eric, if i were you i would attempt this project in a larger scale first, perhaps O, i seem to remember when i was about 6-7(10 years ago) my father got me a small live steam engine that was supposed to be a model of a stationary steam engine, used say for a saw mill or factory, it was not a "scale" model but the boiler was about the size of a descent sized 0 scale loco. did i mention it actually worked?! i of course being quite young thought it was great, but we only ran it a few times before the fuel ran out, (these little white bricks about 1" by 1/4" that we placed under the boiler and lit. there was some fairly simple tubing and one piston that drove a flywheel. the flywheel could be hooked up to a small stamped tin figure whose hand would move back and forth while holding a saw. it was pretty interesting i wish i still had it. it cam complete with whistle and everything, a fully functional steam engine that could theoretically by put on rails, with some fabrication of course. i would asume that someone still makes these as i think i saw one for sale....somewhere maybe a year or so ago. a search on google could turn up some results.
Be sure to post some pics when you get this project started!
Anyway i hope this helps, good luck
Chris :thumb: