Capitulating to oil cups

I don’t believe I’ve ever had so much difficulty drilling holes. Five #80 drill bits lined up like casualties of war (where are their flags?), and not one successful hole achieved. #622 had oil cups mounted mid-way down the crosshead guides. They are quite prominent in the photos, and I would love to model them. […]

Cylinder dry fit

Fitting the the crosshead guides into the first cylinder took a morning’s filing. Perhaps it would have been quick work with a milling machine, but I didn’t find that the drawing as designed enabled me to assemble the parts the way I wanted anyway. There is still finishing to complete in the corners so the […]

Brakes Re-revisited (again)

I’ve lost track: this may be the fourth time I’ve designed 622’s brakes. But this time, I have real data to go upon, rather than just conjecture. In 2018, we discovered that the Prairie Dog Central’s #3 has the same pattern of brakes, and despite being out of storage and battery, I did manage to […]

HO steampunk bead

My first design for the cylinders made the end caps too thick. Six inches felt good at the time, but when I finally dropped a cylinder to the Assembly view in OnShape, I found the steam chest would overlap the end caps. Sadly, I saved that little virtual test until after I had finished the […]

Drawer organizer

I’ve been on a drawer organization binge since Christmas Eve. That’s when the bottom fell out of the tray in the kitchen junk drawer amid a cloud of unseasonal language. I emptied the whole drawer, evaluated and binned the true junk (including about 1/2 inch of tooth picks, which lined the bottom of the drawer) […]

A little mock rhythm

A few weeks ago, as I was contemplating the composition of Pembroke, I noted that I want to pull the viewer through the space between the Pembroke Milling Company and the CA freight shed. The existing mockups had their roof ridges parallel to the backdrop to simplify hiding the join with the backdrop. However, in […]

Crosshead guides

As with the crossheads themselves, I am surprised the guides folded up successfully. Each slide bar is made of two layers, with half-etched detail, and until their free ends are fixed to the yoke, they remain quite delicate. I completely mangled a set as I removed them from the fret, but fortunately, there were spares. […]

Crossheads for 622

When I drew them up, I seriously doubted the pattern for the crossheads would work. Indeed, I included an extra pair on the drawing in case the first didn’t turn out, at least I could try again. As it happens, the train spirits were watching out for me, and the patterns nearly worked as designed. […]

Firebox weight

As with most other parts of 622, I wound up making the firebox weight twice. The first time was pretty bad due to an incomplete burnout of the wax or poor flow of the lead. The second one turned out passably well, and only took one attempt to carve the wax! As you can see, […]

622 under power

Honestly, I don’t know how America ever became great in the first place, having invented the Phillips head screw! The things strip too easily, and even when they’re not stripped, they don’t hold onto your screwdriver and you have to press down to make them work. The reassembly of 622 had to wait until I […]