Southern Railroad PS-4 Pacific Design Discussion

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robertdean
Posts: 12
Joined: Mon Feb 24, 2014 12:00 pm

Re: Southern Railroad PS-4 Pacific Design Discussion

Post by robertdean »

Back in 2003, Ray Sims of ILS came down to Pete Bialecki track in Fort Myers Florida for the steam only in-meet and he brought with him 7 lostwax
cast stainless steel PS4 drivers with detailed webs between the spokes, and I bought them for 600.00. My friend Paul Levy came to my shop and saw them, asking what I was going to use them for. I showed him the plans Ray provided me, the W. Fitts plans of the PS4. Paul commissioned me to build
the 1.5" scale engine using the ss drivers, along with the tender, and the commonwealth trucks, (CNC milled from Alum bar stock) We used the Roger Goldmann cylinder castings, and all else was fabricated including the SS boiler with combustion chamber and syphon tubes of 3/4" ss pipe. LPG fired,
tank in the tender. Paul did all the finish work after running on air. He even had a Southern Railway paint chip matched for the green. Paul has a 1/4"
scale model in the Smithsonian. So he gets all the credit for this fine model. I do not have any good photos but do have some videos of the engine in
action. Bob Dean Jr.
boomerralph
Posts: 167
Joined: Mon Aug 25, 2008 1:13 pm
Location: St. Augustine, FL

Re: Southern Railroad PS-4 Pacific Design Discussion

Post by boomerralph »

Paul Levy with his beautiful PS-4 on the steaming bay at the West Tocoi and Bostwick railroad home of Northeast Florida Live Steamers and Railroaders.

Ralph M. Reese
St. Augustine, FL
Under Construction
LE Pacific
Allen 10 Wheeler
boomerralph
Posts: 167
Joined: Mon Aug 25, 2008 1:13 pm
Location: St. Augustine, FL

Re: Southern Railroad PS-4 Pacific Design Discussion

Post by boomerralph »

wm09_10[1].jpg

Paul Levy with his beautiful PS-4 on the steaming bay at the West Tocoi and Bostwick railroad home of Northeast Florida Live Steamers and Railroaders.
Ralph M. Reese
St. Augustine, FL
Under Construction
LE Pacific
Allen 10 Wheeler
boomerralph
Posts: 167
Joined: Mon Aug 25, 2008 1:13 pm
Location: St. Augustine, FL

Re: Southern Railroad PS-4 Pacific Design Discussion

Post by boomerralph »

I have many more, but it will take time to find them. Or you can follow the link to our photo album.
Ralph M. Reese
St. Augustine, FL
Under Construction
LE Pacific
Allen 10 Wheeler
User avatar
davidqueener
Posts: 88
Joined: Sun Oct 05, 2003 7:02 pm
Location: Knoxville, Tennessee
Contact:

Re: Southern Railroad PS-4 Pacific Design Discussion

Post by davidqueener »

For those of you building Ps-4s, the SRHA steam drawing collection is a treasure trove of Ps-4 blueprints--easily a hundred or two more drawings than what one finds in the Fitt book. Along with two other men, I am working on cataloging the collection. Just recently there was a discussion on another thread about the Hodges Trailing truck used on the Ps-4. There are about 16 part drawing for the Hodges truck in addition to the general arrangement. The only parts that appear to be missing are the eye loops that join the truck radius bars and the spoked wheel center.

Additional Ps-4 drawings are out there in the hands of collectors, drawings the SRHA does not have in it files. Some examples are the rear frame extension and cradle (shown in low res in the Fitt book), components for the brake and feedwater heater systems, the driver center drawings (also shown in the Fitt book in low res). I understand from a fellow model-maker that the late Bill Purdie had a significant collection of Ps-4 drawings, which he at one time lent to my friend. I would very much like to find the whereabouts of Bill's collection today.

If you have Southern Railway mechanical drawings for the Ps-4 and would be willing to have them scanned so that we can get them into one archive and then make the entirety available on a CD, please get in touch with me offline.

Cheers,

Dave Queener
Knoxville, Tennessee
Pastor, St. Paul Presbyterian Church
www.StPaulPres.com (865) 209-5654

Owner, Cumberland Model Engineering
www.CumberlandModelEngineering.com (865) 947-7935
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