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The Maximod concept was started when my friend Henner came up with the idea of using a Stuart D10 engine to power a locomotive through a chain drive system. This happened in the late 1960s. A friend of his built a first engine using a vertical boiler. In 1977 another friend began selling plans for a tram engine based on the first locomotive but using an horizontal boiler. In the early 1980s Henner started work on his own tram engine: he got as far as a complete running chassis and an unfinished boiler. All these parts sat in his house in Germany until early 2005 when his son shipped the whole thing to him in California. He then gave me the locomotive in exchange for a brand new D10 kit. The original boiler was declared unusable, so I ordered a vertical boiler from Stuart. This album chronicles the re-birth of this locomotive. It is named Maximod because it is a large version of my gauge 1 Vermod... Viewed: 889 times.
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These first few pictures show the first run under steam. We were at Henner's place and the lack of track did not stop us from running it! Viewed: 804 times.
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This short movie shows the engine running back and forth on Henner's garage floor. Viewed: 412 times.
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IMGP0535 Viewed: 790 times.
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IMGP0536 Viewed: 724 times.
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This nearly 30 years old D10 engine ran perfectly... Viewed: 958 times.
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IMGP0538 Viewed: 868 times.
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IMGP0539 Viewed: 759 times.
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Here is the Suart vertical boiler. It came complete with a throttle, a water gauge, a safety valve and a pressure gauge. Viewed: 770 times.
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Here you can see the water pump (not yet connected). It is driven via an excentric from the jack shaft. The same excentric also drives the lubricator. Viewed: 819 times.
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IMGP0546 Viewed: 768 times.
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This is the first test run on my home line. It was not very succesful as we found out that the cylinders had no packing! As a result, the engine was barely able to pull me on the flat and refused to go up hill.
This sad experience lead to three things:
- The grade on my layout wa eased.
- The engine was geared lower
- The cylinders were packed Viewed: 988 times.
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Packing disaster! I packed the cylinders with teflon tape, ran the engine once and then after it sat for a couple of weeks, I noticed the engine was very hard to turn by hand. This picture shows what I found when I pulled the cylinders out... It turns out these cylinders are oil tight and do not need any packing. Viewed: 957 times.
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Here is something you don't see everyday: a steam locomotive doing donuts... Please note that I'm not pushing the engine: it is pulling me! Viewed: 452 times.
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Up to this time, the Maximod had been a poor performer: it was incapable of pulling me around my track (2% grade). I found that the gas jet was clogged and I was putting too much water in the biler. As this movie shows, it is now fine. Viewed: 276 times.
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End_0001.jpg Viewed: 755 times.
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