Garden Railway Forum

The original union was silver soldered directly into the tank, so I will have to plug it: is there a better way than soldering a piece of 1/8" rod (rather than copper pipe) into a nipple and tightening it in with a union nut? I make my own pipe fittings and just turn up a blank cone when I want to ...

What is more puzzling is that although she works nicely on air and on blocks at 20-30 psi, and takes some effort to stall with a finger, she would not even move herself on the same pressure of steam. Unfortunately garden scale live steamers can do that. It depends on how big the compressor is. I us...

Here's the latest progress on the diesel, with some filling, sanding, and priming done, and some more to come. I think I've got away with my "cut and shut" operation to shorten the body.... I can't see any evidence of the cutting and shutting and it looks like a 30HP Kerr Stuart. You've done pretty...

Tony Walsham at RCS in Aust. recently announced he would be introducing a custom version of the Micron MR603. My order arrived the other day and one has now been fitted to the Mule, which is my diesel lab rat. This loco ran for some years with manual control and was fitted with r/c a couple of years...

You've given me some food for thought here. Durability was an issue I hadn't considered. They will need to be able to withstand the odd hot cinder and the effects of foot traffic. Not just cinders and boots, the polymers commonly used in 3D printers won't last long continuously exposed to the weath...

it is so quiet that the ambient noise outside made it hard to tell whether it was burning, and in the first few minutes it went out a few times, but it then ran nicely for about 20 minutes, with the loco running on blocks. I had to put some more water in a couple of times but the initial tests seem...

However, with a steady hand, and some touching-up, I have managed to complete the task and I have to say I am delighted with the result.... Where do you get these 'steady hand' thingies....... I need a matched pair. :roll: I can see some changes to detail parts on the models, but I can't see anythi...

It would be uber finnicky and im not entirely sure that even my best 3d printed effort would do them justice. Will have to order a packet and see how they turn out thanks! I might be possible to print decent ones using a resin printer of the sort Shapeways use, which are somewhere north of $100k......

Absolutely stunning Graeme. How did you make the roof vents or were they castings? I need some for my TGR BBL Hi Jake. Scratchbuilding torpedo vents is above my pay grade......... I used whitemetal castings from Brandbright. The new owner recently listed most of the detail parts in the range again ...

Does anyone have any pictures or advice on the use of double-flanged wheels? Is it a simple track adjustment or something worth avoiding? http://www.penmorfa.com/Slate/trackwork.html This link has pictures of turnouts for double flanges, both horse/hand worked and loco. worked versions. If you like...

Thanks very much - I will make a start when I can get hold of a suitable piece of tube. Roundhouse appear to machine their burners out of the solid and I do the same. You can't easily get metric brass rod here in OZ, let alone heavy wall tube, so I use a piece of 3/8" round brass and drill it out t...

I would prefer to make the replacement burner; looking at the Millie burner it is 10mm in diameter with 3 rows of 26 holes that look to be around 1.2mm diameter at about 2.5mm pitch. I suspected you might decide to go down the scratch building path......... My large burners are basically a copy of ...

The burner remains noisy, easily competing with the loco's exhaust and I noticed some blue flames just in front of the jet, visible through the air holes. Is that a matter of design, or something more simple? There was a very good reason that Brian Wilson and Paul Blake titled the chapter on making...

really happy with the end result today. As you should be. :thumbleft: Pretty much forgotten what sunshine looks like around here. Sitting there in the sun, the loco looks like the crew have had the time to give it a wipe over with a kero soaked rag this early in the cutting season......... Regards,...

The loco has come up well and the extra detailing was well worth the effort. It looks like a well maintained working cane tram loco., not a show pony on a preserved line....... The reason I stopped using Humbrol satin clear, after many years of using it successfully, was that it stopped curing prope...