The Home Machinist!

Covid-19 has or had a lot of post offices closed. I was able to request a pickup of USPS priority packages but it took a couple days for them to come get them. My bank's lobbies have been closed, only drive throughs open. As a result, the drive through wait has exceeded 90 minutes during lunch and ...

Having shipped a few things this summer, I can say: Covid-19 has or had a lot of post offices closed. I was able to request a pickup of USPS priority packages but it took a couple days for them to come get them. My bank's lobbies have been closed, only drive throughs open. As a result, the drive thr...

It looks like the cameras are back up and live, about 15 mins ago there was some forest service guys and a truck there surveying the damage and then they moved on. Steiger Butte did burn and the extent of the damage can be seen on the two camera's. The rest of TM's camera's appear to show everything...

Ryan, Interesting. I’ve thought about 12 v systems several times. Some folk build tenders with a battery and controls compartment, which enables all sorts of modern goodies. Unfortunately, mine is all water tank. Now, a quick google search showed a variety of small rev pumps, but all I saw were lim...

Glenn, I watched a youtube video of some DRG&W narrow gage live steam builds running on a 7-1/2" RR and could hear the noise of what sounded like an electric pump to feed water from the tender to the boiler. The operator pushed a button and watched as the water level rose in the sight glass. They ha...

The side view of the remains of one of the locomotives shows a "belly" on the boiler (looks like it sagged under the weight and heat) and I think the stack looks partially melted on one of them....that fire got hot! Some of the cast iron wheels and detail parts may be able to be saved as they can to...

I pulled a couple more photos from their facebook page

Glenn Brooks wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 21, 2020 1:25 pm

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Geeze that's awful! I've been through a lot of the pictures and history on the Swanton Pacific as inspiration for my own 12" build and it's sad to see that its burned up.

Looking good, will be interesting to see how much better it steams once you get it fired up.

I've done quite a bit of research on ballast for scale RR use. I liked the idea of using 3/8" clear, but the island pond RR's owner said he had trouble with it migrating under heavy rain, and the finer stones retain more water. If you research ballast for real RR's, they use a large clear stone to k...

What is your piston/bore clearance? Because you say you have no motion when on steam(?), the heat of the steam may be causing the piston or ring to expand and get tight in the bore.

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That's my riding car frame sitting on my turnout at the bottom of this page.