Western Maryland #6 - 2007--??
Frame Gets Paint! (1/15/2007)
The main engine frame has been painted. Work also continues on assembling the cab.
Cab Work Continues and Eccentrics (3/27/2007)
Work continues on assembling the cab. As you can see, the doors are getting mounted. Also, I've rough cut the blanks for the motor eccentrics. They should be easy to machine once I free up the mill from its current work.
Wheel Castings are all turned!! (03/24/2008)
All I can say is that it's about time!! It seems like a huge weight has been removed from my shoulders! Turning all the wheels on my slightly too-small lathe was a real chore. But, after only 18 months of total elapsed time from the first one I did to now, it is finally done. There is a little story about the now infamous "wheel #9" to be told however. As I would complete the front-side of each wheel, I would stamp a serial number in it to know the sequence they were turned. For some reason in this process, I missed "#9" so I got to #12 and thought I was done. When I started over to do the back-sides of everything I discovered that #9 was missing. After some searching I realized that I had an extra casting left. Needless to say it didn't exactly make my day! Oh well...#9 is done now! The next step will be to mount each one on a rotary table and drill/tap all the holes each one needs (10 blind holes drilled and tapped and 10 thru holes...that 240 holes all together...aaaauuugggghhh!)
Wheels Tapped and Ready (5/27/2008)
I think I have finished the wheels. As you can see, all the holes are drilled or drilled and tapped. I have also made the brass bearing plate that attaches to each hub. Now I can set them aside and get on to other things.
Left Truck Pedestals (01/09/2009)
The six pedestals that hold the left-end of each axle have been machined. There are a few holes to drill yet but I'll wait on those until I have the covers machined. These were the "easy" ones as compared to the right-side journal boxes.
Cab Roof (02/21/2009)
I've finally gotten the cab roof put together. It's not entirely completed however. I need to form the cab vent cover and attach it and also mount the hinges that will allow the cab to open for access when running. It is, however, closer to done than it is to starting it.
Eccentrics (03/10/2009)
Some of the machining has been done to the 6 eccentrics that drive the valve gear. As seen in the photo, the center hole has been machined. Next they need to be mounted to my rotary table on the mill and have the outside edges machined and the tab that mounts the "push rod" to the valve piston. Unfortunately, the mill is tied up with machining the truck side frames so it will have to wait a while.
Upper Spring Planks (Bolsters) (03/23/2009)
Here are some pictures of the upper spring planks for the trucks. I have the center pivots mounted (covered with tape) and they are ready for paint. The trucks are starting to take shape (finally).
Right-side Truck Frame (04/07/2009)
I have one of the 3 right-side truck mostly machined. By that I mean all the critical machining is done. There is a fair amount of metal removal that still needs to be done to form the curvature on the back side of the arms. I haven't decided exactly how I want to do that just yet. While I'm thinking about it, I want to do one of the left-side truck frames so I can develop the machining instructions/sequence and then be able to actually assemble one truck to see what I've messed up!
