Topic: The Toronto Railway Heritage Centre Railway - The Steam Engine

[tomc]

Russ,

Enjoying your pics (Michael's).  Keep that camera snapping so we can watch as you build.

Tom C.

[russ]

Assembling the Sweet Creek Chassis!
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Once the parts were all accounted for, the TRHA locomotive "build team" tackled assembly of the chassis.  In the first picture below, Bob and Dave assemble brake system components to the upside down  chassis.  In the next photo, the bones of the locomotive are visible; frames, driving wheels, bearings, axles, fly-cranks and brakes are in place as are the cylinder blocks, visible at the right.  An old lathe bed was used to provide an accurate surface to hold the frame parts straight while bolts were tightened. In the last picture, Dave, Arno and Bob admire the fruits of their labour.  It took only one day to get this far after opening the crate.  The next milestone of having all of the moving parts completed took a good deal longer to achieve.
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Russ (Photos by Michael Guy)

Click on each picture below for a closer look!

[russ]

More photos will be coming forthwith!

Right now I have to head off to bed!

Russ

[locodan]

Hi Russ,
I got the Briggs boiler thing from the RMI site or catalog I am not sure which. I see that the photo shows stays on the firebox sides.
Interesting thread more photos please as the kit is assembled.
Cheers Dan

[russ]

Taking Delivery of our Steam Locomotive Kit!
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The kit was delivered to our shop in a 2,500 pound shipping crate in late December of 2008.  The pictures at left and middle below shows members of our assembly team inspecting the contents of the crate as they prepare to check that everything is present and undamaged.
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In the right hand picture, we can see the completed boiler for the engine. RMI had this built by a professionally accredited boiler maker.  This is necessary in any case to comply with our local regulations for a pressure vessel of this size. The heating surface is twenty square feet with a steam working pressure of 120 pounds per square inch and is not superheated.  Fuel oil will be used initially with a change to coal firing possible at a later date.
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Russ
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Click on each picture for a closer look!

[russ]

Apparently it does not use a Briggs boiler despite being an Australian design.  I made the mistake of saying it did online and was corrected by our "chief engineer".  I don't have any other information as I have yet to get top the shop to see it.

Russ

[locodan]

Hi Russ,
Does that loco have a Briggs style boiler with a dry friebox and water wall tubes? Very nice scale two foot with some real pulling power.
Cheers Dan

[russ]

In Search of a Locomotive!

Over the past year, TRHA has been looking for an appropriate steam locomotive for the new 7 ¼” gauge miniature railway at Roundhouse Park.  As our railway engines will run frequently in the warmer months of the year, rugged reliability and ease of maintenance were primary requirements. A locomotive with the power and size to pull heavy trains of passengers was a must. After investigating a number of sources in North America of such engines, we selected the one shown in the photographs below built by RMI Railworks Inc (see http://www.rmirailworks.com ) in California.
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This locomotive design is called a ‘Sweet Creek’ and is typical of engines that operated on 2-foot gauge railways throughout the world.  It is very similar to one built by the Baldwin locomotive Company in the 1920’s for service in the Dominican Republic as shown in the black and white picture below.  Being of the 2-6-0 wheel-arrangement, it is a Mogul class locomotive and by choosing a 24-inch narrow gauge prototype for 7-1/4 inch gauge track, the miniature engine is built to 3.75” to the foot scale and is almost 1/3 full size. This scale provides a large and robust locomotive suitable for daily operation.

Roll Models Inc. offers the locomotive in both bolt together kit and ready to run versions.  TRHA chose the kit for reasons of economy and to provide our drivers and maintenance crews with the knowledge and experience to run and maintain the machinery.

In subsequent postings I will cover the delivery and assembly of this locomotive.
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Story by Russ Milland; Pictures used with permission of Roll Models Inc.; Photo of “Fiume” is from “The Locomotives that Baldwin Built” by Fred Westing.
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Click on each picture for a closer look!

[russ]

WOW!   8lb rail is a good score.  Want to trade for new 12lb?

Tom C.

I will have to ask our chief engineer! I have no idea if he would entertain that.

Russ

[tomc]

WOW!   8lb rail is a good score.  Want to trade for new 12lb?

Tom C.

[russ]

Acquiring Miniature Rail for Roundhouse Park
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Early in the fall of last year, we were made aware of a supply of small size rail suitable for use in the building of our miniature railway in Roundhouse Park.  So the TRHA made the trek to Brantford to visit the recycling company who were offering this rail for sale.   The recycler had a fascinating collection of old engines and other recyclables which captured our interest as well including a crop dusting airplane as shown below.
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However, we finally focused on the task in hand and examined the rail.  As shown in the other two pictures the rail was in good shape and consisted of a roughly equal quantity of 1 ½” high (8 pounds per yard) rail and 2” high (10 pounds per yard) rail.  The rail was formerly used by the Conklin amusement ride company.  Subsequent to the visit, we agreed to purchase the rail at an attractive price.
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Russ
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Click on each picture for a closer look!

[russ]

As I have no doubt mentioned elsewhere in the Model Engineering forum, I am a Director of the Toronto Railway Historical Association ( see http://www.trha.ca ).  We are focused on the development of the Toronto Railway Heritage Centre which will be located at the foot of the famous CN Tower in the heart of downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada within a city block called Roundhouse Park..

The drawing below show the Roundhouse Park Master Plan Concept developed by the IBI Group (a local firm of architects and engineers) which was recently approved by the Council of the City of Toronto.  The marked up version uses the master plan to point out some of the key elements of the plan.  The main museum will of course be located in the stalls as shown and in the original machine shop area of the preserved Canadian Pacific Railways (CPR) Roundhouse.   Cabin D is a full size (1:1 scale) signal cabin that once was located at the Western end of the massive railway yards located around the present site. Don Station used to be at the corner of Queen St. East and the Din River and has now been moved to this site for display and preservation. These buildings have been carefully positioned to relate appropriately to the miniature railway to be completed in 2009.  
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The 7 ¼” gauge miniature railway to be developed to operate on this site is visible in its “figure eight” configuration in the top right part of the plan.  The wye in the lower right will allow us to turn the entire trains around if running in a different direction is required.  At the bottom of the plan, a train shed will be built to house and service the miniature railway’s engines and passenger cars.  It will include a turntable and loading facility.
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“To be continued”

Russ

Click on each image below to expand it!