4” Road Loco ‘Rachel’

It’s time for a little show and tell. Started building a Road Loco back in June, I haven’t gotten as far along as I would like but progress has still been good. Here are a few photos of the project so far,


First wheel assembled and ready for paint.


Front axle painted, not thrilled with that shade of green.


That’s better, I’ll repaint it this spring when it warms up.


Starting to take shape.


Is that gonna be clean enough for paint?


Second rear wheel assembled, always fun lifting that on and off the bench.


The tender loosely assembled.


Another angle of the tender, it’s disassembled and cleaned up more. Gonna put down a coat of primer, when it warms up some, then put it all together again. After that it’ll be time to seal up the tank

That’s about it so far, have to wait till spring for some warmer weather. Getting too cold to work/paint in an unheated garage, plus I’m all out of kits.

Looking good.

Barry

Hi to you MWS
Yes I am inclined to agree with you -8 is a little cold to be painting without heat, its a barmy +8 this side of the pond and I wouldn't consider painting at that temperature.
just something for you to consider at this stage in your build is putting some way of lubricating the steering part of your perch bracket.
After all it is easier to get to at the moment
Some on hear have used oil pots and others have used a grease nipple I suppose it comes down to your preference but worthy of consideration.
You seem to have made a good start and perhaps the cold is doing you a good turn, after all its much worse to have kits to work on but are unable than to have no kits to work on at all.
Good luck with the build and keep the pictures coming I hope it warms up for you soon.
Simon C (a full roofer)

Thanks Barry,

Simon, I’ve thought about having some way of lubricating the steering. Haven’t figured out how to do it just yet. The temperature is supposed to in the mid 40sF next week, should be able to run a heater and get a little painting done. The main goal right now is to get the metal coated so it’s less likely to rust over winter.

There will be plenty of pictures and updates in the coming year(s).

Just a quick update. With the temperature being close to 60F, thought I would do some quick primer coating.


Tender in primer, once it dries it’ll be time reassemble and seal the water tank.


Tow strap and bracket, figured it would be best to paint the backside to prevent any rust from forming down the road.


Rear wheel in primer.


The other one too.

Got a little bit more done over the last couple days, biggest job was assembling the tender once again and sealing the tank.


Hopefully the other coats of paint go on this smoothly.


Fully assembled, it’s really starting to look like a tender now. Had to do a little touch up body work, easier to do it now rather than when it’s fully painted.


Trimmed up the beading and ground down the screws. Unfortunately I’ve stripped a few screws out earlier in the build so I’ll have to wait for more.

There’s still a few more odd jobs to get done still yet, would’ve liked to have gotten more paint sprayed but there’s always next year. Winter hasn’t shut me down yet, but it is slowing things down.

Mini update, finished painting the rear wheels over the last couple days.


Before and After


Now the fun part, waiting for the paint to dry.

Once it’s dry it’ll be ready for lining, had to do a little a little touch up with a brush. Turns out I’m not great at spraying, or more like trying to get the sprayer in some of those tight areas. There’s a couple of runs that’ll get fixed and touched up, might as well do it right.

When spraying the tender & other bits that have threaded holes I cut the ends off cotton buds and screw them into the holes to stop paint mucking up the thread, works a treat & they can be reused time and time again.

Steve Traill wrote:When spraying the tender & other bits that have threaded holes I cut the ends off cotton buds and screw them into the holes to stop paint mucking up the thread, works a treat & they can be reused time and time again.

Excellent advice, I goofed up and covered some of the threads with FlexSeal by mistake when sealing the tender. oops, oh well.

The time has come to decorate the front wheels, there was a little bit of a learning curve to striping but isn’t too bad.




Each side took about an hour and a half mask up, paint then peel off the masking.


The red really makes it pop, it took considerably longer to paint but patience and persistence pays off.

Status update, everyone likes to see progress. Last week I picked up a bench buffer and some polishing compound and shined up the brass end caps. It did a mighty fine job if I say so myself.






Managed to finish one of the front wheels, could’ve had both finished but the other needed some touch up paint on the base coat. This ones ready for it’s clearcoat.


Both rears have also been touched up, now to let them dry before lining.

Looking good indeed.

The polishing bug has set in. Me might convert you to showman status eventually.

Thanks Lynn!

I haven’t ruled out the possibility of building a showman just yet, although if I did a second engine it would probably be a roller. This engine is most likely gonna be the Road Loco that thinks it’s a showman, the bug has gotten so bad I’ve even ran the oil tubes for the wheels and the brass elbow for the balance pipe through the buffer...please help!

Mega paint update, over the last few weeks I’ve been motivated enough to make some good progress on the paintwork. Finished up the front wheels, which will be clear coated, started on the rear wheels (still a work in progress) and did the first coat on the tender.

Finished the first rear wheel, one more to go


Here’s a before and after comparison.

Here’s the latest on the build, more like painting.






Starting off with the masking, make sure the tape sticks otherwise paint can go in places you don’t want.




Hunter green goes on next




All that’s left now is to line it out


It ain’t much but it’s a start


Kit 2 with its lines painted nicely in the sun, once it’s dry it’ll relieve a clear coat


The front wheels are officially finished! They have been clear coated and ready for service...maybe later in the year

Finishing up the lining on the tender, starting to resemble a traction engine now.

NICE

Love the colour I did my showman’s these colours and a few people at rallies as why as Burrells were not green...

My engine my colour

I was on the website as I had not been on for a few months and saw the sad news of Steve, saw him last at GDSF.  We took our engine and met up with a few STW and TT people always nice to chat on the footplate.    Steve said he would like to try and come over but was tired after a long day.  But Dean did give me and my brother a can of good old hen (one each) so we drank it in the presence of Steve (had a few with Steve and Dean over the years).  

I came across the link on this website from Brain’s birthday bash, Lynne put two videos on, watched both, made me smile as it was a great day.  I still remember me and Andy double header going up the hill, it’s about 15 minutes into the first video.  The noise from the engines was brilliant, we started off as a double header as I did not have Steam but we both enjoyed it that much we swapped and I brought him back.  I still have the push pole as I could not bring myself to get rid of it.  It was the first time that so many STW engines had been together in steam (I think) I will have a look for it and send it to the top of it’s section, as it shows the fun you MUST have away from standard rallies well worth a watch.

By the way I sold my STW engine in 2014 and I am still in contact with the person who brought it, he heard I was going to GDSF so came down.  His daughter spent about an hour talking to me lovely family.



John has made loads of improvements but you can see the colour scheme

Keep up the good work and hope to see you at a rally sometime soon

Always walk round the scale engines, love them

Sorry if I hijacked your thread.

Dwain

Dwain,

I don’t mind at all, starting discussions like these is what makes forums fun to be on. I chose green for 2 reasons, for starters it is my favorite color and very rarely do you see a green engine. Black and red while being traditional have been overdone in my opinion, I wanted something that stood out. Seem to recall one or two engines on here being painted yellow, so color choice is up to the owner and there is no right and wrong.
No two engines are every painted alike either.


I had my mind made up about how I wanted to paint my engine, but I wasn’t sure what to do for the lining until I seen this engine...yes it is a Burrell.

Spotted that engine at the GFSF, first time I’ve ever been to one and they were celebrating their 50th year. Still remember the drive to this day, waiting in a long line of cars anxiously awaiting to get in. Once parked up it was a hike to the front gate, passing what I describe as a sea of caravans. After getting in I was overwhelmed with all the engines, seen many of pictures and videos from steam rallies but to attend one in person was way nicer. There was so many engines and so many things going on I had no idea where to point the camera! I did have the pleasure of meeting both Steve and Dean at the fair, some day I’ll go on a factory tour someday...

Brian’s engine Blackbeard has best sounding exhaust I’ve heard on a miniature traction engine, just wish I knew what he did to his so I can replicate it. One of my dreams is to send the completed engine to the UK for a week or so and be able to attend smaller rallies and pub runs...shipping it in a container across the pond would cost a fair penny but once it arrives it would have to be inspected and register it through the DVLA to make it road legal. The biggest challenge would be arranging transport and storage, but some day I want to make that happen.

You do have a very lovely engine, just a shame it had to be sold but it sounds like the new owners are giving it a good home. Hopefully mine will turn out half as nice!!

All the engines are built the same, the noise will change over time and will be dependent on use.  When I was running my engine in, it sounded okay but did not have the sound I enjoyed coming from the exhaust etc.  An experienced wise man told me it needs a heavy load to get it lose, it’s not like a car which needs a gentle run before it’s first service.  If the mechanics work load it up.  A few other owners were near by and agreed, so a plan was hatched.  My engine would be the beer tent engine (this was at the Shropshire rally and the beer tent was bit of a walk up hill).  The engine train was quite impressive we had two engines (not including mine) three trollies and a water browser and about 15 people.  Four were on the engine, a two seater and one on each foot peg, the rest on the other engines and trollies. With a head of steam the engine pulled the whole train up a grass hill and caught the attention of the crowd at the tent.   I did not feel I had the experience at the time and a bit nervous about such a load so I was the steersman and the driver (Ben) told me it was in second gear all the way and it pulled no problem.  This was in 2013 when STW engines were not as big as now so that did generate a lot of conversation about the quality of the engines as the kit vers make discussion was still a hot topic in the scale engine community.  STW won that night and people were still discussing it on the Sunday, it was also mentioned by the ring master on the mic when interviewing me.  To me the engine did work better after that weekend, don’t know if it was just in my mind or people had me on a yarn and just wanted a lift, it’s events like that what makes the hobby fun.  

