Live Steam NYC Hudson Using 'Williams' shell

Thats pretty cool but what did you used to join the pipes together. I appears to be solder. If so what solder alloy did you use?

Pete

Great creativity!

Dan Weinhold

The boiler is brazed with Safety-Silv 56 ag throughout, exterior piping was soldered with low temp stuff.

Heat is from a gas-fired ceramic burner. Runs great, but is not indoor friendly...it'll mess up track ballast, etc. Fire danger is pretty low, though, except during a de-railment.

The holy grail of O scale live steam...NYC Hudson...just my opinion.

Joe

Well, this is pretty darned interesting!   Nice work!

Live steam fascinates me, although I am not brave enough to do it.  Would love to see it in action though!  Good work!

That’s cool. Great work!

Thanks for the replies, guys.

Live steam in O gauge is not as popular as it is in G scale. The vast majority of offerings are in G scale.

That said, O scale engines are available from the UK, where it's embraced more than here, and relatively cheap, no more than a quality electric engine.

Ebay is a good source for used O scale engines like Mamod, Hornby, Basset Loke, etc.

The learning curve is short on live steam, it's just that easy. Oil, water and fuel and you're off.

A warning...live steam is very addictive once you let loose a engine down the track...

Joe

@JRothwell posted:

The learning curve is short on live steam, it's just that easy. Oil, water and fuel and you're off.

What - no chips, upgrades, CV's, smoke unit wicking, short circuits, track cleaners, reverse loop wiring (for the 2R'ers), sound packages?

I do think that your ballast is a tad over-sized...

That is some Hudson you built there. I'll never look at my shelf-queen Early Williams J3 the same way.

Holy cow - I was at the Cabin fever expo this Spring in Lebanon PA and there was live steam O gauge running.  What I didn't like was that the flame was under the exterior of the boiler - What you have is Soooo much better!  Hats to you and your skills sir!

I have been thinking about taking the plunge on a Bassett Locke or Bowman live steam but its hard to justify spending alot of money on a locomotive when you don't really like how it looks.

Did you manufacture that entire running chassis as well?  I would love to hear anything else you have to say about this model, including any notes on O gauge outdoors, since it looks like you have tinplate track laid down I am thinking this might be a temporary set up. 

On the loco, how are you filling with water?  Does the burner get fuel from the tender?  Any speed regulation or just vary the amount of weight behind it? Where the heck do you find union fittings that small?  Are you feeding steam oil to the cylinders?  Do I sound insane or obsessed yet?

And did I mention that looks really cool?!

I think you nailed it pretty good, finding scale engines in O gauge is bleak. G scale is overflowing in scale engines, but cost more...$1000 and up, but the engines you mentioned are around $300 and up and great entry engines. Yeah, they look funny, but still have that charm and very relaxing, super easy to operate. You only need one...but see warning above...

My duel outdoor track is down right now, but with O scale, it's fast and easy to lay down a 'temporary' track in a few minutes and steam.

I bought the un-finished chassis from ebay. Most of the time consuming work was done already. I finished it, timed it and got it to the point where it would run on compressed air.

Before a boiler could be built, a Hudson body had to be made or bought. The 'Williams' brass shell is hard to beat. I had to re-solder the shell because the solder used by them is too low in temp to hold together when this engine is at temperature. A 'petticoat' shroud was soldered inside the smokebox.

So, with the chassis below and the Williams shell above, a boiler can now be designed to fit between the two. I wanted a firebox and fire tubes like the real Hudson. This was a challenge in O scale, but has been done by others before, so that green-flagged the project. The firebox has 'wet-legs' on three sides and this is the main design point that made this Hudson a successful steamer. Second is the ceramic burner technology. This boiler can also be fired with coal, but that's not in my plans, not yet anyway.

Boiler holds 5 ounces of distilled water and is good for about 6-8 minutes of steaming. Water can be introduced in two different ports. One, the safety valve is unscrewed and the boiler is filled and safety is put back on. Two, during running, I can add water through a separate port called a 'Goodall' valve. The safety valve is in the same spot as the prototype and uses the same shroud. I parted from scale by placing the Goodall valve under the steam dome and cutting a hole on top to access the valve nipple. These kinds of projects are more fun if you're willing to compromise a bit, but still try to stay true to the subject.

The butane tank is indeed in the tender and piped to the burner. The tender is so close, the jet tube end is just inside the tender. Speed is regulated with the throttle needle valve on the backhead.

I kept this project as simple as possible and nixed the sight-glass tube, pressure gauge, blower, etc. With the safety set @ 40 psi, just lit up the burner and open throttle when the safety blows...I swear, it's just that simple. Time the run, but even if the boiler runs dry, as long as you don't let it just sit there and burn, you have more than a couple of minutes to turn the gas off. That's because this boiler is very, very HD for its size...well over 100 psi and silver brazed, almost indestructible with the heating system I'm using.

In the above photos is a shot of the compressed air tanks, these are the oil tanks and are piped through the top of the cylinder chests. Here's another area I deviated from scale. It was easier to oil from the top and run the steam lines to the front of the cylinder chests with 'banjo' fittings. The 'Train Dept.' in 'Jersey is a good place to start for fittings...also ebay.

Yeah, you got it bad already...

Absolutely fascinating.   (If you tried to load 3 pictures,  only 2 are showing.)

The picture of the finished backhead is very informative.  And you built not one, but 3 live steamers with CV shells!  I am just floored!

Edit- I just realized that the backhead picture is one of the CV's.  Pictures can be small on mobile.

Pretty cool!! I only have one O scale Mamod, but several G scale Live steam engines and would love to do more O.

I run with a tiny air compressor at our club. Here is a test run at home https://youtu.be/AtG2Cj35k8U

I need to make a custom tender that hides the compressor and come up with a more hidden air line connection.

Also, I really need a solenoid for the whistle.

24V air pump can be found from various places

Rated Voltage: DC 24V

Filling Time: < 5 seconds (from 0 to 300mmHg in 500CC airtight container.)

Maximum Pressure: > 625 mmHg (80KPa)

Maximum Vacuum: < -375mmhg (-50kpa)

Air Tightness: <10 Mmhg/minute (air tightness only for air inflation)

Flow: >13.0 L/Min

Noise: <60dB

Weight: Approx. 301g / 10.6oz

Size: Approx. 12 * 5.8 * 3.5cm / 4.7 * 2.3 * 1.4in

I really like what you have done on those last 3 shells.

Thanks guys, your Mamod is really cool and innovative!

The Mamod is probably the least expensive live steam engine that has great potential. I was lucky and got one of those for my first engine. Later it ended up under ver.1 Commodore and I have never regretted the change. You may get that to fit in a older tinplate, Lionel whistle tender. It's boxy and roomy and cheap, especially if the whistle is missing...some didn't even have a whistle to begin with and these are the cheapest.

I just started a new post on ver.2, so check it out, more pics and a little bit of a story.

Joe