Locomotive built of wood

[Mr Ron]

Has anyone built a locomotive from wood? Of course, the running gear would be metal. I would like to use a lawn tractor as the power source or possibly a golf cart motor and batteries. I know it can be done but would like to hear from others for their ideas.

[GardeningRR]

Check out this YouTube https://youtu.be/1ACeReqvSU8 video and then do a little surfing around there.

[kcameron]

I've seen a couple of shells made of wood for 1" scale locos. The power was battery and motors in the trucks. Some really nice details but an excellent paint job is required to prevent damage from getting caught in the rain from time to time.

[Pontiacguy1]

There was an article in Live Steam back about 40 years ago now about a guy who built a small locomotive and a lot of it was built out of wood. It was something similar in size to the Mack 4-wheel switcher. I remember that it had NO suspension, a very short wheelbase, somewhere around 10-12 inches, and the side frames were made out of an old butcher block. He had a plate cut somewhere to make the deck, and he drilled holes in it to screw it to the wood frame. It was electric, one motor and one battery, made like a boxcab, I believe. I don't remember if the body was wood or metal. The guy built a running 7 1/2" gauge 1/8th scale locomotive for just a few hundred dollars. He didn't machine the wheels and axles, but he did everything else with a drill press and some woodworking tools, I believe. as an 8 or 9 year old kid looking to get started with few to no skills and not much money, it was inspirational.

[Erskine Tramway]

Mr. Ron...

I have a wooden bodied 'tram' style locomotive that I use on the Erskine Tramway. The November/December issue of 'Live Steam and Outdoor Railroading' has an article I wrote about 'Sparky'. It's a battery-electric on a Ride Trains 'Mini Motor Car' chassis.

I use it mainly to haul firewood, until I get my gas-mechanical built, but it was intended as a Passenger Motor.

There is a fellow on Facebook who is building a GP38-2 entirely from wood. <https://www.facebook.com/groups/2354064978007098> The group is called 'Railroading Backyard Woodie'

Mike

[Rwilliams]

Someone in the Sacramento CA area constructed a 1 inch scale cab forward out of mostly wood perhaps back in the 1950-1960 era. It was brought out to the SVLS track a few times for display in the middle to late 1970's time frame. Even up close it was hard to tell that it was made from wood, the builder was very talented. Some at first sight thought it was a full blown live steam model capable of operation on steam.

[STRR]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhiIYpix0GE

Luke Glazar built this train circa 1962 from a View-Master cartoon disc of Quick Draw McGraw titled Chattanooga Chief. It's all homemade, primarily out of wood with a riveted steel water heater tank for the boiler. There's not one nail in the entire train. Luke used all screws to look like riveted steel. It's just short of an 18" gauge and uses a Honda GC-135 engine which replaced a Briggs and Stratton 5 hp engine. Yes, the frames are all wood; even the trucks are wood and have steel wheels/axles running in pillow block bearings.

I'm sure you can get some ideas from Luke's train. Some of the ideas are good, and some are not so good. Please do not put an air-cooled engine inside a steel tank and expect it to work correctly. I had to add muffin fans and an expanded metal "door" to allow adequate cooling. The corner radii are way too short, causing the wheels to be pulled laterally across the railheads and squeak. I use paraffin wax to reduce the noise, but I have to be careful. Too much wax, and the drivers slip in the curves. The curves had to be short for the train to get around the house with adequate straight sections for visitor viewing.

[Pontiacguy1]

Somewhere I saw advertised for sale just a few months ago a scaled-up model of the LGB Stainz 0-4-0 locomotive and short train that was mostly made out of wood. I believe it was a locomotive and a car and a caboose. They were battery powered, and I believe 1" scale for 4 3/4" track. It was a really neat looking set, and I don't think much of it was metal, except maybe the wheels and axles.

[DRS_RR]

the late Pete Eggink described building his GP 35 out of wood.

http://www.calvertcentral.com/CC_2014_GP35.html

Dave

[rkcarguy]

the late Pete Eggink described building his GP 35 out of wood.

http://www.calvertcentral.com/CC_2014_GP35.html

Dave

I considered this method for the body of mine, but it's just too wet here.
I have metal shop access so I went with aluminum on a steel frame.
Honestly if one was proficient (even if you aren't it can be sanded and filled) with fiberglass, a couple layers of epoxy glass could be laid over the wood body and then sprayed with gelcoat and it would look very good and last a long time. Even just thinned down epoxy will soak into the wood and harden it, but it can spider crack if conditions aren't right.

[mattmason]

Here is the cab forward made of wood. It last ran in 1973 at the SVLS track in Sacramento. The rods, valve gear, and boiler shell are metal, everything else essentially is wood. Yep—wheels and frame included. And yes, it did run on steam.

Art Buck built it. He then built a USRA mountain in all metal for the track. I now own that loco.

First picture is the cab forward. The second one is the wood cab forward with the USRA mountain.

[Rwilliams]

Matt,

Thanks for sharing, I never did get to see it run. It was always just on display when I saw it at the track and had no clue it was capable of steam operation.

Where is the cab forward at this point in time?

Robert