My N&W class A 1239 (gauge 5", 1 in 10 scale)

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Bill Shields
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Re: My N&W class A 1239 (gauge 5", 1 in 10 scale)

Post by Bill Shields »

That is really cool. Running stokers in North America are not often seen. I have been involved with live steam for 45 years and never seen one that actually works.

In reality I have only seen ONE and it was not really functional.

200 hours of operation with nothing broken is a success.
What type of coal do you feed with it?

Do not complain about being 75. Not everyone is blessed with such a 'problem'.

My goal is to make 70 🙂
Too many things going on to bother listing them.
Asteamhead
Posts: 582
Joined: Tue Jul 31, 2012 1:59 pm
Location: Germany, Duesseldorf

Re: My N&W class A 1239 (gauge 5", 1 in 10 scale)

Post by Asteamhead »

Bill,
About 200 hours of running time - not quite without failure: There was one broken cardan of the auger :(
We used high quality anthrazite no 5, which means a size somewhat between 8 and 12 mm (1/2 "), (photo). An amount of some soft coal was mixed by to improve fast ignition of the black coal thrown by the stoker :!: . First the stoker engine stalled now and then when breaking hard pieces of that mix and had to be reversed.
Thus we looked around for the search of diferent stuff in several coal bunkers and found some old soft coal which showed to be more to the like of the stoker's coal crusher :). Then we could run the engine just by stoker all the 2 miles of a complete cirkle :)
Some soft coal, maybe even lignite is necessary to get a bright fire by means of the engine's draft very quickly.
The more draft you have the cleaner the tubes and the smokebox will remain at the end of the day "self cleaning front end" :wink:
Some more detailed information had been posted some years ago in my former topic The stoker is done viewtopic.php?f=8&t=89669&p=251958#p251958

Use your time Bill as long you can :!: I tell you, at the age of 75 nothing will be easier than before :(

Best regards
asteamhead
Attachments
Stoker coal size [in cm]
Stoker coal size [in cm]
HT stoker, coal crusher
HT stoker, coal crusher
HT stoker, black coal on the fly
HT stoker, black coal on the fly
HT-auger with max. size of coal (anthrazite)
HT-auger with max. size of coal (anthrazite)
HT-auger with coal crusher
HT-auger with coal crusher
Asteamhead
Posts: 582
Joined: Tue Jul 31, 2012 1:59 pm
Location: Germany, Duesseldorf

Re: My N&W class A 1239 (gauge 5", 1 in 10 scale)

Post by Asteamhead »

Hello my friends,
No progress to report, just a photo of a superb brass model of the A 1238 ...42, bought on Ebay just recently. Showing to me, what parts still are missing on my A 1239 :roll: . A 'must have' to me :D as you may understand.
My lathe quit due to a broken tooth belt :shock: . Today I received a new one as replacement, thus work can continue

Best regards
asteamhead
Attachments
A 1238 ... 42, scale H0, brass, Japan
A 1238 ... 42, scale H0, brass, Japan
Andypullen
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Joined: Thu May 22, 2003 8:17 am
Location: Bel Air, MD

Re: My N&W class A 1239 (gauge 5", 1 in 10 scale)

Post by Andypullen »

Asteamhead wrote: Thu Aug 25, 2022 6:11 pm Hello my friends,
No progress to report, just a photo of a superb brass model of the A 1238 ...42, bought on Ebay just recently. Showing to me, what parts still are missing on my A 1239 :roll: . A 'must have' to me :D as you may understand.
My lathe quit due to a broken tooth belt :shock: . Today I received a new one as replacement, thus work can continue

Best regards
asteamhead
I have one of those models too. Beautiful old model....looks to be the old Pacific Fast Mail model from the 1960s. It was also a "must have" when I found it in 1990. Back when I was working on the actual ones.
1218 and me.jpg
I also just replaced the tooth belt on my Clausing. Probably the original one. The lathe was built in the early 1960s and was originally owned by the Baltimore City School System. Still has a property tag on it. I bought it in 1992 and had to replace the shear pin in the lead screw.

