traction engine and other over-type locomotives

[John Besley]

Found this taken by my late father in April 1959 at Leiston Works...

 

 

The original print has was more sharpness than my scanner can pick up

[Victorian]

Sorry to come late to the party but only just stumbled across this thread!

Here's Aveling's No. 253 (or 314?) in 10mm scale Gauge 1, with a Seaham chaldron:

 

 

This is a motorised R/C model with an ABC gearbox and single Lipo in the tender. It's a mixture of etch brass and 3D print in SLS nylon. The working gears are 3D printed and driven via the chain which is commercial nylon.

 

 

The prototype is similar to the Grays chalk quarry loco shown at the top of this thread and was discovered (parts of) buried in a coal mine in 1992. Here it is today:

 

 

The chauldron is one piece SLS nylon print. This loco never shunted chauldrons in real life: it's last deployment was at Golden Hill, Staffordshire where it was converted to a winding engine.

 

 

Edited January 25 by Victorian

[sir douglas]

Fantastic work

 

The other day i had a look through a friend's Scalefour newsletter, which has a traction engine loco in P4 but tender driven and without working motion

Edited January 25 by sir douglas

[AlfaZagato]

I've recently picked up an Oxford road locomotive with intention to make something in line with Blue Circle.   No chance to handle the model beforehand since 'Murica, so the solid casting may give me issue.

[fulton]

2 hours ago, AlfaZagato said:

I've recently picked up an Oxford road locomotive with intention to make something in line with Blue Circle.   No chance to handle the model beforehand since 'Murica, so the solid casting may give me issue.

This started with the Oxford model, wheels from Shapeways, the same designer has the body for Blue Circle, looks quite poor, IMHO, but his wheels used here, I think are OK.

[John Besley]

Didn't someone use to produce a plastic kit for traction engines and road rollers?

[AlfaZagato]

Keilkraft, I'd think.

 

 

@fulton  Is it motorized?  I was going to try to motor mine.

[fulton]

1 hour ago, AlfaZagato said:

 

 

 

@fulton  Is it motorized?  I was going to try to motor mine.

No only static, beyond my skills to have all the motion moving, maybe one of the other Aveling and Porter designs, with the large cab, then you could get away with just the flywheel spinning, anyway that would still be beyond my skill level! The layout it appears on is my model of the Aveling and Porter, Invicta Engineering works in Strood.

[Johnson044]

I found this in a book on traction engines last night- I don't think this one has appeared yet on this thread. Intended to be readily convertible back into a road locomotive.

[Victorian]

Wow. That looks so fragile! I once had a day shunting trucks with 'Blue Circle', courstesy of owner Mick Smith. It's amazing how big, and mischevous, trucks really are! And 'Blue Circle' is waay bigger than any steamroller.

[sir douglas]

On 25/02/2018 at 11:23, sir douglas said:

 

an unknown in Russia

 

 

ive now found a bit about it using reverse image search which gives a Russian railway forum, "Molodets" at Odessa port in 1869

http://forum.modelldepo.ru/showthread.php?t=9850&page=35&styleid=32

Edited April 3 by sir douglas

[Victorian]

Fantastic find Sir Douglas! It has the look of a Clayton about it and I wonder if the records held at Reading would reveal anything?

 

This drawing shows the similarities (Duplex cylinders, stepped down second shaft gear, what could be the inverted 'V' horn bracket:

 

[Giles]

I built a 7mm radio controlled Aveling Porter, by converting a Duncan Models white metal kit. This has working motion. At some stage I would like to do one with flanged wheels!

 

 

 

[AlfaZagato]

If you've done this, shouldn't be much of a work to lock the axle and swap the wheels.

[mike morley]

I think we ought to re-name Giles 'Doc' and club together to get him a De Lorean.

[Johnson044]

A time travelling traction engine might be far more useful than a De Lorean. If it were to go through the time barrier at say 8MPH, maybe with a trailer attached you could bring stuff back with you. Yes, there's always the butterfly effect to worry about but think of all those name plates, totems etc.

[Johnson044]

On 04/04/2024 at 14:19, AlfaZagato said:

If you've done this, shouldn't be much of a work to lock the axle and swap the wheels.

After you've achieved this then you are pretty well capable of achieving anything- truly magnificent piece of work!

[Victorian]

This is a 10mm scale (Gauge 1) Aveling 'fifth wheel' engine from c.1864. This is a 10HP engine with chain drive and steered from the front using a 'disk cutter' guiding wheel to turn the front axle. This awkward arrangement perhaps had something to do with a requirement to have a man walking out front. Aveling himself drove one of these engines to Wales (where this engine was found) via Central London in 1863. The roads of the time didn't object to the disc cutter digging into the surface!!!

 

 

The model is R/C using similar 3D printed components to the tram engine illustrated above. Parts of this engine exist in a shed in Northamptonshire and a similar relic also exists in Australia.

 

 

 

 

[Jeremy Cumberland]

1 hour ago, Victorian said:

This awkward arrangement perhaps had something to do with a requirement to have a man walking out front.

The law for the person walking wasn't enacted until 1865. Perhaps this engine was an attempt, while the exact nature of the new law was still being debated, to show that there were other ways of warning road users, less restrictive than having a man walking out the front (the 1865 Act specified "on foot" and they had to be at least 60 yards in front, which is of course absurd for something travelling at walking pace).

[SR71]

Presumably the person out front didn't have any controls other than steering? I don't fancy sitting there on a downhill section if it runs away!

[Victorian]

The only control was to shout at the Driver! That might have been easier on the soft roads of the time than today's hard surface. It may not be a co-incidence that the red flag act came the year after Aveling's exploit of driving his engine through central London. Steam engines were not universally popular and indeed it's recounted that Aveling met Charles Dickens, no less, "out with his two dogs" at the foot of Gad's Hill leaving Rochester. It's not recorded what was said, but Dickens had a private tunnel under the road to his garden which Aveling would have crossed with his 25 ton ensemble!

 

 

Here's the remains of what could even be the same engine, Aveling No. 115, today. Note the massive perch bracket on which the front axle pivoted. This is likely to be the oldest surviving mechanically propelled road vehicle in UK and third oldest in the world,  notwithstanding the motion from Gurney's 'Steam Drag' which pre-dates them all.

 

(The others are Tuxford's engine in Sweden (1858) and Aveling No. 53 (1863) in Australia, which is virtually identical to the engine shown above).

 

[sir douglas]

reminder to not stray far from rail mounted for too long