Florence Locomotive Works

I seem to remember that the late Fred Dibnah had a lathe almost exactly like that, but slightly larger. It might have been a Cincinnati though, which must have an interesting story about how it ended up in Bolton.

Could always be in the back of Pinewood Studios.

Morning all, Just had a nice drive downtown in the Alfa, currently eating breakfast with a friend. Warm and humid this morning, but not overly so.

Now that is a steal . . .

Goodnight all, from Greencountry.

Evening all, A few things happened today. Firstly the sound system quit again, so that will need looking at. Accompanied my dad to look at some fiberglass bumpers for something. And I’ve realized that I’ll need I to make a condenser for my small Stuart live steam plant, (Viewable here). Well I more want one than need it, as I’m really quite sick of cleaning up oil and water and God knows what else that spews forth from such things.So at some point I’ll get round to making it, probably from copper and brass. The hawks wouldn’t be quiet today, I’m guessing it’s mating season.

I think they rarely hit their targets anyway, it was only shear mass of bombs that achieved that.

This guy showed up in my yard this morning, they’ve returned after being driven off two years ago by vicious blue jays. He’s a Red Tailed Hawk I think, not sure about yours.

The compressed bat droppings, which I believe are actually derived from bat guano and mixed with paraffin, making them burn, and suffocate the operator. At some point I’ll get around to buying a meths burner or something.

Goodnight all, funnily enough, the plane that bombed Boise City was probably built in Tulsa, we had a huge B-24/B-17 plant here, now it makes school buses, a worthy successor in my opinion.

Ahah, but was it intentional though? Very interesting however.

I personally think that the whole thing will be the “perfect storm” that the nation has been waiting for, whether they waited in anticipation or in fear. I certainly won’t be going to that side of the city on Friday.

It’s also possible to do potatoes in the smoke box of a traction engine. Bacon and eggs can also be done on cylinder block or shovel, and there’s some crazy method of doing toast somewhere on the engine as well.

Evening all, Not much happened today. Spent most of the morning polishing a nickel boiler and two small brass engines (live steam). Failed at making a grilled cheese for lunch. Performed a very successful steam test on the boiler I polished, I’ve decided it won’t be going into the Meccano crane. Ordered a new flywheel and regulator valve for the engine, which arrived in NYC this morning. I’ve just learned that Pres. Trump is coming to town, and will be speaking on the 99th anniversary of the deadliest race massacre in American history which occurred in Tulsa in 1921. (Essentially the white population got angry and burned the African American neighborhoods to the ground) It’s the only time in history a US army aircraft has bombed an American city, they said it was necessary for “crowd control”. It’s well worth a google. So that will be interesting.

I decided to post this here, instead of Modeling Musings & Miscellany, it just seemed to obscure for that. You may have seen my slightly useless thread asking about Stuart oscillator inlet port thread sizes, and maybe wondered what I fate I had contrived for this engine. And here before you is the answer. I am imbarking on a quest to build a small live steam plant. It currently consists of one main part, the boiler. This is off a not to terribly new Wilesco D6, and will be more than capable of supplying steam for the engine. It’s a bit cruder than I want, but I had it and I don’t really have $450 spare dollars laying about for a more “accurate” boiler. ( i.e. one with a clack valve and proper water gauge) I considered building a twin drum boiler, similar to the old Stuart 496, but decided against it as the drawings I possessed are only half done. So this one will have to do. I spent several happy hours polishing it and the two brass engines I have, which did my hands no good favors, but the chimney looks much nicer now. The other main part will be a Stuart “S.T.” Oscillating Engine. Which means the cylinder doesn’t have a valve and it just rocks over the port faces. And as of this morning, it’s just arrived in NYC so all going well it will be here by Saturday. After my polishing spree I decided to do a steam test. The boiler passed with flying colors, while attached to the crude Meccano base I nocked together for it. Eventually the engine and boiler will be on a nice piece of wood, hopefully with a copper surface. I’m not sure whether or not to have it powering something, as the PM Research dynamos seems a bit big, but I’ll measure everything when I get the engine. I still need to order a replacement flywheel and a regulator valve from Stuart models, after which everything should go together. stay healthy, Douglas

Never tried that but I’ll mention it to my dad, the boot is fiberglass and can barely support its own weight, but it might cook a meat pie on a hot day.

Not entirely sure actually.

Evening all, No impromptu dust storms today, thankfully. It was actually vaguely pleasant out today, so I went outside. Everything is very green, despite the lack of rain. The trees are looking nice as well. My Stuart Oscillator I believe is currently winging its way across the Atlantic, and I think I might cancel the motorization scheme for the Meccano crane, and just build the engine into a stationary steam plant. Can’t decide wether or not to do a wood or Meccano-marine style base for it. We had some looting last week here, but that’s subsided. The wind is still quite high, but nothing like yesterday.

Nice work sir.

There’s a bit of a boot in the back behind the engine, but it’s not robust enough to put anything, decently large however for its kind.

No, it’s just a slightly Ute looking 70s sports car, I though the same thing when my dad bought it.

I often give people the challenge of trying to get in and out of our Lotus Europa in under 5 min, without dislocating any limbs. No successful victors so far. I believe it to be the only car that is short enough to actually drive under a semi truck or lorry, which ever you prefer.

I believe that’s a an equalizing beam for the first two axels, works on the same basic principle as a beam engine. A lot of engines of that vintage had them, but much smaller. the one below is on a LCDR Small Scotchman

I had a friend (well more like cool uncle) who had a white LP400, he sold it for some ludicrously low price, (2008 mind you) now he only has a few old 911s and a bmw. Around the same time, he took me and my dad for a “ride” on the highway in a brand new 911 turbo, we probably got up to 145, and I was about 7 years old rolling about in the back! Slightly terrifying but I’ll never forget it.

That would actually be quite good looking in my opinion, if the wheel set wasn’t so hesitant to standardize.