# The 1/20th steam engine project



## Amber (Jul 29, 2011)

I recently started yet another project, this one an engine. I've been at a standstill on the other projects, lack of inspiration and lack of detail parts mostly. That plus my attention was drawn to this project. I've been slowly collecting parts from ebay for an old engine project that's been sitting for a long time, those Delton C-16 parts for sale on ebay got me thinking about it again. I bought a boiler part and the smokebox part to see if they would work for the frame and drivers that I had put together a bunch of years ago before I stopped modelling for a while. They seemed to be a pretty good fit so I was looking for more parts when the guy listed the firebox end of the C-16 boiler on ebay. I ended up buying that, running boards, the cylinder set, and the frame separately from the same seller. I bought the frame because I was going to cut the front of it off to use on my project along with the cylinders.
Once I got the parts, my curiosity got me to wondering if the pair of Bachmann drivers from a Colombia engine that I've had sitting around would fit in the frame. Well, the axles do fit in the slots in the frame, so that got me thinking about yet another engine project.

I only had the 2 sets of drivers, and I couldn't find any others on ebay, so I wrote a post here on the forum asking if anyone had any old drivers and parts that they didn't need and would be willing to part with. Ted Nordin was kind enough to offer me a group of parts that he had left over from a colombia engine, including the drivers and cylinders, among other things. He was also kind enough to ship them to me for no cost, which I appreciate greatly!
I tried putting the 4 sets of drivers in the Delton C-16 frame, but they're just a bit too big for the center spacing, even if I were to file off the flanges. However, with a bit of modification, I have the makings of a nice small early type 2-6-0. It will have a straight boiler instead of a "wagontop" boiler, but I can certainly live with that. I had to modify the frame and the backhead part to make it look and fit better, but it's coming along well so far. Heres a few pictures of the progress.


This is the frame before the modifications. I had already started cutting when I decided to take pictures, so the one set of springs were already cut off. Also, you can see how I cut the backhead off of the larger piece, there's the cut one and a normal one in the picture. I needed to shorten the boiler and that was the easiest way to do it.


Here it is after modifying it. As you can see, I cut the lower firebox off the frame so that I could move it forward. I also cut out a short piece of the lower boiler where the firebox will fit into it in the new position.


Here's the test fit to see how the parts will sit together. As you can see, I moved the firebox forward to sit closer to the second axle.


This is what it looks like so far. Lots more to go. Making the side rods should be interesting!
I ended up having to buy another boiler and backhead part for the other engine project, I used them for this project.


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## Amber (Jul 29, 2011)

I still need to cut the firebox shorter to match the boiler backhead.


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## ralphbrades (Jan 3, 2008)

No, you simply say that the loco uses a Lentz design corrugated firebox... Similarly you say that you use flush head riveting -which is what I do(!) 

You may find this useful. http://www.cabbagepatchrailway.co.uk/valvegear.html 

regards 

ralph


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## Amber (Jul 29, 2011)

Here's a couple of pictures of a prototype engine that this project is similar to. This engine ran on the Chicago and North Western 3 foot gauge line in south west Wisconsin, in the late 1800s and early 1900s. 

 

 

The wood cab on this engine is an interesting feature.


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## Scott (Jan 29, 2008)

WOW Amber, great work. looking forwards to seeing the end results.


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## David Fletcher (Jan 2, 2008)

Hey Amber, 
good work with this so far, and an excellent locomotive type. I respect that you're going the freelance angle, however you may like to know a little more about the actual locomotive specs you're basing your engine on. 
These tiny 2-6-0s were Baldwin Class 8-14 D, drawing 1. That is the first 2-6-0 design of the 8-14 D class, from 1879. The 8 = 8 wheels, 14 = 10" Diameter cylinder, and D = 6 coupled wheels. Which basically means an 8 wheeled loco, 6 coupled with 10" cylinders or 2-6-0! 
The design however predated this engine plan - the 8-14 D drawing 1 was taken from the even smaller 8-12 D drawing 1 design from 1878 (with 9" cylinders). Only 4 engines were built to this design, two with the 9" cylinders, and the 2 with the 10" cylinders in 1879 for the Chicago & Tomah RR (the engine in your picture). 

Some useful specs for you: 

Boiler diamter was 32" diameter unlagged, that means your boiler would be around 36-37" diamter fully lagged. 
The smokebox diameter would be about 33" diameter. 

Firebox is 40 1/3"L x 22 3/4" wide. Add 2 1/2" to front and 2" to side and rear for water space, then add approx 1/2" steel to that on all sides for the total external foot print. 

The 6 wheel diving wheel wheel base was 9' exactly. 
the total wheel base from pony truck to read axle was 14' 1" 
Cylinders internal 10" x 16" stroke. 
Driving wheels = 36", with centre driver blind. 
Diamond stack, central stack tuble was 10" internal (or about 11" external diameter). 
Crosshead water pump to the engineer's side, Injector to the fireman's side, inside the cab. 
external diamter of sand dome at central section cylinder was 17" 
Cab is ash construction, fully painted (not polished). Noted to be 6' high 'in the clear' or between floor and roof rafters. There is also a note about extending the cab height after drawing and spec were delivered. 
Wood pilot on wood pilot beam 
Pilot truck wheels - 24" diameter 

Tender 1000 gals. 8 wheel design, Frame plan 116, tank plan 118. I can help you with more on the tender if you like. 
24" diamter wheels to the tender trucks. 

