Florence Locomotive Works

Very good points, I’ll think on it.

In the interests of the elephant community I have deleted any media pertaining to the ivory cylinders on Brunel until I can establish its origins and confirm its legality. If not then I believe it has to be handed over to some sort of government agency. EDIT: I just received this from Bill, regarding the ivory. ”This ivory came from a long retired gun maker, it had been scrap from his shop for decades, then acquired by another craftsman and sat in his shop for years before coming to me. It is much older than you and probably older than me. All of the ivory I have is pre-convention, much of it with certificates.” What do we think?

Yes I am a bit unsure about using it too. I was thinking if though, if I was an elephant and was killed for ivory, I’d much rather have the remainder of my tusks used on something nice rather than sitting in a plastic bag until the sun degrades them into nothing. Then again if I was that elephant I wouldn’t wish to be killed at all!

Yes I am currently looking into that. I have a friend who works at the zoo and we are trying to figure out if it’s actually legal, but as far as I know it is. If not then I have hardwood backup already made.

I have returned from the north with a grand tale. We arrived in Kansas City Thursday night, after a very easy drive up from Tulsa. Friday was the big day though. We met Bill for breakfast that morning, and after that had concluded, went over to his house of wonders. The first order of business was checking out the 1870 Baldwin lathe exhibited at the 1876 Columbia Exhibition he has in his living room, along with the 1830 Rose Engine next to it. Then, we did a photo shoot for Instagram, of me holding none other than the Palmer Micrometer. This is the first known micrometer in the practical sense, and only 4 are known to exist. It was made in France by Palmer in around 1850. Here it is with Brunel, which was specially requested to be brought up with us. I never imagined the two objects would ever meet. Brunel received Bill's blessing, and I later got some lessons in soldering better. Heres Brunel stored atop the Baldwin lathe. After that, we went and looked at the various other wonders in his house. The 1750 rose engine spindle on a bookshelf, or the drawing caliper owned by George the Third. Then we went and looked at the shop, a veritable cave of wonders. He has 4 lathes, a Swiss milling machine, a pantograph, and many many other things of great mechanical fascination too numerous to list. After that we sat around talking for a while, mostly about Henry Maudsley. We also looked through a bunch of books from his library, including this one containing copies of all the original R & W Hawthorn drawings for this North British 0-4-2. You could use them to build it if needed. Then we went and toured the National Museum of Toys and Miniatures, which he designed and laid out. An excellent dinner was had afterwards. The next day arrived. After breakfast, lesson in engine turning were had by me, which was extremely interesting. Here I am using it. It was made in 1830 in Paris, and spent the majority of its life with its horizontal twin (also owned by Bill) in Cartier's workshop. It is a joy of a machine to use, and very very charming. It produces little mess so lives in his living room. After that, I was given free rain to go through all the watchmaker and antique machinist tools given to Bill by an estate back east for selling on. There is roughly 6,000lbs of hand tools, so I didn't get through very much in three hours, and I won't list everything I got. I returned home with nearly 40 pounds of it though. Here's some of the highlights of one of my drawers back home after fitting out with just some of the new acquisitions, everything besides the parallel pliers is from before 1890. The hand vise is probably from 1830. All in all a very good time was had an I'm very indebted to Bill and my dad for making it happen. Douglas

Thank you all for responses, I think it will be a very interesting trip too. The most interesting bit which I forgot to mention that Bill (that’s his name) owns Cartier’s Rose Engine lathe, (along with many other amazing things) as in the original Mr Cartier. And it is looking highly likely we will be turning highly ornate fake hardwood cylinders for Brunel on it! I think this will be the first engine to say it has rose engine turned cylinders on a Cartier lathe. Douglas

Afternoon all, Ive been away for a while, but I’ve got some interesting news. Thursday I go on my first Business trip, at 16. A few months back I became acquainted via Instagram with a guy in Kansas City named William M. Robertson, who is what’s called a miniaturist. He also collects antique machinery and works as a consultant with the Smithsonian and Henry Ford, and I think I’m right in saying The Science Museum in London. Long story short, he noticed my work on Project Brunel and he became quite impressed with what I was doing. Then one of his friends died who was a professional horologist, and used to work for DARPA. His workshop as enormous, and roughly 6,000 lbs of watchmaking equipment got shipped to Kansas City after he died. The uplifting part is, Mr. Robertson has invited me to go through all this and pick out whatever it is I want, along with getting a private tour of some museums and a Rather Special library in KC! This is all very strange feeling as I’ve been working on my projects in a vacuum bar RMweb, so being noticed by someone of this caliber with such connections feels surreal. So Thursday dad and I are driving north in search of antique machinery galore. I’ve also begun work on refitting Brunel with the correct walschearts valve gear the Coupé Vent it’s based off had. Unfortunately my case of the doom has not lifted and only gotten worse. However, we are on the hunt for a therapist, so things are kind of looking up. Here’s a link to Mr. Robertson’s website, showing his work. https://www.robertsonminiatures.com thats it for now, I hope to begin posting more frequently again but life has been very busy lately with all this going on. Douglas

Yes I probably should have said the first generation to grow up with social media.

Those of us born from 2000 onwards, known for being the first generation to have access to the new tech of the world.

Thank you all for the responses. Yes I do believe it is a case of The Doom, as it is with many people my age. (I’m in Gen Z, the most depressed/mentally unhealthy generation since I think before the war) Said Doom recently came back after several years leave, and I was hoping it wouldn’t creep into the world of modeling as it has school. Such is life I suppose. Douglas

A few days ago, I found myself looking at a picture of an BR lined green LMS Duchess descending Shap in 7mm scale. And I felt something along the lines of disgust when looking at this photo. Not because I have anything against BR liveried Duchesses, or Shap or anything, but because it seems that Im starting to find railway modeling or anything to do with locomotives a severely taxing endeavor, or at least I think that’s the right word. For example, I’m struggling to even find the motivation to run my personal favorite engines, as (now) it seems like a lot of effort to go through for not very much return. I have tried taking breaks before, but they never seem to work and often only make it worse. So I ask if yee, be there a remedy for this state of mind? Douglas

I’ll get some pics soon, but yes it’s a stepped pulley.

