Restoring a MEG steam 'Wendy'

This forum is dedicated to the Live Steam Hobbyist Community.

Moderators: cbrew, Harold_V

Post Reply
Ray Cadd
Posts: 309
Joined: Mon Jun 05, 2006 11:16 am
Location: Arcadia, Ca

Re: Restoring a MEG steam 'Wendy'

Post by Ray Cadd »

Nice, Mike. You need a string of tipper cars to go behind this.
Ray Cadd

2.5" scale Allen Chloe saddle tank
2.5" scale RMI switcher
2.5" scale LE "Crab"
4.75" ga. O.S. "Koppel"
3.5" ga. "Fanny"
asst. ga1...
User avatar
fresnojay
Posts: 179
Joined: Tue Jul 13, 2010 1:16 am
Location: Clovis, CA

Re: Restoring a MEG steam 'Wendy'

Post by fresnojay »

She is looking great Mike. Awesome work as always! Look forward to seeing her in person when she is done.

Jason
User avatar
Harlock
Posts: 3833
Joined: Tue Jan 23, 2007 1:19 am
Contact:

Re: Restoring a MEG steam 'Wendy'

Post by Harlock »

So the last month or so has been a marathon to get the MEG done in time for Train Mountain.

My last big item was to weld up a new chassis for the riding car. The MEG has a single truck riding dolly. This afforded a perfect opportunity to add a footwell to the affair; the previous dolly did not have one and my knees bunched up a little too much, I wanted something where I could comfortably sit with knees at a 90 degree angle.

After making a quick drawing, I got some rectangle tube and U-channel and started cutting and grinding away. Then I took the pieces over to Eber who's real handy with a welding torch. There's that old adage - you can never be too young, too thin, and you can never have enough clamps! We ensured it would stay straight during the process, using our relatively thin material. (most of it was .125 throughout, with thicker fillets on the U channel) The reason you want to use U-channel for your outside facing surfaces is because it has much less of a radius than hot rolled tubing. It also leaves only one surface to drill through when adding plumbing stuff. Air and propane come from the boxcar behind and pass through the tender, and the tender also holds 5 gallons of water with a valve for injector water supply.
Attachments
IMG_1656.JPG
IMG_1660.JPG
IMG_1670.JPG
IMG_1673.JPG
IMG_1713.JPG
Last edited by Harlock on Tue Jun 12, 2012 12:35 am, edited 1 time in total.
Live Steam Photography and more - gallery.mikemassee.com
Product Development and E-Commerce, Allen Models of Nevada
User avatar
Harlock
Posts: 3833
Joined: Tue Jan 23, 2007 1:19 am
Contact:

Re: Restoring a MEG steam 'Wendy'

Post by Harlock »

Here I am sitting on my new tender now with the top sheet welded on, sliding the tank seat around for adjustment. Note the comfortable and correct sitting position. The seat is a boat seat and the tender shell is the existing one being re-used.

Finally, here is the tender all powder coated test-coupled to the boxcar. I did my math right because the coupler height came out correct!
Attachments
12-05-31_tender-finish-welding-4516.jpg
12-05-31_tender-test-couple-4879.jpg
Last edited by Harlock on Tue Jun 12, 2012 12:18 am, edited 1 time in total.
Live Steam Photography and more - gallery.mikemassee.com
Product Development and E-Commerce, Allen Models of Nevada
User avatar
Harlock
Posts: 3833
Joined: Tue Jan 23, 2007 1:19 am
Contact:

Re: Restoring a MEG steam 'Wendy'

Post by Harlock »

So finally the day came when it was time to load everything up and take it to the track and see if it would all function together. The day before we brought the tender together with the engine and made all the final between car connections. Fortunately I had done my math right again and the tender is level when hitched to the engine with its link and pin! My dad and I live 300 miles apart and we collaborate on these projects, and it can be a pretty fun time doing each of our own parts in isolation and then praying to god it will all work. So far we've gotten it right.

The second photo will illustrate this and it deserves pointing out - the entire design for our MEG is such that it will fit side by side with other equipment of the same width between the wheel wells of a full size truck - 48" total. So everything was designed for a nominal 20" standard width with a few things sticking out further - MEG cab, saddle tank, boxcar, etc.

We headed up to Portola Valley & Alpine on a day when we would have the track to ourselves, and with help from Peter Moseley we performed a hydro, an air test and finally ran it on steam.
Attachments
12-06-10_MEG-first-steam-4894.jpg
12-06-10_MEG-first-steam-4947.jpg
12-06-10_MEG-first-steam-4898.jpg
12-06-10_MEG-first-steam-4899.jpg
12-06-10_MEG-first-steam-4910.jpg
Live Steam Photography and more - gallery.mikemassee.com
Product Development and E-Commerce, Allen Models of Nevada
User avatar
Harlock
Posts: 3833
Joined: Tue Jan 23, 2007 1:19 am
Contact:

Re: Restoring a MEG steam 'Wendy'

Post by Harlock »

And how did it go? The MEG performed well for a first trial with questionable valve gear timing. It is not square in forward, but on notch #2 it is very close. Adjustable combination levers will be necessary to fully tweak it to perfection. I was able to go up the large grade to the top of the railroad pulling the heavy boxcar propane / brake tender and a riding car with two adults no problem. There are lots of other little tweakies that will happen between now and train mountain, and obviously it needs a little lettering / detailing to look credible. This engine will continue to be a work in progress over the fall but the hard part is behind us.

