Garden Railway Forum

The finished engine, pretty as a picture

DSC_0173 by simon mace, on Flickr

I took a few close-up pictures of various parts of the engine to show some of the fine detail. I have no idea how Joe managed to machine some of the more complex shapes in the motion work. You can see the wrapped blower pipe running up to the smokebox here: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/500792...

There have been some (minor) teething issues, but nothing I wouldn't expect from a new engine: - getting the suspension & valve timing to work together. With hackworth gear the distance from the weigh shaft to the rear axle has quite a bit of effect on the valve events, so getting the "ride...

Despite being a (relatively) small engine, Jynn is still quite a heavy object to move around, so I built a simple trolley to make things easier: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49571074122_8b9b37923a.jpg DSC_0174_1582404742027 by simon mace , on Flickr In full flight in the garden: https://live....

And back home after initial breaking in: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49217886557_51531d5b4d.jpg DSC_0119_1572243224484 by simon mace , on Flickr https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49217179728_e566bc5860.jpg DSC_0123 by simon mace , on Flickr https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49217179773_6...

I don't have any pictures of the rest of the build (but can answer questions if anyone has any). A few pics of Jynn's first weekend in steam: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48936945878_ee366cb2e9.jpg DSC_0118 by simon mace , on Flickr https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48937677442_ed15029004.j...

There's something really nice about a really simple (minimalist) layout like this.

Almost more of a garden feature - i exepect a lot more people would be tempted into garden railways if only they saw something as neat as this could be installed without upsetting an established garden....

I had forgotten about Topsy - a really interesting model. I wonder if there would be a market for a version scaled to the normal "garden gauges" (7/8" maybe)? Have there ever been any details / photos of the railway it ran on? I think a couple of pieces of track were found at boston l...

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" ...

Here is the boiler cleading & dome cover all painted up and curing in my van (makes a nice hot greenhouse when the sun gets on the windows): https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50068170721_f3e9baa7a1.jpg DSC_0080 by simon mace , on Flickr And re-fitted to the boiler: https://live.staticflickr.co...

The injectors are a pair of "number 4s" from polly model engineering.

Pretty reliable, although I have had some issues with the feedwater warming up (hopefully fixed now).

An unusual view; the inside of the firebox: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48339643411_039054642f.jpg DSC_0059 by simon mace , on Flickr You can see how deep it is here, and the quite complex work that went into it. The firebox has a fusible plug, which is just visible in yhe middle of the crow...

The next thing to show you all is probably the boiler. Here it is, complete with cleading and brass boiler bands all made by joe: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48339642271_4d3fb2dedd.jpg DSC_0060 by simon mace , on Flickr The dome cover was a bit of an issue, as this large part was missing fro...

YouTube has just suggested this excellent example from 1931:



A very sophisticated system including multiple bridges, tunnels, a road system, and even a harbour with clockwork boats!

Looks like gauge 1 again to me, mostly clockwork, with at least one live steam loco

Alongside a somewhat larger engine under construction (yes, they are both 7 1/4" gauge!): https://live.staticflickr.com/7804/45704308115_ed3740be83.jpg 20190105_154306 by simon mace , on Flickr This was a bargain, worksplates to perfect scale for about £5 each (anyone spot where these came from...

A few weeks later, and the connecting rod issue is fixed, so the wren chassis is towed around again to break in the piston rings. A job done most effectively by my friend Lee and his loco "Tazmin": https://live.staticflickr.com/7872/39653712643_3849bfc8cb.jpg 20190105_121011 by simon mace ...

Not suprisingly the newly assembled chassis was extremely stiff, so we undertook some running-in on the kensey valley railway (the home track of south west steam). Here is the loco out in the daylight for the first time: https://live.staticflickr.com/4918/45577433794_93b8822c39.jpg 20180519_103502 b...

And another british pathe video, 1933 this time, and what looks like a pretty extensive line in (probably) gauge 1:

There is also the 10 1/4" gauge railway built by Mr Holder at his home in Beaulieu. This video is dated 1936, and the railway is clearly already well established:



Very much the plaything of a wealthy gentleman!

More excellent pictures of this charming railway at the following site: http://www.totleyhistorygroup.org.uk/photo-gallery/mitchell-s-railway/ Including this one, which really gives a flavour of what the railway must have been like: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50075801113_19459284ea.jpg _202...