VIRGINIA & TRUCKEE RAILROAD HISTORICAL SOCIETY

August 21, 2014

 

Based on information from the drawings of Michael Collins and the Bowker booklet by Stephen E. Drew, Tom is combining a cylinder block from an AHM 4-4-0 that will be changed to match the Bowker and a commercially available steam pump, with his own scratch-built parts which will be cast by Bob Stevenson. At first he intended to build just two engines, but now he has decided create a prototype O-scale kit for V&T Locomotive 21, J.W. Bowker.

 

Tom reports: “This year [2014] . . . I made castings from an AHM-Cab, cut them and pieced them together until I got the Bowkers cab. With its two oval panels this cab otherwise would have been a too . . . difficult task for a 'kitchen-mechanic' like me. So I could overcome the two main obstacles - cab and steampump - in this year and was able to make a long time dream come true.”

 

One problem he worked out was how to get enough weight on the rails to run such a little locomotive.  He experimented with a very small 17x17mm (approximately .66 x .66 in.) Faulhaber motor vertically mounted in the firebox with massive brass boiler.  Because he was not sure how long the small motor would last, he built the test mechanism (shown in the pictures below) with this motor and about 500 grams (approximately 17 oz.) as weight which is the maximum possible for the engine.

 

The test “locomotive” runs six of his scratch-built passenger cars and a flat. He runs it around wall-mounted tracks in his train room while he scratch-builds the parts for the Bowker. The motor hasn’t burnt out yet and shows no signs of wear.  No heat builds up. It is running flawlessly hour and hours and seems to be indestructible.

 

Please bookmark this page to learn more about Tom's progress in the future.