# live steam aleegheny



## casey wilmunder (Jan 2, 2008)

Hi

My name is Casey Wilmunder i have been looking at alot of differnt
company's for a couple of years for a live seam loco,Accucraft,
Roundhouse,and etc,i finally found a aster allegheny kit for sale
and looking at purshing it. i do know steam an mechs but
are the aster allegheny's a good loco to build and run
i know they are very detailed but have never seen any
pics.

Sincerely

Casey Wilmunder


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## Michael (Jan 6, 2008)

Casey,

the Aster Allegheny is a good loco, but not a good loco to built. I have assembled quite some Aster kits, but the Allegheny was an awkward one. Despite the steep price (and Aster's usual high standards) the fitting accurayc of many parts left room for improvement. So I wouldn't recommend it for beginners. Nevertheless, the finished loco is worth the trouble.
Photos can be found here
 my.reset.jp/~mr2666/

Here's a short video of my loco (skip the first half)
youtube.com/watch

Michael


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## tacfoley (Jan 3, 2008)

Now I know that ALL you guys are millionnaires!!! I sure as heck didn't have $20,000 spare when I was thirteen years old. /DesktopModules/NTForums/themes/mls/emoticons/blink.gif

tac
www.ovgrs.org


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## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

My memory may be failing, but aren't the only Allegheny kits the ones that the 'speculator' in PA bought many years ago? 

Casey, we had a discussion on these last year, and it appears the kits are sold 'as is' and may be missing parts. Do an archive search (new and old forums) for more details.


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## casey wilmunder (Jan 2, 2008)

Hi

Ok would there be any builers log on an allegheny kit like some pics or  more
video.Tac i do alot with live steam much older than my age working on an re-
building fullsize an narrow gauge locos and running them firing them since i 
was 4-5 i remember the boiler room of my grandfather's steam boat and 
hearing the the single cynlinders pushing the paddle wheel and working
with my dad on the now serria northen and the famous skunk tran/califor
western railroad and working with my dad's equp the heisler an porter
i do really build 45mm live steam locos just takes me along time because 
of school an sometimes homework.and the allegheny price has gone
up they are increase in vavlue every year now there is 3 kits left or 4
if i change my mind the person at sunset valley railroad that sells
track new,used locos an cars had 8 of them from a person he bought
8 and stored them in a vault,then vault flooded and he sold the locos
and already 4 of them have been sold u can eather buy them in
kit or built . the built price is alot higher than the kit price.

sincerely
Casey   Wilmunder


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## Steve S. (Jan 2, 2008)

There is a MLS member that is building one now.  He has posted several times, and ran it at Dr. Rivets last meet.  Maybe he can give you some info.  I hear that once you get one built and set up correctly they are one of Aster's best.


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## Rob Meadows (Jan 6, 2008)

Casey, If you haven't done so already. you should be having this conversation with Pete Comley(Sunset Valley). No one is more experienced than he at building locomotives. He can tell you how easy/hard the build will be, how well it will run and how it compares to other Asters.


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## Kovacjr (Jan 2, 2008)

The one that John Allman ran at Dr Rivets was one of the flooded locos..... He also bought it due to my posting of my find at a PA pawn shop. Im glad someone benefited from my efforts. There was a lot of surface rust on parts that had no paint or not perfect paint. I saw the H8 run this weekend again and it still is a a deal if you get it for the right price. BTW what has he quoted you for the kit and built kit??? If Im not mistaken the value had not increased or decreased but stayed excatly where they sold for 7 years ago. Thats kit form though. Built Im sure would fetch a lower price as all the Aster nuts want to built it themself, thats the allure of Aster in my mind. Lions to the Bigboy that are all incredible kits. The H8 manual from what John was explaining to me was not that great and included many photos but not the isometric drawings they usually included. 

Casey what happened to you building a run of live steam Masonbogies the Ciricket and the others you posted???? Seem to be spreading yourself pretty thin for 13 and still in school?? 

