evening all, I'm new to traction engine steam, been at railway steam for 40 years so I'm well green! Is anyone else out there building one of these? or even a 4" for that matter as I would like to discuss various aspects with fellow engineers. I'm interested in traditional T/E practice, the drawings I am using seem to me to be steering to model engineering and I know it happens in steam railway miniatures.
Has anyone had problems obtaining the specified boiler materials? My steel merchant has scoured europe for 15" O/D tube to ST52 (as specified) to no avail!

hi, I had this problem ,needing a 10"barrel for my 4" Clayton & Shuttleworth TE. My solution was to use 10" nominal bore seamless linepipe which is commonly available but 10 3/4 od. So I used a piece with 3/4" wall thickness and spent 4 hours machining a 3 foot long piece on the od to 10" and giving me the 3/8" wall I needed!
i researched the internet and did come up with a possible UK supplier but did not pursue it.However the company is called HUb Le Bas and they list 15" od x1/2" wall hot finished seamless tube . Maybe they would be worth a try. Or who's design are you using ,don't they supply or know who does.
Anyway I will be interested to hear how you get on . Alan

hi Alan, thanks for the tips, I'll give Hub a try.
The design is from GSTEC cheltenham. I have serious reservations about the boiler design and am going to get advice and verify design approval. The drawings supplied for the boiler are inadequate in order to build it, so the project has hit the buffers for the time being.
The supplier of the drawings advised a couple of possibilities but neither proved fruitful
TTFN, john.