GIMRA Project
You will find details here, DuWayne. Art Walker A HREF="http://www.gaugeone.org/resources.htm"Click here: Resources/A
GIMRA Project Loco -addendum
In case the hypertext in my last mailing does not come through, the site address is - http://www.gaugeone.org/resources.htm Art Walker
Re: G1MRA Project Loco
In a message dated 19/04/01 00:39:39 GMT Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: how to get a copy of the book or other documentation Apologies, List. Had I bothered to read the rest of my mailings I would have realised that Sam Evans John Kowalchuck had already dealt with this issue. Art Walker
Re: G1MRA Project Loco
In a message dated 18/04/01 04:56:12 GMT Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Has anyone come up with a conversion for running on butane instead of "meths"? I also wanted to ask about wheel castings availability. Should I consider cutting my own from bar stock? How about making it a 0-4-0? John, I don't know of anyone who has done this but it could be done I am sure.The new GIMRA 'D' has a very similar boiler but gas fired. A ceramic burner would be best, but I guess the rear axle would be in the way. But the existing firebox is very long so a 'split' ceramic would still work OK I imagine. A slotted poker as per Roundhouse, Accucraft etc. would also be a possibility. The bottom of the firebox would need to be sealed probably. As far as wheels are concerned, I wouldn't even think about it. Contact Bob Paule of Sulphur Springs Models for some suitable castings from Walsall or Locosteam 'tho the latter firm is virtually kaput. The problems of getting North American source castings have been extensively aired on this list. If you really want to do your own, the best words music are in Kozo Hiraoka's 'Building the Shay' book, which I think has recently been reprinted. Well, you can make it a 0-4-0. 2-6-0, 2-8-0 as you like ! Art Walker
Re: G1MRA Project Loco - New 'Dee'
In a message dated 02/04/01 16:46:33 GMT Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Speaking of Project Book, has anyone on the list read the new G1MRA "Dee" book? The book is now available, 'tho I do not know if Bob Paule has stocks as yet. Very well presented 'tho the dimensioning is almost incredibly retro - all fractions with not a decimal inch in sight which caused me some difficulties as all my ex UK toolroom height gauges etc are decimal or metric. Bit like going back to school trying to remember how to subtract 11/32 nds from this that or t'other. Put the frames together but there I will halt for a while as I have other fish to fry. A very attractive but very Brit prototype with ingenious twin inside cylinders a very neat axle pump. Follows the Moger gas fired philosophy ie. secondary air admitted by a hole up the middle of the ceramic burner the use of a blower. Alternative boiler burner(meths) designs are given. One or two little obscurities exist, but lots of chaps will be beavering away on this project so plenty of help will be available. Walsall does suitable wheel castings there will be 'kits' of bits before too long I am sure. Probably not a beginners loco as the instructions are far from idiot proof - as I found out ! Barry Applegate Dick Moger are the joint authors. I have seen the first prototype (Dick Moger - Project type boiler takes 'liquid' from bottom of the tank) the second - (Frank Norton - JvR type 'B' boiler takes gas from the top) both run very well. Proto 3 is being built by Tom Barrett is meths fired. ie. it has been pretty thoroughly tested ! Art Walker, Guildford, England.
Re: Newbie Intro
In a message dated 23/03/01 04:54:09 GMT Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: if I fudge the math a little bit I think I can get away with constructing the last steam Newfie Bullet (Mikado) which ran on 42" narrow gauge John, Why not do it right build in 1/2"/foot scale ie. 1/24 ratio for 45mm/1 3/4" track ? Maybe that's a forbidden thought in metricised Canada ? I have a rather ancient tome by Omer Lavallee covering Canada's ng railways which may still be available. Art Walker, Guildford, England.
