Who's Behind The Avatar, Post A Picture Of Yourself

That thing is MINT!!

Burn coal?

No, that one burns propane.

This one burns coal



We have 6 here at the house, 2- propane, 4 coal

House is coal though

That's great! I'd have a blast on those things around here. I can just see myself laying track around the perimeter of my yard. I think someone would get hurt here though!

This picture is us at the club in Southwick MA, which cannot be too far from you.



I cannot remember the last time anyone actually got hurt, we are all very careful and keep speeds very low.

If you spend 20+ years building a locomotive, you don't go out and wreck it on a whim.

The first picture was taken in the Holliston, MA area - a bit south-east of your location, but still 'in the neighborhood'.

Oh I hear ya ... we tend to get all liquored up & see how fast we can go ... probably not a good idea with hot steam & a firebox!

Yeah not far from me at all. I'll have to check that out next time. I'm a huge fan of steam no matter what size it is.

crazysteamer wrote:Hence the name "crazysteamer".

It's me running the loco, with friends along for the ride.

That's a thing of beauty! You must be proud of her!

nice looking loco!

New Hope Engineer wrote:nice looking loco! where was this at?

"Southwick MA,"

That black steamer is really nice. I would of loved to build something like that.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to build a live steamer. After all, the people that originally designed and built steam locos were little more than high-tech blacksmiths.

OK, you need a fair amount of machinery (lathe, mill, sheet metal working etc) tools and a lot of time. Designing and building the boiler should not be done by someone unfamiliar with the requirements therein, but beyond that, it is not past the skills one learns at a vo-tech school (or used to be able to learn).

I started that particular project in 1984 and worked on it piecemeal for 26 years to completion.

One should never rush hobbies, or they become 'work'.

Once I had the boiler on it, I though "whew, almost done"....wrong.

Piping, sheet metal and painting took another 2 years, and my loco is nowhere near what anyone in the hobby would call 'detailed'.



I will probably add some 'detail' to it from time to time over the next few years, but in reality, I have other locos that I need to get moving on. There are 3 in my basement in need of repair / completion before I start a new one.