Thread: Steam trains at play after WW 11

Holy crap! Just looked this up online and it is still running - that's brilliant!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Cockcrow_Railway

GC Railway FAQs

We have something similar down here not far from my place. It's open to the public one Sunday a month. I've had it on this site before.

Edgeworth Miniature Railway

I have got this going again after more than a 20 year hiatus

I have just made the lubricator drive rod and mounted the lubricator, made the filler tube, silver soldered it into the lid, made a few hex brass pipe fittings for the lubricator<> steam chests

here is the lubricator showing the clearance between the tube and boiler lagging, the boiler weighs 26+kgs, it's no lightweight when your trying to wiggle it into position

in this image I'm checking the ash pan fits the foundation ring of the boiler

I had it running on compressed air about a week or so back
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FKw8tWYqyI[/ame]
anyway I have lots of parts made, but it is still years from being finished, I used to be a member @ Lake Macq Live steamers, in fact I made representation to a former president of the club, no issues to rejoin, my boiler although it was hydrostatically tested back in 1988, it will have to be squeezed again, it should be OK as it's never been used, anyway cheers Dennis

Wow, you certainly are a clever man, Dennis!!!

I didnt realise it was so big Dennis!

would certainly make a big bang

I had another game today, I made a new drive rod for the LHS steam chest, the shaft diameter is 5/32" the nut is a 5BA, the rod is silver steel

and while I have the engine upside down I'm making brake beam spacers, they are 1/4"OD No21 (.1590) hole through it, and it has to be 9/32" in length

well it's 3/4 of 1 thou too long, methinks it's close enough for a brake part lol.
Pedro, the engine is just a tad short of 40" long and at present it weighs 53kgs, the tender is another 26" over the rear buffers, it is a 5" gauge or 1 1/16" to the foot scale, it has a proper wetback boiler with provision for super heated steam, it's not as big as some, but I think it will certainly be a handful for me if n when I ever get it finished, cheers Dennis

Since I last posted I have been busy on several fronts, there just never seems to be enough hours in any one day, I bought a new lathe in Sydney and had it delivered to Thornton and I had to pick it up there, all 550+kgs of it, I had done some pre-planning in the shed (sorta like a Rubics Cube op) moved this here and put that there move, anyway it all fitted in to plans that I had in my head (no wonder I can't sleep some nights)

I was trying as usual to get this job done without asking for help, but my wife recruited the neighbours as I couldn't push the engine crane up over the lip on the concrete floor, it took 6 of us to get it into position, Max offered a few suggestions as well LOL

this was as far as I could get it on my own

but with help it was soon in place

That was back in early May, since then I had been able to get a replacement 'spindle' for my mill/drill so I have put it to good use as well, I milled a 5/32" slot in this brake push rod using a 1/8"dia end mill

you can see why I have to stop periodically to give my neck n back a rest as the mill stand is too low, anyway I'm not making a new one, the slot before I dressed it with a needle file

I'm now waiting on an arbor to hold slitting saw blades as that push rod has to have a slot cut @ 5/32" wide to fit onto the brake lever (which I made today)

I selected a length of 3/8" square bar wiped it clean using some 600 wet n dry, I don't have any engineers blue, so I use a black 'Texta' colour to mark the area, it took me ages to get the correct lines either side of the center line (half of 3/8" is 3/16", that was easy enough, mark the area, but then it was trying to get 5/64" either side of the center that took the time) anyway all marked, set up in the vice on the mill, taking the metal off in small increments, after about 40 minutes (I had to stop and give my neck/back a rest) the lever ended up about 0.0005 up in thickness, I didn't bother trying to alter that (5/32" = .1562, you can see it's a tad fatter LOL)

the item after machining

some time spent applying a file to reduce the corners and make it easier on my hands when rounding the corners off on the linisher

I drilled a 1/16" dia hole through the boss end that attaches to the brake cross shaft, as it' has to have a No 4 taper pin but I'm using a No 5 as I have the reamer and the pins, and this is the only No 4 and I can't justify spending $79.00 for the No4 reamer + cost of pins 10 in a pack.
The small end has a 7/32" dia hole that has a bronze bush with a 5/32" dia
hole in that, so set the job up and turn the material

and fitted into place

and where it fits on the locomotive, when all kitted up it will be horizontal

and the wire through the brake drag beam is there to stop the pin/s from falling out, I have a supply of split pins, but they will not be fitted until all the brakes are finished, anyway cheers Dennis
ps my new lathe died the other day, the start capacitor died, all sorted/fixed now, dunno why they don't take the crap Chinese ones out and replace them as a matter of course,..!

Originally Posted by Dinty

Since I last posted I have been busy on several fronts, there just never seems to be enough hours in any one day, I bought a new lathe in Sydney and had it delivered to Thornton and I had to pick it up there, all 550+kgs of it, I had done some pre-planning in the shed (sorta like a Rubics Cube op) moved this here and put that there move, anyway it all fitted in to plans that I had in my head (no wonder I can't sleep some nights)

I was trying as usual to get this job done without asking for help, but my wife recruited the neighbours as I couldn't push the engine crane up over the lip on the concrete floor, it took 6 of us to get it into position, Max offered a few suggestions as well LOL

this was as far as I could get it on my own

but with help it was soon in place

That was back in early May, since then I had been able to get a replacement 'spindle' for my mill/drill so I have put it to good use as well, I milled a 5/32" slot in this brake push rod using a 1/8"dia end mill

you can see why I have to stop periodically to give my neck n back a rest as the mill stand is too low, anyway I'm not making a new one, the slot before I dressed it with a needle file

I'm now waiting on an arbor to hold slitting saw blades as that push rod has to have a slot cut @ 5/32" wide to fit onto the brake lever (which I made today)

I selected a length of 3/8" square bar wiped it clean using some 600 wet n dry, I don't have any engineers blue, so I use a black 'Texta' colour to mark the area, it took me ages to get the correct lines either side of the center line (half of 3/8" is 3/16", that was easy enough, mark the area, but then it was trying to get 5/64" either side of the center that took the time) anyway all marked, set up in the vice on the mill, taking the metal off in small increments, after about 40 minutes (I had to stop and give my neck/back a rest) the lever ended up about 0.0005 up in thickness, I didn't bother trying to alter that (5/32" = .1562, you can see it's a tad fatter LOL)

the item after machining

some time spent applying a file to reduce the corners and make it easier on my hands when rounding the corners off on the linisher

I drilled a 1/16" dia hole through the boss end that attaches to the brake cross shaft, as it' has to have a No 4 taper pin but I'm using a No 5 as I have the reamer and the pins, and this is the only No 4 and I can't justify spending $79.00 for the No4 reamer + cost of pins 10 in a pack.
The small end has a 7/32" dia hole that has a bronze bush with a 5/32" dia
hole in that, so set the job up and turn the material

and fitted into place

and where it fits on the locomotive, when all kitted up it will be horizontal

and the wire through the brake drag beam is there to stop the pin/s from falling out, I have a supply of split pins, but they will not be fitted until all the brakes are finished, anyway cheers Dennis
ps my new lathe died the other day, the start capacitor died, all sorted/fixed now, dunno why they don't take the crap Chinese ones out and replace them as a matter of course,..!

I hope you're looking after Max (short for maxwell smart!)

I love the background in the 2nd and 3rd to last photos!!

But I'd prefer you didn't run your locomotive over my gunbuggy!

Mm mm gunbuggy mmmm