Re: Guy Fawkes - YAK
In a message dated 21/03/01 20:10:47 GMT Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: My father's family is from Kent--I think Knights were still around then. Kent, sir - everybody knows Kent ! - apples, cherries, hops and women. (Dickens) - and the de Spenceleys as well !! Art Walker
Re: Soldering Question
In a message dated 14/03/01 16:05:56 GMT Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: until it glowed. Is this normal? Yes. Needs to be this hot. You will notice when it is hot enough as the solder will 'flash' into the joint. It is better in the dark as the Bishop said to the Chorus girl. No you won't damage copper, phos bronze or brass (oxy-prop is a different matter) 'tho there is a school of thought that maintains that the threads in boiler bushes should not be fully cut prior to silver soldering. Don't stew the solder once it is in however. Also remember Brother Wade's tip for straightening out any bushes that solder in skew-whiff by inserting an appropriately threaded rod to gently 'verticalise' the bush. Wrt your second point, we are helped by the fact that the melting point of an 'old' joint is a bit higher than fresh SS. Although there are preparations to protect previous joints, avoiding direct heat a lump of metal as a heat 'sink' is all that I have found necessary with gauge 1 boilers Try and do as much as possible in one heat - heat is never really localised in a mass of copper - this means close holes for the bushes so they won't fall out 'pip' the the boiler at ~ 120deg ~ 1/4" in from ends with a blunted centre punch or something similar so the flanged ends don't move when everything is up to heat. All drilling pipping with a dowel inside the annealed boiler tube. From a pretty inexperienced boiler maker, Art Walker.
Re: Speaking of Steam
In a message dated 01/03/01 03:23:52 GMT Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: There's also another live steam loco named "Excelsior" on the UK market right now. Poor timing, it seems. The 'other' is a totally different loco by Mel Wright - Wrightscale. Art Walker
Re: Picayune Shay Pix
In a message dated 05/02/01 20:59:02 GMT Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: It was definitely not terminally boring to those in the group and everyone going to Diamondhead should make the trek. Bruce, I thoroughly agree - I was really cautioning as to how people might find a visit to my pix - which were taken primarily to provide info for the reconstruction of an old Steamlines Shay. A friend made an excellent replacement engine scaled down from Kozo Hiraoka's book, but the yukky original frame requires attention. Art Walker
Picayune Shay Pix
Have at last got round to posting the digipix resulting from a visit with Bruce Gatham. Erv Mueller Keith Hawthorne - during the Diamondhead Steamup - to this interesting little loc. Still complete with Christmas (or ? Mardi Gras) lights. Only of interest to Shay aficionados - others will find a visit terminally boring. Anyone tell me why the rear headlamp is offset ? Art Walker A HREF="http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=44305a=11406775" Click here: PhotoPoint (Album Owner Mode) - Free, easy photo sharing and photo gallery/A
Re: Bassett Lowke mogul - Semi Walschaerts Valve gear
As my understanding of steam engine valve gears is minimal I ought perhaps to keep my head below the parapet. I believe the correct name for this is the 'single eccentric link motion'. I imagine it is a primitive arrangement which preceeded Walschaerts' work therefore for manufacturers to term it 'semi' or 'simplified' Walschaerts is a vanity. The waggling slotted 'banana' exists in both gears of course. Art Walker
A Few Pix of Medal Winners at ME Exhibition, Sandown Park, Surrey.
A HREF="http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=44305a=10677386"Click here: PhotoPoint (Album Owner Mode) - Free, easy photo sharing and photo gallery/A Art Walker
Re: Kerosene fueling
Susan, 'Toy' steamers whether Mamods or Asters are generally fired by methylated spirits ie 'meths' NOT methanol. Meths is just ethanol( a good dose of absorbed water)fouled up according to requirements of local Customs Excise people to prevent the public drinking it avoiding the crippling tax govs like to impose. I seem to remember a mailing from Capt. Lunkenheimer a while back reporting increased vigour from his toys by fuelling with methanol - the incresed volatility presumably outweighing the lower calorific value as per the butane/propane situation. GIMRA is a bit neurotic re B/P mixes which personally I think are OK in tender gas tanks - but we don't wish to reopen that debate I am sure ! Wait till they find out the transpondies have access to isobutane ! Good luck with the kerosene firing - can be done is done in larger scales. But if you feel less adventurous, meths the various gas firing arrangements are established procedures. Art Walker, Guildford, England
MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE !
