Roundhouse Atlantic - rare find

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dougrail
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Roundhouse Atlantic - rare find

Post by dougrail » Thu Oct 11, 2018 11:21 pm

For a while now I have been dependant on two locos as the third has once again been put out of order due to a trader error. A chance find on Ebay saw this arise a few weeks ago:

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An idle ask informed me offerwise that offers for over £950 had been declined, although starting and final buy was £850. I let this go, as far too work was suspected to be needed to get this loco up to scratch - new bufferbeams, possibly a new funnel, the transfers and cleaning removal...and on a loco that was minimum 14years old [built 1993-2004] not worth chancing in my opinion.

So I backed off and carried on with life, not giving a second thought until another big green engine showed up on Ebay....

45mm gauge, Never Steamed, R/C fully fitted and tested, accompanied by a full loco tool kit [gas filler, water bottle, oil bottles, a Roundhouse Multitool] and some books and memorabilia on the particular locomotive's railway. More intense negotiating went down and a price secured. The next question was: how was it going to reach me in Birmingham from all the way down on the coast of Southampton? The answer: a train trip with an airport bag to Southampton Central one wet Saturday morning shortly afterwards. The deal was done in the station car park - notes counted out and ahnded over, the RC and gubbins inspected, books and extras counted and the loco inspected very carefully in the boot of the seller's car. Repacked, in my bag and a trip to the pub to meet up with Will H of this parish for a few drinks ensued.


At the pub, the loco was shown off and inspected...

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There you go. One as-new, never touched or altered, unsteamed Roundhouse Atlantic, 0-6-2, from the Campbeltown & Machrihanish Light Railway with full RC fitted and ready. I was astounded at the time of pickup - brand new. Loco had either been on display or mostly in its box all wrapped straight from the retailer.

First Class transport all the way back to Birmingham, ie secure and safely...
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Once home, the loco had a little bit of work done on it - the sandbox control bar was straightened out, the smokebox front was loosened and turned to give the correct profile, the driving wheels were regauged to 32mm, a new 32mm trailing truck wheel had been ordered from Roundhouse and duly fitted and lastly, batteries were installed and the RC servos and controls all tested and checked.

Now the Atlantic was ready for its first travels under its own power....


IT'S THORFINN TIME

A week later saw a trip to Echills Wood Railway in Kingsbury. Long straights, mostly easy accessibility and mostly level layout makes this the perfect test track for new engines.
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After agreeing to use this steamup as the 'inspection test', the loco was gassed, oiled and watered for the first time in its life. The first fire was lit...
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Steam soon raised...

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And the first turn of the wheels in anger made around the track, a couple of laps well performed before it was decided to move on. Getting used to the RC is another thing however...

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After two or three laps, while still in steam the loco was put into traffic using the lighter Newqida rake of coaches.

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In all honesty, it positively strolled away with this rake. Any glitches really came from myself getting used to R/C after nearly nine years of totally manual driving my locos. The loco was re-prepared and resteamed, with an eye to further capability testing...


MIGHTY THORFINN POWERFUL ENGINE
...load 9 and 10.

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No less than nine carriages now - five Accucract Lynton & Barnstaples were added to the rake to give a little more challenge to the 'heavy hauler'. Admittedly, on the slopes, it was very difficult to get going from standstill but once in motion from a more level start the engine once again tore around the railway with the train. After the photos were taken, two IoM 4wheelers were added, making it load 10.

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Comfortably passed, once finished the new loco was shunted onto a siding while the ever faithful 'Cadno' was again steamed up for a run.
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Plans for the loco in the future will likely to be to upgrade the RC; the bulky twin knob handset could be replaced with a small handset that has the throttle on a knob and the reverser on a switch instead. The loco will be liviered as per the C&MLR in the long future - red, white and black, elbaorate panelling on the cylinders, tanks, cab and back and a CMLR crest applied. A list of names has been drawn up but the current working name, for now, is "THORFINN". Whichever name is chosen, it will then be placed on the tanksides in true NBR style, as ARGYLL and ATLANTIC had.

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No better way to end the day while checking and cleaning over the loco..

