The above pictures show the current construction progress of our large scale garden railway locomotive. 

After the commitment to build a large scale garden railway was made, we commenced design research and construction methods on January 7, 2003. The design is  based upon a EMD F7 which was built by the Electro Motive Division of General Motors in  the 1950's.  As this locomotive is not being built to any commercially available plans, all  fabrication and machining procedures will be finalized before and during each phase of construction. We have some old pictures and a basic external drawing which will be used for visual reference during construction. The locomotive will be designed to pull three cars, carrying a total of  6 passengers along 600 feet (182.8M) of track. We have not decided on a railway name - we are open to appropriate suggestions.

Motive power will be supplied by batteries (24VDC) to a pair of surplus electric wheel chair drive motors.

Finished dimensions, without couplers,  will be: L=  76 inches (1.93M) x W= 16 inches (.40M) x H= 23.6 inches (.599M).

I (Harold) will be doing the machining and mechanical assembly of the locomotive. My son (Chris) will look after body fabrication and painting. This will be a long term project as it can only be worked on during our spare time. 

January 17, 2003 - Initial purchase of  steel for the fabrication of the trucks. Picked up wheel bearings (6201) for the driving wheels.

January 18, 2003 - Fabricated the front truck outside frames. Dimensions L = 21"(.53M),  W = 4.5"(.11M), machined from 1/4"(.06M) steel.