Lake Macquarie Live Steam Locomotive Society
Getting started in miniature engineering, especially for locomotives 5" gauge and larger, which generally require bigger floor mounted machinery (lathe, mill etc), can be daunting. While large models have been constructed with smaller machines and simple hand tools, this requires a more prolonged construction time, and with better means these days is not considered an option.
Currently, there are options to enable a new starter to get behind a regulator in short order:
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Join a club, be active, and you will soon be invited to drive a club locomotive.
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Purchase a new or second hand, ready-to-run locomotive and carriages (private sale and by established firms such as Polly Engineering, Station Road Steam and Mini Train Systems).
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Purchase plans and castings for simple engine designs, eg Barry Potter's Blowfly.
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Purchase locomotive kits; eg from Polly Engineering.
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Use a combination of kit parts, ready made components and outsourcing difficult parts to engineering workshops - chequebook engineering.
Ultimately a well-stocked workshop is essential to maximise the enjoyment and satisfaction of locomotive construction. There have been many articles on how to go about this (for example Getting Started in Model Engineering), but ultimately this needs to be a well-thought-out process due to individual needs and means. Membership in a club is essential during this process to obtain expert assistance from old hands - especially in choosing the most appropriate and cost effective equipment and instrumentation, including for CNC machining (tools that are becoming accessible to many more model engineers).