Hello all, im new here. My father has an old model steam train in his shed. He doesnt know what it is. It was his fathers fathers. Im not sure how to post photos here or even if you can. Its about 1ft long and has a boiler which is heated by keroseen. Does anyone specialize in these? sorry about the poor discription but its all i know.
Cheers, Rowan
Rowan to the forum !! I can't wait to see more of this train you found !! Don't have any idea really who made it. I can't remember if Budd L made these in live steam or not. But you'll need a digital camera & if you want, go to Shutterfly.com, it's all free & join there. You'll be able to load pictures in there & put them here on the forum. Now usualy I bring up the picture in Shutterfly & hit copy, then go to the forum here & paste them. Just hit reply or start a new post. Just holler for help if you get started !!
Is there anything stamped on this engine ? !! Any writings or numbers or anything that would help identify it ? !!
Thanks, John
Help you a little what it sounds like is live steam . To post pics need to open an account with www.photobucket.com theres a couple others but its the one I use. then up load the pics to it after thats done you'll see codes under it copy the bottom one and put in your text here and the pic will show up.
Thhen some of the live steam guys might be able to help you.
Life's hard, even harder if your stupid John Wayne
http://rtssite.shutterfly.com/
If it is live steam you can also try finding some info on the "Garden Railroading Forum", it is a sister site to this one. If you can, try to find any and all markings on the loco to aid in the ID process. Best of luck on your search.
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Hello, thanks for the info. heres a few pics randomly placed. because i dont know what im doing
cheers
Well, it has buffers and no claw coupler, so it must be european. Also the actual steam engine is on top of the boiler, so it seems. I guess a chain should drive one or more axles.
The wheels don't seem to have flanges, so this is an engine for carpet running only, or rails with u formed rails.. It misses the chimney and a whole lot of other stuff.
I don't know which brand it should be. It's a very unusual setup for the steamengine being on top of the boiler and it seems wide gauge to me, which would indicate to it being british, since the mainland didn't use wide gauge. (if it is any gauge)
It would be very interesting to see some bigger pictures of it, these thumbnails don't show bigger when I click on them..
Great thanks for the info.
http://www.shutterfly.com/view/pictures.jsp
Hopefully this link works and you can see some close-ups.
Does anyone know who i could ask for the best adivice?
Thanks again, cheers
Sorry, I can't login on your account. If you view the pictures in your shutterfly album on normal format, rightclick and copy paste the bigger picture in your post. That should do the trick.
It doesn't make sense to advice or even have a clue what it is without some good pictures of it, I'm sorry, I can't get any further then some wild guesses..
Europe had some other cylinder configurations on toytrain locomotives, they where sort of "geared" like a heissler to the back axle. The engines where called "Kraft lokomotive" because of the higher pulling power and slower run of them due to the gears in it. The cylinder however was horizontally placed in the engineers house and not on top of the boiler, which is more of a setup for a showman's engine or steamroller..
There where however A LOT of small toyproducing industries around the change of the century and thus a lot of different makes and types.
Are there any symbols or letters on it somewhere? May be someone changed it from a stationary engine into a vehicle type somewhere in it's life?
ok bit big now but thats good. hopefully this will give you a good view. i couldnt see any markings.
well it looks European because of its bumpers. If it doesnt have any marks it may of been hand made.
Alex
heres a shot in the dark but this guy is an apraiser of antique toys maybe contact him and he can help he also does antique road show
http://www.noelbarrett.com/
This is a homemade machine. The cylinder, valvegear and rods are from a stationary engine, so are the axle bearings and flywheel. Probably diecast copper or milled copper, but seen on the couplers between the rods i guess it's diecast.
The used materials, the cylinder, steamvalve etc are not some lower end junk, but very well machined quality stuff. The cylinder is a double acting stationary cylinder with valvegear attatched, and the steamvalve which regulate the steam is also a diecast high quality bit. The cylinder has a seal on the rod to prevent leakage, which was only available on very high end märklin models or small series models, either kit or ready made. It alone indicates that it has been a high end model.
But, the main reasom why I think it's homemade by someone, or rebuild from a stationary engine is the lack of lubrication on the cylinder while even the axle bearings have an oil hole in them. Every steamengine needs lubrication and most of the time it's done by the steam lead. I first thought that the steam travelled through the tube right on the back of the engine, but there are no tubes going there. Also the gears used to propell the back axle are also available on the showmans engine or steamroller steering frontaxle assambly and could easily be used to transfer power in case of a rebuild.
The boiler also is a factory made one but the gauge in front of it doesn't belong to it, since it's much too big and ends up under the normal water level in the boiler. Another hint of it's former life is given by the direct link from the boiler to the cylinder, the whole setup (boiler/machinery) is unchanged, since the valve for speed is on top of the boiler, fixed to it. Also the bearing for the kingshaft going to the rear wheels is signifficantly different (material, size and building style) from the axle bearing and supports. The wheels have different building styles, are not equally wide and have other "track gauges".
It has been a showman's engine or roller, the boiler, steammachine and backfootplate are original, but the back axle has been moved though it's the original axle. The original front wheels are now the back wheels probably. The shaft and it's bearings are made from the original steering assembly. Most certainly the footplate around the boiler, the buffers and beam behind it are added later, also the front wheels are added to it from another toy (other material/style/ width). That is clear by the used material thickness on the frame of the locomotive, which is very thin an flumsy compared to the rest of the engine and with the setup of gears it uses now the steamengine would cause the whole frame to twist when you ask pulling power. No manufacturer being sane would make the lower gear assambly the way it is made on this machine, because it simply doesn't work.
I wouldn't wonder however that this machine would be able to run after a bit of tlc and a checkup from the boiler. It's very well made and with some new seals and a bit of oil it must certainly be able to work again. But it didn't start it's life as a locomotive.
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