Steam & Electric & Diesel
When I first started out it was fairly obvious to me that all of my locos would HAVE to be Steam Outline and powered by electric motors with internal batteries. This was dictated by the position of the layout, (at the bottom of the garden), and most importantly -my son. I knew that my son would have to "Pway Twainth" with Daddy so I built a layout that was very child friendly and had structures that could be walked upon -by me!!! He and his cousins grew up and now in our final home we have a large garden and can indulge myself with large scale live steam locomotives.
I still have a strong 16mm background even though I am now moving up into Gauge 3 (or 2 1/2 inch gauge). This perhaps gives me a more balanced view on the larger gauge, (but smaller scale), locomotives and rolling stock that I will have to build. Although I have built articulated locos for my 16mm scale equipment, I have moved elsewhere and begun to examine early electric locomotives for my Gauge 3 equipment -but I am still, (at the moment), keeping within my late Victorian to Edwardian Era.
I have found that building even, (what appears to be), very simple Edwardian Era electric locomotives is at least an order of magnitude HARDER than building a 16mm steam outline loco...
When I spoke to a fellow member of the Gauge 3 Society on the telephone, he asked about my first locomotive. (The then incomplete NER EF-1) .
"Does it burn coal?"
"No", I replied "It's electric".
"Electric???"
"Yes", I replied, "It has pantographs",
"Oh? Oh! It's electric -I see...".
Later at a meeting I had my completed EF-1 and my S-Motor, and yes, I was the only person there running electric locos -my son helped with the steam locos. Did I feel embarrassed -no. I enjoyed the sight and smell of real live steam locos running around and I enjoyed the conversations -even though most people thought I was insane!!!
Some notes on Electric Locomotive construction:
Currently I am giving great thoughts a to what will be the first Gauge 3 steam locomotive that I will run on my, (as yet still unlaid), tracks. The mathematics say that 4-6-4 is the biggest fixed wheel base that I could get around my curves -this means a "Baltic Tank" or a "Hudson plus tender". Really there are only two Baltic tanks that are usable and they are the Furness Railway one and the LBSC one. Of the two of them, The Furness Railway one is available as a set of commercial plans, while the LBSC one is available as a simple plan, side, and elevation drawing -but at full Gauge 3 scale! To be honest with you it is HIGHLY LIKELY that I will go for the LBSC one -as this will require more work. Maybe it is something deep within me but I feel that I have to do it the way I feel -rather than follow someone else's way of doing it. Probably when the time to build it arrives -I will have a son who can help me!
Some notes on Steam Locomotive construction:
See Steam Loco list of plans.pdf
See Steam Loco list of kits.pdf
If you examine my era Late Victorian to Late Edwardian then why I am contemplating building a diesel? I know that early diesel era designs were, "problematic", to say the least. If I was going to have a diesel, then it would have to be a Derby designed one. This leaves me with the LMS 10,000 and The Fell. The LMS 10,000 was subject to almost weekly design changes and although she is lovely in her Black and Silver -I feel that I could never get it "right". This leaves me with The Fell. The Fell has two advantages, (honestly!), it never really changed its physical outline and the method of propulsion is visually interesting. But most importantly -it could actually be powered by internal combustion.
Some notes on Diesel Engine construction:
So, when a foreign loco arrives on your tracks spare some thought for the builder of it.
If it is steam powered, the builder will have had to go through the agonies of a boiler test and steam pressure test along with the hideous maths involved with valve gear.
If it is electric powered then the builder will have had to examine everything about his motors, (torque curves and power supplies), maybe he has sat down and worked out his quill drive springing and done the correct Hookes law conversions to radians.
If the loco is diesel then it has a fine pedigree and the builder is to be congratulated on his accomplishment. I haven't even begun to source the formulae required to make one work -let alone sit down and decide HOW to make one work!!!
In my short life as a modeller I have seen: Steam locomotives with both pistons and turbines, Electric locomotives with conrods and gears, and Diesels of various types. None of which I have looked down on. To me the most important question I ask to any builder is: "Why did you choose to build that?" I often find that the answers are even more interesting than the models!!!
regards
ralph