Painting - Olive green and Color, style 58. 
This is a very dark green painted loco - Green similar to RAL colour standard No 6008. (like a dark brunswick green, with more brown in it). 
Linework is yellow, with additional white and red linework. I can give you the style 58 livery if you want to try and do one of these in original Baldwin colours. Style 58 is almost a dead ringer for the famous D&RG class 56 and 60 (C-16) livery from 1880 - looks something like this: 

http://4largescale.com/fletch/d1g.htm 

Lettering on the tender tank - Chicago & Tomah. 
Lettering on cab side panel - for No1 - S.J. Foster 
for No 2 - J.A Drake. 

I have not located the erection card. but the above specs would setout the drivers, boiler size, firebox to see how close you're getting, either out of interest, or to step from freelance to scale prototype modelling. 
Either way you'll have a ball. I've always loved loco building! 
Best wishes, 
David. 
Drop me a line if you want more on this.


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## Ray Dunakin (Jan 6, 2008)

Very interesting project, I look forward to seeing your progress!


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## Mik (Jan 2, 2008)

Siderods aren't too difficult If you're using the c-16 axle spacing, use the c-16 rods - with a bit of brass box in place of the section you don't need. --- When you cut the rod, leave a 1/2" stub on each piece and mill it to snug fit inside the box, then glue in place 

This main rod was done in this fashion 









As was the siderod on this. 









If you have access to a milling machine you can make them from scratch using bar aluminum or even nylon (styrene is too brittle)


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## Amber (Jul 29, 2011)

In 1/20.3 scale the boiler works out to about 40 inches across the smokebox, and the drivers are about 33 inches in diameter. The total driver wheelbase measures 8 feet 11 inches, and the spacing between the front 2 drivers is 3 feet 3 inches. The measurements are pretty close to the Chicago and Tomah engines, not too bad. 
This engine will be loosely based on that prototype, but not an exact copy of it. I'm basically using the prototype as an excuse to not have to make a "wagontop" boiler, and still be believable. It should be a good logging or mining engine as well as a narrow gauge short line engine.  
Now to solve a couple of technical issues, such as how to power it. None of the driver axles have a usable gear on them, they all had the typical cracked gear common to the old colombias. I pulled the gear off all 3 axles by twisting them with a pliars until they broke on the other side from the crack. Now to find a replacement gear or gear drive that will work on the axle. I didn't see anything specific on the NWSL website, and there's nothing listed at Bachmann's website. I'd like to power it with a NWSL idler gear drive set and whatever motor I scrounge up, but I'm not sure which size to get for the axle size. I measured it with my caliper and it says just over 1/4 inch, .236 plus or minus. I probably should call them and see what they recommend. I want to use the idler gearbox so that I can put the motor in the boiler, there's plenty of room to hide it in there. 
I missed out on the last auction for the Delton C-16 cab, hopefully he'll put another one up pretty soon. That would make it easier than trying to fabricate one, although the scale might be small for 1/20th scale.


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## Amber (Jul 29, 2011)

David, thanks for the info, it's quite useful for me! You do some really nice work! 
Mik, I thought about the C-16 side rods, but I can't get just a couple of them from ebay, he likes to sell things in quantity of 10. I was thinking about making them in brass, but aluminum would certainly be easier to work with. That's an interesting conversion to 2-6-0 that you have there, what did you use to power it?


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## Mik (Jan 2, 2008)

the 2-6-0 is/was a bug mauler drive... I later tore that apart and used the front and rear axle to make a 2-4-4 Mason 

And yes, the 1/24 c-16 cab is probably too small for 1/20 OTOH the bug mauler cab can easily be made to fit the c-16 chassis


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## Amber (Jul 29, 2011)

I've been making slow progress on the engine, between all the other non railroad projects. The garden tends to take up a fair amount of my time.  
I've been working on the frame to make it look a bit more realistic. 

 

I'm opening up the frame between the second and third axles to give it a better look and also to get rid of the unused axle hole. I plan on putting the suspension equalizer details in the opening and then putting ashpan walls behind that inside the frame to give it strength. The rear frame "triangle" will be left open. I might hang a set of brake cylinders back there for detail. I still need to figure out how to make the rear cab supports for the frame, but that really shouldn't be too hard to do.


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## Mik (Jan 2, 2008)

It's sort of an open secret, but the guy on fleabay with the NOS stuff is pretty accommodating. - if you ask nicely for about 10 items he'll put together a private fixed price ebay sale for the exact lot of stuff you need.


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## trainbuffjr (Jan 11, 2008)

A very interesting project! I look forward to seeing this project progress.


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## Amber (Jul 29, 2011)

I actually did manage to get a couple more things done on this project, I just need to get a couple of pictures taken so I can post them.


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## Amber (Jul 29, 2011)

Here's a few pictures of the progress. 
This is the frame with the work done to it to get rid of the 3rd axle hole and put in a mock up of the springs for the second and last axle. The spring should be longer, but it was all I had to work with. The basic design comes from Quincy & Torch Lake #1, a Brooks engine. It has different axle spacing, but the springs between the middle and last axles are set up this way. Also, the lower cover has the fire box ash pan mockup on it. 
 

Here's how the two parts fit together. 
 

With the boiler mounted. 
 

Drive wheels mounted. 
 

Here it is on the track with the lead truck wheels and the possible sand dome and steam dome. Those are PVC pipe caps, one is 1/2 inch, the other is 3/4s inch pipe.


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## Amber (Jul 29, 2011)

Next, I have to work on the cab, and then details.


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## up9018 (Jan 4, 2008)

Nice job so far Amber. This is an interesting build, keep us posted on the progress. 

Chris


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