I'm assuming you are talking about railroad locomotives.
Live Steam magazine (now renamed to Live Steam and Outdoor Railroading) as already mentioned is a premier magazine on the subject.? They have had a number of multi-issue (sometimes many issues) construction projects.? The most notable author of these is arguably Kozo Hiraoka.
Here is a little bit of info on him:
He has compiled some of his projects that were in Live Steam magazine into book form.? He tends to favor 3/4" scale which has very little popularity (in the U.S. anyway) but they can scaled up to other sizes.? You can see what is available at Amazon here:
The engines include:
Pennsylvania 0-4-0 switcher
Rio Grande K-27 narrow gauge 2-8-2
Climax
Shay
Heisler
He has many clever construction techniques so that he doesn't have to use castings.? But any of his books (or construction series in Live Steam magazine) will give you a very good idea of what is involved and will have drawings for everything.
There is also a sort of "oldie but a goodie" book "So You Want to Build a Live Steam Locomotive" by Joseph F. Nelson.? Some of the reviews say, "must have" and "must read" and I would agree.? It is long out of print and can be harder to find.??
Besides just designing and building one you will probably want to run it somewhere.? Of course, with enough property and effort, that could be at your home.? But most are involved with some sort of live steam club.? It is very good to find one in your area and join it and get to know people there.? This will also have a bearing on what gauge track you will plan to use.? Multiple scales use the same gauge track.? The most popular in the U.S. is 7 1/2 inch gauge, for example.? For standard gauge trains that is called 1.5" scale or 1/8 and many build to that scale.? Although 1.6" scale is a bit more correct and some build to that scale.? But there are many others.
Also, I have seen some good advice that it can be good to start out by buying an existing one.? Perhaps one that needs to be rebuilt.? And get that working.? Then you have something to run when building your own.? These can be long projects.? A local man I knew who retired from being a radiologist and had no machining experience whatsoever.? He started from scratch buying machines and a Railway Supply Corporation 2-8-2 kit and even modified and improved that kit.? Took him seven years.? And it was (and is - his son now has it) one of the best finished products I've seen.? But most don't take that long.
Another web site that is for buying and selling railroad live steam (and internal combustion and electric) is?
Charles E. "Chuck" Kinzer
On Saturday, February 15, 2025 at 08:44:40 AM PST, davesmith1800 <davesmith1@...> wrote:
