Steam in the Garden

With the running line now complete and after enjoying one or two days of good weather, it only felt right to run some trains!

Both Steam engines saw use with varying degrees of success. No.1 as normal performed perfectly although for some reason the coaches she was pulling kept derailing after being propelled along the line. No.3 however was a completely different matter. Although fine and continuing to improve with more running in, on her first trip over the points she came off the line quite spectacually ending up going nose first off the board holding the railway. Its safe to say that some investigations were needed hence why No.1 was in use with a fair bit of stock to check the clearences. With no problems found, the finger of blame was pointed at No.3. After examination of the wheelsets, frames and cylinders, it came to light that the wheelsets have manufacturing defects in them which means they don't run parallel and the tires on the wheels are completely different thicknesses which might be why its derailing in the pointwork. Replacement wheels are now on the way so a repair can be carried out at the first available oppertunity.

The completed line with No.3 on the mainline

No.3 before it did a nosedive

No.1 and No.3 together in the station

No.1 with the passenger set in the main Platform

It's safe to say I'm enjoying having a longer run than 4 yards and hopefully will continue to do so for a long time to come.

The line is complete

After the completion of construction yesterday, I finally was able to assemble the completed railway this afternoon for the first time. Bar the Engine shed, platform extension, groundframe, signals etc, the line is now complete and ready for trains. The first train would have been today but the weather hampered that so hopefully tomorrow will see the first trains behind either No.1 or possibly No.3 on more trials.

BER visits the NLR

Today, the main passenger set along with all 4 covered vans visited the Newlands Light Railway in Hassocks. Its a lovely line to run on although the wind made it a bit differcult to run on with fires being blown out continuously and stock being blown off the track a far bit.

Still I saw a number of engines I've been wanting to see run for some time from the Roundhouse Little John and Millie to the IPE Jack (a bigger version of the Jessie I already own). However there is one engine that I saw that has simply made me want one simply by looking at it run. A Roundhouse Talisein. Absolutely beautiful to look at and a very smooth runner as well. Shame they're out of production really.....

The Station is completed

Today after buying more wood, I've managed to complete the station area on the line. This was the final section still needing work before trains could run. The remaining jobs include construction of a small engine shed and the laying of the relavent track work however this isn't a piority. Hopefully the first trains will be able to run over the completed line when the weather improves i.e. not raining.

The completed station:- The left hand platform will be for passenger coaches, Right hand for wagons and the small L shaped piece of wood will be where the engine shed will go eventually.

No. 3 enters the garden

Yesterday, I got round to running the new engine on the line outside. Trying at first with the Solid fuel burner then the meths burner, the engine is getting better with every run. Even after the 7-8 runs the engine has now run, I still have concerns about aspects of its performance. Running at pressure leaves it completely uncontrolable, its steaming is variable from Poor to Astmatic and its lack of a lubricator worry me greatly. However, for the price paid, its a great little engine.

Modifications are on the todo list for the engine. The first ones will be a Regulator and Lubricator to sort out two of the 3 main issues I now have with the engine. I suspect that leaving the engine to build up pressure before running especially with a load should solve the steaming problems. Alternatively, the fitting of a Gas burner should do the trick but I'd rather keep it as a Meths engine for now.

Track Laying Progresses

After the arrival of the track needed today, tracklaying has progressed at a fairly large rate of knots. With the exception of the final lengths of track into the platform/Engine sheds, all the main running line is now laid including the pointwork leading into the sheds. Hopefully tomorrow will see the remaining track laid including the installation of the platform/Sheds.

To celibrate the first signs of a life long dream coming to life (a premanent outdoor railway), I decided to celibrate by buying a new steam engine. Naturely being skint after a car MoT, it couldn't cost much. So I went for a rehashed Mamod SL1 now produced by MSS.

After doing some research into these engines, some alarming facts started to come out (such as poor steaming with the solid fuel burner and being slightly uncontrollable) but with those facts/research, came a lot of solutions. From a meths burner (which I brought with the engine) to improve the steaming dramatically to uprated safety valves and cylinders.

For my engine, I want to keep it as standard as possible (mainly to keep the whistle!) but I do plan a few practical changes such as a Regulator, displacement lubricator, uprated safety valve and a Meths burner along with a couple of cosmetic changes like a Tender, tank caps and a brass chimney cap. So far pushing the engine up and down a length of track hasn't shown any issues with the cylinders and wheels which this class of engine is known to have but I'll have to see how it performs when I test run the engine hopefully tomorrow.

Cheers,

Jon

Construction begins

Today, with the purchase of all the wood needed for the trackbed, saw the start of construction on the line itself. So far all the trackbed is complete and in place with the first 4 yards of running line laid.

The wooden trackbed under construction

The first track is laid

The complete trackbed in place

The full length of line

The shortened length of line which is partly to keep the landlords happy

Cheers,

Jon

The Passenger Train grows

After another new arrival, the passenger train has now grown to its inital 3 coach lenght consisting of 2 IoM Pairs coaches and the L&B bogie brake van. Ideally, I'd like the train to reach a 4 coach lenght of 3 Pairs coaches and the Brake Van or when funds allow, replacing the Brake Van with a DJB Engineering IoM Empress Van.

The new Coach - IoM All 3rd Pairs Coach F.70

Left to right:- L&B No.23, IoM F.70 and IoM F.54

 



With more track now on order, it won't be long before the lenght of the run will be able to extend to its full 10 yards lenght giving a fairly long run for trains to run on.

Cheers,

Jon