Still making Progress! Still Under Construction! Working on boiler plumbing required to fire-up the engine. Construction photos of a 1.6" scale, 7.5" gage live steam USRA Heavy Mikado locomotive, wheel arrangement 2-8-2. Under construction in my basement under the expert tutelage of Bill W., retired master machinist. I have chosen the home road for this locomotive, it will be a Frisco 4100-series engine, number 4166 (a 'ghost' engine, the 4100 series stopped after 4164). Note: Most of the pictures in this album are in reverse order, with the newest developments first.

Since I can't carry Locomotives in and out of my no-outside-access basement, one key piece of equipment will be a lifting mechanism I am building. I have fabricated my own freight elevator for the stairwell opening. H. Graham has completed the engineering, provided 16 pages of drawings. I have completed the mechanical fabrication Winter 2011. The power is in, the controls are in and operational. The staircase stand is now finished. Modifications to the lifting stand is complete November 2011. The lifting stand has made a trial lift to the top without issue. Next Finished: December 2011: The jumper track for the top of the stairs to bridge the stand to garage distance. Started Winter 2010. First solo lift, load out, load in and lower, December 2011.

Fond memories of 2003 to the present. Run day events, construction pics, more.

Moving the 1911-1920's vintage Iron:a Rahn-Larmon Lathe, a B.F.Barnes 20 Drill press and a Mill from a friends shop to my garage, then Restoring them. !!The Rahn-Larmon lathe is back in service!! --------------------- I aquired the lathe from Paul Strippgen Woodworking Co, Inc, Valcour Ave, Affton MO. He paid $130 for it in 1963 from Ed & Bill McKee's Machine Shop on Big Bend Rd, St. Louis MO, and it was owned by Charlie Gray originally. Paul paid $90 to have it hauled. ---------- Paul paid $25 at auction for the drill press and the Milling machine was from a Silk Screen company in St. Louis.

Stuff that happend, and photos of stuff.

Summer 2011 - The modified grease fittings work great! The Crab has some lettering on it (NYC), the riding car is working fine and the new NYC Gondola works well as a two-person passenger car. Time to burn some more coal! Winter 2011 - The Crab is readied for the summer season. We are experimenting with modified grease fittings as cylinder cocks. August 2010 - a mild overhaul was completed. Pulled the cab, bunker, boiler and chests, remade the ash pan, eliminated the troublesome axle pumpt, added a new handpump and steam injector. May 2010 - The water pump ram is jamming in the pump bore, causing the wheels to lock up. It will be replaced with an injector. Also the graphite string piston rings will be replaced because they are leaking. August 2009 - Improvements to the water pump and riding car made. *** November 2008 It's Done It Runs!! *** First steam up ever during the Thanksgiving holiday and it ran great! I am so happy!

...Like building a low locomotive stand, fixtures to hold model pipe fittings, tool modifications, a three-phase power converter, New tooling storage.

Picture collections from Live Steam meets at the Mid-South Live Steamers, Columbia, TN