Garden Railway Forum

I am trying to find a small 0-4-0 STEAM loco to model with a recently purchased loco block – from a Bachmann centre cab diesel.
It will not be a true model – I am just after ‘ideas’.
It will have to be an outside frame type and I would prefer it to have inside cylinders so I don’t have to model them! Small 0-4-0 Porter locos seem to fit the bill, but I haven’t found any with inside cylinders. The largest size Porters would fit the bill of around 200mm long for my indoor line. First question is what is that vertical thing inside the cab? I’m guessing it is the steam dome. Then what is the long ‘chimney’ on top?

I have found a couple of pics of a loco made by a company called ‘Bell’, which seem to be outside frame and inside cylinders. It has a big air? tank inside the cab.
Any ideas what it is or any other info please.

gregh wrote: ↑Wed Oct 11, 2023 1:25 am
First question is what is that vertical thing inside the cab? I’m guessing it is the steam dome. Then what is the long ‘chimney’ on top?

UScdesigners rarely used inside cylinders on steam locos., mostly on early ones copied from UK practice. In later years, the yanks preferred the working parts of a loco to be accessible for maintenance, unlike pommie designers.

As you guessed, the lower part of the 'thing' in the cab of the Porter is the steam dome. The safety valves are mounted on the dome and the cylindrical extension is basically an exhaust duct so the safety valves don't fill the inside the cab with steam when they open. Small british locos tended to use two exhaust columns if the safety valves were in the cab.

gregh wrote: ↑Wed Oct 11, 2023 1:25 am I have found a couple of pics of a loco made by a company called ‘Bell’, which seem to be outside frame and inside cylinders. It has a big air? tank inside the cab.
Any ideas what it is or any other info please.

Bell locos were a geared design, with the cylinders inside. I guess you could regard them as the US equivalent of a Sentinel steam loco/railcar. They were based around the working parts of a Stanley steamer road vehicle, including the wire wrapped high pressure boiler. The tank in the cab is probably the fuel tank. Stanley steamers ran on kero, so I assume the Bell locos were the same.

You'll find some details of Bell locos on the first link below, which might give you some ideas. The second link is for interest only, as it details the Stanley boiler design. Not sure I'd fancy sitting on a 600psi boiler any more than I fancy sitting on a lithium battery made by Tesla.....

http://www.gearedsteam.com/bell/bell.htm
http://www.stanleymotorcarriage.com/Parts/Boiler.htm

Regards,
Graeme

Thanks Graeme for the quick response.
looks like I can indulge my idea of outside frames with connecting rods and no visible cylinders.

BTW I cannot access the gearedsteam website as it gives me a great big red warning that I have (somehow) infringed their copyright.

gregh wrote: ↑Wed Oct 11, 2023 9:19 am BTW I cannot access the gearedsteam website as it gives me a great big red warning that I have (somehow) infringed their copyright.

No idea about that one, it's not an error message I've ever seen online. I used the site heavily and downloaded photos when I was researching prototype info for the Climax loco rebuild, but that didn't appear to worry the site.

Most of the vagaries of the internet pass me by at height with a loud 'whoosh'......

My method of last resort for recalcitrant web sites is to connect to the internet via the hotspot on the mobile phone. That connects via the Telstra 4G phone network, instead of Optus and the NBN and the site thinks I'm a different user........

Graeme

GTB wrote: ↑Thu Oct 12, 2023 12:09 am No idea about that one, it's not an error message I've ever seen online. I used the site heavily and downloaded photos when I was researching prototype info for the Climax loco rebuild, but that didn't appear to worry the site.
Most of the vagaries of the internet pass me by at height with a loud 'whoosh'......
My method of last resort for recalcitrant web sites is to connect to the internet via the hotspot on the mobile phone. That connects via the Telstra 4G phone network, instead of Optus and the NBN and the site thinks I'm a different user........
Graeme

Thanks. That's an idea. Maybe the website is basing the 'blockade' on the fact it is coming from Optus - and we know what problems they have had with data loss. For example my Yahoo email just blocks all emails from any optus email address. I'll get my daughter to try and access the sire from her ISP.

FWIW guys, I just clicked the link and got straight in, from here.