The 16mm Narrow Gauge Steam Loco Builder Group
An introduction by Bob Young
In the latter part of 2004 I started building Brazil, a design by Keith Bucklitch. I had very little experience of building locos at all let alone a small one such as this. During the build I found myself turning to Keith for advice on how to do some things.
I started
to really be a nuisance, I thought, and was always apologising!
Then at the beginning of 2005 a guy called Ginger Byrne started his and asked me for help. I provided what help I could but was rapidly getting out of my depth. At the time the Brazil, a Kerr Stuart, was becoming more popular so I thought that having a group to unite all the builders would be a good idea. "Steammodelloco16mm" was born in August 2005 and the first member was Ginger. Others followed and Keith himself joined the throng.
As Brazil
was so popular more people began to join and the remit of the group
changed from just 16mm loco’s to any steam loco in any scale mainly
because the principals are much the same. There was also a call for
chat about coal firing and modifying commercial offerings, after
some discussions these were included too! Add to this the machinery
used to build the little beasts, lathes, mills, drills, tooling etc.
etc.
The
membership has increased steadily since them and now stands at over
350, not all active but messages are carefully moderated and kept on
topic. This means that there are some quiet periods but the members
seem to like it that way. If there are any disputes I try to settle
them Off list, so as not to clutter up the group, and also not to
let any animosity for my moderation rub off on anyone else.
Over the
years there have been more interest in “Idris” a Dave Watkins VB
design and now he too is a member. There has also been considerable
support for Keith’s “Dennis” with some members building up 3 at a
time (Ginger!) The current interest surrounds a book written by
Brian Wilson called “Steam trains in your Garden” and a Loco called
“Eric”.
Brian,
also now a member, has been kind enough to supply a set of beautiful
castings for the engine at cost and over 30 sets have been supplied
up to now. Another member arranged to have a set of laser cut parts
done which include frames, rods, and cranks and a lot of other
parts. Over 40 sets of these have been done!
The group
is an inspiration to me and I have learned a lot from members all
over the world, India, Sri lanka, Chile, Australia, Switzerland and
France to mention but a few.
A question
can return several different ways to do a simple step in the
building process, some obvious, some not so but all useful.
You can join our Group by navigating to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Steammodelloco16mm/
