# Building a steam engine from scratch.



## swimmer_spe (May 3, 2016)

I want a steam train running on my line one of these days. The problem is, the railway company I am modeling; no one caries any of them. 

It is T&NO (Temiskaming and Northern Ontario).

So, I will build my own. 
Anyone ever do that?
What do I start with? I do have pictures of the various engines of the time.


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## wvgca (Jan 21, 2013)

you should be able to find 2-8-0 's and similar ? a quick reletter to the T&NO #144 and it should be 'close enough' ??


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## cid (Jul 3, 2014)

"Scratch building" and "kit bashing" are two different animals. Which are you really intending?


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## swimmer_spe (May 3, 2016)

wvgca said:


> you should be able to find 2-8-0 's and similar ? a quick reletter to the T&NO #144 and it should be 'close enough' ??


Where?



cid said:


> "Scratch building" and "kit bashing" are two different animals. Which are you really intending?


The end result is I want a steam engine and some cars in T&NO. As I understand it, they never used standard locos. So, I need to either heavily modify one, or build one from the ground up.

Either way, I am trying to figure out how to get a loco that looks right.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

Check out back issues of Model Railroad Hobbyist (www.model-railroad-hobbyist.com). They had a 2 part feature on a building a steam loco from scratch.

I wanna say it was sometime in 2010, but I could easily be wrong. They have an on-line index.


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## rrjim1 (Mar 12, 2015)

I think a Bachmann 2-8-0 would be a good place to start for the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario 2-8-0 Consolidation. There are several of them on ebay.


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## wvgca (Jan 21, 2013)

they ran quite a few different ones,
here is a 4-8- 4 that [in my opinion] is a bit larger, but easily doable


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## traction fan (Oct 5, 2014)

*Find one to adapt*



swimmer_spe said:


> I want a steam train running on my line one of these days. The problem is, the railway company I am modeling; no one caries any of them.
> 
> It is T&NO (Temiskaming and Northern Ontario).
> 
> ...


 swimmer-spe;

That's going to be a long and difficult project!
I am guessing you want your steam locomotive to be conventionally powered, with an electric mechanism, not a live steamer in N-scale. 
I suppose even the tiny live steam model would be at least theoretically possible, but so difficult as to make it nearly impossible to build. 
So on to using an existing commercial mechanism. If you post the pictures of the loco you want to model, we might be able to steer you toward the closest match. 
I would not attempt to scratchbuild the mechanism. There are very, very few of the parts you would need available, in N-scale. The HO-scale modelers have a lot more parts available. Take driver wheels for example. I don't know of any N-scale drivers that are not part of a complete model. Unless you have a stockpile of scrap wheels from other models, you would have to buy a steam locomotive to get parts. 
Scratchbuilding a body shell to fit on a commercial mechanism would be a lot more practical. It could be made of plastic, or brass. Considering the amount of work involved, I'd opt for brass. It's much stronger, and will add some needed weight to the finished model. Again a photo would help. We could see what needed to be modified on a commercial mechanism to get close to your prototype.

Good luck;

Traction Fan:smilie_daumenpos:


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## swimmer_spe (May 3, 2016)

traction fan said:


> swimmer-spe;
> 
> That's going to be a long and difficult project!
> I am guessing you want your steam locomotive to be conventionally powered, with an electric mechanism, not a live steamer in N-scale.
> ...


TBH, I would love a live steam engine. However, in N Scale, I doubt it would be practical.

Someone posted a picture above.


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## traction fan (Oct 5, 2014)

swimmer_spe said:


> TBH, I would love a live steam engine. However, in N Scale, I doubt it would be practical.
> 
> Someone posted a picture above.


swimmer_spe;

The "photo posted above", by Warren, is of a 4-8-4 Northern. Kato, and Bachman, both offer 4-8-4s in n scale. They would provide you with the mechanism. You could either alter the existing shell to look more like your prototype, or scratchbuild your own shell. The Kato is the better mechanism, but it's also expensive. I had a Bachman Northern years ago. It ran well for a while but later had problems with binding up and crank pins falling off. This was old Bachman.
Many here say that newer Bachman locos are much better. I don't know because I stopped buying Bachman in favor of Kato, many years ago. All the Kato locomotives I own (a bunch) whether steam, or diesel, run extremely well. They also make a 2-8-2 Mikado steamer. I own two and they are excellent runners too. They do require large radius curves to run their best. While the are advertised as being OK for 11" radius curves, they derailed a lot on my 12" radius ones. After real world testing I settled on a 16" minimum radius and they work fine on those broader curves. Since the northern is also an eight driver locomotive I would guess that it might need large curves too. I also have two Kato steam locomotives that are based on Japanese prototypes. They have different wheel arrangements and one has only six drivers, which might mean it can handle a lower radius curve than the eight driver Mikado can. Kato also made the mechanism for the "ConCor" 4-6-4 Hudson steamer. This is an older design, but it also runs well.

Good luck;

Traction Fan:smilie_daumenpos:


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