Helping to Finish the Burrell

Hi Folks
My step-father started his build around 18 months ago and is having difficulty managing the build due to old age.
We have just started work on kit 17, 2nd shaft gears and diff, and I would like to know how many hours would be needed to finish the build.
I know that would depend on quite a few factors but a ballpark figure would be useful. I’ve worked in light engineering, silversmithing and blacksmithing all my life, (I also have done lots of work on series Land Rovers), so have got what I think is a useful skill-set for the job.
I’d really like to help him finish it, it seems great fun, but of course I need to know what I’m letting myself in for
Thanks in advance for your advice.

Thats a very difficult question mainly because everyone works at different speeds . Some take years to build a engine and some do it in a year

As Mark says it depends on a number of factors, if you already have all the kits and willing to pretty much go at it everyday then start to finish I've heard someone did the whole build of a 4" Agri in 12 weeks but thats going some.

If you in the middle of a batch then generally it will be determined by the kit output from STW which for a 4" agri is normally 27mths for all kits so if your on kit 17 and they are in order then you've got about 8 or so months left.

Thanks for that, folks. As I said it was number of hours to complete the task.
So, LiveSteam, you say it has been done in 12 weeks total.
If we assume a 40 hour week then that’s 480 hours required to build the engine from start to finish. Does this sound about right?
Let’s assume also that it will take up more hours when those hours aren’t run consecutively, such as working evenings or weekends rather than full time so we could say it would, in total hours spent actually building, take somewhere between 500 and 600 hours
How do these figures sound?

Once again its a difficult question to answer (i am not trying to be difficult ) but it depends on the standard you are building to
When i built my roller i built it during lockdown in 2020 and i worked almost full time on it and it took 7 months but that included many extra scale mods . But i would think a nice model could be built in half that time

Hi Tugboat
Q1 " I would like to know how many hours would be needed to finish the build."

A1 Give yourself 2-3 days of work for each kit.

Q2 " I’ve worked in light engineering, silversmithing and blacksmithing all my life, (I also have done lots of work on series Land Rovers) "

A2 You are well overqualified for the task so it will be real easy.

Q3 "I’d really like to help him finish it, it seems great fun, but of course I need to know what I’m letting myself in for "

A3 A load of fun, an enormous amount of fun and grinn ache when it is finished and in steam.

Simon C

Hi Tugboat,

it took me about 3,5 years to build Pied Piper while still working in my normal job. Usually I spent about one hour each evening and most of the Saturdays. Due to be on week long business trip repeatedly, I cannot say for sure exactly how many hours I needed but in the end it was not a paid job with a fixed deadline but a hobby project for myself. It all depends on your expectations on the finished engine and how much time you want to spend on it to make it to YOUR expectations. I talked to a guy from etherlands who assembled his DCC in 9 months after going into retirement, just spend the same 8h a day for his build as he had before going to work plus Saturdays. Sound realistic to me.

If my memory is not misleading me it took me about a month - month and a half to assemble both rear wheels plus brush painting. But again I was in no hurry.

And yes, DCC might be a bit more complicated as compared to a Agri, but still.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

Elwood

Tugboat wrote:Thanks for that, folks. As I said it was number of hours to complete the task.
So, LiveSteam, you say it has been done in 12 weeks total.
If we assume a 40 hour week then that’s 480 hours required to build the engine from start to finish. Does this sound about right?
Let’s assume also that it will take up more hours when those hours aren’t run consecutively, such as working evenings or weekends rather than full time so we could say it would, in total hours spent actually building, take somewhere between 500 and 600 hours
How do these figures sound?

I can only go by what I heard previosly which was then later backed up by this post here :-

https://traction.forumotion.com/t3357-4-burrell-plus-bowser-and-trailer-train-for-passenger-hauling-located-netherlands-sold

As to actual how long the owner spent each day on it I cant say