Steam Engines

On this page, we wish to document any useful information about how to build a steam engine in S-scale.

Why?

While S-scale does have some steam engines available in ready-to-run format, such as those produced by American Models, Lionel, and River Raisin Models, they may not be of the type that you want or need. This leaves kit-bashing and scratch-building as the only alternative, if you want something specific bad enough.

Examples

There are and have been well-known S-scale modelers whom have built engines from scratch, such as Jesse Bennett, Jack Troxell, Paul Washburn, Andy Malette, Simon Parent, Mike Swederska, and others. But how do these "masters" actually do the work? How can the rest of us "mere mortals" aspire to have one or maybe more than one of such models on our layouts, without going through great expense to have one or more custom-built for us?

Documentation

So, the purpose of this page is to, over time, build up a virtual document that describes the processes involved in creating a steam engine from scratch. The concern is that those who know how to do this, may be passing on to the Great Train Station in the Sky, and it would be a real loss if we didn't capture some of their thoughts.

This document will grow, and may involve the kind contributions from several experienced modelers. Your webmaster is currently working with Mike Swederska to capture some of his steps in building a steam engine. If you would like to contribute, please contact the webmaster. The more information and the more viewpoints we can get, the better it will be for all of us who wish to build these models (your webmaster is personally interested in building them, too).

Material Sources

• High Level Kits (gear boxes)
• High Level Kits (motors)
• Industrial Metal Supply (brass material)
• Online Metals
• PM Research (metal)
• Contact local scrap metal places
• Sprue Brothers (brass & plastic)

References

• CNR T3a class 2-10-2 built for Trevor Marshall by Simon Parent
• Jesse Bennett's SP Cab Forward Running on Carey Williams' Layout
• Loco Builder British OO
• Loco Builder on Using High Level Kits' Gearboxes
• Mike Swederska Building an MP 2-8-2
• Scratchbuilding Steam in HO
• Scratchbuilding in Brass
• 1950s-era Civil War Scratchbuilt 4-6-0
• Craig Symington Discusses Getting Brass Models to Run