Garden Railway Forum

After the trials in Derbyshire last autumn, and the assistance in finding the helpful little engine a new home in Meriden in the West Midlands, the new board decided that, indeed, a new engine of the same design and repute was to be purchased. Upon placing the order and choosing the livery, as well as appointing a new fitter, the new little engine duly arrived and after a brief inspection, was instantly assigned to its first duty - a trip to Wales to start the herald of spring at the Llechfan Railway.

Parked up - an older Bertie, the new little blue engine and a Hunselt


Glyn Valley Tramway


The first time that the Isle of Man trainset had visited Wales


On Shed


Now then...we had received a guest that I had invited from Hampton Loade. He is relatively new in the hobby and is starting out, focusing mostly on cheap ready to run stock and whatever locomotive power he can get as opposed to expensive live steam power. He bought a rake of wagons, some matching coaches, a matching diesel railcar and a Faller battery steam-outline engine.



I have to admit, the little Faller made a brave sight as it ran around Llechfan effortlessly


Two six coupled engines


Two visiting coaches


And his diesel railcar


Falcon - a Compton Down Quarry Hunslet come home


Gamecock on slates



Vixen finally out on Manx express for the day - Glen, anyone?




Branch line shot - definitely need a fifth coach.







Second tranche...



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Passing trains


Britt Allcroft shot










Handing over the token...as the first fire was lit...






And with that, the first tentaive steps were taken as slowly, but surely, and quickening, the little blue engine strolled through the Llechfan railway with an uncertainty about it...














Round Two - GO! The passenger rake was divided into two and Bertie given two coaches as a first revenue earning train on trial.







Strangely, it's visible that the new engine matches the Manx carriages very well...!












Faller train with slates







Road to Adventure




Our visitor, young Rob was then allowed to use his coaches and prep, then fire up and drive Llechfan's new resident Bertie, "Bob"...




And finally: this weekend was my booked borthday weekend, and Kes and Steve of the TR / Llechfan had gone to amke sure it was a lovely weekend, what with the drive to leamington and the Fosse and then Sunday, my new Bertie having its inaugural run -and cake! :D:D



This brought down what was a lovely Sunday out at Llechfan GR, as we packed up due to the rain and parted ways with Rob, who drove back to Bridgnorth.

Beautiful railway and nice new locomotive. Would love to run my Merlin Major over that railway. Maybe someday I will get the visit the UK before I am gone. Such wonderful railways over there! Thanks for posting! Mike

Wonderful pictures as usual, shows what a good time was had and a birthday treat a well!
What more could you wish for?

Peter Butler wrote: ↑Tue Mar 28, 2017 7:23 pm Wonderful pictures as usual, shows what a good time was had and a birthday treat a well!
What more could you wish for?

Thanks Peter. It was a lovely if slightly grey afternoon - and a perfect way to end my birthday weekend, what with cake, family and new engine inaugurated

Great selection of photos Doug - Thanks for sharing them with us.

I can see the benefit of running manual locos there allowing 'hands free' camera operation. On my visits to the Llechfan Garden Railway I've always run an R/C controlled loco. I had to ask a friend to take control of my R/C Silver Lady today so I could get a couple of trackside shots - its got a trigger & steering wheel transmitter, so no fingers left to control a camera as well!

Chris Cairns

On my RC steamers, if the line is level enough that little to no changes are needed to the throttle once running, I can get to the speed I want, then switch off the handheld transmitter and the engine will hold that speed/throttle setting till I switch the transmitter back on again. So if I dont have to "drive" due to up and down grades, I can switch off and then have fun taking pictures or video. Mike

My Silver Lady is currently fitted with a Hitec 40 MHZ FM system and I was actually rather hesitant to run it at all given the frightening experience of its last run.

This is only the 3rd 40 MHz system I have experience of. The other two suffered from some glitching which was manageable, but have been upgraded to 2.4 GHz DSM2/X. Since acquiring this Silver Lady 2nd hand it had run OK in two different locations without any interference/glitching. However I was running it on the modular layout at a public event when it suddenly ran away out of control with all 3 channels badly glitching. I managed to pick it up off the track (with my colleagues shouting 'Switch it Off' !) but I had to wait for the appropriate glitch to close the regulator so I could switch the receiver off & put the loco down safely. Thus it has been sat in its box waiting for a 2.4 GHZ DSM2/X receiver to be fitted, but I need a clear worktop area so as not to damage the rather nice Lightlines paint/lining finish on removing the bodywork.

Chris Cairns

Glitching sucks eggs! Even the new Spectrum 2.4 stuff can glitch, if the batteries get low. Had this happen to a fellow steamer last month on his Roundhouse Darj B class. Ran away at a high rate of speed, the trailing LGB coaches toppled over and off the raised layout to the carpeted floor, but the coupling seperated and the engine just derailed thankfully(he was using LGB hook/loops). Definatly scary to watch and engine go off on its own without any control! Mike

from my experience i find 2.4 gh tends to jam other transmitters that do not operate on 2.4

Particularity troubling when your playing with a submarine, somebody chucks a fancy speedboat on the pond operating on 2.4 and suddenly your submerged submarine no longer responds to ballast tank control and you have no idea where it is

Love your photos and locos dougrail..it’s my birthday in a couple of weeks and i am hoping to have a surprise, but it’s only hoping..lol..