[Max Simons]

Hello!

This is my first post here! I am a hobby machinist. .....when my wife and son let me have some time to myself. I recently acquired a full set of castings and plans for Martin Evans Greene King 4-6-0 live steam locomotive and tender. I'm fairly new to model engineering and the whole live steam culture. Is there anybody out there who has experience with building castings that are manufactured by reeves? Any tips or pointers?

 

[Bill Veloz]

If you have Facebook then there is a very useful site here https://www.facebook.com/groups/459220364118694/ . You can download it onto your pc as well.
It is the Miniature Railway and Engineering for sale group, but they do welcome questions and I am certain you will get help there.

 

[John Webb]

If you can find a model engineering society within reasonable reach, I would recommend joining it. Not only will you find assistance and guidance in putting your model together, but will have somewhere to run it on completion as well.

There is a comprehensive list of both UK and some overseas clubs, with links, at http://www.modelengineeringwebsite.com/Clubs.html.

Best wishes for the build,

John Webb

 

[dwb]

I would second John's suggestion. I am sure that you will find a club with members who will be keen to assist you.

David

 

[LTSR]

Green King was written up as a construction series in the Model Engineer Magazine some decades ago but at my age don't expect me to remember which one!

The up side is that the relevant issues are probably all in my collection, the down side is that I have ME's going back to 1898 -- that is an awful lot of volumes to hunt through! PLEASE say you don't want me to!!!

The down side of live steam building is not the machining but the boiler making, you need a whole new skill set and an awful lot of heat not to mention the price of the copper. If you have any ambitions to run it in public you will need a boiler certificate, (the EU safety elves lump your little boiler in the same legislation for places like Drax), so it might be worth considering a professionally made one that comes with a certificate.

 

[dwb]

QUOTE If you have any ambitions to run it in public you will need a boiler certificate

All model engineering clubs will require the loco to have a certificate even if the public are not admitted to running days. There's a lot of power in steam at 80psi. It's not something you want to release in an uncontrolled manner.

David

 

[LTSR]

The construction series for Greene King was started in volume 143 of the Model engineer Magazine.