The online home of Lester Friend's "Yankee Shop Machinists" of Danvers, MA; Friends Steam Models of Topsfield, MA; Laverne D. Langworthy of Westerly, RI; and H.J. Coventry of Baltimore, MD. Supplier of "rough castings" for coal-fired live steam locomotives in 1/2", 3/4", 1", and 1-1/2" inch scales. Castings for the Kozo Hiraoka locomotives also supplied.
Historical Coal-Fired Designs
Traditional Live Steaming
Old-Fashioned, Readable Blueprints
Top-Quality American-made Sand Castings from Commerical Foundries in New England
REAL Live Steam that's "Big Enough to Pull You; Small Enough to Manage"
Good Old Fashioned QUALITY, and SERVICE
LATEST NEWS:
July 1st 2009:
3/4" scale couplers in bronze are now available. Made in New England USA from patterns by Laverne Langworthy. Click HERE for information or to purchase.
April 6th, 2009:
Major site updates for one locomotive (new photos, better photos; plus new information) can be seen HERE, and for another locomotive HERE.
And a long-lost design for which I would like to "gauge interest" in its return to market may be seen HERE. Thanks for looking.
March 30th, 2009:
3/4" scale "New Shay" wheels are ready! To buy iron wheel castings for your 3/4" scale, 3-1/2" gauge Kozo Hiraoka "New Shay", please click HERE.
February 27th, 2009:
A 3/4" scale H.J. Coventry 0-6-0 Switcher Takes Shape......
This H.J. Coventry 3/4" scale, 3-1/2" gauge 0-6-0 switcher is being built by Jack Bodenmann of California USA. Castings by Friends Yankee Shop Models, Woburn, Massachusetts USA. Photo by Jack Bodenmann.
Please sign up for e-mail updates.....
About once per month, Friends Yankee Shop Models sends out an e-mail to the subscribers on its "E-mail Updates" list. The e-mails include general information about Friends' current activities, plus: product updates, announcements of special sales, and other items of interest. It is a great way to stay abreast of Friends' activities, and to get the information direct from the source.....Friends! For more information, or to sign up for the e-mails, please click HERE.
Herb Hild runs his brother Joe Hild's 3/4" scale P-7 class PRESIDENT WASHINGTON at the New England Live Steamers track at Danvers, MA in the 1950s. Joe Hild is seen seated about halfway back among the "kiddie" passengers. This is an example of the pulling power of a 3/4" Pacific. Castings for this locomotive are available from FRIENDS YANKEE SHOP MODELS.
Live steamers, backyard railroaders, and home shop machinists:
If you'd like a "feel for" (or a "return to") the "Good Old Days" of live steam; or if you simply want to get "back to basics" and want to build, in the tradition of the early days, a coal-fired live steamer that's "big enough to pull you, but small enough to manage", then Friends Yankee Shop Models is here to meet your needs.
Friends produces (and will produce) "rough castings" (and traditional blueprints) for the classic and traditional live steam designs by Lester Danforth Friend of Danvers Massachusetts (Yankee Shop; Friends Models); Laverne D. Langworthy of Westerly Rhode Island; Harry (Henry) "H.J." Coventry of Baltimore Maryland, and others.
These designs, small by today's "hugescale" and "supersize" standards, were the standard "ride on" designs of their era. They provide all the sights, sounds, smells, and thrills of steam locomotives in the large scales and gauges, and do so with beauty, power, and speed; but are small enough to be built in your modest home workshop. When not running, they can be stored in a small corner of the garage or workshop, and on run days they can be easily lifted and transported in your automobile's backseat or trunk. Due to their smaller scale and size, if space on your property is at a premium, they can be the basis of that backyard railroad you always wanted to have, but for which you did not think you had the space.
You will now have available to you top-quality American-made castings of iron, bronze, and aluminum for the classic small-scale steam locomotives of a bygone era.
It's June of 1987, and all is well. John Kurdzionak has just finished the 10th grade, and he is tending to his 3/4" scale "Friends Models" 4-6-6 Tanker at the Bass River Railroad in Litchfield, NH. It was John's love for THIS locomotive that began EVERYTHING you see on this website today. Thanks for visiting www.friendsmodels.com.
Twenty two years later, the Boston and Albany tank engine still makes me smile. Here is my beloved B & A tanker in January, 2009. I have not owned it in more than a decade, but I had the opportunity to visit it in January, 2009.
Here's me in August 1996 at the top of Mt. Washington NH. This was my first trip as "Engineer" on the Mt. Washington Cog Railway. I worked on Mt. Washington from 1992 to 2001.
Individual Visitors ("unique users") since January 17th, 2008
Online since spring, 2007
Classic Live Steam of Yesteryear.....
Experience a part of "The Hobby" that probably "came and went" before you were born. Traditional blueprints and top-quality American-made sand castings for small-scale, home-machined, coal-fired live steam locomotives that are "Big enough to pull you, but small enough to manage".
