Garden Railway Forum

I would imagine that many of the plans for this type of locomotive are possibly out of date as to the most convenient fuel and burner mechanisms. I would also imagine that, say, coal mechanisms have changed very little, but I would also think that other mechanisms for other fuels might have their latest and greatest equipment. I am primarily looking for ease of installation and use.

Not quite sure of your question here.....

The vast majority of G scale live steam locos are factory built "ready to run" models. Almost all of these are gas (butane) fired using a simple boiler with a single (sometimes twin) flue tube.

In gauge 1, there are far more "home built" live steam locos (although there are also a lot of factory built examples too). In this scale gas and meths firing is most common, with a minority of people using coal.

The principles for both gas and meths firing are well established, and while there are a few different approaches they have all been around for many years now.

I would suggest getting hold of one of the specialist books on the subject. "Steaming in your garden" by Tag Gorton is pretty good:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1902827139/ ... bFbE6ZXGXG

I'm a fan of methylated spirits / alcohol firing. But, butane gas firing is so convenient. The only downside is that a loco mounted gas tank needs to be tested to very high pressures 300PSI - 20bar. However, gas tanks mounted remotely from the loco can suffer from a lock of pressure. Butane gas seems to be the most common fuel now

yellow_cad wrote: ↑Mon Jul 06, 2020 10:49 pm I would imagine that many of the plans for this type of locomotive are possibly out of date as to the most convenient fuel and burner mechanisms. I would also imagine that, say, coal mechanisms have changed very little, but I would also think that other mechanisms for other fuels might have their latest and greatest equipment. I am primarily looking for ease of installation and use.

For those in colder climates, alcohol doesnt really care how cold it is. But butane, even the Iso-butane mix gas doesnt like real cold weather. I steam my gas fired models on the top of the stove, then once up to pressure I would carry them to the railway(elevated) with oven mitts. AD