Welcome to this Forum, someone more knowledgeable may come along soon but these people might be able to help.

You could try **LINK**.

They are almost bound to be rail enthusiasts but there may be some traction engine fans and either way, they will know if there are any courses or they may even have their own workshop.

As a previous builder of the Clayton Wagon, I can confirm that it is a good one to build and runs very well. You can always start on easy parts and work your skill level up to the more complicated items.

All the best with it,

Brian

Edited By Brian H on 14/06/2019 15:18:37

Hi Puffa,

Welcome to the forum. You will probably find that equipping a workshop costs most of the money you save – but it will leave you with a great deal of satisfaction and the means to do a lot more and maintain your engine.

Do expect a self build to take long time.

Most people prefer to start on a simpler subject or two to learn some skills without making expensive castings into scrap… but there are people who have started on the easy bits like Brian suggests – a big, complex model is best considered as many small models – the trick being they have to fit together properly!

The other hazard is getting half way and deciding your early stuff wan't up the scratch, ending up in a cycle of constant improvement and never reaching the end.

Another route is to buy second hand or part-finished and develop you skills bringing it up to scratch.

Just make sure you don't end up buying a second hand boiler without proper paperwork that you can't insure.

Neil

If you are in the Gloucester / Worcester area look up MSRVS via Google. A really friendly bunch. Grum

Re: machining experience (zero)… some thoughts

The SMEE run courses on “Basic Training for Model Engineers” , “Lathe Tool Grinding” and “Milling”. I’ve done the lathe tool grinding and milling courses both of which I found useful in raising my knowledge base

The SMEE run a Building a Simple Steam Engine (“The Polly Course). I haven’t done this one, but those that have give it a ”thumbs up” .

The bad news is that the Polly Course only runs one a year and has already started

Tony

Edited By Antony Price on 17/06/2019 09:46:17

I haven't seen the SMEE courses, but have signed up to a two day course on small lathe engineering at Axminster, from recommendation. Mine is in Aug, but there are more.

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I was in the same position as you. I fancied building a beam engine but, not knowing how well I would manage not being an engineer. I didn’t fancy shelling out on a castings kit because of the cost. I finally decided on building the beam engine by Julius de Waal. It was built totally from scrap or basic metal stock. I started it about 3 years ago and have had it running on air. I am in the process of painting it and making a suitable mounting block to finish it off. It was a wise decision as I had to re-make several bits and have scrapped a fair bit of metal in the process. I found the drawings online and I did depart from the spec on occasions. I haven’t added up the cost but I’m sure it was way cheaper than a beam engine casting kit and of course there was no initial outlay, I bought the bits of metal as I needed them. Hope that is some help.

Malc.

I'm building a 3.5 inch gauge britannia in a shed with no problems. It's snug but if you are organised it isn't an issue.

Puffa,

You mention planning on a 6ft x 6ft shed for a workshop, thats currently the size of mine and I have a small lathe and a mill in there and a reasonable workable area of bench space. I dont think keeping your lawnmower, hedge trimmer and the like in the shed is a good idea though, yes you can take them out each time you want to work but that will soon become a pain. Obviously the larger the shed/workshop the better and if you can go larger I would, if your garden equipment have to live in the workshop then go for the biggest shed funds and garden space will allow.

Ron

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