I have never put a build log on this forum -so it is possibly high time that I did… The loco that I am going to detail how I build is a New York Central Railroad “S” Motor. This locomotive is detailed in Henry Greenlys book “Electric Locomotives and Railways”. But, the major problem with this is the fact that the book is from 1928, I have basically had to completely redraught all the drawings, re-examine all the constructional techniques, (especially technologies) -that went into the design for the original model.
This locomotive existed in two configurations the original one was a 1-D0-1 -however this was found to be unstable at high (for 1900’s) speed and the design was altered for 2-D0-2 (after the crash…)
It is isn the 2-D0-2 form that I have drawn up my plans and ideas for construction with(!)
Anyone who knows me knows that my basic technique is to build a plywood chassis or former and then to plate it with ABS sheet. The same will apply here. This is raw plywood former:
The body is 45cm long and 14cm at it’s widest (13.5mm scale) and is 5 layer birch ply (5mm thick). Yes, I could stand on it -but rather too strong than it breaking!!!
Here is an internal shot of the former. The battery compartments can be seen at each end and the compartments labelled A and B. The four 4mm set screws in the centre section will hold the chassis frame for the power axles, (there are of course four of them), which will be powered by two 25Watt motors. In the end compartments you can see the set screws which hold the Adams Bogie for each end of the loco.
The next shot is rather blurry -but is the best of three attempts… The Adams Bogie mounting can be seen here. It pivots on a central axis, there are two lateral springs to centre it and two springs at 45 deg to vertical and horizontal to aid "st
Neat project, Ralph. It’s a bit on the ugly side but has interesting qualities -
The banking motion of the trucks sounds like a rather elegant mechanical solution to what the Acela uses hydraulics to accomplish. What was considered high speed for the day? Was the banking motion required because these beasts were top heavy?
The loco does not actually “bank”, the bogie simply moves across the frame at a rate proportional to the rate of cornering. The original problem with the loco was that it had a very low centre of gravity, (due to the BiPolar motor drive), and when it cornered at high speed, (over 70mph), the single front axle spread the gauge of the track causing a derailment. Wether this would have happened with european style track in chairs is debatable, but there was more than some suspicion of the track spiking sheering at the crash site.
As you say -it is ugly. But it does have its redeeming qualities. I have already ordered the name plates for it -and yes they do say “MAUDE”…
Its allright about looks cause they lasted untill the 70’s before being retired, something like 70-75 years may evrything we buy last that well. (never gona happon, but we can wish right?)
I work mostly in styrene, so watching a construction of an engine made of wood looks pretty interesting. And, I don’t think the engine is that ugly. Each engine has its charms.
Well Sunday afternoon has finished -and so have I for the time being! The front and rear lids for the battery compartments have been fabricated from MDF and strengthened with 5mm sq pine strip. 1mm ABS sheeting forms most of the exterior shell and I have drilled the fronts to take the pins -so that the lids pivot outwards.
The windows have been punched out by a combination of “chain drilling” and a craft knife. The holes then squared up with a grit block and some sandpaper. The roof shape has been roughed out by placing a saucepan lid over some balsa and cutting around it. The exact shape of the roof is formed by having a 30cm hack saw DELICATELY drawn across the balsa ribs until it touches the ply ends, thus giving a series of slots which can be joined up with a craft knife and then smoothed over with sandpaper.
The roof itself will be made from two 1mm thick sheets of balsa, laminated onto the ribs with “Croyd Aero” cement. The final layer of the roof will be 0.5mm thick ABS sheet held on with epoxy glue thinned down with meths to a brushable consistency.
Yes it was considered fast (70 mph) for its day and very revolutionary. The early versions has a single lead wheel which put too much stress on the rails leading to derailements, the later versions had a double bogie like your side view. I plan to build a single wheel version.
Vic, -read the first paragraph of the build diary…
If you care to check your mail you might find something of interest -but please do not publish it elsewhere. I looked at the original version (pre-1907) and decided on the later version as being more stable. It will have to corner at what are, (for Gauge 3), very tight radii. I have all the calculations for the original version -I used the von Borres formulae to calculate the lengths of the axle offset and pivot lengths. If you give me the MINIMUM radius that the loco will have to take then I can simply drop this into the spreadsheet and give you the dimensions in MILLIMETRES
I have actually just returned to it after the furore that always accompanies the Financial Year End!!! I have sanded and scraped all the corners square and I am now in the process of “plating” it with ABS sheeting. The roof is glued down (it is made from a sheet of balsa and will be plated with a 20 thous sheet of ABS). The original method that I had thought of for getting power to the drive axles will not be as robust as I had originally thought. So what I am going to do is to mount the drive mechanism inside the main body of the loco and take off the power through chains to each of the four drive axles.