Andy Pullen
Clausing 10x24, Sheldon 12" shaper, ProtoTrak AGE-2 control cnc on a BP clone, Reed Prentice 14" x 30", Sanford MG 610 surface grinder, Kalamazoo 610 bandsaw, Hardinge HSL speed lathe, Hardinge HC chucker, Kearney and Trecker #2K plain horizontal mill, Haas TL-1 lathe.
Asteamhead
Posts: 582
Joined: Tue Jul 31, 2012 1:59 pm
Location: Germany, Duesseldorf

Re: My N&W class A 1239 (gauge 5", 1 in 10 scale)

Post by Asteamhead »

Hello Andy,
Happy, you like(d) this fine scale model, too :)
Great memories and experience, having worked at the prototype A 1218 just in time 8)
By the way, several months ago I bought a fine scale brass model of the famous H 8 of the C & O, too. Not real "a must have" as the A but a superb modell anyway :)
My Emco V10 lathe, built 1975 isn`t ready for use yet. The 2 belts I bought didn`fit 100 % thus worked just for a short time :evil: . But I like Ebay for one can find everything: I found Just the original type as replacement (inch instead of more common mm!), not even expensive :)
I`m looking forward to the next trial :roll:
So much work at the hundred of parts for the tender`s brake is still waiting ...
Have a good time!
Wulf-Dieter
Brian Hilgert
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Location: Pittsburgh, PA

Re: My N&W class A 1239 (gauge 5", 1 in 10 scale)

Post by Brian Hilgert »

I am simply amazed by your workmanship!
apm
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Joined: Sun Jan 05, 2003 12:21 am

Re: My N&W class A 1239 (gauge 5", 1 in 10 scale)

Post by apm »

Asteamhead, where in Germany are you guys? I will be in Hamburg area sometime in March for at least 1-2 weekends. Is there much steam to be viewed that time of year over there in that time of year or do you guys pretty much hibernate until spring time like the rest of us?
Asteamhead
Posts: 582
Joined: Tue Jul 31, 2012 1:59 pm
Location: Germany, Duesseldorf

Re: My N&W class A 1239 (gauge 5", 1 in 10 scale)

Post by Asteamhead »

Hello Brian,
Thank you for your recognition :)

apm,
March is a little too early to start the season, sorry :(
Most clubs will start the outdoor season in late april or even may. Hamburg is very well conected to most of the bigger cities by high speed rails (ICE).
So you might visit one of the bigger Lifesteam clubs as DBC-T at Oberursel near Frankfurt please see a youtube video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wG7nvWRxGXs).

We are planning our first steam up meeting at this site around may 18th (Father's Day).
I am located at Duesseldorf, which is about 270 miles away from Hamburg (4 hours by train). If you like, you may contact me during your stay at Hamburg by private mail.
Best regards
Asteamhead - Wulf-Dieter
Asteamhead
Posts: 582
Joined: Tue Jul 31, 2012 1:59 pm
Location: Germany, Duesseldorf

Re: My N&W class A 1239 (gauge 5", 1 in 10 scale)

Post by Asteamhead »

Hello steamers,
Last weekend on Father`s Day we held our first bigger international steam event at the site of DBC-T at Oberursel (near Frankfurt).
Wether was fine, a bunch of fine locos ran well, and we had a lot of fun :D
We had the A 1239 running on load for about 4 hours exclusively fired by the HT stoker. Not one shovel by hand all the running time :!:
May be a World Record regarding the miniture stoker on duty :?:
A heavy narrow gauge loco with train riding on gauge 7 1/4 " was used as load. Ruling grade was 1 %, max. grade was 2 %. Max drawbar pull was about 120 pounds +
Next day one joint of the stoker housing showed some lost bolts (M 2.5 mm) which didn`t take the continous stress in sharp curves :roll:
We could not do quite a similar job the next day by just hand firing :lol:
Repair / improvement will not take that much time yet :)
You see me happy!
Asteamhead
Attachments
4 hours, fed by the HT stoker without any shovel of coal
4 hours, fed by the HT stoker without any shovel of coal
DBC-T , A 1239 with heavy load on stoker red.jpg (558.27 KiB) Viewed 3060 times
Father`Day at DBC-T Oberursel with A and two class 44
Father`Day at DBC-T Oberursel with A and two class 44
DBC-T_A Swiss engineer of the SBB as driver, two class 44 on 7,25 gauge in the background 4728 red.JPG (598.01 KiB) Viewed 3060 times
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