4” Road Loco ‘Rachel’

Some days it feels like life is kicking me in the shins, today wasn’t one of those days. While I’m not making the progress I’d like to make, anything is better than nothing. It is a marathon not a sprint

Todays I had put on some more bits, the differential/winch was fitted along with the flywheel brake. The diff will have to be adjusted some more with the spacers in the kit. Even with it not adjusted perfectly it did fit nicely and turns without issue. Also fitted the guard in place and also fits pretty well. It’s always a good idea to test fit parts before paint in case something doesn’t fit right. Next step will be to disassemble everything for paint and do the final assembly.

One step forward and two steps back, this build won’t get too far like that! However it’s a necessity to cut and fit the keys and get a good coat of paint on all the parts. Plus it’s easier to paint everything while it’s off the engine. Would have liked to have the gear change mechanism painted but there’s always next weekend, but I was able to paint the gears. The paint isn’t for looks it’s for rust prevention, once the gear guard and wheels are back on it won’t be seen very easily.

Midwest Steam wrote:The paint isn’t for looks it’s for rust prevention, once the gear guard and wheels are back on it won’t be seen very easily.......

Depends once its had a few years of oil lobbed on the gears and grim you wont ever see any rust took my gear guard off the other day and everything was well caked in oil and crud  made the decision it was best to let sleeping crud lie    so refitted the guard back on.

Long time no see, life has been very busy this last year and have been meaning to post updates, so here we go.

Didn’t do a lot of work on the engine over winter but in spring I started back up with paint. Painted, lined and clear coated the gear guard along with the gear selector. On the opposite side it was paint the diff and install it followed by painting the gear guard and install that as well, chose to keep it green without lining since it will be covered up by the wheel. Installing all the piping from the water pump, cylinder drain lever, and flywheel brake was “fun”, had to remove the steering to get everything installed. Flywheel painted green on one side and black on the inside facing the crankshaft. Could have lined it too but don’t think it was necessary…plus my method of lining uses tape and it doesn’t like curves. Finally was able to put the engine on its wheels for the first time and wheel it outside for more photos in the sun. Right now the right rear wheel is removed to allow access to install all the pipe work to the injector and balance pipe between tender and belly tank. The water gauge is also fitted. Also fitted the cylinder drain pipes, oil drain from the catch pan and the pipe to the water lifter and put in all the oil wicks. It’s getting very close to being able to running on steam but not confident it can be done before it gets too cold, if nothing else it will be ready in spring.