The completed 4-4-0 locomotive and tender are just over 3' long. (Click on photo to view a larger image.)
Harold Manwaring turned 71 years old in 2007 and worked as a Fitter and Turner on the railway for 7-1/2 years. After leaving the railroad, he worked the rest of his career as a driver of trucks and large earth moving equipment. He says, “While on the railroad, I did a wide range of jobs. We used to make a lot of tools and worked on many different machines. All of these things I took great pride in doing and always did the best I could.”
Harold packs the tender for transport to a show. (Click on photo to view a larger image.)
Harold started turning wood about 10 years ago and made many bowls and other wooden items until the house had little room for any more, so he made his grandson a simple toy model of an engine. When was asked what he was going to do next, he said he might make one that worked on compressed air and was told it could not be done and would not work. This is the result. The model consists of 560 separate pieces and took about three years to make. Harold does not have a computer, and described the making of the locomotive in a hand-written letter accompanied by a CD containing digital photos taken by a friend.
Harold taught himself to use the woodworker's lathe and built a number of jigs for holding and drilling the wheels and journals. The engine has been entered in a woodworking show and has been displayed on occasion. It has run for about 2 hours and still goes really well. The working parts have had just enough oil to lubricate them. Harold’s shop is not a fancy one. It consists of what he calls “an old shed,” and it is where he does his wood turning and where he made the steam locomotive model.
The main tools in Harold's shop include a lathe and a bandsaw. (Click on either photo to view a larger image.)
This page was included at the request of Colin Kanaley, Curator of the Broadway Museum in Junee, NSW, Australia. He has known Mr. Manwaring for many years, as the rural area of New South Wales where they come from only has a population of 4000, but he knows good craftsmanship when he sees it. Mr. Kanaley states that the loco is about 3 feet long (including tender) and is beautifully made entirely from recycled wood with the exception of a few metal parts and pins. Everything works as it sits with its driving wheels suspended slightly above the model track. Air from a compressor is fed at about 15 PSI to a small stainless steel receiver in the firebox. Lines to the two cylinders are wood, as are the cylinders and pistons themselves. The cylinders have a 1-1/8" bore and 1-1/2" stroke. The pistons are fitted with wooden piston rings about 1/16" thick—2 per cylinder in conventional automotive style. Colin states, "The engine runs perfectly and exhausts through the stack with a very satisfying 'chuffing' sound."
This small rendering in a book was Harold's main source of information to build his model.
The model is a 4-4-0 Locomotive. Henry R. Cambell, chief engineer of the Philadelphia, Germantown & Morristown Railroad designed and built the first 4-4-0 in 1837. This is an attempt by me to duplicate it. I used a print of this engine from a book on steam engines called Iron Horse, Steam Trains of the World by Peter Lorie and Colin Garratt. The original print in the book was only 4-1/2" in size. I used a magnifying glass, and for every 1/64" I made it 1/8". The wood and all materials except the light and reflectors are scrap materials and recycled. The woods used are as follows:
Desert Ash—all cream colored wood, it came from street trees removed by the Wagga Wagga City Council. It was the main timber used. Cabin, boiler, engine frame, cylinders, pistons, valves, wheels, connecting rods and all the air lines, connectors, pipes, ¼” drilled 1/8”, right angles and tie pieces 3/8" drilled 1/4". For extra strength I used Araldite two part epoxy and PVA woodworkers’ glue.
River Red Gum—Retrieved from on an old post and rail fence. It was used for all the red colored timber on the tender, cow catcher, cabin and boiler mountings
Olive wood—From our local “tip” (meaning “garbage dump” for us Americans…). It was used for the piston rings, eccentrics and whistle body.
Jarah wood—From some discarded as scrap I had in the shed. It was used for the spring hangers on the tender and posts to hold the tender on the end of the rail line.
Australian Red Cedar—from a piece I saved from an old bank that was turned into a residence. It was used for the rail line, three pieces fore each rail, and support for the light.
Queensland Maple—Out of an old cabinet on the way to the tip and used for the rail line sleepers.
Osage Orange—Used for the wheel and rod in the door. It was the only timber I could put a thread on.
Also, the steel tube inside the body of the engine was made from two scraps of car muffler tube. The valves I fitted to this tube were made from old water tap spindles. Two ball bearings and two springs came out of a little electric motor, all were turned on the wood lathe.
I had to use as close tolerances as possible as compressed air does not expand like steam, but also taking into consideration humidity and how much the wood would move. Two air lines run from the cabin valves out to the whistle and one to the valves. The whistle blows at about 2-3 lbs of air and the engine runs really well at about 12-15 lbs of air and stops at 8-9 lbs. It worked on the first attempt, so I stopped and had a beer.
—Harold Manwaring
(Click photo for larger image.)
 |
Harold is seen here with the completed locomotive. |
  |
The finished engine, tender and section of track were photographed in his shop. |
 |
These photos show the completed tender. |
Building the 4-4-0 wooden steam locomotive |
|
 |
Wood for each part was selected for its color and hardness as would be appropriate for each part. Here is some of the raw stock. |
 |
The cylinder, piston and rings are shown individually and as an assembly. |
 |
Main components of the engine are laid out before assembly. |
 |
Due to their function in the working engine, certain parts had to be made from metal rather than wood. Shown here is a selection of some of these parts. |
 |
A metal "boiler" fits inside the wooden shell to contain the pressure from the compressor and feed it to the cylinders. The steel shell began life as an exhaust pipe from a car. Valve fittings are made from water line valves. |
 |
The major engine components are seen here as construction on the cab begins. |
 |
Components of a truck from the tender and the assembled truck with springs. |
 |
The completed tender. |
 |
Part of the drive mechanism and valve gear are shown on the left and the near finished cab on the right. |
 |
Additional photos of the finished locomotive with some details of the wheels, brakes, suspension and cylinder. Though we have seen several wooden models of trains, this is the first we have seen that has been given life and movement so it can be viewed running like the original. |
|
Harold demonstrates running the train
(27 sec., 5 Mb) Harold demonstrates operation of the whistle (15 sec., 2.9 Mb) |
VIDEOSClick on the underlined links to the left to view MPG videos of the train in action. These were contributed by Veronica Cooper. They were shot during a visit to see Harold and his train while they were there for a railway reunion in Junee.. |
If you have additional information on a project or builder shown on this site that your would like to contribute, please e-mail craig@CraftsmanshipMuseum.com. We also welcome new contributions. Please see our page at www.CraftsmanshipMuseum.com/newsubmit.htm for a submission form and guidelines for submitting descriptive copy and photos for a new project.
This section is not yet sponsored
To learn how your company or organization can sponsor a section in the Craftsmanship Museum, please contact craig@CraftsmanshipMuseum.com.
RETURN TO MUSEUM HOME PAGE