A nice little steam "project"

Post by **Suzsmokeyallan** » Fri Jun 19, 2009 5:13 pm

Lets build one of these A1 class locos from scratch since there are none left.

http://www.a1steam.com/

bighole · Post by **bighole** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 5:36 am

Very impressive when you think about it Allen. The last one was scrapped forty years ago so they built one from scratch! I have always been amazed by steam locomotives. I was a diesel locomotive engineer for several years and steam is a totally different animal! The people who used to run those things back in the day were truly operators and artists.
Every nut and bolt is made to expand as the entire locomotive will be several inches longer when under steam, and it was all designed with slide rule technology!
-John

diamondj · Post by **diamondj** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 8:26 am

Very neat! You would think "logically" that it would not be hard to duplicate something first built in 1889 until you actually try to do it. I remember reading about George Beale building replicas of the Honda RC174 six cylinder 250cc race bike. Honda built these in the mid to late 60's and gave George Beale permission to build replicas in 1998 - a mere 30 odd years later. The comment that stuck with me was when they were duplicating the engine: "some of the alloys and surface treatments used were quite unknown to modern science"..... Seems like the further we advance, the more we lose in terms of practical knowledge....

Post by **Suzsmokeyallan** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 10:13 am

I'm definately more into steam locos than the diesels, its the look and the sound the whole experience. Some people say 'its the closest thing man has built to a machine that appears to be alive'.
Either way they certainly are amazing machines with a complexity of their own, and to think this was all done over 100 years ago with basic tools for drawing/creating them.
What always amazes me is how freely a loco can roll on a track, just one little nudge on the throttle and 100 plus tons of engine can crawl along for what seems like an eternity in the yard.
Theres also a lot more to making steam properly than most people think, if you get it wrong one way you'll shower everyone with loads of black smoke and soot and have a low power output. If you get it wrong in the other direction you'll blow up the boiler and possibly kill yourself and the driver.

Heres a link to the A1 Tornado tearing across the English countryside:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baQmgn1b ... annel_page

Post by **oldjapanesebikes** » Tue Jun 23, 2009 3:30 pm

The season premier of Top Gear featured the Tornado in a race against a Jaguar XK120 and a Vincent Black Shadow from London to Scotland - great show !