Garden Railway Forum

I recommend a "momentum wagon" as well. I am a massive supporter of the idea. I personally like it when the train has momentum, not just the locomotive. I run my "Billy" with manual control, and I find the van makes it run more realistically, as it makes the engine work a bit to ...

Thanks guys. Will look into these options.

Does anyone know if there is a business who supplies little brass handwheels, like the ones found on locomotives and in ships? I mean the kind upon which one of the spokes sticks out farther than the others. I think one of those would look nice on a Roundhouse loco in lieu of the solid brass knob on...

I really like how you've a set of rails on part of your workbench. It looks like a real erecting shop!

My Dad, Brother and I drove down to America a few years ago to see some steam engines. The main attraction was in West Virginia: an entire logging railway restored with "Shay" locomotives, and the log wagons built into open passenger carriages. It is brilliant. On the way, we stopped at an...

Thanks! I had forgotten who sold them to me. I like them!

I actually prefer the less realistic figures like Kara's or Rob Bennet's "Busy Bodies". I have trouble putting it into words, but I find the caricature-like nature of the figures has a way of making them seem less robotic and immobile than the super-realistic kind. My attention doesn't lin...

What a handsome machine. I really could watch her run all day. Thanks for posting that.

Well, I am hoping I've got the MDC engine running well enough. I can't afford a Bachmann one (!) but the model is running very nicely now if I do say so. Hopefully my Dad agrees. It's his hobby, not mine. I used the North West Short Line regearing kit and I must say it has improved the model. As is ...

What problem have you encountered with the HO shay? Is it a Bachmann Spectrum one? No, unfortunately not. It's one of those old ones marketed variously by "MDC/Roundhouse" in America. I think it was probably designed in the 1980s, maybe even before that. It has bogies that are driven by a...

I like the side tank and the tender version, both of which look they could be bashed from a Regner. Do be careful if you're exploring that page, by the way. I hadn't heard of all the manufacturers and, being a librarian, clicked on "Dewey" - the page I came across definitely had nothing t...

I have been busy repairing one of my father's locomotives. He prefers North American subjects, and the locomotive I am repairing for him is a "Shay" type geared locomotive in HO scale. While looking for parts online, I encountered this article about a fascinating little engine made b6 a co...

Beautiful work.

That little engine is impressively smooth and quiet. Usually those little IC engines are deafening and require a lot of reduction gearing. This one is really nice.

I am becoming concerned at this point that if this locomotive acquires any more complications, it will become self-aware and begin causing mischief. Anti-human mischief.

This is brilliant. I have to admit I found the idea outlandish at first, but now I see it and that genius boiler design, I am firmly of the opinion that this thing is going to be a masterpiece.

I enjoyed everything about that.

,... although a British built saddle tank with Walschaerts valve gear is a rare beast in any period. There's your inner fine-scale modeller talking again. The fact is, British-built saddle tanks with (simplified) Walschaert's valve-gear are exceedingly common. It's just that they are almost all abo...

What is the advantage to air-operated pointwork? I have heard of it before, but have always thought it sounded a bit "Rube Goldberg" if you don't mind me saying so. Although I must admit I can see it being more weather-resistant than electrics would be.

I also build aero models and have to agree that the vibration in a live steam engine is more like a gentle rocking, if anything, compared to what a model aeroplane or helicopter can do to a servo. Your servos endured more vibration in the car driving home from the hobby shop than they will in a mode...