Garden Railway Forum

That's it Keith, no need to worry :D It's been too windy to run the new loco so I've made a start cutting the wheel blanks - the hard way! I used to use the bandsaw at work... Now I'm using a parting tool down to about 1" diameter and then hacksawing the remainder. It's the first time to use the bac...

Back in 2011 I bought boiler shell material for Keith Bucklitch's "Charles" loco design. But then I shelved the plan and went on to build the Steam Diesel novelty loco IIRC. I now have two large scale Penrhyn steam locos and feel enthused to make a start on this fine "mainline" loco, scaled-up. I am...

IMG_20191206_114345e.jpg Had a lovely summertime run yesterday. I'm learning to drive the loco. The safety valve has been fitted with a stronger spring to raise the pressure to the intended 40 PSI. The exhaust outlet has been changed to a short piece of 1/4" tube exiting at the very bottom of the f...

Thank you Keith. I wanted to build another large ossy loco. I put the exhaust so high as I was concerned that any blast would pull the gas flames out. I am at the moment trying a different and lower outlet

Thanks very much lads. I am well chuffed :D Sorry I wrestled that closely guarded secret out of you, that is big cylinder bore, larger than it looks. Is there a specific reason for choosing 13/16 bore? Big cylinders are the secret to slow running Tom :D Well done Dave, those huge oscillating cylind...

It was a lovely calm day today... First run on the line! Started with 150mL water in the boiler and 300mL in the tank, at the end of the run there was 70mL remaining in the tank. Lots of oil was splattered about, 2mL of water was extracted from the displacement lubricator at the end of the run. I wa...

I used CNC technology to produce the required radii for the dome, it was so enjoyable that an internal radius was generated too

Dome base -


Dome bore -

Superglued onto a mandrel. Many increments on the exterior, so quick to smooth with a file

Very interesting Dave, I suppose you won't really be able to tell until running loaded on your railway. Did you do all the calculations to arrive at pipe size and cylinder bore etc? I might have missed it but what is the cylinder bore? And thanks for fixing the old pictures, I've really enjoyed re-...

I have fixed-up all the old image URL's so all the images are viewable again in the first 7 pages. I've also removed the double signatures and made those first videos viewable again

The pipes are different sizes 1/8" for steam and 5/32" for exhaust when running forwards. We'll see if it makes any difference, it was to ease the flow of exhaust. Hi Dave, I thought that might be the case, as well as easing exhaust out you might be keeping inlet gas speeds high for good cylinder f...

Thanks Tom!

Had an excellent run on the rolling road today - to bake the enamel Ran for over an hour

Well, I mixed-up my custom smokebox colour and have given it a coat. Here we are drying in the sun. I'll have to fire it to give the paint a good baking

Lovely work Rik! Will you be getting a lathe?

Thanks lads :thumbup: I've been doing a paint test on ordinary household enamel paint. I tested this strip at 120, 150, and then 180 deg C for an hour each. The paint held up well, I mixed it from black and light grey which I have some old tins of. I'm finally going to paint the smokebox!. Look at t...

Who cares what those H&S types think Dave. So long has you have what you need from doing the blackening is all that matters..... By the way shows how intelligent I am.. :roll: I didn't have a clue what carcinogenic meant until I looked it up... :mrgreen: {Things that could cause cancer.} When I was...