|
The 701
Questions or comments?
Page created: 30 Dec 2003 Last
Revised: 10 Feb 2004
|
Before...
|
...After
|
This locomotive grew out of a need for a small locomotive for Maintenance-of-Way (MOW) work. We had no desire to create another locomotive,
but as we were building the railroad, we noticed that everyone enjoyed riding the flatcar behind the diesel. Marie convinced Charlie
that a good 'side project' would be to complete a simple locomotive with riding car before tackling the Porter.
The locomotive started as a
German-made Holder AM-2 articulated, four-wheel-drive tractor.
As Holder tractors are known for being articulated, changing this was the most obvious modification
that had to be made for the tractor to be used on the railroad. A channel-iron 'frame' was constructed to hold the two axles in parallel. When the body was
added, a system of operating the controls from the cab was needed. Charlie constructed a system of linkages and levers to operate the forward/reverse gear
lever, gear-shift, clutch, brakes, and throttle. The starter switch and other electrical gear was routed into the dashboard of the cab. The majority of the
body work was performed by Charlie. A small amount of sheet metal bending was performed by the local machine shop. The painting was performed by our good
friend, Kevin. A small air tank and compressor is run from the PTO in order to sound the horn. The light was constructed from scrap, and welded and ground
to shape. For those of you eagle-eyed viewers, you may notice that the reflector behind the bulb looks exactly like one of Marie's stainless steel mixing
bowls! Marie contributed more than her best cookware, though! She also upholstered the arm rests in the windows.
Here are two current pictures of the 701. We'll add more of the construction photos as we can scan them.
We've found that this locomotive can easily pull our 12-person passenger car, which is very impressive,
once you realize we have a roughly 4-5% grade with a 25-degree curve! Traction is limited with the
light wheels. A modification with much heavier wheels is planned so as to increase the tractive effort.
And why Number 701? It was finished in July, 2001.
|