I thought so myself, that picture isn’t taken from the operators side though.

Evening all, Very big welcome back to Dave. In other news, I’ve got my first Saturday off in a month from life in general tomorrow, should be enjoyable. Dad and I will probably be moving the press and bandsaw tomorrow as well, here are some pictures of them along with the 30 lb GE electric motor thrown in. Not sure if it works. Douglas Who has the strange desire to scratchbuild another engine now that he doesn’t have to hacksaw out parts!

Well I see we are back. Big congrats to Andy and the team. Today should be interesting. This evening I’m acting as a buyers agent for a friend of the family who wants a clock and I’m supposed to go select one for him from an estate, and my palm hath been crossed with silver. In other news, I’ve been gifted a 1950s craftsman Art Deco drill press and bandsaw, along with a spare 1950s GE electric motor. So I have a bit of restoring ahead of me. Douglas

Current view, larger update coming soon. Douglas

Afternoon all, Today is our second full day here and it has been great so far. By coincidence one of my parent’s friends was coming through town today on the way to Breckinridge so we met him for breakfast and some Huevos Rancheros were consumed. After that we went wandering around the various stores and this was acquired: A Korean War vintage US Army issue Officers wool overcoat in surprisingly good condition. It’s probably the best piece of clothing I now own (warmer than my ski jacket) and weighs nearly 10 pounds by my estimation. Unfortunately I can’t use it to to its full potential as I have neither side arm or rifle to stuff in the purpose made pockets. Douglas

Hello all, Here begins a new project of mine, building a small section of a fictional LNER mpd in 1936. So, a bit of background. The location is a city roughly the size of Newcastle, located between Newcastle and Hartlepool on a as of yet unnamed river. Both Newcastle and this city (i am excepting suggestions for names) had an early railway built in the late 1840s in typical overly ornate Victorian style. Both ends of the double tracked mainline had MPDs, and the one in the fictional city was very similar to the Pennsylvania Railroad roundhouse pictured below. Although this was built in the style of a standard engine shed and not a roundhouse. The shed in Newcastle was made a Subshed of Gateshead mpd by the NER before being closed in 1899. credit: https://www.deviantart.com/prr8157/art/P-R-R-4-4-0-718628040 The shed was reached from the mainline in the same way as Edge Hill Steam shed was, utilizing a exceptionally and almost unsafely steep incline leading up to the mainline which was on a retaining wall embankment forming one side of the engine shed with workshops underneath. After the founding of the NER the line was eventually absorbed in around 1870 and it became part of the NER mainline with an impressive roster of engines. After the grouping it still retained its status with several A3's, A4's and some V2's on its roster. It also got the occasional B12. Here's a shot of a Black 5 no 44964 having just descended the incline into Edge Hill. Color footage of it can be found here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lXm80O47cQ Credit: https://8dassociation.org/edge-hill-locomotive-shed-8a/ Now about the layout itself. The embankment will more than likely be unpowered and just used for display, with the only powered track being the area in front of the shed. The shed proper will probably be built from Faller kits, one of which I have already assembled. They will be weathered a bit but not too much as I like seeing the colors on these specific kits. The embankment will get faced with Wills retaining walls more than likely as I find they look the best and are cheapish. At the moment there is not a defined track plan only various things I need to include. The shed roster is also very short, consisting of just a single new tooled Bachmann V2! Or if I wanted to run BR a Hornby B12. Douglas

Evening all, I come to you today from the high desert. After the usual 10 hour drive we arrived safely in Santa Fe today, an hour ahead of schedule even! It hasn’t changed much but there are more people now. Tomorrow I’m not sure what is in store but I presume walking around the old town area and some shopping and the visiting of the excellent French bakery. Douglas

Evening all, I’ve been a rather quiet over the past few days and I suppose the last month overall and I thought I ought to explain why. About 3 weeks to a month ago Ye Olde depression has returned after a several year absence, joy of joys. Usual symptoms, thankfully nothing outrageous this time and I hope it won’t get worse. I’m also hoping my week in Santa Fe will at least clear things up a bit as I’ve got a fair bit going on and haven’t taken a break from life in general since august. Douglas

That looks to be the one!

I couldn’t tell you I received no communication from either wizard or the government, didn’t get tracking info either. Then again I don’t think he offers RM Tracked. This was last year though so it may have changed. From what I’ve heard the Gresleys are very hard to get apart but the new 3 wheelers are designed for disassembly. The one thing against the Hornbys is the price.They are very expensive in the USA coming out to around $75-90 per coach including shipping! I haven’t done the cost on a kit yet but I think it may be slightly less. Douglas

Yes I am afraid there is no vehicle currently variable new that has any of that. If you lived in the USA I would suggest a used early 2000s Toyota 4x4.

Thanks Chas, There's very little OO here but there is one supplier in Canada’s of rtr stuff, however he runs out of stock extremely quickly. I’ll definitely do some research on the Wizard kits, I’ve bought from them before but I do remember it taking nearly 2 months for my parts to arrive. Dart Castings was a lot better with their shipping time of only 12 days, I bought an etched horse drawn van kit from them. It is looking like it may be cheaper to just slowly acquire a set of the super-detailed Hornby Gresley corridors, which are surprisingly good models.

The Bavarian AA 1 might also count. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bavarian_AA_I