Garden Railway Forum

They(Merlins) just do not show up for sale often over here in the states.  I do have a collection of very early Garden Railways magazines that feature ads with the Mayflower and the Mustang engines in them from a couple of the early importers here in the States.  Much like Lionel and thier electric ...

I am friends with Jim Sanders of WeeBee loco works fame, he helps me take care of my engines and can fix or machine most items I might need.  I know spare parts are super rare.  If the cylinders take a crap, I am guessing replacement with RH ones is the best route.  I have my RH Argyll as my main en...

I am going to try and shoot a cell phone video of the first steam up, pass or fail. The engine doesn't look abused by any means. Anything Merlin is hard to find over here and to get one from the UK is as much as a new RH engine time exchange rate and shipping is factored in. I was on the fence to ge...

This engine lacks the factory RC controled whistle. How did Merlin control the whisle and can it be added to an engine that lacks it? I have a Regner whistle that I could mount below the boiler, but till I get the engine in my hands, I do not know where, if possible, to get steam from or how to cont...

I sold some stuff I had for sale, which gave me the funds to pick up a second engine. Since even before I got my Argyll, I have had my eyes on this Merlin Mayflower that is on ebay on my side of the pond. Nobody was biting at his price, I thought it was a fair price once you research what it costs t...

Anything I have mail ordered from the UK to the USA has had the VAT subtracted from the bill since the items were being shipped out of the UK. Not sure how that works for Canada though. Biggest issue is most of the buildings I want, Tuxcraft and Welshpool Pottery, are heavy and shipping costs are in...

Beautiful model, wonder where it will come in price wise? Haven't seen anything yet on cost. Mike

What is needed is a "T" fitting to split to the whistle valve and the blow down, problem is mine is an early Argyll, has the fuel tank in the rear bunker, where as the later Atlantic had the newer cylinder fuel tank in the cab. So not much space for fittings in the cab. A blow down is more...

He came with a blow down fitted, I just put it back on for now. It vents down to the track right behind the rear most drive wheel. Which is where most USA prototype steamers vent thier blow downs. I was just watching a video of W&L running and thier blow down is right blow the cab at the rear. I...

When I got my new(second hand) RH Argyll, he had a blow down fitted to the extra tap off the backhead. I swapped it out for a Regner whistle, but am thinking this engine, lacking a site glass, would be better off with the blow down to help with knowing boiler water level. Being able to fill, fire, t...

Probably seeing a bit of retrenching to traditional scales like 16mm. The large scale market in the states is flat with little to no new items. Prices for other brands of Asian produced live steam have risen sharply in the last couple years and models have moved in the Aster level of pricing and siz...

We had a bit of a "Changing of the Guard" here on my railway, with the Frank S being sold on and replaced with a Roundhouse Argyll second hand from a member at another forum. Long term goal is to narrow the narrow gauge from 45mm to 32mm on the garden railway. This engine will allow such c...

Yes I would buy one of my past engines back. I would love the chance to have my green Pearse Countess with RC and Whistle back I sold around 2002. I nolonger remember who bought her. Mike

Thanks for the research Graeme, I really appreciate it. I will look at the local hobby store to see what they have in spray cans as I need to respray the whole body. The engine is in black, which in my mind does not do Argyll justice. On another note, I looked at pics he sent that show the cylinder ...

With the railway now sleeping under a blanket of snow, its time to start thinking about and planning next springs changes and improvments. Frank S the live steamer has been sold on(didnt like steaming in colder weather) and replaced with a Roundhouse C&M Argyll in all black. I do plan to repaint...

Flushing the gas tank seems to help if done prior to even trying to light the burner the first time. Requires wasting some gas, but saves plugging up the jet. I have one Accucraft and my friend has 3 from that brand. All have been good engines once run in, they are much like a basic series RH as in ...

Another good way to learn how to run slowly with a stock steamer is to watch some of the "from the footplate" videos and pay close attention to how the driver operates the throttle lever when starting the train. Its not just yank it out and go like a diesel. A steam engine would just spin ...

I never noticed the difference in the valve chests till you guys brought that up. Just makes setting the travel very critical. I do want to respray mine into that color from the all black she will be in when I get her this week. She will get a full going over and RC installed before spring arrives, ...

I am buying a second hand Argyll and would like to restore him to the proper colors and lettering for the C&M. Being in the USA, does anybody know of source for the Gamboge paint that RH used? Or atleast something close. My Argyll is in black right now, so its not where I could paint match. Than...

My engines carry names from my favorite Charles Dickens book, Oliver Twist. Mike