1. Home
  2. Model railroading in the UK
  3. Any one know who S.F.H. was?

Any one know who S.F.H. was?

Hi,

I bought a "rolling chassis" for a live steam loco off ebay, (See:

formatting link
Which as you can see is described as a 3 1/2" shunting loco, with drawings.

In fact it isn't, its a 5" (which is a bonus) and came with 6 naff blueprints, and 6 buitifully drawn (in pencil) drawings at A2 size on tracing paper with lots of smaller drawings of all the parts, again all originals.

The only "name" type peice if information is that most of the main drawings are "signed" s.F.h. (All caps, but the S and H are the same size as each other but smaller than the F) the drawings show an engine that looks a dead ringer for Tich except that it is 5" and has nicer valve gear, and the lubricator is mounted above the frame, infront of the tanks, as opposed to between the frames.

So does any one have any idea of who S.F.H is or was or any other clues about this engine?

Also I understand if I want to pull people with it I will have to add balast. How do I work out how heavy the loco needs to be to pull things?

Reply to
Benedict White
Loading thread data ...

Benedict,

You might want to try posting in uk.rec.models.engineering as well since I think you are more likely to find model engineers on that group who might well be able to answer your questions.

Jim.

Reply to
Jim Guthrie

Many thanks for that Jim, I'm off to post now!

Reply to
Benedict White

If you don't have any luck, there are a couple of mailing lists which you might like to subscribe to.

The Livesteamers list has interests mainly in larger scale live steam railway locomotive models. Its membership is worldwide and details of subscribing at

formatting link
The other list is the model-eng list and its interests cover all branches of model engineering. Again, its membership is worldwide, but there are a lot of members in the UK who might have more information about your rolling chassis. Subscription details are here

formatting link
My own thoughts on your questions are that the weight of a live steam model locomotive is usually proportional to its load-hauling capacity

- much the same as the full size locos :-) I've been reading about modelling live steam locos for many years any I cannot remember anyone advocating adding ballast to a locomotive. I think you might have problems finding space for the ballast in any case since all the space is taken up with necessary bits and pieces, or water and fuel. I think that these small 0-4-0 locos in 3/4" scale were really suitable for pulling the driver and maybe one more person if you were lucky.

I note from your messages in rec.models.rail that you're looking for boiler to suit the chassis. You might find that the boiler for Juliet might fit (Juliet was/is the big sister of Tich), or people on the newsgroups or lists might be able to suggest other boiler designs which might suit the chassis.

Jim

Reply to
Jim Guthrie

Many thanks for those I wil look those up.

Well, I have seen slightly larger (in terms of length but same gauge) pulling lots of people at one of our local parks. Tich being 3 1/2" of course is really challenged in the weight departmen. As for ballast, I was talking to some one else, and apparently rather than using the side tanks for water, (which can be kept on the drivers carriage with the coal) you can fill them with lead. Still, I will have to see what they say on those lists.

I have drawings of the boiler, so I was thinking of building it my self. I understand that if I became a member of my local model engineering club I can get a boiler certificate as part fo that. The question I was asking was, is it big enough? That said I wanted to buy a stock boiler you are probably right about the choice.

Any way many thanks for your help.

Reply to
Benedict White

PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.