My grandfather's live steamer

Hi,

My grandfather built 3 live steam engines, in his NYC apartment. One has been donated to the NY State Historical Association which hopes to have it on display at some point. The other two are with my cousin. (One was like this one. The other was similar to the type that were common in opening up the West (and were seen at the driving of the Golden Spike. I don't have any pictures of either of them unless I'm confusing the one in the video for the other one.)

I finally found some home movie footage of my grandfather using his train. I narrated it uploaded it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0o2BaBQHW1Q

I also have some pics which I will upload if anyone is interested.

Can anyone tell me what scale this is? I have seen pics of him and probably this engine at Pioneer Valley Live Steamers so it seems to be a "standard" gauuge of some sort.

I hope you enjoy this footage. It is priceless to me since I got to ride the trains too.

Cheers,

John L

Sounds cool... Who or where is the New York State Historical Association?

http://www.nysha.org/

They're based in Cooperstown.

Looks to be 3/4 in scale. Most times in that scale the track is elevated on some kind of trestle for easier
operation.

Thank you very much. I know so little about his trains but sure love them.

It is 3/4 scale

Thanks. The next question is, what does 3/4 scale mean? What does it refer to? Track width? Compared to the real thing (multiplied by a factor of?)

lipwak wrote:Thanks. The next question is, what does 3/4 scale mean? What does it refer to? Track width? Compared to the real thing (multiplied by a factor of?)

Technically its "three quarter INCH scale" or 3/4" scale..not "three quarter scale"..there is a difference!
It means "three quarters of an inch equals one foot"
3/4 of an inch on the model equals one foot on the prototype.
its pronounced "three quarter inch scale" and written 3/4" scale (note the "inch symbol") or 3/4 inch scale.

3/4 scale (without the "inch symbol") would mean the model is 75% the size of the real thing!
that would be a pretty massive model..(three fourths the size of the real thing)
If the prototype locomotive was 100 feet long, a model of that locomotive in 3/4 scale would be 75 feet long..

3/4 INCH scale is also 1/16 scale (one sixteenth the size of the real thing.)
The track gauge is 3.5 inches.

Scot

Thanks so much!