Southern Pacific PS-4 Build

[Some Kind Of Monster]

Many of you have heard about the train project my Dad and I are working on but have never seen it so I thought I'd throw up some pics. This is about 25 years of on and off work. All parts have been machined and made by us in our home shop. It is finally to the stage where we can run it on air, but when it's done it will be a fully functioning replica of a Southern Pacific Ps-4 steam locomotive.

 

[DirtyWhiteBoy]

That is waaaay cool! how big is that thing?


Looks great:thumbsup

 

[Some Kind Of Monster]

That is waaaay cool! how big is that thing?


Looks great:thumbsup

Thank you. Here is one that someone else built for scale reference.

 

[Riverbound]

Thank you. Here is one that someone else built for scale reference.

Oh the photochops that TBI could do with this....

 

[Some Kind Of Monster]

Oh the photochops that TBI could do with this....

Have at it. It isn't me or anyone I know

 

[Classic Daycruiser]

25 year project? Very kool, but lets get it done, so you can move on to building a dinner car with a full bar:thumbsup

 

[Some Kind Of Monster]

25 year project? Very kool, but lets get it done, so you can move on to building a dinner car with a full bar:thumbsup

We work on it on our spare, spare time Plus if you have ever met an anal perfectionist machinist, that is my Dad times 2. I honestly wouldn't expect to see a conclusion to this thread for a very long time, although it would be nice to see a finished product in the near future. I honestly think my Dad is waiting for retirement to jump on this full time.

 

[sonic]

That is the coolest thing I've seen

 

[Some Kind Of Monster]

That is the coolest thing I've seen

Thank you. We are working on the cab right now. Notice the cardboard template. :hmm

 

[Flyinbowtie]

Absolutely bitchen bad ass..
I stay away from model railroading of any type. I know myself too well, and only one bte would be needed to cost me thousands of dollars.
Yours is way cool.
Someday, I'd like to be worthy of the tag "machinist", and work my way up to anal from there.

 

[TBI]

That thing is badass! :thumbsup

 

[RiverDave]

I used to know a guy named "Avery" out here in southern california.

Avery was an englishmen that came to the states after WWII. Most people don't realize it, but when all the good tools back then were made in germany, so when they went to war, England was pretty much screwed on the mfg side of things. Avery was trained by the english government to repair calipers, micrometers and just about anything else you could think of.. that is how my path crossed with him. If you were in Southern california and you called any of the big tool shops they'd refer you to Avery to fix tools.

While at his house I noticed something holding his door open. About 2 1/2 feet tall with all sorts of tubes going through the center of it etc.. I asked him what it was and it was the main barrell of a scale train (heater / super heater etc..) In talking with him he eventually got out the finished product and I was blown away.. It took him 7 years to build it, and every single part he made himself..

The next time I went to Avery's house he had 4 or 5 more of them out to show me.. LOL Steam rollers, trains, etc.. etc.. About 40 years of a hobby.

The stack by his door was one that he sent out and had pressure tested to be certified and it had failed. I asked him if he ever runs them? He said no, not to often.. Mostly on compressed air. I said why does it matter then? He said that he knew it wouldn't work, and if it didn't work then what was the point of building it.

I haven't seen Avery in a decade or so, I expect he has passed on as he was pretty old the last time I saw him. Everytime I see one of these things it makes me think of him, and the immense amount of talent that he had.

RD

 

[Community]

Gotta go to Live Steamers in Griffith park here in LA. Some really cool stuff there.

 

[Some Kind Of Monster]

I used to know a guy named "Avery" out here in southern california.

Avery was an englishmen that came to the states after WWII. Most people don't realize it, but when all the good tools back then were made in germany, so when they went to war, England was pretty much screwed on the mfg side of things. Avery was trained by the english government to repair calipers, micrometers and just about anything else you could think of.. that is how my path crossed with him. If you were in Southern california and you called any of the big tool shops they'd refer you to Avery to fix tools.

While at his house I noticed something holding his door open. About 2 1/2 feet tall with all sorts of tubes going through the center of it etc.. I asked him what it was and it was the main barrell of a scale train (heater / super heater etc..) In talking with him he eventually got out the finished product and I was blown away.. It took him 7 years to build it, and every single part he made himself..

The next time I went to Avery's house he had 4 or 5 more of them out to show me.. LOL Steam rollers, trains, etc.. etc.. About 40 years of a hobby.

The stack by his door was one that he sent out and had pressure tested to be certified and it had failed. I asked him if he ever runs them? He said no, not to often.. Mostly on compressed air. I said why does it matter then? He said that he knew it wouldn't work, and if it didn't work then what was the point of building it.

I haven't seen Avery in a decade or so, I expect he has passed on as he was pretty old the last time I saw him. Everytime I see one of these things it makes me think of him, and the immense amount of talent that he had.

RD

RD
That reminds me of a geltleman at the local club: Maricopa Live Steamers @ McCormick Railroad Park. His name was Al Humbardt I believe and every time I would go out to the park, this guy would have a different train out there that he built by hand. He was retired of course and had an unhealthy obsession with trains but it blew me away what he was able to do with his hands in a short period of time.

So far what you see here is the product of "an hour here, an hour there" work for more years than I can remember. We have it rigged to run on compressed air right now just for testing purposes but it will be a true scale working steam engine and we fully intend to run it as such.