Building a Steam Locomotive

I'm going to start a long running blog on building a model steam locomotive, but don't worry if you're not interested in following this particular topic because it won't be a continuous blog.  I will be covering a lot of other topics along the way. 

This idea of building a model steam locomotive started over 10 years ago when I saw a set of plans for building a very detailed locomotive and coal tender.  Since my father had a great love for steam locomotives, I thought it would be a great project to build for a Christmas present for him.

 

 

I sent away for the plans and when they arrived, I immediately realized this was not going to be an overnight project, in fact it was quite overwhelming!  It involved hundreds, upon hundreds of parts that each would have to be fabricated from scratch.  OMG; what did I get myself into! 

I'm sure glad I got the plans in January and I had a chance to get started then.  Working nights and weekends, it took the entire year to complete.  Over 200 hours to complete.  I gave it to my Dad for Christmas in 2002.

 

I wish I had taken pictures while I was making it, but never thought about it back in 2002, but I will discuss a few of the details about the engine, coal tender, bridge and track as I go along. 

After my Dad died in 2003, my Mom decided I should have the train and was returned to me.  Since then I found the plans  (blue prints) for the passenger cars, coal hopper and caboose so decided it would be fun to build a complete train.  The engine and coal tender is about 3 ft. long now.  My future plans are to build two passenger cars, one coal hopper and the caboose, which will make the overall length of 11ft.

I've been working on the passenger cars, but will talk about those a little later.  On my next blog I would like to talk a little about some of the details involved with the engine.