While a working wood model would look great made of rare hard woods, for our individual education I think the animated running gear demos on the internet work pretty well, especially when the page allows slowing down the action to see each step. http://home.new.rr.com/trumpetb/loco/ Good resource site
http://www.tcsn.net/charlied/ Lots of valves I never heard of except on this site. Idling away time on the computer sometimes when not Steaming & Sparking over Terror Trestle in Eugene, Oregon ~ Gary http://www.angelfire.com/or/trainguy http://community.webshots.com/user/raltzenthor