3/4" Scale, 3-1/2" gauge Boston and Maine 4-4-2 "Atlantic"
A small, compact live steamer that's got surprising power and speed for its size. One of "Yankee Shop's" popular designs from the 1940s. Coal fired, Baker valve gear, slide valves dummied to look like piston valves. Copper boiler, 5-1/8" diameter. Axle pump, hand pump. Weighs around 90 pounds.
The "Yankee Shop" 3/4" scale Atlantic. This one was built in 1948, with Walschaert valve gear custom-installed by the builder. Scroll down, for several photos of this actual locomotive under steam.
Another "Yankee Shop" 3/4" scale Boston and Maine "Atlantic" 4-4-2. The Baker valve gear was not used on the prototype locomotive. However, since it was one of Lester Friend's favorite valve gears, it is standard on his 3/4" scale version.
A complete set of the 4-4-2 "Atlantic" drawings, for those who would like to look the project over. Cost, $175.00 plus USA shipping. For other countries, please inquire.
32-page booklet covers various aspects of the construction of the Yankee Shop 3/4" scale Boston and Maine "Atlantic" locomotive. Originally published in the 1940s as a compilation of Lester Friend's construction articles in "The Model Craftsman" magazine, this is the second printing, from 1953. With this booklet you can sit in your easy chair and have Lester Friend (1895-1962) describe to you in his own words, how to build this live steam locomotive.
With 2 exceptions I can think of, most of the booklet's content from 1953 applies today. Exception #1, Lester Friend mentions that the locomotive can be built for less than $100. This is not so anymore. Next (#2), more modern & safe insulation than the asbestos that's called for (a common, "hardware store" item back in the 1940s) should be used for boiler lagging. The days of walking into the local hardware or plumbing store and buying "asbestos sheet" are long gone. Other differences between 1953 and today might be noted, but most are minor in nature; a matter of "semantics" or technique; or not critical.
Other than those 2 things that our modern era has made obsolete, with this booklet you can enjoy having it be 1953 again for several enjoyable minutes in your easy chair!
This booklet's no-nonsense and homespun style is great reading, and it may perhaps be considered a predecessor of the more-thorough "step by step" instructions that other designers and authors published in the decades that followed. You'll be delighted to read it over and over.
Contents include:
Introduction; Tender Trucks, Tender Frame, and Tank; Engine Truck; Chassis; Axle Pump; Trailing Truck; Cylinders and Valves; Baker Gear and Timing; Smoke Box and Boiler; Oscillating Disc Throttle.Includes photos of the 4-4-2, and of various scenes at the old "Yankee Shop" at Danvers, Mass.
Cost is $25, plus USA shipping. For other countries, please inquire.
Richard Symmes runs his Yankee Shop/Friends Models 4-4-2 Atlantic at Charlie Purinton's track in the 1980s. This particular engine has Walschaert valve gear custom-fitted by the builder; the Baker valve gear is standard on the original Yankee Shop design.
The Yankee Shop Atlantic, at speed. Click the photo to enlarge.
The 3/4" Atlantic fast approaches the camera. Click the photo to enlarge.
The Atlantic passes the camera. Click the photo to enlarge.
The start of the Friends Models 3/4" Atlantic chassis. Note the bronze axle pump block between the frames. Photo courtesy of Patrick Zantow.
A side view of the 3/4" Atlantic at a much further stage of construction. Photo courtesy of Patrick Zantow.
Another view of the Friends Models 3/4" Atlantic under construction. Note the axle pump eccentrics. Photo courtesy of Patrick Zantow.
Here's what the prototype looked like. This is a Boston and Maine "Atlantic" in the 1940s, at Danvers Massachusetts. What makes this photo particularly relevant to "live steam", is the man in the fireman's window. It's Carl Purinton. He was a fireman on the Boston and Maine, and was eventually promoted to Engineer. He was an Engineer for one day only, and then quit. He just "wanted to say that he had done it". The Engineer standing in the gangway in this view is Elmer Dean. Photo courtesy of Richard Symmes.