Art Walker, Guildford, England
Re: Scales and gauges
In a message dated 04/12/00 14:10:46 GMT Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Baldwin made NG locos by adjusting the chassis of a small std gauge loco, so it is easy to model. Pete, that's a half truth - sometimes yes, but items like the firebox would get in the way. That is why so many Baldwin ng locos had the firebox behind the driving wheels or outside frames to give a decent width. The wheels were smaller with fewer spokes, so generally you can tell a ng lokey pretty easily from its side elevation. Usually, but not always, the proportion of cab to boiler diam. is also a giveaway. The locos of some ng lines such as the fabled Tweetsie were pretty 'std. ga.' in proportion appearance. There, that will start a fight ! Art Walker
Re: Kew Bridge Exhibition, London,November 2000
Steve, The long pole you mention is used to re-rail the locos - also to take weight off the springs when making repairs. The first tank locos on the DHR were pretty conventional side tanks, but were succeeded by the 'A' Class which were well tanks ie. tanks between the frames. That's why all the valve gear stuff is on the outside. Initially the 'A's did not have saddle tanks but were subsequently fitted with 'collar' tanks. The 'B's had saddle tanks from the start also (?both classes) have had under cylinder 'wing' tanks from time to time. Mostly built from the 1880s onwards by Sharp Stewart North British Loco in Manchester Glasgow 'tho 2 'B's were built by Baldwin in 1916/17. There was also 2 'C' class Pacifics for use on the plains one 'D' Garratt for the hills which was not a success. I mentioned Bruce's comment re. the DH weightlifting competition in order to get some 'needle' into the contest. I also hope Neil Rose is working hard on his paper airplane skills as we need that trophy back on the right side of the pond. Art Walker
Kew Bridge Exhibition, London,November 2000
Have posted some pix of a visit yesterday to this show. Only very selective coverage I'm afraid, but I hope you enjoy. As you will see, liked the 32mil gauge Indian Mountain Railway. Also some new products on show such as very nice David Bailey Shay new loco - their first -from Cheddar/Bruce Engineering. The latter was intriguing in having a single flue boiler with cross tubes but fired by a small ~3/4" diam vertically mounted ceramic at end of tube - instead of usual poker. Individuals locos mentioned will all be at Diamondhead in Januuary. Art Walker A HREF="http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=44305a=10050105"Click here: PhotoPoint (Album Owner Mode) - Free, easy photo sharing and photo gallery/A
Re: Walsall Model Industries other suppliers.
Charles, details are as follows - Unit 3 23 Hatherton Street Walsall West Midlands WS4 2LA Tel/Fax 01922 633718 From US delete '0' add '44'. No URL or e-mail, so maybe not so year 2000 as I suggested ! It is perhaps invidious to mention individual suppliers perhaps we should remind ourselves that Brother Bass has the most comprehensive list I know of on his site which is at - www.nmia.com/~vrbass/steam/steammfr.htm Art Walker
Re: Loco Steam Model Engineers
The guy running it has been ill the last few months. That said, under several owners, it has been a managerial bad joke for years. A shame because their catalogue of items was uniquely useful for small-steamers. Luckily, for vital things such as wheel castings, there are alternative suppliers such as Walsall who appear to know it is year 2000. Art Walker
Question re bar frames/laser cutting
Vance, Enjoyed reading your account of the visit to Denver to Marc Horovitz. Now I noticed you went with a laser cutting guy. I have been playing around these last few weeks cutting 'bar' frames for 2 US ga1, 1/32 scale locos from 1/8th steel plate as opposed to my previous fabrications from 1/8, 3/16 th" or from 4mm bar. All very tedious. Now the way to go should be laser cutting, I did meet a Brit guy at an exhibition in Holland a few years ago who said he could do bar frames in ga1 - he thought for about £70 a set, but I did not pursue this. I guess your travelling companion was into this. What is the cost of having this sort of thing done in the States, is it only practical for CADsavvy individuals such as yourself ? Cheers, Art Walker, Guildford, England
Re: VIP's- clogged jets
A useful widget- Take a few inches length of 1/8th x 3/4" brass strip. Drill tap hole at one end to thread of jet. Remove blocked jet screw into strip. Press strip jet - outlet face down - onto butane can with filler attached blow out blockage. You can still lose jet taking it out putting it in but you won't lose it when blowing it out. Art Walker
