Running on My Garden Railway

[Garratt]

It would have been rude not to run a train yesterday in the sunshine, and what better than one of my coal fired locos.

These need a little help to steam up - you start with charcoal soaked in white spirit in the firebox and an electric fan on the chimney to draw the air through the fire. Once the charcoal is well lit, you slowly add coal (anthracite grains) to the fire. Once the boiler is starting to make steam, the electric fan is removed and the locomotive blower is used. This sends a small jet of steam up the chimney, drawing the fire. Once the boiler is fully up to pressure and the fire is all coal and no charcoal, the loco is ready for work.

As the water in the boiler is used, a small pump under the engine transfers water from the tank into the boiler. The amount of water is regulated by the bypass valve, and needs adjusting to ensure the boiler water level doesn't get too low. The run filmed lasted for about an hour.

Please excuse the wobbly iPhone video, but it isn't easy doing this one handed!

 

[Armytwowheels]

Brilliant.

 

[Jimbohorlicks]

Brilliant.
I may get mine out, I have a mamod steam loco and a replica rocket, with a couple of coaches, that runs on solid meths/fuel tabs. Not had them running for years, they are somewhere in the loft.

 

[dalspa]

Lovely to see, thanks for sharing.

 

[Podney]

Superb. There are some clever old geezers on here!

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[DBK]

Brilliant, what gauge is it?

And do you have an engine to match your username?

 

[mike mcglynn]

That brings to mind when my younger brother was playing with his new Mamod steam engine and tried to add more fuel to an already lit burner and set fire to the kitchen floor,singeing the dog in the process ,it’s a good job I was in the next room as he had also set fire to the mat which was made of plastic not unlike the Moroccan mats that are used by many funsters

 

[rod_vw]

Beautiful, did you build it yourself? If so have you any pictures of the build process?

 

[63720]

It would have been rude not to run a train yesterday in the sunshine, and what better than one of my coal fired locos.

These need a little help to steam up - you start with charcoal soaked in white spirit in the firebox and an electric fan on the chimney to draw the air through the fire. Once the charcoal is well lit, you slowly add coal (anthracite grains) to the fire. Once the boiler is starting to make steam, the electric fan is removed and the locomotive blower is used. This sends a small jet of steam up the chimney, drawing the fire. Once the boiler is fully up to pressure and the fire is all coal and no charcoal, the loco is ready for work.

As the water in the boiler is used, a small pump under the engine transfers water from the tank into the boiler. The amount of water is regulated by the bypass valve, and needs adjusting to ensure the boiler water level doesn't get too low. The run filmed lasted for about an hour.

Please excuse the wobbly iPhone video, but it isn't easy doing this one handed!

Absolutely fantastic, big UP to you.

Has anyone else visited the brilliant miniature railway in Bennicassim?

 

[Garratt]

DBK It's 32mm gauge at 16mm to the foot scale, which is obviously a scale 2 foot gauge.

I've got a number of Garratts as you rightly guessed. Here is one of them running.

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[Garratt]

rod_vw I built it from a kit, so the boiler came complete, but the chassis and running gear needs to be built up and the bodywork soldered together. There were a few items that needed tweaking and minor modification too.

 

[Nanniemate]

I think I've seen you tracks but never seen it running that great!!!!

 

[Spriddler]

I'd love that in my garden ..................and it would save having to mow lawns.

 

[Robert Clark]

Brilliant
Enjoy your hobby in the sunshine ?

 

[andy63]

That would be my kind of garden..
Brilliant..?
Andy

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[Anthea M]

That’s made my day !
Thanks for sharing! It reminded me of being on the Pickering Whitby railway!! Happy days!

 

[tribalbrit]

That's great!
I have spent more time on my loft layout this last couple of weeks than I have for a long time and I'm really enjoying working on it again. Good to have something to keep the mind busy in these weird times.
Thanks for sharing.

 

[Podney]

Brilliant, what gauge is it?

And do you have an engine to match your username?

Deleted....pressed the wrong button!

 

[Puddleduck]

Martin would love a garden railway ......... at the moment he has 00 gauge in the attic. Scaled up it would be the equivalent of a km end to end but it has several loops and side lines and goodness knows what. It's still a work in progress and he's using the enforced lockdown to work on it.