4-8-2 - Custom Home Made Barbecue (BBQ) Grill Smoker

In addition to building a layout, I am building a barbeque (BBQ) smoker grill to resemble a 4-8-2 steam locomotive.

I am using three 55 gallon drums (all given to me) for the "boiler" which will be the cooking part of the BBQ grill smoker. I found a website with the 1522's statistical data for the measurements. Please see the following link.

http://www.frisco1522.org/statchart.htm.

Since the largest part of the 1522's boiler has a diameter of roughly 94" and the drums have a diameter of 23", the scale is roughly 1/4". Using the statistics chart, I divided all the necessary measurements by 4. I have already finished the "boiler" and cooked with it several times.

Since I only wanted to use the front and middle drums for cooking, I cut the two drums in half end-to-end, cut out the ends where they would be connected and hinged the two halves of each drum together. Then sanded, sanitized, and painted the drums with high-temp black grill spray paint, and attached a stack. The 3rd rear drum is just for scale length.

I was also given a smaller 40 gallon drum which I cut in half, It is used inside to catch ashes in order to prolong burning out the "boiler" and thus add to the life of the grill smoker. On fathers day, I found a couple of guys who got new grills as a gift and were getting rid of there old ones. I took them and my plans are to used some of the parts for my project. Kit bashing if you will.

When I finish the project, I will post pictures. Thanks for reading!

Ship (or in this case, "Cook") it on the Frisco.

 

Sounds like a cool idea.

Question, are you actually using the "stack" as a vent?

And as for the wheels you could make them actually move when you move the grill.

Just my 2 cents though.

 

I am using the stack as a vent.

It looks good, at least to me. Soaking the wood overnight really makes for a lot of smoke when placed on a hot fire.

I could make the wheels turn and I seriously thought about doing that with the rod coming out of a cylinder. It would look cool but I am going to be cooking with it more than moving it, so I am going with rotating casters behind the "wheels".

The casters are for the benefit of being able to turn the grill in one spot to align it with a tail wind for cooking. I will need that tail wind for cooking and turning the grill to get it will be much easier with casters than with trying to do a U-turn with an 11' long 4-8-2.

 

Another detail about my plans for the 4-8-2 BBQ grill smoker project.

During the holiday season, the city of Amory, MS puts spot lights on the 4-8-2 SLSF 1529 and puts a life size Santa figure in the cab which gives the illusion of Santa operating the 1529.

What does that have to do with my grill smoker?

As a child, my parents had a lighted Santa figure that stands about 12-15 inches tall. I think you see where I'm going with this. It was on display in our living room for as long as I can remember during every holiday season. A few years ago, my mother gave it to me.

I plan on putting the 4-8-2 smoker on the front porch this holiday season with the lighted Santa figure in the cab, just like the city of Amory decorates SLSF 1529. It may not seem like a big deal to anyone else, but my girls and I will love it. They always ask to go by Frisco Park in December and see "Santa driving our favorite choo-choo".

Oh, I almost forgot to respond to some of the replies. It will be "converted" to burn wood and/or coal, charcoal that is!

 

Two thumbs up!

 

Saturday, I finished building my Frisco 4-8-2 BBQ grill smoker.

All that is left is to attach the handles and a bell. I have it decorated for Christmas and on display on the front porch. I have pictures which I will post soon. It is roughly 2 feet wide and 13 feet long from the rear of the cab to the tip of the pilot.

I didn't build a tender, but I have a feeling that will come later. Maybe next summer. It may be a wood/charcoal storage chest on wheels.

 

We need a photograph, to pass judgement.

 

Okay, here are pictures of where I am so far in my Frisco 4-8-2 BBQ grill smoker project.

This is not a true "model" of a late 1500 class locomotive, but 4-8-2 SLSF 1529 was my inspiration. Before you "pass judgement", please keep in mind that I am not a carpenter, welder, etc. I am a high school band director and 99% of what I know about doing things like this, I have figured out on my own.

I can work with wood pretty well, but since I am not a welder, my metal craftsmanship is limited to using saws, nuts and bolts. Thus there is more wood and less metal in this grill than most. But so far, the plates I am using for heat buffers have worked well.

I still plan to do the following when it is not so cold outside:

1. Mount a bell, I took the handle off of a hand bell that is just the right size.
2. Mount handles on the lid, from a grill I rescued from a neighbor's trash.
3. Mount air brake tanks on the top, 2 small propane torch tanks. Yes they are empty.

The "boiler" consists of three 55 gallon drums that were given to me. The 2 front drums were all I had at first. I wish I would have cut the drums differently so I could raise the lid of each drum independently. But, as they say, hind site is 20/20. I do not weld, but I do know how to use a drill, nuts and bolts.

I cut apart each of the 2 drums and cut one end out of each drum with a jig saw. Then I bolted them open end to open end and attached hinges. I used some 1 inch metal tubing, also given to me from a scrap pile, for stability. I acquired the 3rd drum when I realized I need a the drum for a better width to length ratio. The rear drum is just there for looks.

It will also keep the plywood cab from getting too hot. I am not sure what they are called but I mounted the 2 plates off of an old cross tie to the bottom of the boiler. They allow the boiler to sit on the chassis and act well as a heat buffer between the hot drums and the wood chassis.

The lighted Santa figure has been in the family since before I was born. My mother gave it to me a few years ago. I got the idea of putting Santa in the cab from the city of Amory, MS. They put a life sized Santa figure in the cab of the 4-8-2 SLSF 1529 during the holiday season.

Again, it is not a true model of SLSF 1529 but it does grill or smoke food quite well. And it does, at least somewhat, resemble a steam locomotive. When I get a chance, I will post a video on YouTube of smoke coming out of the stack. I am pleased with it.

Let me know what you think.

 

One more thing, if I can find high temperature paint in gray or silver, I will repaint the front of the boiler.

 

Looks good to me.

I think you did a fine job.

Santa seems to be right at home as well.

 

Rustoleum has an automotive high heat silver that might work.

Tom

 

Looks like you did a good job.

If you go into O'Reilly Auto Parts, they have engine block spray paint that is heat tolerable.

That would be good for the end of the boiler, and they also have fire resistant paint.

 

Wow! That came out great! Good job!

Eastwood Paints has a product called Spray Gray that is good up to 400 degrees.

They also have it in engine paint good for up to 600+ degrees.

It is a dead ringer for the color.

 

I do not know why I did not think about high temperature automobile engine paint.

That should be easy enough to find. Thanks for the tip, guys.

Thanks for the kind comments also.

 

My judgement is that you did a really good on it.

As you are not a welder, that is some good work.

I give it two thumbs up!

 

Thanks to the tips about finding high temperature paint in gray from automobile parts retailers, I found some light gray "up to 2000 degrees" spray paint at Auto Zone today.

Here are the two most up to date images after the repaint.

 

I would take those pictures, Patent that sucker and you could sell them!

Go to www.legalzoom.com.

Only thing better would be a small steam generator that you could have a whistle on!

Great job!