Ellie the Steam Tram.

[Tony Bird]

Hi,

I expect others have bought Camden's relatively new book Ellie the Steam tram. I like the simplicity of this model locomotive but it is more 7/8" scale rather than the 16 mm scale I usually work in so I have decided to make a similar model albeit a little smaller. I have started with the boiler which I often do when making steam models. I had some 54 mm diameter (2.1/8") which is a little larger than the 50 mm suggested but instead of being 100 mm long it has been reduced to 80 mm long as this will significantly reduce the boilers water capacity a large steam dome will be fitted.

Photograph list.

Boiler barrel 80 mm long.

A wooden plug was turned for the barrel.

A very small shoulder was turned on the 28 mm diameter tube that will become the steam dome.

A line was scribed along the barrel

A length of paper was tapped around the barrel.

The paper was cut through then folded in half and then half again then tapped back onto the boiler barrel and the fold lines used to make out the quarters of the barrel.

The ends of the plugs had the quarters drawn on them.

A step drill was used to start the hole for the steam dome.

The barrel was mounted in the lathe and the hole turned to fit the dome.

That is progress to date.

Regards Tony.

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Tony--you do nice work. I will follow your build with interest. Happy New Year.---Brian

 

[fcheslop]

Hi Tony, nice work funny Iv also started on a boiler for Ellie 2 1/8dia just not sure if she is going to be a hedgehog or water tubes
Iv built the engine along the lines of Crackers cylinder with Ellies bore and stroke
Will follow along with great interest as youve a lot more experience with these small locos
She will be the jackshaft version
If the pics an intrusion just say and I will take it down
Good luck

 

[Tony Bird]

Hi Brian,

Thank you and a happy New Year to you also.

Hi Frazier,

I think it will be the jack -shaft drive as I have never made one before. Please leave your photograph in the thread the engine looks very good.

List of photographs.

Boiler and its steam dome

I have decided to fit heat exchange pins or perhaps to be more accurate staples. For the staples heavy electric earth cable was used.

After being stripped from the cable the copper wire was annealed and stretched to straighten and harden it.
The copper wire was then bent to shape.

The remaining holes in the boiler barrel were drilled.

The wooden plug was removed.

Test fitting of pins.

One of my design of engines which modified I might fit if the boiler is powerful enough. This engine is the prototype of one made for a small paddle boat.

I will report further progress.

Regards Tony.

 

[fcheslop]

Hi Tony, I have the boiler almost ready to go together just not sure if three 1/4 dia water tubes or pins as you are fitting
What dia is the copper looks around 2.5mm I think Iv got some 10mm earth cable knocking about and may go down the same route
The engine is a sweet runner and I did end up drilling all ports to 2.4mm as you recommended although I worked my way up from 2.1mm
Looking at the gears for the jackshaft Iv seen a couple on flea bay at 0.6 module that may do the job
Nothing done this end I think its the Christmas effect
Thanks
frazer

 

[Tony Bird]

Hi Frazer,

I don't know which is the better pins or water tubes. Many years ago I built two similar boilers one with and one without pins. The one with pins using the same burner would power a larger capacity steam engine continuously how much more heat was created using pins I couldn't measure however fitting pins does certainly improve boiler performances. Water tubes I haven't done a comparison of. I use pins rather than tubes because it allows mounting the boiler lower and still get a good size combustion space.

I usually use a jig pivoted in the trunnion hole and held in place by the crank pin to drill holes in the port block. The size of the holes drilled is smaller than the maximum size possible shown by the drawing. I then measure the space between the ports drilled and do sums to work out the size that the ports can be drilled in the port block and cylinder, often there is a slight difference than the drawn size due to small errors in marking out and machining.

The electric cable I use has copper wire 2.4 mm in diameter.

I will probably use which is nylon gears they are inexpensive and last very well. I have used them in both steam locomotives and steam boats.

Yesterday decided to solder the staples into the boiler barrel, this was done in two goes, first one row of staples then pickle and then the other row of staple were soldered in place.

While waiting for the pickle to clean the boiler barrel I decided to make a start on forming the end caps. I found a former already made for the thickness of end cap and size of boiler barrel and as a bonus a finished end cap of the right size.

Next I cut two discs of copper.

Used double sided tape to hold one of the discs to the former.

Placed this combination in a vice and used a hammer to peen over the edge of the disc around the former, after removing the first end cap I found it was about 5 mm too large for the boiler barrel, I had used the wrong former! By now the boiler barrel was clean and the second set of staples were soldered.

Next job is to make two end caps of the correct size!
Regards Tony.

