Crank pin proof of concept

The M0.6 screws and nuts arrived just before the Railway Modellers’ Meet, and now that most of the dust has settled, I’ve spent a part of a glorious spring morning trying out my idea for a crank pin. When the weather’s as nice as this, progress on the locomotive has to slow down. Vancouver winters […]

Engine truck: two steps forward, one step back

Obviously, things were going too well. Parts were literally flying off the frets and attaching themselves to the frame. I was hopeful of actually hitting my deadline. The optimism continued as I folded up the the engine truck. Even tacking the bottom chord onto the side frames worked reasonably easily, despite being a flawed design […]

Finished with casting drivers

After a couple of do-overs, I’ve finished casting the drivers for 622. It has not been a fast process, but at least it works, and I believe it results in a reasonably good wheel. I really should have remastered the mold before starting, as every wheel needed a little carving to account for overzealous application […]

First driver is somewhat disappointing

After the engine truck wheels, you might think the drivers would be an assured success. But I tell you, the first little blighter was harder to settle than my kids on Christmas Eve. No sooner would I push it into the cavity than it would edge back up and ask for another glass of water. […]

Drivers on half-axles

Before mounting the drivers on their half-axles, I had to clean up their backs. This is a touchy task due to the Proto:87 flanges, which disappear in a heartbeat and a string of expletives if you’re not paying attention. The best approach was to face only up to the portion of the wheel formed by […]

Approach for spokes

I was beginning to despair this Wednesday as I worried away at a test wheel with files and Dremel. The 304 stainless is about as hard as the first batch of cookies I ever baked. As with those tooth-breakers, I felt I was probably wearing out my tools faster than I was shaping the spokes. […]

Driver blanks for 622

It has taken a week longer than I wanted to turn the drivers for 622. These are made from 303 stainless steel, which I’m fairly convinced is almost the limit for my little Sherline lathe. Certainly, all tools need to be sharp, and shallow cuts are de rigeur. Along the way, I have seen a […]

Soldering wheel centres

I dragged out the resistance soldering unit this morning to solder those centres into their tyres. On the first wheel, I experimented with solder paste and a torch, but ultimately settled on the RSU. So, with only twelve joins to make, I started work with the RSU again. This time, I found that after the […]

Spoke filing fixture

I didn’t write about it before, but filing that first wheel centre was like trying to wash a cat – slippery and occasionally painful. There seemed to be no good way to grasp it. Worse, as I was filing bits away, the challenge levelled up! By the time I was at panther level, I was […]

Any wheel I want

Looking back on 2018, it would be easy to despair about the amount I didn’t accomplish on Pembroke. Two floods put a damper on things (so to speak), and many non-rail projects also ate my year. However, the singular achievement of the year came on January 1st of this new year, when I pulled the […]