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Peter Butler
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Re: Roundhouse Atlantic - rare find

Post by Peter Butler » Thu Oct 11, 2018 11:36 pm

You lucky boy!!!!! What a find. Beautiful loco and ripe for upgrade... show us more when it's done.
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Re: Roundhouse Atlantic - rare find

Post by dougrail » Thu Oct 11, 2018 11:41 pm

Thanks Peter. Think I said in the story, but to clarify, the £850 was the price the messy one went for on Ebay finally via a sneaky bid [not me]. The 'barn find' temporarily christened "Thorfinn" cost double that and a bit but given the books, starter kit, rolling road skates I picked up, worth it.

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Re: Roundhouse Atlantic - rare find

Post by tom_tom_go » Fri Oct 12, 2018 7:51 am

Glad it has all worked out.

Spraying the smokebox with exhaust paint will change the look of this loco greatly into a well maintained but working engine.

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Re: Roundhouse Atlantic - rare find

Post by Andrew » Fri Oct 12, 2018 10:43 am

I'm glad you got your loco too - she's a beauty, and it looks like her performance matches her looks... Looks great with your carriages too.

It wouldn't fit my WHR theme, but I certainly wouldn't say no to one of these. Somewhere in a parallel universe another version of me operates a garden railway based on an imaginary 3' line on the Orkney Islands, with proper Scottish motive power and Irish style carriages and wagons...

Cheers,

Andrew.

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Re: Roundhouse Atlantic - rare find

Post by Mitch stack » Fri Oct 12, 2018 11:31 am

Nice Loco Doug,One of my Good Friends has Recently got a Argyll second hand with 3 C&M coaches .

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Re: Roundhouse Atlantic - rare find

Post by GTB » Fri Oct 12, 2018 3:08 pm

dougrail wrote: Thu Oct 11, 2018 11:21 pm So I backed off and carried on with life, not giving a second thought until another big green engine showed up on Ebay....
Glad to hear you found the loco you were looking for and are happy with the results.

The Newquida cars appear to be a good match in terms of size. They even look vaguely like C&M stock if you squint hard enough.........

I'll look forward to seeing the results when you get around to lining it out.

Regards,
Graeme

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Re: Roundhouse Atlantic - rare find

Post by Big Jim » Fri Oct 12, 2018 10:53 pm

Lovely looking loco.
I was very tempted by one a few years ago but I was able to resist.

Wasn't Thorfinn the Earl of Shetland?
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Re: Roundhouse Atlantic - rare find

Post by Peter Butler » Fri Oct 12, 2018 11:13 pm

Big Jim wrote: Fri Oct 12, 2018 10:53 pm

Wasn't Thorfinn the Earl of Shetland?
Orkney.... according to Wikipedia!
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Re: Roundhouse Atlantic - rare find

Post by FWLR » Sat Oct 13, 2018 8:06 am

That is a beautiful looking loco Doug, I always seem to lose out on bids on eBay, though to be truthful, I haven’t bid for another live steam has yet….far too much money for my limited resources…… :thumbright:

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Re: Roundhouse Atlantic - rare find

Post by dougrail » Sat Oct 13, 2018 2:02 pm

Thanks guys. It's been a pleasure to run and getting used to the RC is quite something. However next year I think I'll change the handset and rx for something much more convenient :)

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Re: Roundhouse Atlantic - rare find

Post by Keith S » Sat Oct 13, 2018 6:04 pm

Wow, Doug, what a nice engine. I thought those had spoked wheels but yours seems to have solid ones. Anyway you must be very pleased with it. You're building up a nice collection of engines!

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Re: Roundhouse Atlantic - rare find

Post by dougrail » Sat Oct 13, 2018 6:27 pm

Thanks Keith :) The Argylls did have spoked wheels, but the later Atlantics are solid wheeled. However, the Atlantic have fully sprung chassises, so I can't complain :)

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Re: Roundhouse Atlantic - rare find

Post by SpudUk » Tue Oct 16, 2018 8:27 am

I never manage to land these eBay finds!
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Re: Roundhouse Atlantic - rare find

Post by FWLR » Tue Oct 16, 2018 10:06 am

SpudUk wrote: Tue Oct 16, 2018 8:27 am I never manage to land these eBay finds!
They are very rare for me too Chris…….

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