Home-Made Locomotive - PART THREE: Nearly there now!! 

Tim - you could also look for a used paintball compressor which is around the same sort of pressure (c.200bar) and a lot more reasonably priced.

I sub to a lot of people on YT that could be described as "builders of contraptions," and I have to say this one is my favorite at the moment. Looking great!

You absolutely need to get a top hat for when riding that - anything else wouldn't be fitting!

Your engine looks absolutely trevithic, Tim!

No, the lady was correct. Tornado, what a wonderful name for a loco powered by wind. Especially when one of the dearest components is the seat!

This is coming together really nice, its starting to look like an actual 1800s locomotive!

Every pioneering locomotive designer would be proud of you. And envious of your CNC cutter and welder! 😊

Tim, check with your local fire brigades for an old air pack compressor. We would turn it on and it would fill the air pack bottles overnight and then auto-shutoff.

When you get the high pressure compressor, I recommend that you submerge the "tornado" in water when you are filling it, like we do when filling scuba-diving bottles. They get extremely hot and can explode, although maybe that particular one will be strong enough to withstand it. Something to think about, though.

Love your build. It may not be ultra modern looking or have a fancy gearbox but it works. It is your ingenuity that makes this special. Keep up the interesting inventing.

That is a clever gearshift. Might I suggest a bar between you and the flywheel as a bit of a safety to prevent you falling on the wheel, or maybe a handhold of some type. The ride might be a bit bumpy at times.

I enjoy your thought process on this build and your 20th century outlook on health and safety, you will be giving the armchair experts nightmares, good on you.

Good luck on the three stage compressor! If you find one, be prepared for hours of run time to get that bottle to 4400 psi. Great thinking on your build.

Contact your local Paintball guys. They ususally have the lead on old scuba compressors as they also use high pressure air.

This is such a cool project, I love all the on-the-fly engineering and modifications. It's fun to see a whole railroad built from the ground up!

What an artwork! R L Stevenson would have been proud!

I'm glad to see the way you implemented the gear lever, it's pretty much exactly how I would've done it and what I wanted to suggest on the last video but couldn't come up with a good way to explain in text. I'm a bit concerned about how close it looks to the flywheel though, maybe it's just perspective but I think some sort of guard might be a decent idea - actually it might not be the worst idea to make some sort of sheet metal housing that covers the entire operator seat side of it since it seems like it could be pretty easy to fall face-first into the spinning wheel if you accidentally bump the gear lever or have a hard shunt or whatever.

I think what you need first is some sort of framework to stop you failing or being drawn (via loose clothing etc) into the mechanism! I dearly want you to survive this journey of invention....

I am in awe of your homebrew engineering.

I was going to say “get a few cheap compressors and connect them in series to make a multi-stage,” but it would be easy to exceed the pressure rating of some part or connection, and I want you to be safe!

Ive said this before and I say it again there’s more in your head than you take out with a comb brilliant Tim

The most elegant contstruction ! Real time travel machine ! Although in one direction only !

Man, I wish I had your working mechanical knowledge. I don't know the FIRST thing about putting things together. I cannot WAIT to see this thing running, I'm so excited!!! It's nearly done!!!

Hi, it look like you are doing a weeding dress, without any drawing !!! Keep going ,you gonna get it !!!!

Wow. I feel like I'm watching the first steam engine being invented all over again... incredible.

Currently watching this from a hospital bed and this is just amazing watching this pile of scrap turning into a loco

I confess that at the 0m45s mark, to my mind the horizontal cylinder had me wondering if the valve snapped off and the compressed air escaped violently, you would have the Newtonian action/reaction thing going nicely, workshop-to-wood-shed in about three seconds. You could call your beast "The Rocket"! I know for sure that the next video will show loco-motion with a wonderful rhythmic clanking sound, exactly as a locomotive should sound. Please and Thank you: can we celebrate with an extra long video, taken from far and near, with Captain Tim puttering back and forth? About ten minutes of that would keep me happy for hours ... Congratulations! Chris.

Footrests would be a good addition as well, I think. Nice engineering!

This project and series are golden.

Thanks Tim And all the best for your projects. It is refreshing to watch your videos

one possible source for compressor would be a hand pump version for paintball/air guns. They are "cheap", they make the pressure but would take forever by hand. a walking beam contraption running one on hit and miss would be neat.

