesteamer Comes to life.

[Bruce_Mowbray]

With the recent postings of fellow live steam hobbyists that have passed on, I wanted to post a video of a friend's live steam project that has recently come to life for the first time.

My friend Ed, who when starting his project didn't know the difference between a head stock and tail stock, is now the proud creator of his first functioning live steam locomotive. Over the years, he has taught himself how to run a lathe and milling machine and best of all, make parts that work. He has had some guidance from a couple of friends that are in the hobby but he has made all but 2 of the pieces that you see in the video himself. When Ed first started with his project, he dreaded going down into his basement shop to struggle with making the next piece. There were quite a few parts that had to be made more than once to get them just right. He has a box full of "learning experiences" but he was persistent and learned something from each one of those mistakes. As things progressed, Ed became more knowledgeable and he is now able to head to the shop and make exactly what he wants without the worry of making mistakes. He tells me that making parts now is enjoyable and he looks forward to "shop time".

I hope this is an inspiration to those who think building a live steam locomotive is not something they could ever do because of lack of knowledge about machine work. An inspiration to join this great hobby that is "live steaming" and seeing your work kick and turn for the first time. An experience like no other.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5E60fpBUHEc

[Marty_Knox]

Not bad for a retired NYC cop!

[FLSTEAM]

He has a box full of "learning experiences"

I thought I was the only one with a box of those.

( name withheld to conceal my identity )

[Steven E. Kuhn]

Fun to see that for the first time. Looks nice.

[Bruce_Mowbray]

Not bad for a retired NYC cop!

Careful Marty,
He's a retired RR cop.

Bruce

[Andy Rafferty]

Congrats! We can all remember the first time our steamer came to life you should be proud.

[Slipped Eccentric]

Nice work!

What cylinder and front spreader/saddle bottom castings are those? I picked up and engine with what looks like identical parts and don't know where the castings came from. Thanks.

[Bruce_Mowbray]

Sorry for the delayed response slipped,

The cylinders and drivers are from the Mercer A5a 0-4-0. Ed made his own saddle and spacer casting to suit the boiler so that it would ride in the proper place for the lokie that Ed wanted. This will eventually be a 2 1/2" scale 0-4-4T based on the Maine 2 foot narrow gauge engines. The builder wanted to build a 2 footer from the start but no kit were available. He was going to settle on building the A5a for his first live steam locomotive project. He came to me to ask if I thought he could kitbash the A5a into a Maine narrow gauger. At first glance I didn't think so. I then saw the cover of a Garden Railways magazine and I asked Ed to bring the prints over to see what we could do to use the proven A5a running gear and forward frame as the basis for the engine that he really wanted to build. The rest is history. Ed made some paper overlays to see if the parts from the A5a would be the correct size and we came up with the frame adapter section at the rear. This is the piece that will attach to the rest of the locomotive that supports the tank and mounts over the rear truck.