OT- Model Traction Engine

Phil Scarborough · Feb 23, 2013

Just had my daughter show me how to post pictures on this site. The picture is of my 4" scale traction engine that I finished last year, having taken 15 years to bulld. If this works, I will post pictures of tractors in future. Phil.

donjr · Feb 23, 2013

That thing is neat. What are the actual dimensions??

evilboweivel · Feb 23, 2013

sure is nice

al1933 · Feb 23, 2013

I am envious,I could not build one in a lifetime.You must be very talented!

Phil Scarborough · Feb 23, 2013

She is about 5 feet long, 34 inches wide and about36 inches to the top of the chimney (stack?). I suspect that full of water and coal,she weighs about 1600 pounds. Gives us all a lot of fun.

John B. · Feb 23, 2013

Phil that looks Awesome!!

Bob M · Feb 23, 2013

Beautiful......please post more photos!

The Red · Feb 23, 2013

That is really nice. Thanks for posting!

jon f mn · Feb 23, 2013

WOW, that is by far the most beautiful one I've seen. The Rollog Mn. thrashing show has several working models every year, but none that nice looking.

Anonymous-0 · Feb 23, 2013

It is a very nice model. What engine did you copy to build that engine? What are the dimensions of the engine (bore & stroke)?

SweetFeet · Feb 23, 2013

Phil Scarborough,

You have incredible talent to build something like that. Very impressive.

Phil Scarborough · Feb 23, 2013

Just have the 2 extra pictures. I prefer to drive it, rather than take its picture. Sorry they are sideways, turning them round is beyond me at the moment, but I will win! Phil

MNGB · Feb 23, 2013

Nice tractor, great work thanks for posting.
GB in MN

armand tatro · Feb 23, 2013

Nice engine and build! Where are you located? Here in east central Il. (Gilman area) I can of at least 4 scale model steam engines. Armand

NIK OWEN · Feb 23, 2013

PLEASE, SIR, POST THESE @ SMOKSTAK.COM...UNDER STATIONARY STEAM & TRACTION ENGINES...PLEAS ALSO INCLUDE THE MAKE, MODEL, & COUNTRY OF THE DONOR. BE BLESSED, GRATEFUL, PREPARED, NIK 1921 NICHOLS & SHEPARD 25-85, FOR SALE, TOO...

Eric in IL · Feb 23, 2013

BEAUTIFUL machine !

I have questions :

Did you do your own casting work ?

With the smooth rubber tires, what was the full size machines' main use ?

Do you know how many hours it took to complete ?

Thanks for posting the pictures.

Phil Scarborough · Feb 23, 2013

Eric, no I don't do my own castings. I make all my own patterns and a small foundry a few miles away does the casting.He is a commercial business, but is good to us model engineers, he will tell me if a pattern will work or not, and how to alter a bad one into a good one.He fits our jobs in between his main jobs, ours take a little longer, but the price is lower.
The rubber tyres are not authentic. The original engine was on steel wheels fitted with strakes, but as I like to go on road runs, I fitted the rubber tyres for a smoother faster ride.
The original machine was used by an agricultural contractor and pulled a threshing drum (Separator to you in North America ) and baler from farm to farm. It would rarely travel more than 5 miles between jobs at about 2-3 miles an hour, road damage would be minimal.

Phil Scarborough · Feb 23, 2013

The original engine is a & HP Garrett General purpose engine, built in the 1920's for agricultural use. This would be threshing, wood sawing, maybe driving a corn mill.
I don't have the drawings to hand right now, but from memory, bore is about 2", stroke about 6".I did not measure the original machine, a much more skilled man than I did that, I just bought a set of drawings from him, spent about 6 months looking at them and thought I would have a go. I am a truck driver by profession with no engineering training at all. I found wonderful strangers who became friends and answered all my questions for years.

Phil Scarborough · Feb 23, 2013

Eric, I do not know how many hours it took.I had to start by hiring a back-hoe to clear ground, then pour concrete, and learn to lay bricks to build a workshop. Wooden shops are not too good here in England, they tend to be cold and damp. Then came wiring, installing 2 lathes and a mill and finding out how they work. I found reading a drawing easy, just like the mapreading I do as a truckdriver. Modelling is a winter occupation for me, as, with a family, summer time is full of other stuff. I suppose 6-8 hours a week from October to March, over 15 years. My wife always knows where I am.
I have just finished patterns and got my first castings for the next one. She still knows where I am!

Phil Scarborough · Feb 23, 2013

NIK, already on Smokstak in Model Steam.Thanks.

Phil Scarborough · Feb 23, 2013

Jon, on my hoildays in the US, I have been lucky enough to see many full size engines and a few models. The full size machines are very different to our English one. Your machines are designed to be much more foolproof than ours, we suspect that is because help would be much further away for your operators in the event of a problem. Here, it would only be a few miles to an engineers shop, on the prairies it may be hundreds. LIkewise for your model engineers. I can get small nuts and bolts to scale in my local town, 3 miles away. I can get materials, especially certified steel for boilers, from a stockist only about 15 miles away. Our exhibitions are frequent through the year, we constantly meet each other at shows etc. Engineers in the US have a much harder time than we do, and I applaud any steam engineer, full size or modeller, in the US. You guys have real problems.

JOB · Feb 23, 2013

Right click on your picture and you should get a rotate option. That works for me but I am no computer wiz.

led · Feb 23, 2013

Very nice!!!!!!
Led

Anonymous-0 · Feb 23, 2013

Thanks for the reply. How can I contact you? I have many questions.

Phil Scarborough · Feb 25, 2013

J.Schiebert, e-mail me and I will try to answer your question. Phil

smallercrawler · Feb 25, 2013

Phil, wonderful tractor. You are truly a master craftsman!!

GVSII · Feb 26, 2013

I've seen a few nice ones.None were that nice!By all means post more photos.

OT- Model Traction Engine

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