Re: OT: Diamondhead Extra Curricular Activity
I thought for a moment you were proposing an alternative to the 'POP POP Regatta' !!! Art Walker
Re: Butane tank
Bob, One dodge I forgot to mention re use of sq. or rect. brass is to stick two bits side to side with (appropriate holes) using silver solder foil - using cross stays if you feel it necessary - before soldering on the end plates. Gives a tank twice as big the lengthwise staying is achieved. Grahan White, a colleague at Guildford MES, has used this several times it has passed muster with the club's CME. Partic. useful tubing is the 1.5x0.75" stuff that seems to be available. I guess Roundhouse rect. tanks are made in similar way. Same dodge can be performed of course with two copper tubes one on top of 'tother but smaller tubes need to provide the link of course not just holes. Have your filler valve above one of the connecting tubes. Used by another mate Roger Hayward for a bunker gas tank. Art
Re: Butane tank
I have made several tanks out of 1" square steel tubing which is readily available - with flat unstayed end plates of 1/16 th + steel, ie similar thickness to the tube itself. They stood up to the Vancetest (before our comrade was rash enough to describe it) They were silver soldered together not welded. Showed no distortion whatsoever on testing which would not be the case at the same pressures for brass, I imagine. Also no visible corrosion after a year or two - I know 'cos I cut one open. Nevertheless, I make my tanks nowadays out of copper tube, with flanged end plates 'cos that is what the Brit ME Sox GIMRA are demanding. Incidently don't stick your filler valve directly over a central stay - the back pressure generated is enough to make filling difficult if not impossible. Art Walker
GMES Millenium Rally
Chums, I have posted some digipix of the Millenium Rally of the Guildford Model Engineering Society, held last weekend,15/16 July, at Stoke Park. The rain held off we had a most successful event with many overseas visitors. Details on some of the pix are a bit marginal, so further info would be welcome. Barry Jordan has promised me a pic of his splendid miniature machine tool display, so please call back. Click and enjoy ! Art Walker A HREF="http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=44305a=7232171"Click here: PhotoPoint (Album Owner Mode) - Free, easy photo sharing and photo gallery/A
Re: Ceramic Blocks
Don't know the Calor part # or even their part description. A request for (soft) ceramic heater element usually seems to produce the goods. Depends who you get behind the desk. Don't think Calor operate in the States. We can't send a pic round this list can we ? It's the same stuff that Bruce/Cheddar use. Art Walker
Check out How to find the GMES
A HREF="http://www.dwl1.demon.co.uk/gmes/findgmes.htm"Click here: How to find the GMES/A A map travel details for any wishing to attend our Rally Exhibition at Guildford, England, on Sat/Sun 15/16 July. Traction Engines, 7.25", 5", 3.5" 2.5" (test track only) plus 16mil garden railway ( 32mm 45mm ) Boiler certs reqd for runners. Very good trade support. Art Walker
Re: CO-2
The price of these cartridges in UK bike shops is also extortionate. Can any UK listees tell where I can get these cheap ? I thought they were used in soda syphons that therefore they would be available from any 'offy' ( US = liquor store ) but no luck so far. Art Walker
Re: Loco wheels - GIMRA Project
I will phone them tomorrow see if they have received your letter - if that is OK with you. But never be surprised as to how long 'air-mail' takes - sometimes up to 17days from England to the US. Art Walker
Re: Loco wheels - GIMRA Project
Jun, Why don't you fax Walsall on the number I mailed on 25 /5/00 ? They are a pretty responsive firm take credit cards. Tel/Fax (0)1922 633718 Art Walker
Re: (No subject) - 100% butane
re. Sam Evans - I must disagree with your comment the the tin cans are 'inherently' stronger than Roundhouse gas tanks. I have been told that the end 'valve' blows out at two / three hundred psi. The figures I quoted were given in conversation with RH they apply both to RH cylindrical rectangular tanks - they have made them that way. I think Clark got it right - it is a butt covering exercise. A wise precaution in a country where mishaps are never due to individual stupidity but always to manufacturers, the previous government, or both. Art Walker, Guildford.
