Kit build

For those who would like the experience of putting together their own engine - and there are few better ways to get to know exactly how a new engine works than assembling it yourself - we offer our complete range of locomotives in a fully-machined kit form.

The breakdown of kits is listed below, it's based largely on the order in which we assemble them ourselves here at the works. If you'd like to take all the kits at once, we're more than happy to supply - we try to keep everything listed in stock for our own production requirements. If, alternatively, you'd like to take one or more kits at a time to spread the cost and effort over a longer period, that's no problem - all we ask is that you take the kits in the order listed.

The table below gives a broad outline of what is in each kit - in addition there are all pins, fasteners and other odds & ends which may be required included.

In terms of equipment, you will need a strong bench or work surface to build the engine on and - at some point - the assistance of another person to handle the chassis during build (we recommend building the engine upside down until the cylinders are on, at which point it's turned the right way up - at that point, having a friend to give a hand is very useful).

Tools - you will need hand tools, including a handful of metric spanners, a couple of allen keys, some needle-nosed pliers and that's about it. There is no drilling, soldering or machining required.

Experience - other than some basic common sense and a willingness to read the instructions before picking up your tools, you don't need to be an experienced engineer to put together one of our engines. A patient, methodical approach is certainly useful, however we are only ever a phone call or email away if you get stuck. Painting can either be done as the build progresses (which is what we do), alternatively you can put it all together to make sure everything works, then strip it down to paint - re-assembly is very much quicker, you know what you're doing the second time around!

You can download the operator's and kit build manual for our locomotives, along with exploded assembly drawings from the New Build Locomotives page - click on the downloads tab.

Kit contents