Steam Locomotive
Building a model using some common tools is guaranteed to improve your fine motor skills. And the result can’t be beat.
Full disclosure: This project started out as a wood toy train for small kids. However, Chris Fitch, the project’s designer, wanted to add a few more details… and then a few more. So it turned into a static locomotive model for much older “kids.” This just isn’t any steam locomotive and tender, though. For you railfans out there, it’s styled after the streamlined Hudson J3a built for the New York Central Railroad. Renowned designer, Henry Dreyfuss created the streamlined shrouding that gave the locomotives their distinctive look. There were only ten locomotives made and they saw service on the famed “Twentieth Century Limited” run between New York and Chicago. The real challenge with a wood model of a locomotive is just how much detail to include. For this version, the focus is on the parts of a steam train that make it so distinctive — the wheels. Combining mahogany and maple highlights the other details. Along the way, you’ll learn some interesting terms. What you end up with recalls the glory of the steam train era. By comparison, other locomotives are just choo-choos.
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What You Get:
- 15 pages of step-by-step instructions
- Over 50 full-color photos and illustrations and exploded views
- Hardware sources and materials list
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Similar Woodsmith Plans
Imperial Plans
The United States Customary System of Units (USCS or USC), more commonly referred to as the English or Imperial system, is the standard set of units for our plans. It uses inches and feet for measurement. This is the one you probably want if you are in the United States, and it is the one we have traditionally offered on this website.
Metric Plans
The International System of Units (SI), more commonly referred to as the metric system, is the alternative set of units that we have available for some of our plans. It uses millimeters, centimeters, and meters for measurement. This is the one you probably want if you are outside the United States. These plans are provided by our business partner, Australian Woodsmith, and are based on the original Woodsmith plan. However, dimensions and other elements of the plan may vary between the metric and standard versions. Be sure to double-check the plan before building.
Premium Plans
All of the information that you need to build our plans can be found in the standard plan. However, if you want even more granular detail to make your job easier, you should consider our premium plans. These come with additional shop diagrams that we drew when creating the prototypes. Shop drawings are not available for every plan.