Garden Railway Forum

It's probably "Canadian Inupiaq" or "Sigilitun"; in Inuinnaqtun or Natsilingmiutut or any of the eastern Arctic dialects, it's "Umingmok", which I didn't think looks as nice on a brass name plate. Although I take any of those phonetic spellings with a grain of salt. The...

Hi, here is my much-photographed Billy in its final form, with her new name plates from MDC. I called her "Omingmak" and of course she's number one, being the only piece of rolling stock for the railway, other than a pair of rock wagons. In fact as far as the railway's fictional history go...

That's actually good advice, maybe better than tinkering with it yourself.

Another fellow, his name escapes me at the moment, put a bunker from a lady Anne on the back of a Billy. The locomotive was called "sidewinder" or something but it looked pretty good. I think the builder was able to order the bunker from roundhouse. The engine looked really good with a lad...

If there are roll pins through the return cranks then it's highly unlikely that the return cranks have moved. If it's a factory built locomotive the cranks will be pinned and won't be able to come adrift. It seems to me that something is causing a valve to lift off a port face. it's the steam blowin...

A wooden knob screws onto one end, and the other goes down the chimney. It's used to steer the engine.

Just joking, of course, I have no idea what it could be.

Hooray for Billys!! My computer is broken so I can't post a picture, but look at my "Billy lives!" post in the videos section. I painted it dark red and included a tender. It seems like a lot of guys build them with tenders. I detailed it with lanterns and dummy lubricators, and dummy leaf...

I especially like the cylinder ends. Did you dismantle the cylinders to do this, or just carefully mask? And did you use etching primer? I have the overlays on my engine's cylinders but have not painted the ends. It just seems like a lot of bother,they are so oily even though the engine is new. You ...

I think a real steam engine with real dirt on it looks authentic, but I personally think that painting on dirt that can't be washed off is not authentic on a real steam engine. I'm all for not washing a grubby little engine but my engine spends most of its time "in the museum"(a shelf in m...

Patience is an overrated virtue. I would steam it on blocks before Friday, so you know what to expect. It's common sense really.

Is the "Annette" not simply built from roundhouse kit components and a new boiler? If so, how could the smokebox and tanks be mounted that crookedly on the frame? I've built a roundhouse kit and they are very precise. It's hard to believe that it's even possible to assemble a roundhouse lo...

It might be worth your while to look at Sunset Valley rail in the U.S.A., they offer aluminum rail that is much lighter and less expensive than the nickel steel or brass ones, which they also make. I have some of their rail and it is just fine for running steam engines. I think if you want to run el...

Maybe if you open the regulator so much that the wheels are spinning much faster than they are designed to spin on rails, there would be a lot more wear on valve gear parts? This is all I could come up with, other than that I can't see how there could possibly be an issue.

Looks great so far. One thing: Are you quite certain the cranks should be 90 degrees with single-acting cylinders? With only two power strokes per revolution, I would think it would run smoother with the cranks set at 180 degrees. However I am willing to admit I am very tired and my stupid brain and...

I'm not sure it's Klingon, wasn't it Mr. Burns who said that?

What a great-looking locomotive. Even with the body off the boiler and valve gear look real. I have a minor suggestion; with the cab and tanks off, why not paint the cab fittings and back of the boiler black? I think it would look good once re-assembled, especially if you left some of the bits brass...

:oops: OK I understand what a "Mosher" is now. I'm not sure there is enough evidence to prove or disprove what kind of music or what kind of clothes the perpetrators prefer, however if they are also interested in garden railways it seems unlikely that your friends are the track thieves. I ...

What's a "mosher community?" Is it some kind of food preparation? I think I've heard of a mediterranean dish called "moshed olives", but I'm not sure, it doesn't translate directly into English. Why would food-preparation workers steal railway tracks? Maybe I'm wrong. In any case...

It would be fun to stick a small live steam beam engine in there.

I'm all for a motion-detector activated cyclotron from a cold-war-era radar mounted in a tree by the railway ready to release a permanently-sterilizing burst of microwaves at the vandals, but in all seriousness the burglar alarm wired to the rails seems like a brilliant idea. Yes it would be a small...