Still awaiting photo you keep promising


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## casey wilmunder (Jan 2, 2008)

Hi 

Im still working on the crickets its just all the 8th grade testing is coming up and
im going to D.C for a week in may.The mason bogie was going alright was starting 
to order parts but most like bbt was still casting the truck and winn when he gets
back he was going too mail me the cylinder drawing so i can start maching
a couple of sets.also have not recived a email back from harold in germany that
builds the laser cut frames i dont think it went through i will try him again
the crickets a going good im starting to machine about 10 sets of wheels
ans start to figure out what schme i want to go with english,baldwin
for the steam domes and start rough cuting the copper for the boilers
the way every thing is going should have at least one or more for diamond-
head and try to bring out a half or fully built mson bogie,i called mo loc
and he said he had the bell an startstanchions in but really no wheels
,the orgren pony im starting to work on the drawings and gear ratio
and the mandrea sugar i have been trying to work with  henner 
on the building process.the 3 foot heisler im working on going to get sent 
down to the s.f area soon for new flues and some boiler work.
the porter is doing fine with new rod bearings and new rods
nickled and all the brass polished im now strting to cast some 7/8s
headlights and working on a swithstand and trying to buy a 1:20:3
switch stand mold and sell castings i have been doing alot still dont
have high speed and my account is not upgraded.
i will get pics soon i will.


sincerely

Casey Wilmuder

some of my spelling is not good
on this post or puncation


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## John Allman (Jan 2, 2008)

Jason - its the Berkshire that does not have the isometric drawings. In my mind that made it more difficult to understand the assembly than using isometric drawings. However, while complex, it was not particularly difficult. The Allegheny is a different animal because it is more than just two locomotives rolled into one. Assembling it is not hard, though I probably spent over 200 hours now. At issue is if you do not have it running perfectly upon assembly, you need some experience to know what to change to make it work. I would not recommend anyone start with the Allegheny for that reason. But assembling it mostly just takes time. Perfecting it takes experience. I could build a second one in a third less time because I now know what to watch for and how all the various assemblies interact. If you decided to get one and you have difficulty with an assembly, contact me via email and I will see what I can do to help. 

My particular kit has turned out well. I am happy with it. Han's H-8 will probably run better than mine, as he as forgotten more about them than I ever knew. He is very good at responding to questions about assembly. Between him, Pete and myself, I feel pretty sure anyone with patience could build a kit successfully. 

John


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

I built one Aster  Mike in about 20 hours... slightly less time than the instructions said would be the minimum!  And that included lots of time spent just gazing in awe at the beauty and precision of the many parts!  The only problem I had with the first one was really simple once I figure out how to manipulate the Link Block to fall into the Walschearts link.

I then decided that I had to try double-heading, so I bought a second kit.  HEY, I have already put ONE together and it was a real snap so second one should be even better!  And being that I'm a "red blooded American Male", I don't need no stinkin' instructions... I can slap this baby together in no time at all!!!

FAMOUS LAST WOIDS!

Took a few hours longer for the second one, due to my getting ahead of myself and assembling things that needed some other item installed first.

But still, a very satisfying time to assemble my own steam locomotive.


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## zephyra (Jan 2, 2008)

The Allegheny is very impressive when working well. I've have mine pulling a couple of dozen heavy coal hoppers at very low speed and it looks really good.The problem is that it requires a lot of time and attention to keep it working well. My latest problem is that the tender trucks are literally coming apart and the underlying issue is that the design is pretty complex and the tolerances aren't good enough to give resilience against real world track condiitions. 

The other issue is that the track has to be in pretty good condition - it is so long that any twist in the track can cause one of the other of the engines to derail - I found this a particular problem comin into the slight bank I had built into the curved sections of my track. Also 3m radius is the absolute minimum. 

I posted a short video to youtube of my first run - which wasn't a compelte success!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsAqng5f0WU


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## Michael (Jan 6, 2008)

Zephyra wrote: 
"...Also 3m radius is the absolute minimum...." 

Just for the record: Basically yes, nevertheless the radius in my video above is just 9' or 2.75 m, and it works, too! 
Michael


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