If you have, or have found, a site that would be of interest to live steamers, drop me a line (see the e-mail link on the main index page), and I may include a link here!
Juhani Saloranta's Baldwin 2-10-0 "Russian Decapod"
Sami Vastela is building a battery loco, pictures here.
Here are a few recommended links:
http://ww3.tiki.ne.jp/~hwata/e-Wiltop.htm
Hiroyuki Watanabe, a japanese live steamer, has a very detailed description of his project - he's a real precision builder!
Lots of stuff about the Shay type of locomotive:
http://www.nelsonslocomotive.com/Shay/shay.htm
http://www.sparetimelabs.com
Kusti Nyholm's detailed description of making wheel patterns and casting the wheels for his upcoming 2-8-0
Also, how he spent 30 hours putting up some track for a birthday party!
Veijo Kivipelto has built a backyard railroad, and is constructing a 2-8-0 engine, in addition to his existing "Quickie" battery-powered "diesel". That engine is described in detail here.
Some pics of the work on the 2-8-0 below, the smokebox is TIG welded and the saddle is already sandblasted in preparation for painting. Frames and other parts are also ready.
A beautiful cylinder casting. The pattern was made by Juhani Saloranta (see more about his projects further below on this page). The patterns are extremely complex, in several parts, and a couple of core boxes, to boot:
This is how the cylinders look after Veijo's exquisite machining (he's a professional machinist...)
Veijo has built his own CNC mill, and is adapting his lathe for CNC, too - see his webpages at http://koti.mbnet.fi/norton/ (Finnish only, but lots of pictures that will get the message through! ;-)
Here are a couple of pictures of Veijo's tender, frames made of 1.5mm (1/16") mild steel plate - the tank is of stainless steel, TIG welded. Axle boxes are tin-bronze. Leaf springs and equalisation are according to prototype. The buffers are entirely prototypical, too:
A couple more pics of Veijos engine can be found on this page.
Mr. Juhani Saloranta has a garden railroad in 6" gauge, with two beautiful little steam engines based on narrow-gauge prototypes by Tampella, Finland and Orenstein-Koppel of Germany:
No. 1, his first, was built in 1968-1976, and no. 3, below, was finished in 1987. (No 2? you may ask - well, it's a battery operated "diesel" switcher...)
Currently he is building a huge 7 1/4" gauge 2-10-0 engine of a type that was used in Finland after WWII, made by both Baldwin and ALCO in the US. This was the heaviest type ever used on Finnish rails. The cab and the tender with the stoker engine (not shown) are already finished and waiting for connecting together with the loco.
The detailed work - such as the valves and stoker assembly above, where the unfinished boiler is represented by a plywood dummy, or the magnificent running gear below - is simply incredible, but he has already spent 12 years to get this far... He'll convert the garden track to dual gauge when this engine is finished in another few years...
Visiting in June 2002, I shot the following pictures, which show the enormous progress, and exquisite detailing of his model, which will weigh almost 300 kilograms in operating condition:
A few more pictures, shot in September 2002, showing the loco almost finished:
The loco outside the workshop for the first time, on a short test track where it is tried out on a boilerful of compressed air.
A look into the extremely detailed cab - every handle and valve of the original is here!
The loco is a real whopper - weighing around 300 kilograms ( 650 lb.) including the tender... Note the dual gauge track - his previous locos are 6" gauge, but the 2-10-0 is 7 1/4" gauge.
As can be seen, there isn't much unfinished work anymore - some electric connections, and the running boards. He did the first steam testing just a couple of weeks after this picture was shot.
For more recent pictures of his engine, see this page, still more here!
Here are a couple of shots Juhani took of his conductor & baggage car, completed in May, 2005:
What detailing!
A few more recent pictures of his Decapod, running at the Finnish Railway museum's track, October 2006:
This image shows the transporter he built for the 300 kg (700 lbs) loco:
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