Re: 100 percent butane
Charles, If memory serves, Roundhouse gas tanks are tested to 500 psi and destruct at ~ 4500 psi so they are a bit tougher than the 10 tho' tin cans which these LPG products come in. Whether the piddly little Ronson gas valves with their 4.5x 0.5 metric threads would last that high is perhaps doubtful, but I am told by those who have hydraulically tested tanks with the valves in place that they do survive to at least several hundred psi 'tho they don't work afterwards. The Fowler gas tank if I remember correctly, is in the cab roof, so it will be gently warmed by radiance conduction during the run which will balance the cooling caused by the LPG being drawn off, should therefore remain at ~ ambient temperature. There is an all copper tube connection between tank burner so the whole thing is pretty sound. Butane/propane mixes isobutane ( the latter being a homogenous isomer will give a more consistent burn than the mixes where the prop. will burn off first ) should not be necessary for a cab mounted tank I would stick to butane if you can find it, as Joe says preserve your RH guarantee. That said, nothing alarming is likely to happen - unless perhaps you allow your loco to sit in a conflagration caused by a meths fired loco - there, that should start a spat ! - of course isobutane or the mixes may well be necessary in the depths of a NY winter which mercifully I have no experience of ! For that time when you have to dismantle reassemble the gas connections, get, in addition to the vital PTFE tape, some gas leak detector spray - much better than soapy water. In the UK this comes as a flourescent yellow liquid but in the US in ACE stores is a blue liquid. Do not use with the burner lit as I guess the propellant is flammable. Art Walker, Guildford
Re: 100 percent butane
Thought my remarks would cause a stirring in the Californian woods !! Sir Art of the Outhouse
Re: Fuel
Well Walt, intrigued by your question I looked up the respective chemicals in a '67 ed. of the Chemical Rubber Company ( Cleveland, Ohio - which - the company I mean - is I guess just a rust-belt memory by now ) 'Handbook of Chemistry Physics'. There is naturally no mention of BThus.but it gives heat of combustion in cals/gram MWt as follows Ethanol 327.6 Methanol 170.9 which is what you would expect I guess from the former having more Cs Hs. Outweighing this however, will probably be the fact that methanol is more volatile than ethanol so it probably 'gets thar fustest with the mostest' cf. propane/butane. Didn't they stick meths into the old piston engines to liven them up ? In the UK 'meths' is 'eths' deliberately contaminated with some 'meths' , other nasties coloured ( the additions giving it it the stink on burning ) to make it undrinkable so the government can go on extracting large sums of duty from us. All these things take in water from the atmos. of course are all produced in the cheapest way poss. which explains differences in performance between different brands. Art -a Brit not clever enough to have moved to a cabin in the Californian woods like Spenceley.
Some Steamup Pix
Pix of a very enjoyable steamup in Holland last Sunday. Art Walker A HREF="http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=44305a=3088188"Click here: PhotoPoint (Album Owner Mode) - Free, easy photo sharing and photo gallery/A
Re: In-line twin Again
Nice pic, Carl. But remember ossies consume a lot of steam so make provision for topping up the kettle ! Art Walker
Biography - Arthur W Walker
I live in Guildford, England, 59ys old recently retired. Got hooked on playing trains some 20-25 ys.ago as a result of taking my two boys to preserved railways etc. They grew up, I suffered reversion. Interests, Brit built locos for overseas, Dutch steam trams, US locos- small stuff, partic sugar cane locos is what interests me. All gauges provided can be reduced to fit on 32 or 45 mil track. Therefore have built Hawaiian loco in 1/20 scale for 45mm ga have just finished US Mogul inspired by southern states logging loco in 1/32 scale for 45mm ga. Well equipped with requisite mills lathe but skills a bit marginal. Have built my own boilers but generally use Roundhouse cylinders commercial fittings. Member GIMRA, 16Mil Assoc Guildford Sutton MESs both of which have 32mil 45 mil tracks. Apart from the activities of these societies addicted to attending Stoomgroep Zuid/Ramsdonksveer Nienoord/Leek show in Netherlands Diamondhead show in US plus Pickett's Lock Midlands ME shows in UK. Subscriber Ga1 Newsletter, 16mil Today, Onder Stoom (NL), Garden Rail (UK), Steam in the Garden Australian Model Engineering. No, I am not interested in Welsh 2-footers, but they are getting more interesting as Garratts Baldwins come in from RSA. Art
Re: Ga 1 Journal
No Chris, this was a US publication. The GIMRA mag is officially the 'Newsletter' tho' it has 'Journal' as a sub header. I am pretty certain the US pub. is defunct but I would like to find out how long it carried on so that if there are any juicy back numbers I can pursue them. Art Walker
Ga 1 Journal
While pottering around my bookshelves, I came across a few copies of the above mag, dating from '84- '86. It was edited published by a Dan B Henon. Can anyone tell me what happened to this publication ? Art Walker
Re: Who Knows? -fuel tank/boiler sizes
Look at what the commercial suppliers do work out the relative volumes of fuel tank boiler - Ok, I know there are lots of other factors but that should give some sort of starting point. Much better to fit one of the systems for replenishing the boiler water tho', then you don't need to worry so much about keeping the fuel tank size down. If you don't have an effective gauge glass you do of course need to develope that sixth sense of when the thing is out of water. Always a bit more worrying with a gas fired loco cf. meths, where you can rely on the disappearance of the forced draft to damp the fire. Art Walker
Re: Dura-Board
I imagine this is a trade name. Could anyone tell me what this stuff is, ? industrial grade PVC or what, as I am interested in finding a source this side of the pond. I have run on Walt's portable track at Diamondhead it is great. Art Walker, Guildford
