Garden Railway Forum

Just for info here a couple of images of the Merlin prototype.

Ian

Amazing Ian - that's definitely it!!! Are they publicity/development archive photos?
Do you recognise this bogie?

It's difficult to judge the performance at this early stage. We steamed it as a familiarisation exercise on our small garden railway on Saturday and ran it at approx 40psi which in hindsight was probably a little low. Our curves are probably not ideal for the this loco's size either. The regulator was a little on/off but it was not pulling a train. Further testing is required when the weather warms up.

Ian - given the choice what livery would you have chosen?

The photos were taken by my father Don Pearse. They are not copyright or anything. He just used to photograph anything new so we had some images.

As this is the raised bunker loco I think the crimson lake livery would suit it with the single straw coloured lining.

Just out of interest do you know where the loco has been all these years?

Regards

Ian

Your father did a great job with the photos. Unfortunately I know none of the history of the loco but it would be interesting to find out. It caught my eye at a recent auction in Macclesfield in December where it was described as....

A part constructed brass scratch built live steam train 'E.R. Calthrop', length approx 43cm.
CONDITION REPORT:
As mentioned, part constructed, certainly not a working model, no information known as to the boiler, etc

I'm originally from Stoke-on-Trent and know the Manifold Valley area well so since becoming interested in garden railways a loco from the L&M appealed and although there was only one photo it looked good enough to take a chance on it. Luckily it's turned out well! There was also a rather nice DJB L&B Yeo (again unpainted and possibly built from a kit) that was out of my price range.

When did you last see the loco - was it still at the Merlin factory when you left?

I think the loco was still there in 1986 when Wendy Davies made three of us redundant as 'cost cutting' measures.

She probably sold the model on to raise cash to keep the company afloat. She never liked the L&M model and only liked a model if it was black!

She completely ran the company into the ground. My father and I tried to rescue it in early 1992, but she would not co-operate.

I'd better not get it painted black then.
Looking at what you have achieved since those days, I wonder if she wishes she had been more co-operative..........

I'll update on the loco's performance after the next run in the garden - I may need to pick your brains again. Mind you, looking at the forecast we may need to attach the snowplough first.

Having seen mentions of a possible Leek and Manifold loco being developed in previous Steamlines issues (the period garden railway magazine edited by Merlins Tom Cooper) I saw and purchased issue No3 (Jan/Feb 1986) recently. I thought that there may be a slim chance that it may mention our loco again and it arrived this morning. Well to my amazement I found the following.... Firstly, there is a very interesting article by Ian Pearse describing how the 'Beast' was built. This was Ian's own loco that he designed and built based on an extended Hunslet chassis and in the article reveals how he also used it as a test bed for some ideas that Merlin wished to incorporate in the proposed Leek and Manifold locomotive. Even better, when I turned to page 45 I found this! Again, photos by Don Pearse showing our Leek and Manifold. So we've now got some very good early history to add to the story but no record of where it has been all these years until now?

This is great work guys, glad the forum is helping bring the history of this loco to the public.

I suggest you contact Derek Wiggins and Keith Skillicorn as they are both "well up" on their heritage loco knowledge.

Very interesting read. Nice to see you were able to track down it’s history

As promised we took the Merlin for a proper test at our local Reading Group garden railway meeting a couple of weeks ago and I'm pleased to say that it's performance exceeded our expectations.

The venue was Peter and Bruce Dawes superb West Cornwall Light Railway.

Raising steam in the new station area...


In full flight (photo courtesy of Iain Buchanan)...


So all the moving parts received oil and then the burner was lit. It's a little noisier than the Accucraft L&B and it's a relatively large boiler so it took a while to get up to working pressure. Once it did the safety valve opened at 40psi and there was a little condensate to clear with a couple of forwards and backwards runs and then I set off for a full lap. This is a relatively long railway , somewhere in the region of 300 feet per lap and all was well until just after the viaduct when the whole train derailed after tangling with some fast growing Thyme. As it took so long to re-rail the whole train I turned the gas off and it would not re-light while it was so hot. After 5 minutes I tried to re-light it again and this time it did and within a couple of minutes it was up to 30psi and ready to move again. It then ran for 3 or 4 faultless laps which was very pleasing. There is a little steam getting through the disc regulator even when closed so there may be a little work to do there but all in all a very successful outing. There were many kind comments directed it's way from the other group members attending too.


Cooling down in front of the tin mine....


I have a couple of short video clips that I will upload in a few days

It's a great looking loco, looking forward to videos of her running.

Tom's right, that's a lovely machine! I look forward to seeing it develop.

It's a cracking railway too! I wouldn't mind seeing more of that as well.

Andrew

Hopefully Andrew we will be able to see more of that brilliant looking line and of course your exquisite looking Merlin, George...

She sure does look beautiful. I bet your are so proud to own her.

FWLR wrote: Sun Jun 16, 2019 7:09 am Hopefully Andrew we will be able to see more of that brilliant looking line and of course your exquisite looking Merlin, George...

She sure does look beautiful. I bet your are so proud to own her.

Yes of course, it's nice to have something different and it is a lovely looking loco. Mind you I haven't seen a live steam loco I don't like yet!!

Another photo taken on the West Cornwall Light Railway.

Crossing the girder bridge

video to follow

Brilliant...

An excellent looking machine! Glad it’s all working nicely!

Not the best quality video I'm afraid. Again this was taken at Peter and Bruce Dawes West Cornwall Light Railway. All the buildings you see are miniature versions of buildings in St Just which Peter has scratch built himself!

Dads Merlin L & M has found a new home, probably the best place it could go. It is with a collector on the south coast who also has the Merlin 'Beast' and a Mac Muckley L & M. He is delighted with it. Sad to see it go but nice to see it being appreciated and being used regularly. We hope to visit one day and see it in its new home.

Regards
George