The $30 weed burner being used as a propane burner does generate enough BTUs to maintain steam but it is very loud. I am thinking a conversion to solarflo/locoparts/marty burners will be the thing once the pocketbook recovers a little bit.

All in all a successful day resulting in full on steam operation. Now the marathon of bugfixes starts in the run up to TM.

It's interesting to go back to page 1 on this thread and look at my 3D model, it's turning out very close!
Attachments
12-06-10_MEG-first-steam-4935.jpg
12-06-10_MEG-first-steam-4921.jpg
12-06-10_MEG-first-steam-4942.jpg
12-06-10_MEG-first-steam-4926.jpg
12-06-10_MEG-first-steam-4937.jpg
Last edited by Harlock on Tue Jun 12, 2012 12:24 am, edited 1 time in total.
Live Steam Photography and more - gallery.mikemassee.com
Product Development and E-Commerce, Allen Models of Nevada
User avatar
Harlock
Posts: 3833
Joined: Tue Jan 23, 2007 1:19 am
Contact:

Re: Restoring a MEG steam 'Wendy'

Post by Harlock »

Here's one last cool item for today. During the hydro we got some nice shower through the blower, and it enables you to see the blower ring pattern.

As someone on Chaski suggested, we angled the blower nozzles inwards so they create the correct flow up the stack. You can visualize this with the water flow.
Attachments
12-06-10_MEG-first-steam-4913.jpg
Live Steam Photography and more - gallery.mikemassee.com
Product Development and E-Commerce, Allen Models of Nevada
sabin
Posts: 133
Joined: Wed May 11, 2011 7:31 pm
Location: Paso Robles CA

Re: Restoring a MEG steam 'Wendy'

Post by sabin »

WOW Mike........Good to see Wendy nearly complete and under steam for the first time. It really looks nice. Typical of all of the fine work that you and your dad turn out.
I'm sorry I can't make it to Train Mountain to see it preform. Any chance you will swing by Bitter Creek for the 4th of July meet on your way home? I sure would like to double head Wendy and Uncle Sam. I'll be there on the 6th, 7th and 8th, maybe late afternoon on the 5th. If not, we can do that at the Narrow Gauge Meet in Aug.

Keep up the good work

Jim
DJSteamer3017
Posts: 264
Joined: Tue Jul 12, 2011 2:07 am
Location: Downey, CA

Re: Restoring a MEG steam 'Wendy'

Post by DJSteamer3017 »

Mike

The MEG looks amazing!! You and your father should be commended for completing work on this handsome little engine and steaming it up for the first time. Can't wait to see it complete with decals and all the bells and whistles. It's going to great to look at BCWRR NG Meet. Hope to see a video of its first steam up here at PV&A. Keep on Steamin' my Friend!!!

David
The 1" Scale Junkie ... But steam of all sizes is cool with me!!
"If you can dream it, you can do it" - Walt Disney
User avatar
Harlock
Posts: 3833
Joined: Tue Jan 23, 2007 1:19 am
Contact:

Re: Restoring a MEG steam 'Wendy'

Post by Harlock »

sabin wrote:WOW Mike........Good to see Wendy nearly complete and under steam for the first time. It really looks nice. Typical of all of the fine work that you and your dad turn out.
I'm sorry I can't make it to Train Mountain to see it preform. Any chance you will swing by Bitter Creek for the 4th of July meet on your way home? I sure would like to double head Wendy and Uncle Sam. I'll be there on the 6th, 7th and 8th, maybe late afternoon on the 5th. If not, we can do that at the Narrow Gauge Meet in Aug.

Keep up the good work

Jim
Hiya Jim, no July 4th for me, I will be trained out for a while. taking the month of July off from meets but will be working on the MEG here and there to get it ready for the BCWRR NG meet.
Live Steam Photography and more - gallery.mikemassee.com
Product Development and E-Commerce, Allen Models of Nevada
User avatar
Goose
Posts: 133
Joined: Sun Mar 09, 2008 11:45 am
Location: Werl, Germany

Re: Restoring a MEG steam 'Wendy'

Post by Goose »

Hi Mike,

looks really nice, also I prefer the rectangular water-tank as it had before.

Can't wait to see it at TM later this month.
Greetings from Germany
Hubert The Goose
http://www.7-plus-ngm.org/pcr
http://www.7-plus-ngm.org
User avatar
Harlock
Posts: 3833
Joined: Tue Jan 23, 2007 1:19 am
Contact:

Re: Restoring a MEG steam 'Wendy'

Post by Harlock »

Goose wrote:Hi Mike,

looks really nice, also I prefer the rectangular water-tank as it had before.

Can't wait to see it at TM later this month.
I have the tanks and they're for sale if you want them! Unfortunately they weigh a ton as they are made out of giant rectangle steel stock, so they can't go back with you in your luggage. ;)
Live Steam Photography and more - gallery.mikemassee.com
Product Development and E-Commerce, Allen Models of Nevada
Post Reply