I am a locomotive freek. tell me how they are made.?

Question

if

a) i were to manufacture a live miniature one?

b) the estimated cost ?

c) one of you from the the railways would answer, its best i think.

Answer 1

A) Do you have machine shop experience? Are you interested in a live steam, or electric/diesel, engine? If steam, then you have to get the boiler tested by a professional boiler tester to get it certified as safe. Live steam is way more complicated than trying to do a miniature electric or diesel locomotive. There are many different scales of live miniature railroading, the larger you go, the more EXPENSIVE they get. A live steam engine of 1/4 to 1/8 scale will probably run you about $8,000-20,000 , depending on size, complexity, etc. And THAT is if you're doing some of it yourself, NOT paying someone else to make it for you. It's a very expensive hobby, and requires extensive metal-crafting knowledge to do it yourself.

B) Again, if you have access to a machine shop, and can do alot of it yourself - anywhere from $4,000 for a smaller engine, up to $20,000 or more for a 4-8-8-4 or bigger. They don't come cheap!

C) Why? Think the rest of us can't read and understand the costs involved? I've never made one, but I have been interested in them, and know what some of them have cost to build.

D) There are some magazines out there that cater to this hobby, one is called Live Steam, I think it's still published. Has great DIY info, how-to's, etc. I'm sure you can Google online to find live steam activity near your area, or references to same. Good luck, and don't expect it to happen soon. It's an expensive hobby, so if you have a rich uncle ( or daddy ), then you're set, if not, just wish like the rest of us.

- The Gremlin Guy -

Answer 2

The others are right, building a miniature steam locomotive is very expensive and needs expert metalworking skills.

However if you are serious about the hobby you could join a Model Engineering club.

There you will get help, advice, and possibly be able to use facilities, etc.

Answer 3

what?

Answer 4

Try www.gmc.com & go to EMD

Answer 5

a) there are made predominantly of steel. There was an article in Trains magazine a year or two ago with a tour of GE's plant in Erie, and Kalmbach publishing offers DVD's with a video tour of that plant for sale.

b) what scale? how close to the prototype internally?  If you want say a 1½" scale diesel locomotive, which cosmetically looks like the real thing, but with a small industrial diesel engine inside and mechanical or hydraulic drive; you do all the labor, the welding, some machine work, etc - you should be able to do for less than $50K.  To have someone else do it for you; closer to $500K.

c) you may want to check out Trains.com