Re-Building a Simplex Loco

Last year I Bought a part finished Simplex Loco, it came with a boiler certificate and was more or less complete I could see that the maching was a bit rough but thought that could be tidied up. But when i got it home a started to strip it down a realised that the build standard was very rough, and as i wanted a loco that would be a reliable runner, I would have to extensivly re-work it, to date I've:-

Recut the horn blocks

Remade the frame streachers to get things square

Made to axles, and axle boxes, made new crank pins, and re quartered the wheel.

Made new cast iron pistons and fitted psiton rings, and more or less remade or the valve linkage.

Loco as bought

Re-built frame with new axle boxes axles and re-quarterd wheels, and new coupling rods

Remade valve gear cylinder and steam chest are one of the few existing bits left.

Box of rejected parts

New expansion link assembly

I'm beging to think it would have been easyer to make complete from new )

Any way I'm beging to weary of it so I'm going to give it a rest before I start on the home streach, and make a Simple Horizonatl Mill Engine that I've drawn up I've designed it so that it can be made on a lathe and a drill there is no milling required.

Cheers

Stew

Stew, just looking at the first photo, is that chimney straight? Or is it just the photo? Ian S C

Hi Ian

It is straight I think its just the photo, the safety valve are crooked though I was hoping that a little sonny jim will sort them out.

The base of the chimny is far too thick along with the boiler sadle:- just a few of the fettling jobs I have to do when i start putting it all together, it won't win any prizes, but as long as it runns well I'll be happy.

Bin at the club track this afternoon and there were a couple of simplex's running one ran for three hours and didn't miss a beat only had to come off when the smoke box filled up with ash.

Thansk for looking in

Stew

Stew,

A story I am fully familiar with. I bought an almost complete Maisie many years ago. All it needed was to complete the boiler (just the stays) and do a bit of platework and paint. Six months work at a guess. Three years later, after scrapping the boiler and building a new one and reworking almost every single part including the tender tank, I had a working GN atlantic. It has now been running reliably for 31 years and has given me a huge amount of pleasure. I hope that your Simplex does the same for you.

If anyone else is thinking of buying a part built model, this thread is a reminder that you should be very careful about what you are taking on, and that you do have the necessary skills, not only to put things right, but to recognise that they need putting right!

Eddie

How very true Eddie :- Only by hanging arround the club track and listening to the more experienced guys talk: asking and asking and asking question was i able to recognise that things were wrong, the best advice for anyone contemplating making a loco or embarking on taking up other forms of model engineering is to join your local club its always amazes me the wealth of knowledge thats arround once you reach out and look for it.

:-And you can have a good laugh to boot. )

And just by reading the ME magazine and following threads on here you pick up lots of information to.

I've always found the Model Engineering comunity a very helpful bunch of people

Stew

Edited By Stewart Hart on 15/04/2013 07:01:51

I too bought a part built Simplex in 2011 which I thought would take me 6 months to finish off and get running.. First thing I did was strip it down, which is when I realised the hornblocks were mounted wrongly (1/8 too high), which caused several headaches.. & not enough clearance in the valvegear and radius rods... piston shaft rods too long... boiler leaking & needing repair.. steam glands needed remaking.. etc.. etc.. etc... I am now finaly getting there and currently working on the cladding and shall have her ready for her first run late spring. BUT I have to say that its helped me learn how NOT to build a model loco and has been considerably cheaper than starting from scratch and buying all of the bits individually.

Derek

Looks like we're starting a Simplex re-build club, )

Yes I must agree I've certainly learnt a lot about how a model Loco's work and what the pitfalls are, and buying a part built one has certainly saved me money as well, and i must admit so far I have enjoyed the re-build, and will have a great sence of achievment when I eventualy get it on the track.

Good look with you're first run and don't forget we would like to see some pictures of the event.

Stew

Stewart,

You won't regret buying it once you've finished the re-habilitation exercise.

Don't make things too tight though, as I remember locos clanking away round the track, but still pulling decent loads, with nary a steaming problem.

My first loco was a Simplex, and remember one Sunday having a full load of two carriages, then coming up behind a Springbox that had lost its fire.

Decided to act as a Banker, even though it also with a full load of passengers.

Must say the bark from the Simplex chimly was glorious when I started the push. About 20 odd people in total was quite a load. The look of surprise from the driver and last passenger was something to behold.

He he I lost my fire when we reached the station though!

