Welcome to this blog. It will inform you about the progress of designing and building live steam model locomotives. The blog contains the description of a model Würrtembergische T3 on 7¼" gauge (constructed between 2006 and 2017), the wagons for this loco (built between 2018 and 2022), and the current project a 5" gauge model of a Great Eastern Railway Y14 class loco (started in 2020)
On the left you'll find the index where you can browse the different articles and on the right you'll find all the extras. You'll find a brief description of my other locos on the top tabs.
Today we had the first invitation for a steam meeting in this Corona year. The Netherlands is easing a bit on the Covid-19 lockdown rules.
Not a real steam event as normal at Stoomgroep Limburg, but a small-scale version of the event. Some people were invited to come and run their locomotives. The atmosphere was as usual very friendly and the weather was lovely.
We visited this track many times before, with my 3½" 'Mona' and 5" 'Didcot', this was the first time with T3 alias Märklin start set 😊
2013 2017
The beer wagon for the first time in use as intended. All the stuff for a day at the track could be nicely stored. Even our home packed lunch and a few cans of cooled beer found space in the wagon.
The complete train set is too long to stand in one of the steaming bays.
At the station some interest in the black stuff: Coal. The track of Stoomgroep Limburg in Brunssum is situated in the former mining area of Limburg, and a lot members of the public know their history or are former mine workers themselves.
Ready for the first lap.
It's a lovey track with some steep gradients....
.... and even a real tunnel.
Click here for a video at the bridge (By Boudewijn Dingemans)
Even for 5" locos this is a very fine track.
27th June 2021 the real Württembergische T3 made its first appearance in the new black-grey livery.
In Germany (Münsingen) the locomotive is now painted in the same RAL 7021 Schwartz-Grau colour as my model.
Finally, there is some ease in the Covid lockdown and we were able to clean our club track (Stoomgroep Zuid) on Saturday 29 May 2021 and we could also have a small steam meeting on Sunday 31 May with a few members. The first in a long time due to the Covid circumstances.
To bring the locomotive and wagons to the club track, I had to figure out how to transport (and fit) them in the car.
I've bought my new car, especially with this specification in mind. I went to several car dealers, with a tape measure at hand. The choice was made for the Peugeot Rifter (long version), which has a boot measuring 1.20 meter wide, 1.30 meter long, and 1.10 meter high (with the rear seat in an upright position).
With this size of the boot, the wagons and loco can be placed longitudinally in the car. This is an optimal position for loading and unloading, but care has to be taken to make sure that they do not roll forwards and backward during driving or braking.
A box to store the locomotive or wagons is not much of an option, because these boxes (as I do have for my 5" and 3½" locos) would be very big and hard to store at home when not in use.
My locomotives are standing in a bookcase in the living room when not on in use and not stored in a box.
Many model engineers use a system with a rail on the boot's floor. A wooden plate that is fixed in the car is the base for this.
To be able to store this base plate, my wife gave me a good tip: use laminate flooring. These can be taken apart and stored as a small package.
Some measuring and test fitting, to come to a practical design.
On the laminate, strips are screwed, which will form the rails. The securing of the wagons is done with wheel stops, mounted on a removable part. This way the loading floor will be flat when it is not in use.
The locomotive, with its weight of 100 kilograms, needs a heavy end stop against the frame.
This removable wooden buffer has a spanner screw attached to it, which will connect to the draw hook of the locomotive. When accelerating with the car, this hook will hold the locomotive against the wooden block. When braking, the frame will push against the block.
The buffer block can be removed by simply lifting it out of the 'rail'. A piece of laminate is firmly screwed down on the floor, which will act as the actual stop.
For the wagons, which are lighter, wheel stops are sufficient.
These wheel stops are made of PVC and follow the radius of the wheel. They are screwed against a wooden beam, that in its turn is screwed on the plate that fits between the rails. The extension is only needed to shift it in place. The only function of the spanner screw is to keep the wagon down in the rails. A speed hump on the road still has to be driven over with care, of course.
The locomotive is brought to the car with a lifting table.
With care, this is pushed into position. My previous car, a Land Rover Defender had a hefty steel rear bumper, on which I could push up the lifting table. With this new car, careful movements are needed to avoid the plastic bumper to get scratsched.
The "Märklin train set" is loaded. I think I will order some 2 cm hard foam sheets, to stow between the wagons and loco. Just to be on the safe side.
The rear seat folded down for tying the rolling stock down.
During the drive to the club track, the seats are in the upright position.
Unloading at the track is easy, with a large lift and the use of an aluminum plate. No unboxing is needed; straight from the lift onto the turn table.
As we were the only ones on the ground level track, we could steam up near to the others at the raised track.
Even after a long time of no use, the locomotive worked nicely.
The "Märklin start set"; just looks like the real thing 😊
The Märklin and Brawa models with which the project started.
Ready to go.
Märklin H0 model:
Märklin H0 4677 Bierwagen mit Bremserhaus "Engl. Garten Stuttgart".
