Hi John,

is this an un-manned vehicle? I can't see a place for a driver!

The rod driving the wheel and the rod connecting the wheels should
not share a joint. When the joint is in the 9 o'clock position, the
vertical rod is driving the wheel with maximal momentum, but the
horizontal rod can't transfer this momentum to the other wheel
because it is crossing the axles. In the situation shown in your
picture, the wheels are well coupled, but there is nothing to
transfer, because the driving vertical rod has reached a point where
the motion reverses. I know it's difficult to correct this;
simply moving one of the joints + or - 90 degrees to an optimal
position will not work -- rods and joints would collide. A partial
'solution' might be to rotate to a position where this deficiency
is not so obvious ...

The front joint of the upper big red rods moves a little bit back and
forth, taking the connected black rods with them. But you have'nt
provided an axle to enable this motion. The same problem appears with
the black rods connecting the midpoint of the big red rods with black
cubes above the cylinders: they have to move, but can't. To me they
seem unneccessary, even worse: I think they would have to stretch to
follow the motion.

I would expect 4 tubes connected to each of the cylinders: inlet and
outlet for up-motion, inlet and outlet for down-motion. The inlets
need a device to synchronize the steam supply with the motion of
the wheels.

Some details you should add: 

  - a logo, name or something like that, painted or made of iron
  - a device to connect waggons (you don't plan to *push* them around,
    don't you?!)
  - the fire
  - clouds of smoke (black) and steam (white)
  - rails
  - brakes
  - oil lights

Suggestion for the time after IRTC: Animation!

   Sputnik

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e-mail: fr### [at] computermuseumfh-kielde
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