This recently came through on my newsfeed. It gives an interesting perspective on the future of steam locomotive restoration.

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/201 ... laser-scan

The locomotive is the "Winifred".

http://steamlocomotive.info/vlocomotive ... splay=1588

The first locomotive i know to have been scanned was the S&A 750 back circa 2000 or 2001. The company did so to help in the final developmentary stages of their software/hardware. We/they/the SRM was supposed to get a copy of the digitized image, unknown if they did.
I believe they gave the 1225 similar treatment as a part of her virtual polar express career.... yes?

Cheers, Jason

Well, to heck with 3D-printing guns. NOW I'm interested. >:-D

This has also been done with individual parts to supplement missing or long since destroyed blueprints.

ALCO fans should fully embrace this and other 3D scanning technologies, since ALCO blueprints (especially the ones I would like find) are about as rare as Dodo birds.

Really? Why lasers when you could use phasers ;)
Corny reference to Star Trek: The Next Generation aside, I'm curious to know if it was considered to try and scan the underside of Winifred... I would imagine that the parts in the frame weren't scanned because of their remote location. But this would be far more accurate than a given set of plans... And the three-dimensional nature would make measurements far easier. Better yet, Winifred is just one of many quarry hunslets built to her design, so the plans could apply to any locomotive of the same design! Should make reproduction of parts even easier...

...more....

http://blog.jaggeree.com/post/363461261 ... ing-trains

I use a laser I built as a ticket punch.