Hi folks. I'm looking for either blueprints, erection drawings, or good scale general arrangements for an early vertical boiler Class A Climax to help with the building of a large scale live steam project.

Were the Climax Mfg. archives saved or donated somewhere? Other than the one book, is there another source to consult?

Thanks!

Chris

See an example here: https://youtu.be/aCgEciJ39WE?t=671

Keith Mason built a replica Class A Climax in the early 1970s at his Locust Heights and Western backyard railroad in Clarksburg, WV. The family might be able to point you in the direction for what he used.

Been there. When the father who built it died, so did the plans.

But thanks.

Chris

Hi two foot
Have you posted the same thing on Chaski's website? on Live Steam?

A group called Corry R.A.I.L.S is hoping to bring a Climax "A" back from Alaska & restore it. Some of their members helped with the overhaul of Keith Mason's homebuilt Climax a few years ago. Below is a link to the article. If they plan on overhauling the derelict Alaskan engine, they may have drawings or plans. Their Facebook group page is named "Corry RAILS".

https://www.goerie.com/news/20190615/co ... ngine-home

And their non facebook site is here:
https://corryrails.com/

That was my second stop. It's good to know I'm hitting the right places.

Thanks!

Chris

You might want to make this your third stop.

http://www.climaxlocomotives.com/drawings/

The expert of Climax - Walt Casler - was an excellent author and historian for someone with no formal education in the field. I met him when I was 12. Wonderful gentleman.

He kept intense records, which has allowed subsequent authors to reconstruct and produce additional reference material such as the Climax book by Dennis Thompson - which I trust you have. Walt died about 1994 and would be more than amused by the resurgence of old Climax interest today. Thompson's book appropriately follows Walt's career and finished much of the work he never got to. There are drawings in that book for those that have not seen it. It's become quite the collectors item but if you are a Climax fan it's well worth the coin, even at current used prices of well over $100.

Walt's three logging railroad books were developed from the original manuscripts that were found after his death and are now in possession of the Pennsylvania State Archives, along with much of his original research material. While the negatives were preserved, many of the prints from those negatives and other materials ended up sold on Ebay after his death, as his daughter died shortly after him and the estate became rather disjointed. I care because I helped recover that material and facilitated acquisition by the state, having met Walt, and he shaped my own interest in logging railroads. Kurt Bell at the state archive (who many in this forum know) pulled it off, and is the keeper of the collection.

The level of additional research that's going on with the Corry group (RAILS) is specifically for the Alaskan Class A but you have to remember that the Class A in general was an evolving and components-built product. The key and patented components of wheels, gears, drive train, vertical engine, etc. were fairly well documented but much of the locomotive was purchased from other northwest PA firms in Erie, Dunkirk NY, etc. so 'locomotive erecting drawings' really don't seem to exist by locomotive serial number. But the "guts" of a Class A is now in a container looking to make its way home.

The vertical-boiler Class A's didn't last long, really. The evolution into a "T" boiler and a near-conventional horizontal boiler lasted right up until the bitter end in 1928; there was an A on the erecting floor as one of the last ones out the door. But the running-gear basics - particularly the trucks, unique helical gears, and 2-cylinder vertical engine with the two-speed gearbox - seem relatively unchanged.

The Locust Creek and Western one is pretty darn close, except that from what I read and saw in video, he sorta cheated and used chain drive. Given the complexity of the original Climax gears, I'll give him a pass on that.

For whatever personal reasons, Walt gave virtually nothing to the Corry museum. I talked to him about six months before he passed trying to get republication rights to "Allegheny Valley Logging Railroads", of which my father was the last employee of Wheeler, and he commented to me that 'nobody cared about that stuff anymore and wouldn't pay over $20 for a book now'. I think he'd be suitably amused by this thread and astounded that a used copy of that book is on Amazon for $162.

Here is a drawing of a Climax A-12 Truck drawing taken from a Climax drawing. Note that by its date I think Climax was no longer producing Vertical Boiler locomotives.

I also have some basic dimensions from Class A locomotives in the Early 1920's. Long after Climax switched from vertical boilers. If you are interested.

Thanks. I'll happily take whatever you want to share. Everything is relevant in some way.

Chris

EXCEL file by John Lewis re drawings he has with notes. For information which can be drawn from it.

Class A 15 Ton Frame Dimensions attached. Will post Class A 12 Ton when I relocate the info. It will be interesting to compare the dimensions of A-313 (an earlier 1902 15 Ton Class A) with the 1921 dimensions.

Elmer Blackstaff of Ladysmith, BC built a large scale 4-wheel vertical boiler Climax.
http://www.steamlocomotive.com/misc/ima ... ysmith.jpg
I don't know what became of it.

15 Ton Climax Frame Basic Dimensions as above with additional notes.