THE FRAME
THE FINISH
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This is a different idea from the 'George Henry'. This time I am taking a well known design, the Romulus, which has been around a long time, and adapting it to my own ideas. The idea behind this is that I will have all the necessary castings available and the theory of the valve gear will already have been sorted. The engine has proven itself to be powerful, popular and not too difficult to construct. Personally, I think the original design produces an ugly engine with its regulator dome right next to the chimney. It has also got a very high cab and chimney giving an 'Emmet' look about it! But that is just my opinion, although all the Romuluses(i?) I have seen have the regulator dome put half way between the chimney and the cab which greatly improves it. So the first thing I have done is just that plus lowering the cab and chimney. A little stretching and changing it to a 2-6-0 instead of an 0-4-0, and I have the basis of the design.
There should be considerably fewer detailed drawings to make, although I have had to do a
side view. The picture is the bare minimum and will be subject to alterations at any time.
So while I make this one, rather like many model engineers do, which is with 'fag packet'
drawings, I will no doubt make mistakes! And I promise to show these as well!  I am also considering a steel boiler, the pros being they are much cheaper than copper and the cons are that they are heavier and need a boiler test annually instead of bi-annually. There's no doubt that this is a more expensive way of making an engine; to start off with, the drawings for Romulus cost me £80, half of which I don't want, and the wheels are about £26 each. I could have made my own pattern and had them cast, which would have been much cheaper but time consuming. I'm not sure how often I'll update this website, but I will try to do it monthly. I seem to have more commitments this time. PROGRESS SO FAR. I've had the frames and buffer beams laser cut and fitted together temporarily to get the rivet holes in the correct places. They are 3/16" iron and there seem to be an awful lot of them. Supporting the 51" frames while drilling is tricky but my wife has her uses! I ordered the wheels; they are massive and weigh 8-!/2lbs before turning. Unfortunately, they have the areas between the spokes filled in 1/4" thick, and these I understand, are left filled in, but I think it would look better if I removed at least part of this web. You'll notice that this time I'm talking imperial measurements as the original drawings are this way. |