I have spent about seven years preparing drawing of Climax CN 1551 in 3D CADD (Alibre not Solid Works) while I was working on CN 1551 and with help from John Lewis who saved the extant Climax drawings which are hit and miss. It is fairly complete except for a few parts which I have not finished but am still working on except for rivets, bolts and fasteners, etc. About 3700 parts so far.

What I am looking for is a way to save this work permanently so that other restorers can use the work.

A 3D pdf (very large file) printed from the assembled CAD files of almost all of the locomotive can be downloaded at:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/SIMONTON/1551.pdf

Requires Adobe Acrobat or Acrobat Reader to use the 3D features (browser pdf viewers will not work). One can zoom in, rotate, pan, and hide individual parts or assemblies to see what is otherwise hidden.

Any suggestions will be appreciated.

for general viewing, pdf 3d may be fine, but if a user needs hardcore 3d, the original files should be available, and/or converted to popular formats, DXF, 3ds, step...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CAD_file_formats

there isnt any just one format out there. But this would be a good aid for any climax operator out there

The issue for me is not how to make the files available (stp, Solid Works, etc.) but to what permanent "repository" or repositories, library, data source.

You are to be congratulated for the time that you invested on this project.
It's my belief that it was very well spent. You have done our hobby a great service,
thanks.

The first place I can think of is Google drive, other sites like Mega, there may be other free hosting sites with some storage room

As mentioned previously, this is/was a massive undertaking on your part and I congratulate you on your efforts. The Roaring Camp and Big Trees Narrow Gauge Railroad is in the beginning stages of restoring their 50 ton, two truck Climax (C/N 1692 built 1928) and I am sure they will welcome the use of your model. Especially since they have to change the gauge from 42" (standard gauge trucks with the wheels pushed in) to 36" gauge.

I would suggest approaching a library or museum that already has a repository of railroad related documentation. The DeGolyer Library at Southern Methodist University, home to a large collection of Baldwin documents and the California State Railroad Museum Library, home to a large collection of Lima documentation come to mind.

Good luck and thanks again for this tremendous effort.

Saving them in multiple mediums would be valuable, blueprint, CD/DVD/online perhaps multiple libraries. Notre Dame has repositories dating back...well I found electric railway journals original copies dating into the 1800's.

HAER has expressed great interest in 2D drawings - which will need considerable work.

Now to find a place or places for electronic or part files.

I have attached a 1:24 Scale 2D drawing of Climax CN 1551 for those of you who like steam locomotives. I would have included additional views but the file size limited me to the four shown. Those omitted were Top, and four Oblique Views.

Very impressive drawing.

I was recently at dinner speaking with a fellow mechanical engineer about CAD programs and he was telling me about Autodesk Fusion 360. According to him Fusion 360 is a cloud based version of Inventor but he was saying that they have made it 100% free for hobbiests and startup companies. I guess the key is to get as many engineers as possible using the software as well as start up companies addicted and locked into their software.

I haven't really done too much of my own research on it yet. I looked at their website and it is saying $300 was the base subscription price. I saw this discussion which https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/fusion-3 ... -p/6756051 seems to confirm there is a free way for a hobbiest to use. None the less what I found most interesting though as a live steamer was the ability to collaborate.

Imagine today you load the 3D cad model of the Climax up there but you haven't done any detailed 2D production drawings. Down the road, maybe another guy decides to go in build it in 1/8 scale so they all start deriving different drawings off your models, and post them up there and everyone benefits from the process.

I don't know if they do/don't accept importation of alibre files but my friend was saying they have designed it to import complete assemblies from some of the other programs. No idea how well it actually works. If all this is true I would say that Autodesk360 is the best place to put it. By the way thanks for wanting to make it available to all.

By the way here's an interesting post. Someone is in the process of doing this with the Big Boy right now. Imagine if 3 or 4 more people jump in on the project and help him along! https://gallery.autodesk.com/fusion360/ ... motive-bed. I was even able to go over there and see his 3d models so far.

I have posted at the following address 6 elevations of Climax CN 1551 as of 2/6/2019 (Last work on drawing). Includes Left and Right Sides, Front and Rear, and Top and Bottom. Printed from the 3D CADD model (1:1 Scale). 2.8MB pdf which is too large for forum. Let me know if you cannot access the drawing as I think I granted permission, but they changed the interface and it is less clear now

https://s3.amazonaws.com/SIMONTON/1551+ ... 4-2018.pdf

A Dropbox free account should give you a free place to store the CAD files for the time being with free access available to all.

C.

IMHO, Google Drive has a much lower PITA factor for the user than DropBox. Also 15GB of storage for free.

One thing about cloud storage: Though the files are online and other people can access them depending on the permissions you set for sharing, you have to provide them with a link or links to get there. They generally will not show up in search results. On one hand, you control the access. On the other hand, others won't find them on their own. Also, you're at the mercy of the cloud storage provider deciding to change the rules. It happens.

Hosting the drawings in your own web space makes them accessible and easier to find. Somewhere between these two options lies a solution.

I have posted an updated 3D pdf of CLIMAX CN 1551 and CADD files at the following addresses:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/SIMONTON/1551.pdf (57.8MB)

Requires Adobe Acrobat or Acrobat Reader to use the 3D features (browser pdf viewers will not work). One can zoom in, rotate, pan, and hide individual parts or assemblies to see what is otherwise hidden. As the model has gotten more complex with additional parts, I have noticed that Adobe Acrobat tends to simplify some of the parts with compromised fillets and other visual compromises. Adobe may be approaching some of its limits.

The original 3D CADD files are in Alibre Expert CADD from which I printed 2D drawings in Alibre and then exported to my CADD program. Some lines were lost in the export/import process and I attempted to correct the most oblivious but some will have been missed.
For those of you who use or have access to 2D CADD I have posted 2D drawings of CN 1551 with Sections and Notes in their native Visual CADD format (.vcd) and in AutoCad format (2010 .dwg) which contain notes on most of what is known about the re-build of 1551 at the following addresses:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/SIMONTON/Clima ... +Notes.vcd (52.3MB)

https://s3.amazonaws.com/SIMONTON/Clima ... +Notes.dwg (33MB)

How well the AutoCad files translate and import I will be curious to learn.

For those of you not into CADD a pdf of the file may be downloaded as follows:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/SIMONTON/Clima ... +Notes.pdf

I plan another trip to Cass, WV to observe the progress on CN 1551 in April if the D&GVRR will permit my access to the Shop. They did last time.