The Home Machinist!

I went down to the St Louis Live Steamers and I found out a lot about my camelback. The reason it is marked 1173 is because that is the original firing of the locomotive. It was originally built by Leo Meyer, with the help of Joel Pittenger's father. After Leo passed away, Joel Pittenger and Jerry (Gerald) Farrow where the caretakers of this camelback.

And, finally, I have the responsibility to get this steam locomotive back up and running, for generations of people to enjoy.

If for some reason I do not have this info correct, please let me know.


I have joined the St. Louis steamers and ready to start getting this locomotive up and running. If anyone has video or film of this locomotive running, I would love to pay to have a copy made.

Does anyone have some drawings to the trucks on the camel back?

I have 2 sets of drawings and the trucks are not in my sets.

JP

John

I am working on the prints now as well as the patterns now I need them to complete the sent my prints for that truck is very faded. It originally was for the two versions the 36 inch wheel and the 33 inch wheel as used on the camelback.

Does the A5 use the same trucks as the I8's? Did the trucks with 33" have different wheel base or frames than the 36" wheel trucks?

The larger wheels had a longer wheel base

So are there two different versions of tenders used on the engine?

JP

A lot of engines used quite a few different tenders, especially towards the end of steam when some locomotives would 'inherit' a bigger engine's tender. I used a set of MCC or Tom Bee trucks under mine, which you have seen. The tenders I have look right behind the locomotive to my eyes, but I do sometimes wish that they were just about 3 or 4 inches longer.

If you are trying to copy some specific locomotive, then that's a different deal all together.

Gene, My dad has an 0-4-0 built in the 60's and a George the Fifth built in the 30's and he wouldn't trust anyone other than Marty to work on boilers for them. Do you have a picture of 1173? is it a reading engine? We are trying to track a reading 1173 built by a group in the 60's as a camelback and sold to someone in PA in the late 70's early 80's.

A5a's had both slope back and box tenders, probably based on the service they were assigned to and what was available at the time. I've been collecting A5a photos for some time and the variety of appointments is amazing. Examples, apart from tenders: round vs. rectangular number plates, fireman's cab versus open to the sky, markers versus none, and the list goes on. One thing which struck me was a photo of an A5a assigned to branch line service, with a caboose and short train. This might have been because of the load limits of rail and bridges, but it builds a case for use an assignment anywhere on the system. Depending on the decade you wish to model, almost any configuration would be correct.
I was sent a photo of a string of retired A5a's in Medina, going to scrap; about seven of them in a single line. What we wouldn't give to have one or two spared for operation today? They were great little locomotives.
I love mine!

Get the Ridge boiler. Trust us.

Ken

Well I can make that boiler. I have made about a dozen of them over the years.

This is the tender assigned to most A5a's during service as yard switchers.