Seeking recommendation on new Live Steam Locomotive

That is far, far, far from being the case.

As well as the work of David Wardale as suggested elsewhere in this thread, look into the work of Andre Chapelon and Livio Dante Porta, in particular the proposals Porta made to the builders of Tornado which were mostly not adopted due to time and cost constraints but would have resulted in a step change in engine performance.

Here's a good place to start: http://5at.co.uk/

There are a few suppliers in France:

There is Le Hobby Steam in Biarritz and Atelier Vaporiste near Clermont Ferand but I find it cheaper to buy castings and fittings by mail order from England. The castings for the Simplex I'm building (when time permits) came from Blackgates.

Russell

Hi John well you have had a lot of advice from some really excellent engineers.

I have found Julian has given me very sound advice every time i have asked him.

I am a complete Novice i first bought a complete Loco that was total rubbish.

I did not find out till i joined a club to see i had wasted £1400 on a PV Baker.

I have since totally rebuilt her with the help of my local Club.

After rebuilding this one i thought if i could perhaps Build one myself so understand more of loco and know what i had.

Like you its a very hard decision to make i wanted to Build a good work horse that was a good workhorse.

I looked at so many i liked the Speedy as a Guy who works on Big loco at Bridgnorth ex railway guy built his he is a professional engineer pulls well had 30 people on the Back and pulled very well.

Problem was Boiler is Tapered and difficult to make or very expensive to buy.

I also wanted a Tender engine as don't like side tanks.

So after seeing one on web site for North Staffs club at Newcastle under Lyme i decided to build one very similar.

So i am building a super simplex the parts are easy to come by the super Simplex does not have a lot of the teething problems of the standard simplex.

I have seen one pulling 23 people behind with no Problem it has a 5 inch boiler i am told easy to make out of Copper tube 19 inch long .

The Parts are readily available as most parts from standard simplex fit as only boiler Frames and Cylinders deferent .

You can get all casting from Black gates Reeves also many do Lazar frames and fitting you can buy just about everything if you have problems making from scratch.

I had my Lazar frames with Buffer beams found so easy to assemble i had my wheels from Black gates far cheaper part's from them.

I have within a few weeks got almost a running Chassis from a complete Novice with not very many good Machines.

I hope by the end of the week to Finnish fitting Axle boxes two to go wheels and axles already to fit id with water pump crank and Rod already to Fit in.

You can chose if you want a tender or not easy changes to have one so many to choose from.

I chose one not so large as after driving a few at my Club found it uncomfortable to keep stretching over when running for long time on open Days.

I hope this might help in you search good look and most of all ENJOY.

Ron

Hi all. Thanks for all your comments and useful information. I am now home so I just attempted to meet a local steam club as suggested earlier, but so far they haven't replied. I have also ordered "Design Procedures For Walschaerts & Stephensons Valve Gears - By D. L. Ashton" and "The Model Steam Locomotive: A Complete Treatise on Design and Construction - by Martin Evans". The later should arrive on Thursday according to Amazon.

After looking further on what can be done and considering my existing background, I figured out that I'd like to make changes to existing designs or even create something from scratch.

As mentioned earlier I have looked at several 4-6-0 or 4-6-2 designs and drawings offered by ajreves and blackgates, however I am still struggling on what to order. The "Britannia" looks nice, but since I would rather *try* to build something from my own design (at least partly) I need to start with some existing drawings that are not over complicated. For example I do not want at this time a 3 or 4 cylinders loco, but just a two cylinders one. Also I noticed that the Britannia has slightly inclined cylinders (I meant not totally horizontal), which also makes things more complicated if I want to change some dimension.

I am aware that I am probably asking too trivial and not very focused questions, but ultimately, my question is: What 4-6-x loco would be easier to build, having less parts, simple design, and clear and clean drawings?

Thanks in advance.

John.