# Kenneth Wells traction engine



## hurricane bert (May 22, 2010)

Hi All,

20 years ago when I was starting my apprenticeship one of the senior apprentices was building one of these engines in his spare time. All of us apprentices were fascinated. He was going to sell me the book when he finished, but due to company cut backs I was transferred to another branch and lost touch with him.

I didn't even know the name or author of the book, and have been trying to find out even since. Fast forward 20 years and I stumbled across this wonderful site and found out the book was called Step by Step metalwork 3 by Kenneth Wells - so thank you to all on this site!

I even found a copy of the book for sale the next day - talk about the stars aligning!

So now I have the book and am collecting all of the materials. I was hoping to buy some castings if anyone knows of any for sale?


Sorry about the long winded post, just wanted to share my story and thank you all.


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## 4156df (May 22, 2010)

Hello and welcome. We'll be looking forward to following along with your build.
Dennis


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## Maryak (May 22, 2010)

Bert,

Welcome to our forum. wEc1

Best Regards
Bob


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## zeeprogrammer (May 23, 2010)

Welcome to the forum Bert.


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## SAM in LA (May 23, 2010)

Glad to know you Bert.

Sounds like you traveled a long path towards this Traction Engine.

Please keep all of us informed of your progress with a lot of pictures.

SAM


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## hurricane bert (May 25, 2010)

Thanks Guys for your kind words, hope you don't mind me picking your brains along the way.


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## Jasonb (May 25, 2010)

There have been a few built by forum members, have a look at this thread and also some of the foundary section posts by xlchainsaw.

http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=4737.msg48112#msg48112

Even if you can't get castings it woulod not be too hard to fabricate the bits or cut them from solid

Jason


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## tmuir (May 27, 2010)

I have the master pattern for the smokebox which I leant to xchainsaw and he made a copy of the pattern and has since cast a number of them. He has also now got patterns for the wheels.
If you give him a PM he may be able to hel you out.

Else watch ebay UK as the castings regulary surface there for them.
Thats how I got my pattern. I thought I was just buying a casting and was very surprised when a pattern turned up. 

Good luck with your build.


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## hurricane bert (Jun 4, 2010)

My plan is to build one for myself, making all the mistakes. By then my son will be old enough to build another one with me. I thought this would teach him some valuable skills and good father-son time. And he gets a engine to show off to his mates!

I have sent a message to xlchainsaw but no reply. Does anyone have his email that they can let him know he has a pm?

Thanks


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## tmuir (Jun 6, 2010)

I know another forum he is on.
I will send him a PM there with a link to this thread.
He was offline for a while as he was busy trying to finish a number of projects.


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## xlchainsaw (Jun 6, 2010)

thanks t muir for sending a pm... ive replied to the two pm sent. im sorry ive been away from here for a while . ive been busy building engines. i can indeed help out with the castings but overseas postage is quite high like $54 au to send a set to the uk.


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