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What It Is
What It Is
A road legal, mildly practical live steam vehicle that captures the pleasing mechanical qualities of steam locomotives. Hobbyists have been possessed to create their own steam locomotives to operate since the very beginning of railroading, but even the grandest ride-on live steam locomotive is stuck at its creator's house or a club track. The goal of this vehicle is to bring the experience to the streets. To the people.
Exposed drive crank just like a typical steam locomotive
Train-like sounds (chuff chuff) at city street speeds
Steam everywhere, both incidental (cylinder cocks, turbine exhaust) and intentional (blowdown, whistle)
Complex, involved operation and controls that make an unsynchronized manual truck transmission look like a toy
What It Is Not
What It Is Not
Decoratively-styled Vehicle
Decoratively-styled Vehicle
An example of a styled vehicle is the Boilermaker Special, the official mascot of Purdue University. It's basically a bigger version of the trackless kiddie train at the mall; it is a road or surface vehicle with an exterior styled as a steam locomotive.
All locomotive features are decorative
Just a few seconds of investigation reveal nonsensical placement of those features and then they stand out as annoying
Otherwise operates as the road vehicle it was based on, in the case of this (previous) Boilermaker Special, a Navistar truck chassis
By PurdueReamerClub - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=55851108
Steam Tractor
Steam Tractor
Steam tractors actually existed, were sold commercially, performed work using steam, and at first glance resemble steam locomotives.
Steam tractors were for delivering portable power, not for transportation
Never road legal and unpractical for transportation due to their low speed
The cylinder(s) are not front and center so the aesthetic is less like a locomotive and more like a stationary steam engine that has been bolted to wheels
By Bachcell at English Wikipedia - Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons by Oxyman using CommonsHelper., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7140896
Steam Car
Steam Car
Like steam tractors, actual steam powered cars were mass produced and used on roadways.
Functional, but lack the target mechanical aesthetic
Designed for mass production and subject to market forces, which is why they fell out of use with the rise of ICE powered vehicles
By Stephen Foskett (Wikipedia User: sfoskett) - 2006 Bay State Antique Automobile Club Vintage show, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1207089
Development Plan
Development Plan
Because I am very bad at projects, I have identified several points in the process that can be considered successes on their own, and their order can be shifted around somewhat.
Design steam engine itself using assumptions about the overall vehicle.
Build one side of the engine as a standalone project. At this point, if I don't proceed I'll still have a cool engine I built, one that could even be part of completely different projects.
Test single cylinder on air to verify it performs as expected
Build the other side of the steam engine. Again, pretty cool on its own, either paired with the first half or as a second independent engine.
Design and build the base trike using the complete steam engine (assuming the steam engine is still appropriately sized)
Power the trike with high pressure air cylinders or a towed compressor trailer
Build stationary steam generator and accumulator setup. An actual stationary steam power plant is another success.
Finally, integrate steam generation with the engine on the trike
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