1/2" scale, 2-1/2" gauge was the "original" passenger-hauling size for "live steam". It was the most popular size/scale from the 1920s up until about World War II.
Are you ready for a "feel for", or a "return to", the "good old days"?
YOU can experience those early days, and that live steam era.....and Friends will help make it happen.
The other designs that you see (listed below) are all designs that Friends has available, and would very much like to produce for you. They are listed here for your information, and so that you can have an idea of what used to be available, and what can be available again.
All it will require, for ANY of these designs to be produced, is that people are seriously interested inthese designs' return, and that sufficient numbers of you make your desires known to Friends. If nobody tells me that he or she is interested in anything below, I will have no way of knowing your wants. Sincere interest in these designs' return, is the key to their return.
Please enjoy what's listed below, and if anything appeals to you please make your desires known tome. Thank you kindly for your interest.
The 1/2" scale, 2-1/2" gauge Boston & Maine 2-8-4 "Berkshire" by Harry Sait. Built circa 1928. If you're interested in castings and drawings for this early, historic, small-scale coal-fired passenger hauler, please make your desire known to me.
The Boston and Maine 4000-series Berkshire. Built by Lima for the B & M. Designed for 2-1/2" gauge by Harry Sait and Carl Purinton in the early 1930s. Compare to the photo above.
Here is a Sait-designed 2-1/2" gauge 2-8-4 Berkshire under steam at Danvers in 1938. At the throttle is 16-year old Charlie Purinton, son of Carl Purinton. Charlie is now (in 2010) 88 years of age. If you're interested in castings for this classic (castings for the locomotive, not for Charlie Purinton!), please contact me.
1/2" scale, 2-1/2" gauge Boston and Maine 2-8-4 Berkshire
Designed in the 1930s by Harry Sait of Old Orchard Beach, ME; and Carl Purinton of Marblehead, MA.
Complete detail drawings, as well as castings for the drivers, domes, and other critical parts, can be supplied if you desire. All else fabricated from stock.
Please make your interest known to me if YOU would like to build the engine that Harry Sait and Carl Purinton were building in the 1930s.
1/2" scale, 2-1/2" gauge 4-6-4 "Hudson"
Designed by L.R. Miller of Kansas, USA in the 1930s
Please click on the photo at right in order to see an enlarged photo and description of the L.R. Miller 2-1/2" gauge "Hudson".
Friends will produce a full set of castings for this locomotive, EXACTLY as was available from Mr. Miller in the 1930s, if there is interest in its return to market. Thanks for looking!
Click here for a photo and detailed description of the L.R. Miller "Hudson"
L.R. Miller 1/2" scale "Hudson" 4-6-4
Track gauge: 2-1/2" inches - standard throughout the world Phosphor bronze, 1/2-saddle cylinders, Piston Valve type Cylinders 7/8" bore by 1-1/8" stroke All cylinder ports "cored"- eliminates complicated milling, drilling, and boring. Cylinders can be machined on a 9" bench lathe
Walschaert valve gear Drivers 3-5/16" diameter Commonwealth lead truck, single casting Lead truck wheels 1-1/2" diameter
Commonwealth trailing truck Trailing truck wheels 1-3/4" diameter Copper boiler, 3-1/2" diameter Steam Brakes Hand pump in tender; injectors left and right, below cab
1/2" scale, 2-1/2" gauge K4 class 4-6-2 Pennsylvania Railroad "Pacific" by H.J. Coventry
Mr. Coventry's first commercially available design, 1924
If you are interested in drawings and castings for the 1/2" scale, 2-1/2" gauge K4 Pacific by H.J. Coventry (designed in 1924), please make your interest known to Friends.
This design can remain "stuck" in 1924, only to be seen in "back issues" of old Modelmaker magazines, or it can be produced, and available, once again.
If YOU want this design (rough castings) produced again, please let me know. Thank you for your interest.
1/2" Scale, 2-1/2" Gauge, P7 class PRESIDENT WASHINGTON, Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.
Designed by H.J. Coventry in 1928.
The ORIGINAL design that BEGAN the live steam hobby in the USA. This is the live steamer that "started it all".....our grandfathers and great-grandfathers built this locomotive beginning in 1928, through the Great Depression, and into the 1940s; and many builders used only a 9" lathe, a drill press, and hand tools to do so.
1/2" Scale (17/32" scale, to be exact) 2-1/2" gauge Coal Fired Walschaert Valve Gear Piston Valves 1/2 saddle bronze cylinders with all ports "cored in".....can be machined on a 9" lathe on a faceplate
Weight about 40 lbs (about the same as a 3/4" scale RARITAN); it will pull 2 adults. 3-1/2" diameter copper boiler can be rolled from flat sheet or purchased from sources in the United Kingdom.
If you are interested in "rough castings" for the FINEST 1/2" scale, 2-1/2" gauge locomotive EVER designed, the HJ Coventry "President Washington" from 1928, please make your desire known to me. FRIENDS YANKEE SHOP MODELS will produce it (including supplying drawings and Mr. Coventry's original construction notes), if there is enough interest in its return.
Thank you kindly for your interest.
The H.J. Coventry P-7 class PRESIDENT WASHINGTON, in 2-1/2" gauge. Click on the photo to enlarge.
The H.J. Coventry P7 class PRESIDENT WASHINGTON, in 2-1/2" gauge. Click on the photo to enlarge.
Carl Purinton's 1/2" scale, 2-1/2" gauge P7 class "President Washington". Mr. Purinton built the locomotive in 1928 from castings supplied by H.J. Coventry. Originally fitted with Mr. Coventry's piston valve cylinders, Mr. Purinton installed slide valve cylinders several years later.
1/2" scale, 2-1/2" Gauge SPECIAL NO. 1.....
By H.J. Coventry. A simplified yet pleasing version of the P-7 class 4-6-2 PRESIDENT WASHINGTON; designed for good looks and good running (and a general resemblance to the P-7) but without the complexties of the original "President". Described in The Modelmaker beginning in February, 1933.
In early 1933, in response to requests for an "easier to build locomotive", Mr. Coventry designed a "simplified" version of his famous "President Washington" of 1928 and called it the "Special Number One".
While having a general resemblance to the Baltimore and Ohio "President" class 4-6-2, and using many of the same castings, it had fewer parts and less "refinements". For example, the boiler was simplified from the P-7's; the P-7's steam brakes were omitted; and the authentically scaled-down spring rigging and equalization of the P-7 was modified to the simple "coil spring under the axlebox" system. The result was a great-looking 1/2" scale Pacific that, in appearance, followed B & O practice but that did not have the complexities of the original 1/2" scale PRESIDENT.
If YOU are interested in this design's return, please make your desires known to me.
In 1932, the Grieb Brothers of New Jersey USA developed a 1/2" scale, 2-1/2" gauge coal-fired TIMKEN "Four Aces" 4-8-4 that was based on the full-sized ALCO locomotive built in 1930 that used Timken roller bearings throughout. A brief write up about the design, and an advertisement, were placed in the August, 1932 issue of The Modelmaker magazine. The design has been off the market for some 70 years.
A member of the Grieb family (a direct descendant of the original designers) and Friends Yankee Shop Models have combined their interest in 1/2" scale and are considering producing "rough castings" for this long-lost design if interest among "live steamers" warrants it. If YOU are interested in building this 1/2" scale TIMKEN "Four Aces", please make your desires known to Friends. Thank you for looking.
The 1/2" scale TIMKEN 4-8-4. Click on the photo to enlarge.
The tender on the 1/2" scale TIMKEN. Please click the photo to enlarge.
