The two pilot houses are made of adhesive plaster boxes and the smokestack is rolled up from a piece of tin.
A hole is punched or drilled through all four walls of the cabin to receive the axle of the paddle wheels.
The paddle wheels are made from small cans exactly in the same way as the auto truck wheels and eight small square pieces of tin are soldered to the circumference of each wheel for paddles. Rolled strips of tin are placed on the axles between the wheels and the cabins for washers. The axle should revolve very freely in the axle holes.
If one has some mechanical ability it is not very difficult to form a crank in the paddle wheel axle and attach a connecting rod to a small tin walking beam which will move up and down as the paddle wheels revolve. An imitation piston rod may be fastened to the other end of the walking beam and allowed to run free through a hole in the upper deck.
The wheels of the ferry-boat will revolve if it is anchored in a running stream or towed behind a rowboat.
CHAPTER XVII
A Toy Locomotive
A SIMPLE TOY LOCOMOTIVE—THE FRAME—BOILER—CAB—WHEELS—CYLINDERS AND CONNECTING RODS—THE SMOKESTACK, STEAM DOME AND WHISTLE, SAND BOX AND HEADLIGHT—CARS—A PASSENGER CAR AND SOME OTHERS