Back when scuba diving was new people used to make their gear from junk and plumbing. I seem to recall popular mechanics having a design for a diving bottle compressor using a fridge compressor. Low volume high pressure though.

This is some really neat stuff, cant wait to see her running.

Rocket didn't have brakes when she was first built. I'd focus on getting her running before worrying about ways of stopping - especially when you can rely on friction to stop for you. Breaks are also comparatively easy when compared to a gearbox. A second lever and a brake "shoe" sounds like plenty. Congrats, incidentally, on making a working gearbox! I didn't think it would be so easy, but you managed it!

I hope this venture hasn't become too expensive Good luck in your future endeavors.

Very nice work! Similar gear train to a sawmill slide table. Using belts for forward, neutral and reverse. Well done

I love this! It looks so steampunk

You just reminded me of Alf Garnett "You didn't say you wanted brakes".

This is coming together amazingly! Looking great! Cont wait to see it work!

As someone mentioned it's looks like it belongs in the early 1800's. Can't stop a man with and idea and the gumption to see it thru. Be really sharp painted with a steampunk theme.

Maybe consider a third position in the shoe so it can be locked in neutral? For the brakes, you maybe need a separate parking brake and friction brake. For the parking brake, a hole in one of the flanges that you can put a rod through and into the frame should work. For the friction brake, maybe a section of drum brake liner on a lever above the wheel where you can just put your foot on it?

I almost wet myself when I heard you where strapping a "Tornado" to the Air powered Loco, move over "Stephenson's Rocket".... here comes the fastest Loco in the West. Hehe.

Your ingenious designs are absolutely amazing very impressive I must say . Really do enjoy seeing what you have come up with next . Can't wait to see the ole girl run on its own power down the track

Brilliant progress - definitely ‘Air’ Punk - though I am sure steam will follow at some point knowing Tim 🤣

Hi Tim. Yes, brakes first. Safety.

You exist and it makes me happy every week

A third slot in the middle of the shoe for a neutral gear perhaps? Great stuff. Looking forward to seeing it working, and interested to see how you decide to engineer the brakes.

You don’t need brakes. They just slow you down. 😎

Style comes by design!

You can put a few fridge compressors in series and reach a decent pressure. A benefit is that it's usually easy to find a few of those. It will be slow to recharge but that usually isn't a problem

i love your videos on this type of stuff, it kinda takes my mind off of things and if im bored ill watch things like this

So good Tim. Cant wait to see it roll

A hand break on the flywheel might be a good idea, in case you need to stop it spinning. For stopping the engine, wheel-chock breaks will give you the most traction, and act as a nice parking break as well. For stopping the whole train though? You are really supposed to have breaks on every car so you don't get jackknifing.

So happy I found your channel

This is probably the craziest contraption that I've seen, I really want to see it running! :-)

Wow! It is really coming together nicely eh? Eagerly awaiting the next update!

Just as a note for future knowledge... You might be able to repurpose some gear for an up-compressor. The shortline railroad I used to work for had a home built water pump they built for conducting the hydrostatic test in the locomotive boiler. Using shop compressed air at ~135psi, an old locomotive air pump then pumped the water to the boiler... 135psi acting on an 8½in piston on one end, and a 1¼in ram-rod on the other... We were able to generate around 300psi output. I know that still doesn't reach your needed 3kpsi, but the idea might help somehow.

Brakes would be a good idea. Stephens rocket was originally built without brakes and ended up running over its own designer.

Please add a safety bar in front of the seat. I don't want to imagine what happens when you fall into that wheel.

the gas cylinder looked like similar to the one on the side frame of a Shay Locomotive as a gas cylinder for the trains brake. But this looks better the train does, brilliant engineering

Amazing! Truly a work of artistic genius.

In terms of brakes, you could just do what the early engineers did, which is when you want to stop you put the locomotive into the other direction and p r a y . Joking aside, this is really shaping up to be a remarkable build, keep it up!

Brilliant this is my favorite channel now

A great looking loco .

Amazing as usual Tim! I feel like you should do a short version, like 12 mins, of the whole build once it's up and running, more people need to see this and maybe that would help 🤔 always hugely inspired by your ingenuity!

looking forward to seeing it run

I am sure you've thought of this, but a Johnson bar will be important as this controls the valve to the pistons of a steam and compressed air locomotive. As I see it, what you have is a 0-4-0 locomotive. As for making her into a steam engine, you may want it to be a 0-4-2 locomotive so as to support the firebox. Wood firing is what you'd want. Although you may need a tender as it may end up being a two man show running the locomotive. One to drive, and one to stoke the firebox. You could have it be without a tender, and be a one man show, but that'll mean more work and less fuel.

