PRR S2 turbine in hernia scale?

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PRR5406
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PRR S2 turbine in hernia scale?

Post by PRR5406 »

About a decade ago, someone had an almost completed Pennsy S2 turbine for sale on DLS. The turbine didn't drive the locomotive, as I believe it required installation of an electric motor and batteries - as I say, it wasn't finished, but it looked great.
Does anyone know where it wound up, and if the owner has pictures to share?
It was a unique engine and in fanatic Pennsy circles, something to document.

-Dick
"Always stopping my train, and risking my ankles, with American made, New Balance sneakers."
6175
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Re: PRR S2 turbine in hernia scale?

Post by 6175 »

This is not in hernia scale, but I thought you may get a kick out of this loco anyways.
S2 test run: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPAJID1CSfM
S2 assembled: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wq6qogWywxU

I always though building a Live Steam S2 would be awesome but making a turbine that would have enough torque to pull itself around sounds like a complex project.
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Bill Shields
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Re: PRR S2 turbine in hernia scale?

Post by Bill Shields »

A turbine requires fairly large quantities of very dry steam at relatively high pressures to do what is needed.

Cannot be a total loss steam system.

Way beyond scale modeling possibilities.

Heck, it was not successful in 4' 8.5" gauge...

Some would argue it was ok going forward, but even then there was no place to install a turbine large enough to make reverse effective.

If you want a challenge..just try to build a steam driven centrifugal feed water pump that puts out 125psi that can be run from one of our boilers.
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NP317
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Re: PRR S2 turbine in hernia scale?

Post by NP317 »

That G gauge S2 is a remarkable modeling achievement!
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Re: PRR S2 turbine in hernia scale?

Post by gwrdriver »

NP317 wrote: Tue Jan 10, 2023 12:03 pmThat G gauge S2 is a remarkable modeling achievement! - RussN
The first step in the project, in any project for that matter, is to believe it can be done.
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JBodenmann
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Re: PRR S2 turbine in hernia scale?

Post by JBodenmann »

Hello My Friends
What a cool model. That gauge one turbine is really the most to say the least! I guess nobody told him it wouldn't work. :D
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Bill Shields
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Re: PRR S2 turbine in hernia scale?

Post by Bill Shields »

pulling a small load is very different than pulling a person....
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gwrdriver
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Re: PRR S2 turbine in hernia scale?

Post by gwrdriver »

May be yes, maybe no.
I had a friend, Charlie, now deceased, who built a free-lance outside cylindered 0-8-0 in 1:32, which was smaller than a Ga1 S2, lighter than a Ga1 S2, with less tractive effort than a Ga1 S2, and less boiler capacity than the S2, yet it pulled him (a real person) up and down a straight track with relative ease. Granted, the most difficult part was balancing himself on that flat car and not everyone would sit still for that, no pun intended!

Charlie (left) and a couple of his scratch-built locomotives with the 0-8-0 on the right. Photo © 2008 Michael Martin
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Bill Shields
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Re: PRR S2 turbine in hernia scale?

Post by Bill Shields »

that's really cool....regularly ride behind a 2.5" gauge loco that would pull me around a really flat track, so I am not totally surprised that it can be done with a recip.

still on the fence regarding the turbine being able to manage a human sized butt and associated load / steam consumption.

Guess I have spent too many years in full size power plants watching things go round and round to effectively embrace scaling it down to really low pressures (effectively very wet steam at high consumption).
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FKreider
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Re: PRR S2 turbine in hernia scale?

Post by FKreider »

Chuck Balmer of Ohio is building a S2 in 3/4" scale, the work so far that I have seen is stunning which is no surprise considering Chuck's past projects.

I cant seem to link to the facebook post but Chuck's son Jim posts updates to the 3/4" Enthusiast page - I just checked for the latest update the locomotive appears to be almost complete although at the time of posting had not had a fire in it yet.

Here are pictures from that post:
285771884_10102884257332200_1601484491393457333_n.jpg
285663527_10102884257252360_8429309877562343785_n.jpg
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Re: PRR S2 turbine in hernia scale?

Post by apm »

FKreider wrote: Fri Jan 13, 2023 5:08 pm Chuck Balmer of Ohio is building a S2 in 3/4" scale, the work so far that I have seen is stunning which is no surprise considering Chuck's past projects.

I cant seem to link to the facebook post but Chuck's son Jim posts updates to the 3/4" Enthusiast page - I just checked for the latest update the locomotive appears to be almost complete although at the time of posting had not had a fire in it yet.

Here are pictures from that post:

285771884_10102884257332200_1601484491393457333_n.jpg
285663527_10102884257252360_8429309877562343785_n.jpg
What's the actual name of that Facebook group I tried searching but can't find?
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AnthonyDuarte
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Re: PRR S2 turbine in hernia scale?

Post by AnthonyDuarte »

FaceBook group is called: 3 1/2" Gauge Railroading
Anthony Duarte
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