3D or 2D Drawings for SAR 25C

Hi I want to build a 25C in 7 1/4 gauge

I used to work with BR and Zimbabwe Railways - Haymarket, Plant Works Doncaster and the Mechanical Workshops in Bulawayo - steam diesel and electric..

I have no tools yet so as I have 3D and 2D CAD i could be getting the drawings ready

Any help appreciated

John Archibald

Hello, welcome to the world of building things, or drawing them.

Perhaps you could put in a link to a picture of whatever a 25c is so we can understand a bit more. I found several different thins on google so not sure which one you are talking about.

The South African Railway 4-8-4 Class 25 was built in the early 1950's. Ninety were Class 25C engines built with condensing equipment for use in the semi-desert Karoo, while fifty were Class 25NC built without the condensing equipment.

What is interesting is that David Wardale's famous Red Devil, SAR Class 26, was a rebuilt class 25NC.

Drawing of the full-size engines are available for purchase here: 25C Condensing 25NC Non-Condensing - also click on the links for photos of the engines.
However, I have no knowledge as to the quality of the drawings or what is included, I am only posting the links for informational purposes.

Clive

Edited By clivel on 11/06/2020 21:18:20

Hi John, welcome to the forum.

Before retiring from work, I used toi be a CAD jockey and model everything that I intend to make prior to machining. Much easier and cheaper to fix mistakes on a computer than in the workshop. Whether you are making your own set of drawings from scratch or modifying a set of purchased drawings, my advise is to do it in CAD first.

Most of the drawings that I have seen for model engines seem to have been drawn by amateurs and contain errors but they are in-expensive. (the cost of professionally drafted drawings would cost thousands of $, not a hundred). They may also use older, imperial size materials which are hard to find..

Good luck building your project and I look forward to seeing your progress.

Paul

The drawings that SAR Steam sell are very good quality copies of the works drawings in Tiff and pdf format. There are also some CAD drawings included, at least in the 25NC set. I've got the set of three CDs containing the drawings for every SAR loco that they sold some years ago when the owner was thinking of shutting shop.

I have been slowly drawing up a 2½" gauge version of Red Devil over the last few years but whether it will ever get built is another matter!

Be aware that following works drawings is a mammoth task and will take a long time!

Jim Nolan is building a 7¼" 25NC and shows progress on his website:

NorthernSteam

Worth a look if you want to see what is involved in building a loco of this size. It's huge!

John

Edited By John Baguley on 12/06/2020 01:48:17

A very ambitious first project John - but it sounds like you have a good background for the work.

Having had a look through Jim Nolan's site - I think you really need to contact him and ask for his advice and see if you can co-operate in any way. He's had castings made, so will have patterns and contacts etc - and of course, he must have drawings (possibly CAD) he's working to.

I think John B has possibly saved you a great deal of time and effort in pointing you at Jim's work...

Regards,

IanT