Big Model Trains

We have lots of pictures of big trains you can ride on. Check it out!

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Visitors since May 1, 1998
Last updated :10-11-98

This is my brother Tom with his Burlington diesel . This engine is 1.5 scale or 1.5"=1' This unit (unit 3110) has an eight and a half hp. gas engine that drives a hydraulic pump. Each set of wheels has its own hydraulic drive motor. Direction control (and braking) is provided by a lever at the rear of the diesel. You operate it by sitting in the car directly behind the engine.

Here is the real thing (unit 3110). An Electro Motive GP-50. Photo by Moss E. Hulsey, Fort Worth Texas, taken in 1993. Courtesy of The Burlington Northern Photo Archive. To find a picture of the Burlington Northern equipment you want, just click here.
BN Photo Archives

This is Tom again with his Pennsylvania 2-8-2 "Mikado" steam engine. Tom won this engine (#818) in a raffle in August '97. The previous owner had made several engines in his lifetime. He built this one over 30 years ago. He left it to our club, Illinois Live Steamers when he died.

The PRR and the GN were the only two US railroads which widely used this design. The 520 was built in 1916 for the PRR to replace older 2-8-0s in freight service. The L1s were the freight hauling counterparts of the famous K4s. 520 was retired in 1957. Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania courtesy of Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania

Here I am trying out the 2-8-2 for the first time (April, 1998). It fired up well but we ran into problems when we tried to move. It seems the timing for the cylinders was a little off. This caused lots of wet steam (and soot and oil) to come up the stack and deposit itself on me. We barely had enough power to creep forward on level track. I had a great time anyway. y moves along now! Runs great!

I'm a little messy, but I don't care. We found the problem with the timing. After a small adjustment to the eccentric cam follower, we had considerably more power. Then we found another problem. We could not maintain water level in the boiler. It took almost constant pumping with the hand pump to keep ANY water in it at all (till the pump came apart). The low water problem was caused by a sticky check valve. Its purpose is to prevent high pressure water and steam from back flowing into the the feed water pump and tender. I installed a different style check valve. Problem solved!

Here I am with my two boys. The boys are riding a gondola I designed and built over the winter. This was one of the few times we where able to run the steam engine. It developed a leak later in the summer and was sold to a party from an east coast club at the end of September, 1998.

February, 98. My brother Tom is giving my youngest son, Michael, the first ride on his train that includes his new cars: A Southern Pacific single door box car, a B&O gondola, and a yet to be lettered gondola.

Michael looks cold, but I'm enjoying the weather in the "sleeper" car.
This is the way to travel.
The winter project.

This year's winter project is this box cab and coach. It will be modeled after a famous 0-6-0, good ol' number 7.

#7 will be a gasoline powered locomotive with belt/chain drive.

I haven't located the engine for it yet but I'm figuring on a 3.5 Hp Briggs & Stratton. I've been working up the CAD drawing. If you want to download the cad file for this project, click on the image.