 

[fcheslop]

Thanks Tony, I had gone for two water tubes but struggled to solder her up then dropped it and damaged one tube so its back to the start
Its the first time Iv used cad free and it doesnt seem to flash like the other stuff and the remelt temp seems lower or maybe just one of those days
Looks like we both are having fun

 

[Tony Bird]

Hi,

Having managed to make the boiler end caps that were too large I needed to make some smaller ones. I have several metres of 19 mm (3/4"), thick wall copper tube which I make boiler barrel end caps from.

The 54 mm OD boiler is the largest that this tube will make end caps for. I have probably described the technique I use in other threads but some members might not have read them. First sums were done from previous experience I know that if the OD of the tube is multiplied by pi and twice the wall thickness of the tube (2 mm) subtracted from the result the answer will be quite close to the flattened length of the tube so give a square plate. The answer was 54 mm which was the length that two were cut from the tube.

The cut tubes were saw down the middle and annealed.

The tubes were flattened and marked out for the end caps.

The corners were cut and filed until the plates were nearly round.

Double side tape was used to hold the plates to the steel former.

The copper plate and former were held in a vice and the edge of the copper hit with a hammer to peen it over the former.

The former and copper plate were fitted in a lathe to turn the now flanged plate so it fitted the boiler barrel if no lathe is available it could be filled to fit.

Holes were drilled in the flanged plates.

The flanged plates were solder into the boiler barrel.

Regards Tony.

 

[Tony Bird]

Hi,

After a couple of months it is back to the boiler. Some of the bushes have been made and fitted and I found a bit of an old shelf to make the footplate from. I decided to make the boiler support come flame guard and to this end found the remains of an old copper hot water cylinder which was flattened and cut up. Some recycled oak was used to make formers and the first end plate bent up.

Regards Tony.

 

[Brian Rupnow]

Nice work, Tony.---Brian

 

[Tony Bird]

Hi,

Today I finished the flame guard boiler support.

Regards Tony.

 

[Tony Bird]

Hi,

Went to the local B&Q (Hardware store) and bought some 25 mm x 2 mm steel strip to use as frames, which were cut and filed to length. Tidied up the flame guard by soldering nuts that had had a shoulder turned on them to hold the flame guard together. Brass angle was riveted to the flame guard so it could be held to the foot plate. Also had a rummage and found a set of 30 mm wheels.

Regards Tony.

 

[Tony Bird]

Hi,

The frame stretchers have been made along with a jig for drilling axle holes in the frames and side rods

Regards Tony.

 

[Tony Bird]

Hi,

Not a lot of progress on 'Ellie' as it is the beginning of the 'playing' season and I have been preparing our portable layout and stock for it. However I did manage to fit one wooded buffer beam (externally fired boilers make the chassis very hot and I am delicate) which is useful when picking a hot model up. The wheels and axles have been temporarily fitted to work out coupling height and it has been checked against my highest model to work out a maximum chimney height.

Regards Tony.

 

[Tony Bird]

Hi,

The second buffer beam is finished and fitted and a hole for a ceramic burner has been cut in the footplate by chain drilling and filing. The footplate is temporarily held by wood screws to the buffer beam.

Regards Tony.

 

[Tony Bird]

Hi,

Just made a start on a ceramic gas burner for Ellie. I sawed some brass strips from a 1/16" brass kick plate from the bottom of a door. This was then saw and filed to sized bent and soldered together. Will be in the acid over night and with luck I will get to play with it again tomorrow.

Regards Tony.

 

[Tony Bird]

Hi,

Today I got the ceramic burner working. First I positioned the tube in the burner the jet was hand held and the tube moved in and out until the best looking flame was achieved. It usually works out that the tube ends up about its ID from the far side of the burner. Photo 1 is adjusting Photo 2 the best result. The tube was then soldered in place.

The jets in this case a No.3 is soldered to the pipe. Photo 3.

The air holes are started by filing across them then drilling a hole which is open up until the burner looks OK Photos 4&5.

With this burner four holes were needed to get the gas/air mix right Photo 6.

Flame low Photo 7. Flame high Photo 8.

Burner fitted in Chassis Photo 9. Given the low position of the burner the boiler will be lowered to improve the combustion space.

Regards Tony.

 

[Tony Bird]

Hi,

Having finished the ceramic burner not a lot has been done to Ellie. The burner has been fitted to the chassis and the boiler has been lowered by 8 mm to get a better proportioned combustion space. A fire hole/lighting/viewing hole has been drilled in the boiler flame guard and as the model is going to the 16 mm Narrow Gauge Modellers AGM in Peterborough as an exhibit this Saturday the boiler has temporally been attached to the footplate.

Regards Tony.