Thread: How to turn a Locomotive.

The pics didn't come through so I will try again 4-6-4

Now that's serious chunk of steel.
The other end is held on the crane when you are rotating it?
Got a rough weight?
Closest thing to this I have made to this would be a cross between an L frame to tip a mates car on its side with an engine crane and a bike work frame that used a pedal back brake hub to adjust the angle of the bike on the stand. lol not in the same league.

Stuart

Well that is a bit bigger than your normal garden gauge variety most people get into. It will be interesting to follow this along and see it finished.
How many are there working on it?
I have a lot of HO scale trains stored away, but don't really know that much about real ones. My grandfather used to spend all his spare time down at the local rail yard in England when he was a kid.

I build a roll over frame for my 4wd rebuild and to take it to the blasters, it made my work and theirs so much easier. They where surprised to see it turn up on one as they usually just roll them over on tyres, but that wouldn't be an option for you. LOL

Dave.

Yes chaps it is a serious lump of gear. When the 20 ton overhead crane lifted the frame off the truck it had a lot of bits on it. there were 3 axels missing but we striped it down to the bare essentials and I would recon about10 or 12 tons. There is another yellow triangle at the other end but the crane is used to turn the beast. The brake drum will hold it at about 10 o,clock but the at rest position is upside down so the brake is essential to control it. there are about 6 people working on it and there is some heavy engineering required. The brake assembly was different between the two types and new frame stays had to be fitted for the brake cylinders and the brake shaft. These have been fabricated and are in position and are being welded up. 1 inch plate fro this. I have to cut and machine two brackets for this frame stay and it will take a bit of ingenuity for this operation. I will sort through the pics and post some more 4-6-4

The first pic is a better view of the loco on the rotator No2 id the brake bracket that had to be moved No3 is the Asquith radial drill working on the new frame stays No 4 a better view of the Asquith No 4 & 5 the holes being drilled for the end plates of the second frame stay. The bolts on the frame are .002 thou drive fit there are 48 of them 7/8" Dia. Done on my New Visby lathe. The real fun and games starts when it comes off the rotator to have the back extended and the fabrication of the trailing truck. But one thing at a time. 4-6-4

Good to see some details of frame and cylinders that one does not normally see. I have seen the underside of NAs and G42. Good scale to work on 1000mm:1M, just that everything is heavy.

Thanks -6 (a little math joke there hehe)
Someone has a bigger drill than me
Whats the white mark out fluid you use? is it a home brew?
Is the center section between the cyclinders cast or made up? I think its made up, but I'm not sure.

Stuart

That is some serious engineering. the biggest job I ever took on myself was to re chassis an armourgaurd truck onto a latter model truck chassis. I had to shorten the wheel base 5 ft change the steering from cab over to conventional etc, it was a huge job that took me a year of work but passed the engineers certificate.
Thats a nice drill, do you have pictures of your lathe, or have you posted it up before and I have missed it?

Dave

Hi 4-6-4,

Amazing pictures, I have no idea about how locomotives are constructed, but looking at the pictures I can get some idea of the scale of the task you are undertaking. It looks like the sort of project you can really get deeply involved in.
Congratulations to all involved for making the commitment. I hope it all goes according to plan, and look forward to more pictures.

Regards
Ray

PS.. Stuart, do a google search for "4-6-4 Hudson" and it will all make sense.

4-6-4
I forgot to ask, just to help get an idea of scale, whats the Dia of the cylinders(or any other part you feel would help)?
Thanks
Stuart

p.s. Ray I get the 4-6-4 I was being funny, not very is seems lol, cant win them all. There sure were some nice locomotives built. Although my favorite video was on an Indain loco with a hot wheel bearing, they need to jack one wheel up so they could take the load off the bearing. They drove the train up onto a sledge hammer held infront of the wheel by some brave(?) fellow. It only shot out once. Amazing.
Now someone is going to tell me that they have a specail "hammer" for doing that and it happens all the time :'( lol

The white stuff is the old soft engineers chalk put on and then rubbed flat. The cylinders of the loco are about 20 inch dia and the wheels are about 5 foot Dia. It goes slowly because we have a sick R class that has diverted the work force. The R needs heavy repairs to the inner firebox. It is definably a long term job and it is being done on a shoe string but some one will take over when we go. I am 67 and the main stay of the show is a very fit 76. This lad started his apprenticeship in 1948 they were still building locos at Newport then. He worked on the Steam S class and has a remarkable memory for how the steam ran. If you are close by Newport you are welcome to come have a look PM me. I am going down there today and will take more pics. 4-6-4

I just had a look at Wikipedia's page on the 4-6-4. Quite a loco. The German version 05 002 in streamlined garb, managed 124.5mph in 1936 on a flat track between Hamburg and Berlin. Can you imagine being on one of those beasts at that speed, and the sound!

BT

Yes Bob the Continentals really knew what speed was all about. Their track was in superb condition. I have heard that there is a a rebuilt loco about to do some high speed runs nin Germany this year. Our track in Victoria was and is still abysmal. I was told by a Big Wheel A2 driver on the Geelong Flyer that if the fire box was not full when you left Newport going to Geelong you could,nt put any on because the footplate jumped around that much. I was fortunate to ride a Garratt in NSW late 60,s at night and when he got it moving I thought the cab was coming off. Those were the days.I forgot the camera today but Thursday is the next day. 4-6-4

Hi,
I saw this link on another forum and thought you might be interested.
BBC News - Deltic locomotive back in service due to freight demand

Dave