It will still have the twin Johnson motors and the PWAM controller to them however. I have found that (from my EF-1 built) that the vibration from the Worm/Spur drive setup caused the motor to sway and thus wear out the Spur gear at a VERY fast rate!!! This time everything will be fixed in place inside the cab and the chains will take the strain. I will using a reduction of 16 to 1 and I will link the two motors together with a common shaft.
Here you can see the ABS clad model with the working drawing beneath it. It is hard to see, (white on white with flash…), but I have carved in the side doors and the set of extractor grills at each “nose” of the loco. The drawing is for the original pre 1907 1-D0-1 configuration -I do have a set of drawing for the 2-D0-2 chassis to go underneath it -but this has yet to be fully dimensioned.
The chassis frame will be piece built in brass and aluminium, that is made from strips -not cut from a single sheet. Certain features will be “appliqued” into postion -and then epoxied. Others will have to be silver soldered (such as the horn blocks and grease boxes) and some pieces will actually be rivitted into position -but with 3mm and 4mm “pop” rivits. I do have a set of “snaps” but I lack the small thumbs -in short I have large hands!!!
Several people have asked, (very politely), “What is the loco that appears in the background of some of the shots?” This is actually a NER EF-1 (North Eastern Railway Electric Freight 1). This is actually a contempory of the NYC “S” motor and I thought it might be interesting to build the two of them -as each is a typical example of the “English” and “American” schools of locomotive design of the Edwardian period…
You can instantly see the typical English “plate frame” construction, in that the two sides of the bogie are cut from a single sheets, (in the original they were 2 inches thick), with inspection holes punched through them to change brake shoes and tighten linkages. Other typical English things are the red buffer beams and the “instanter” coupling chains. The only typical NER thing about it is -the white painted buffers!
On the “to build” list are PRR GG1 and NER EE-1, both express locomotives, of the same mid wars period -but unfortunately EE-1 was destined to be an inhabitant of Darlington Paint Shed for most of it’s life…
I’ve followed your work for a couple years on various forums. Just as you do, I enjoy watching locomotives that I’ve built running along the tracks. I’m sure I would enjoy watching them even more if I had your ability to construct the mechanisms to run the engines. Meanwhile, I am simply consumed with awe and envy.
Well a couple of days have passed and I have made some use of my time. The bulk of the superstructure is complete and has been primed and wet sanded to death!!! I have used an oblique flash shot and (hopefully) all the carved detail that was invisible last time has revealed itself in the shadows.
The dimensions for the chassis have been (finally) worked out, the main problem was getting wheels of a small enough diameter but with a gauge 3 profile -however LNWR 10 ton coal wagon wheels are pretty close -so that this is what I have based my calculations on. (V.Smith Esq -please take note…)
The transverse I beams will be made from two U sections of aluminium extrusion epoxied together the main chassis “bar” will be a single sheet of 64 thou brass with the horn guides bolted to it, (this will hold it in place while I hit it with the silver solder)… The front bar work will have to built in a jig, then silver soldered together. The “doughnut” will be the point where the differing parts of the frame join, (with a pop rivit), and I intend to epoxy the other end of the frame to the transverse I beam. This part of the chassis is actually decorative as the Adams bogie is fixed to the floor of the superstructure and makes no contact with the chassis at all.
Well after having persuaded Cambrian Models to part with some of their goods, (and evetually supply me with the right ones…) I have spent a very taxing Sunday Afternoon applying stuff to the outside of the "S"Motor. The “Applique” material is a combination of Cambrian and Garden Railway Specialist “G64” stuff. Non of which was ever intended to fit an Edwardian era American locomotive -but by dint of main force and a knife can be made to look as if it should be there!!!
The door handles and such like are Cambrian moldings, the external rivited iron worn is GRS stuff -actually designed for a “Wisbech and Upwell” coach! The holes drilled inot the body work show where the handles and stand off for the railings fit.
A pencil line is drawn in the primer then cross marked with a pair of compasses (the dent made by the point is hidden under the rivit). The rivits are then cut off the sprue and arranged face up with a paint brush. A length of wire is dipped into THICK CA and delicately “dobbed” at the cross points. The rivits are then pushed into the dobs of CA and set there. I found that doing more than 4 at a time caused the glue to set by the time I was on the 5th… The gaps between the rivits are at 4mm intervals -a scale 3 inches. I know the rivits are slightly over scale at 1 inch across, but to be honest if anyone would like to file them to the correct radius -they are welcome to do so!
