Falk No.1 loco, and Power Model Supply Company

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Jamie_Harris
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Joined: Wed Jan 08, 2003 8:59 am

Falk No.1 loco, and Power Model Supply Company

Post by Jamie_Harris »

I was just reading some old issues of Live Steam and I came across the Falk No.1 logging locomotive. It is something that I may be interested in building sometime soon. Does anyone know if somebody has the patterns for this loco? I understand Power Model Supply has been out of business for some time now. Has anyone here built one? Any info on this would be helpful to me.

Thank you,
Jamie
ehulshiz

Re: Falk No.1 loco, and Power Model Supply Company

Post by ehulshiz »

Power Model Supply burned down, and the owner was killed in the fire. There are some of the original molds left, but no one is making castings for the Falk now. "UNKAJESSE" on this board has a Falk that he built, and I am sure he can answer any questions that you have.
I too, got hooked on the little logger, first time I saw it. I have two of them, one to rebuild for myself, and the other I have offered to sell to someone here on the Board. If he turns it down, I will contact you to see if you would like to buy it.
I placed ads on all boards looking for a Falk for over six months, with no luck. I finally puit an ad in LIVESTEAM magazine, and found a seller in N.Y., and one in Tennessee (A Friend of unkajesse).
I have all the construction articles for it from NOV/DEC 1992 to MARCH/APRIL 1994, and some other stuff written by different people regarding the Falk- authentic trucks, riding car brakes, steaming enhancements.
A lot of people like the little Falk. It's a shame that there will probably be no more castings produced for it.
Jamie_Harris
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Joined: Wed Jan 08, 2003 8:59 am

Re: Falk No.1 loco, and Power Model Supply Company

Post by Jamie_Harris »

Hi Ed, I did a search here for Falk and found some of your earlier posts. I thought that since your thread was so recent that it was a good sign for me. I would really like to see what it would take to build one of those little guys from scratch. Maybe UnkaJesse will chime in with some tips on how to start.

In your opinion, is it possible to build the loco from just the Live Steam pages and other info available on the net? Is a full set of drawings available for the Falk? Finally is anyone selling the remaining castings? Thanks for your help.

Jamie
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gwrdriver
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Location: Nashville Tennessee

Re: Falk No.1 loco, and Power Model Supply Company

Post by gwrdriver »

Because of things I learned during my brief business association with Fred at PMS I'm going to guess that there was not a "stock" of Faulk castings on hand when the accident occurred. It's possible of course, but unlikely. IMHO the first direction of travel now would be to search or inquire after the patterns so that a run of new castings could be made, but these too may have perished in the explosion. But maybe not, they may have been at a foundry. I also doubt that whatever "drawings" were sold by PMS contained anything other than what was published in Live Steam. That was the case with the only Faulk drawing I ever received from PMS (the boiler). I haven't compared drawings sets so I can't confirm that, it's just my guess. Even so, all things considered, I'd think if there was enough interest in Faulk that it would be more time and cost effective to fly in and recreate the patterns and redraw the drawings than to hunt for orginals which may no longer exist. And in doing this the various improvements which have been developed along the way could be included in the project.
GWRdriver
Nashville TN
Ben_Smith
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Location: Lincoln, Nebraska USA

Re: Falk No.1 loco, and Power Model Supply Company

Post by Ben_Smith »

Hi Jamie,

The Falk is really a simple little locomotive with a heck of a lot of charm and character. I've got the Bill Harris book "Logging With Steam" which contains a full set of drawings for the falk along with prints for logging disconnects and a "pre-heater" car. You may want to look for a copy of this book online. Though I haven't built the engine, according to the prints, constructing it from bar stock shouldn't be at all difficult. I have heared, though, that the engine isn't much of a steamer with its small boiler and limited steaming capacity. I know Jesse has a circle of track in his yard specifically for running the Falk.

Best Regards,
Ben Smith
Official card-carrying member of "The Shay Drag Racing Team"
Curtis_F
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Location: Reedley, Ca. 93274
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Re: Falk No.1 loco, and Power Model Supply Company

Post by Curtis_F »

Ed,
Power Model Supply burned down, and the owner was killed in the fire.

The owner wasn't killed in the fire, it was the explosion that took the roof off the building that did him in. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smirk.gif"%20alt="[/img]

...
A lot of people like the little Falk. It's a shame that there will probably be no more castings produced for it.