The funny thing about going to the beer tent was that we just started and a man came out of the shadows in a high-vis vest, not to ruin our fun, but to help, he ran in front of the engine asking people to move.  

Hoped you enjoyed GDSF the 50th was something special. I don’t think you will ever see that many engines again in one place.  We may go next year as this was our first time and the fun we had.  The group around us were brilliant the only problem I had was putting coal in the engine and not knocking over beer cans.  Every time a beer was opened by one of the engine owners they did it for the crews of two other engines.  It was a hard week.  The best bit was meeting people who loved steam, we let people stand on the man stand when we could and it made their day.  Have to say I said to one person you can only come on if you come and clean the tubes etc. the next day.  Bugger me she was at the engine next day before we got there and wanted to help.

This is a photograph of our engine now, not easy to load and pull by my car and needs more than a 1/4 of a bag of coal to get going.  

Where I live we have hills, some are steeper than others. The driveway for instance a 6% slope, verified with an unscientific level tool on the iPhone. A couple of the roads in the neighborhood might as well be vertical, it sure looks that way. That’ll give the engine a good workout, I also have a diesel pickup truck that weighs 9,000lbs...of course I’ll have to demonstrate the power of steam!  

Had a great time at Dorset, and so did everyone else it seems. Didn’t talk to many people since I’m shy in person. At some point I’ll have to return and start picking some minds about steaming techniques, being somewhat new to steam. I know some of the fundamentals but that’s about it...


Went through my camera and found this, I think you might like it

Shame you did not say hello.  99% of the steam community will always stop for a chat.  When I was thinking of getting an engine I went to a rally had a chat with one of the guys and the next thing I knew I was getting a steam lesson and allowed to have a go of his pride and joy. During the build of the STW engine I had people always popping in to see how the build was going or helping out if I needed a hand.  The last event we went to I swapped engines at a watering stop (engine was full it was for the crews) and drove a 4” engine back to the rally field.  It was a lot harder than I remembered as the fire nearly went out.  The smaller the engine the harder it is to drive/manage the fire/water.

Don’t think the scale engine will pull your pickup at 9 tons unless flat and on tarmac, even then, these engines will pull about 4 tons that is still some pulling power.  

Hope you are in a club as these engines take a lot to maintain and operate.  We have a growing problem in the UK, people buying scale or full size engines and not having the patience or knowledge of upkeep and then having accidents.  I still talk to the old boys and they give me a wealth of information about different driving conditions or upkeep as I am still learning all the time. You can get a lot of information from this forum but it’s the conversations you will learn the most from (in my experience).

What I remember Steve T had a good thread on a cold test he had and a problem removing his fusible plug

Hope you have seen the two videos from Lynne on Brian’s birthday bash, when you have finished your build this will be you.

Look forward to seeing another engine come to life.

Dwain

Ps yes the fat kid on the ladder is me, I will be cleaning the brasses this weekend as need to get it ready for Tatton park.  I did not put cling film on the brasses so it will take about 12 hours to bring the brass back up to standard.   Hope my brother will do the wheels......

I’m still gonna have a go at pulling the truck, it’s pretty flat for the most part with maybe a slight grade. Two engines on the forum were able to pull a Scammell across a grass rally field, I would think just one could manage a pickup on concrete. At 9000lbs that should be about 4.5 tons unless I did the math wrong. However if it won’t pull it then it won’t pull it, not gonna risk damaging something to show off or prove a point.

Here in the States steam clubs are very far and few between, if there is it’s usually a 7 1/2” (some times referred to as inch and a half) gauge railway. A miniature traction engine is a very rare site to see, especially a British made Burrell. Unfortunately in that aspect I’m on my own but I’ll get it figured out.

It’ll probably be a few years before I return to Dorset, but when I do I’ll make sure to say Hello. Your engine looked really nice at the show. Hopefully next month a boiler will ready so all the kits I had them hold can be shipped, current goal is to have the engine standing on its wheels by the end of the year.

Not too shabby for someone with no prior painting experience other than rattle cans.