I really like this locomotive, one piece of constructive criticism is that the wheels do not have the slant in them for going around corners, if you want it to go around corners without a differential you might want to add that. The only problem is I don’t know how to add it.

Absolutely loving this series. Well done Tim!

That engine looks awesome!

Awesome Tim! Coming together nicely over there!! 😁

Looks absolutely ridiculous. I love it

This is turning out so awesome! If you're going to decide on a name, "Tornado" would be apt for such an air-engine!

Your loco is looking really smart! The big flywheel reminds me of Trevithick's Coalbrookdale locomotive.

Yes I know this is lovely. Yes it brings in the train fans. But a version of the Surrey Iron Railway Ie horse drawn seems, well, the way . . . But, yes, lovely and hurrah!

I just hope he adds a emergency shut off! Last year my glove got caught in a table saw and if I hadn't been able to quickly shut it off I might have lost my whole hand instead of just mangling my fingers. I can imagine clothes getting stuck in the large fly wheel or shoe laces in the belt and that would be quite disastrous.

This is looking better and better by the day, Tim. Can't wait to see its maiden voyage! On a lot of older quarry and not-passenger-services locos, the driving position is actually facing out the side of the vehicle rather than forwards - not sure why, perhaps easier to get on/off while it's in operation ? Might be worth a shot if the current setup gets a bit close for comfort! 😁

I bet you could make a locomotive that runs off a cordless dewalt drill with the really nice batteries. You could keep a few fully charged batteries rite on the locomotive ready to pop them in on the fly (if needed) I thought of this after seeing you sitting on the rig and turning the flywheel by hand and I saw how it was geared. Thanks / I love this type of stuff.

Nice project. Fire department uses also high pressure compressors. Here upto 4500 psi. Pumping up a 50 liter to 3000 takes quite a big compressor and lots of time and electricity. Good luck, really enjoy your tinkering !

If you turn the seat sideways, you'll have just as good visibility in either direction, rather than having to look over your shoulder the whole time when going backwards.

Nice work

Yes a form of braking might be handy 😬, greetings from AUS

I'm reminded of a meme - situational photos & first witness videos: "Why women live longer."

You might have some luck in finding a home oxygen concentrator from the used health Marketplace. Their original use is to bottle oxygen for medical use, but they typically contain a multi-stage high pressure compressor

WELL DONE !!!!!

Just came across your channel and this project is about the coolest thing I’ve seen lately I subscribed so I can enjoy the process 👍

It just start from a wheels and then, we have a almost completed engine which look nice. Great job!

Every time i see a new video of the locomotive project, i get excited to see it.

Locking mech looks good. Chipper might benefit from something similar. I don't like how close you are to the giant wheel of finger removal though. In addition to guards as others have suggested, a bent lever as used for some car gear shifts might be the ticket.

This is by FAR, my favourite build on RU-vid right now. Evolving design is a slow process but that selector mech is ideal.

This is the best show on RU-vid. Such fun to watch along

Forward for forward would be good but thats really mean of me to say, sorry, I love everthing you do, such interesting projects and lovely narative,

*@Way Out West - Workshop Stuff* 4:37 You can form the leaver to be like an upside down J, so you can reach further away (at the tradeoff of closer to you, but you can move the hand forward on the leaver then instead).

some pedals on rear wheels and we off too a good start ) gl

Oh one other thing! I am not sure if it would be any different, but the compressor used to fill small compressed air tanks for paintball guns may be a suitable option if a SCUBA compressor is unavailable.

The high pressure compressors are in the 1000s here in the US. It’s probably better to take the tank somewhere, & have it filled at a scuba shop. Some places charge u a fee to have it per year, so yeah. For a more reliable option it’s probably cheaper to have a gas powered air compressor in a tender that feeds a secondary tank on the engine as well as the compressor tank, so u have more air on demand.

I recall the Festiniogg railway has one or two compressed air locos.

You can use a cam with the lever for more leverage.

Hey Tim! When you are seated on the loco, it conjures up images of a big wheel bicycle, combined with the time machine but as a loco! I think it may be t-shirt worthy!

Looks great! I love your practical engineering, it's right up my street