Will always remember that Bark though.

Geoff - Video Light Box finished

Stew

I've been following your trials with this engine since you first began posting your progress and may I say I have learnt a lot, as I always do from following your builds. I can well imagine that you would weary of it a bit since you probably didn't expect to do so much to it but I for one would be sorry if you did get so fed up with it that it got pushed permanently to the back of the shelf.

Jim

> Don't make things too tight though, as I remember locos clanking away round the track, but still pulling decent loads, with nary a steaming problem.

I'm sure the clearances on my shunter are bigger than they need have been, not least because I assumed far to much travel for the hornblocks.

OTOH watching a steam archive video recently, many of the engines were losing more steam through the draincocks and piston/valve glands than the chimney! Not the A4s though!

Neil

Neil,

As you, I've been looking at some of my British Steam Railways DVDs and am quite amazed at the steam being lost via the areas you mentioned.

If I remember correctly, one of the GWR locos had such a bark I was sure it would launch the chimney into orbit - music to the ears, as is a racing BMW 6 or that spine tingling sound from the Mazda quad rotor.

Heard that Mazda for the first time at Silverstone in the late '80s - Wow!

Geoff - Blocked gutter & water tank valve leaking (the rest is censored!)

Geoff,

The sound of an american 'Big Boy' starting on an uphill slope with much slipping is quite impressive too!

My dad had a 78rpm disc with a recorcing of BRMs and others at Brooklands (IIRC).

I had an RX7 and it was the lack of sound that freaked me out!

Best engine sound is Merlins, no argumant. Heard it one day, ran out of the house in time to see a Spitfire and a Hurricane!

Neil

There are some good engine sound efect sites on google, also one of the rebuilt Mosquito vidios gives you 10min in the cockpit, flying over Auckland in formation with a T11 Vampire, and a Spitfire, loverly noise. Ian S C

4x Merlins in harmony on the Lancaster is difficult to beat. My Kawasaki ZX636 peaking at 18krpm with a performance exhaust made a pretty distinctive howl too ! The Vulcan .... now there's a roar !!

Another update to my Simplex.... one of the drop links (which I didnt make I hasen to add), snapped. Compared it to the drawings and its far too thin and feeble. Made a new one to replace the broken one and found that there was insufficient clearence on the valve fork and the radius rod (which was 100thou too wide).. hence the stresses. Alot of filing and the new one fits nicely and doesnt foul. The new one looks good, but will have to make a new one for the other side and recheck everything against the drawings. Never assume someone has done things correctly.

Well after many trials and tribulations I've eventually got the Simplex in steam.

It won't win any Beauty contests but its seems to run well.

Stew

Buying someone elses mistakes is probably not a bad place to start for the uninitiated

Building one from scratch when you've never done one before is a big leap into the dark

Well done Stewart,

Knew you would have a Chesire Cat grin when running.

You have now become addicted to the SCO mix.

I was the very first time I came into contact with it.

Guesses anyone?

Geoff - Just finished domestic duty.

G'day everyone I to am building a Super Simplex but I am taking it very sowly and getting as much advice as I can as I am a first time builder. One think I would like to ask is what types of mills do people use for model engineering work. I have been looking at a HM 46 dove tailed column geard head mill, my lathe is a Sieg CS3 7x14 which I would like to replace at some stage. The Simplex looks good Stew and the "bug" certainly gets around all the best John

Edited By John Kinnane on 06/02/2016 22:48:36

Edited By John Kinnane on 06/02/2016 23:03:16

G'day John

I use a Siege X4 mill

As for the Simplex I kind of rushed it into steam last year so I could run it through the summer which I did very successfully, I got enough driving hours in to take the clubs driving test and passed out as a driver so I can now give rides to the public and use it at children's birthday parties which I did towards the end of the running season.

I've just spent a couple of months tidying it up, the water valve for the injector got in the way of the pole reverser so that was swapped over to the other side, I added some hinged lids to the water tanks, and I discovered that the rivets for the tank were steel so I was getting rust on the inside of the tanks so they were treated to two coats of paint, and the paint work was generally tidied up and I added a couple of transfers. So I'm know itching to get her on the track again as sson as the weather improves (will it ever stop raining).

And I gave her a name:-  GREMLIN

Stew

Edited By Stewart Hart on 07/02/2016 07:11:51

Edited By Stewart Hart on 07/02/2016 07:14:32