The Falk is such a small engine it could be affordable to have a casting set "rapid prototyped" up for an engine or three. Just a thought.


Cheers,

Curtis F.
25+ Years of SolidWorks experience...now I feel old.
"You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink."
"Winning an argument on the internet is like winning the Special Olympics."
www.facebook.com/HillcrestShops
Al_Messer
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Location: Mid Tenn.

Re: Falk No.1 loco, and Power Model Supply Company

Post by Al_Messer »

I think Unca Jesse is down at Columbia, Tenn. at the Mid South Live Steamers meet until sometime this weekend. Don't know what engines he took with him, but he is going to try to get the bugs out of the "Newbie" in preparation for publication.
Al Messer

"One nation, under God"
Rich_Carlstedt
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Re: Falk No.1 loco Patterns

Post by Rich_Carlstedt »

My Dear Friend Tom Krebs was building a Falk in my shop and it is 85% finished. Tom Passed away last week, and I have promised the family to finish the engine for them, as they know how proud Tom was of his project (really good machining). It may never see steam, but that is not important to them. Having an example of his craftsmmanship is !

Tom made patterns for the Falk and cast them in my shop.

He made the Main Cylinder and Valve box
The Donkey Cylinder and Valve box
Cores (boxes)for the above cylinders.
The Winding Drums

He bought castings for the Wheels and the donkey drive shaft Angle brackets (for mounting the jack shaft), as time did not permit the fabrication of them. Both could be built from solid IMHO.

I am sure I can get support from the family to loan these patterns to friends in the hobby, as long as the friends, understand the importance of them to the family and return them !
They wish to keep all his jigs etc to display his workmanshp to others who knew him.

If several of you like the engine, maybe someone can make multiples of the parts for a group thing.
I cannot make castings at this time as some of Tom's equipment used is now no longer in my posession.(Torches,flasks)

It is a nice engine.Timing it is a little tough because of a lack of clarity on the print for eccentric position. It is backwards and required removing the wheel and reseting. Fortunitly Tom keyed his axles, so all was well.
Also there is a spacer plate between the main cylinder and frame that is not necessary if the casting is made bigger, but Tom followed the original prints.

What say you folks ?
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Dick_Morris
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Re: Falk No.1 loco Patterns

Post by Dick_Morris »

A couple of years before the Live Steam construction article, Narrow Gauge and Shortline Gazette published a set of Falk drawings done by Al Armitage at 1/2" = 1 foot. I spent an evening at Kinko's blowing it all up by a factor of three with the idea that it would be a really neat model. I never got any farther than that.

A copy of the relevant NG&SG issues would be a nice supplement to the LS article for a potential builder. From the [url=http://]NG&SLG index[/url] , it's in Jan/Feb and May/Jun 88.

If the price wasn't too high, I might be interested in getting a set of castings to season under the bench for a while. I would suggest no aluminum castings for this little guy - it needs every extra ounce it can get.
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gwrdriver
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Re: Falk No.1 loco Patterns

Post by gwrdriver »

Depending upon how much "meat" was built into the Krebs patterns, and if the family would allow it, you might consider having a set of aluminum castings done and use those as patterns for cooperative distribution for making castings runs.
GWRdriver
Nashville TN
Jamie_Harris
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Joined: Wed Jan 08, 2003 8:59 am

Re: Falk No.1 loco Patterns, Who needs parts?

Post by Jamie_Harris »

Hi Rich, I have a friend in the business of making castings and patterns, specifically for live steam. I would like to talk to you about possibly borrowing the patterns and making a run of the parts. First of all, I can say that they will be very well cared for and I understand the familie's concerns.

I would like to get an idea how much interest people have in getting castings for the Falk. I'll work on getting the parts made. Maybe some folks could post here if they would be interested in these parts.

Thank you for chiming in,
Jamie
ehulshiz

Re: Falk No.1 loco Patterns, Who needs parts?

Post by ehulshiz »

I am interested. I assume it takes some "seed" money to make this kind of thing happen. I am willing to commit $500.00 up-front money to get started on molds and castings for the Falk logger. Anybody else want to "Pony up?"
I wonder what kind of legal hassles we're getting into here?
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