Steam in the garden - a learning curve!

Hello, As Tag said, in those days labour was cheap! That is more or less where my line is situated. However I thinks if labour was cheap and wages low the workers were not going to kill themselves cleaning locomotives and rolling stock to get the average picture one sees in SMT. I, till recently had a part time job in a minimum wage company and this reasoning was backed up by the workers atitude to the job..."money is rubbish...why kill yourself?" I must be on the right path as my web site has 18,000 hits in 18 months and I am doing 7/8" scale as well... 

Would love to see some photos of your stock Bill, while I can (grudgingly) accept that some people like their steam engines shiny, personally I'm a big fan of a bit of grime...

Hello Brian, here is a recent picture I took for my web site of a bit of my line. You could of course take a peep at my site at....www.amalgamatedconserves.org.uk....where you will see the stock in all of its glory??its dead easy to make your own stuff....you just have to start!

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Very nice Bill.

Old Tom


The Caradoc arrived and so I had to get outside and steam it:
 

 
All ready to go.  I used my 'Hornby Live Steam' distilled water, steam oil and gloves (just in case):
 

 
I had a couple of problems (a quick read of the description on the YouTube vid will tell you what happened) but in the end, all went well:
 

 
Real steam does make a mess of your perfect ballasting, doesn't it?  Coal fired must be even worse!

I too have an Accucraft Caradoc loco. I use Pearse steam oil but i find oil all down the track after a run! Is your loco the same? Its certaintly an oily mess so i run the Caradoc on planks of wood! When i first got the loco, i used to run it on the garage floor and patio with very little steam oil being dumped along the track. Have you found this is the case?

stuartcymro

Old Tom


The Caradoc arrived and so I had to get outside and steam it:



All ready to go.  I used my 'Hornby Live Steam' distilled water, steam oil and gloves (just in case):



I had a couple of problems (a quick read of the description on the YouTube vid will tell you what happened) but in the end, all went well:



Real steam does make a mess of your perfect ballasting, doesn't it?  Coal fired must be even worse!

I too have an Accucraft Caradoc loco. I use Pearse steam oil but i find oil all down the track after a run! Is your loco the same? Its certaintly an oily mess so i run the Caradoc on planks of wood! When i first got the loco, i used to run it on the garage floor and patio with very little steam oil being dumped along the track. Have you found this is the case?

 
I no longer get any oily mess -  I think she just needed running in because now I only need to open the regulator a tad and she runs like a dream.  I use the oil supplied by Chuffed to Bits, so it could be the oil.
Others members on this site have much more experience than me - perhaps they might help with your problem. 

I noticed my Caradoc became a lot messier on the track after fitting a Summerlands chuff pipe. The loco itself was cleaner (not as much oily residue squirting out the chimney) but instead all that oil ended up in the bottom of the smokebox and dripping onto the track.

Bill Reynolds


Hello Old Tom, I dont want to appear rude but you really should have painted the sides of your track before laying your line! I often see this on American lines but it really stands out on your picture. Regarding your new engine, why not paint it in matt polyuathane to tone down the un-real shine? Best of luck with the engine...  

Firstly, great video Tom!
 
The only LGB track I've ever painted Bill is on my indoor layout. My outdoors (LGB) track has weathered to a dull grey over time. A couple of short legths of ART remain a shiny yellow though, so I might tone these rails down. Every layout I've visited has soon lost the bright brassy shine of new track, what ever the make used.
 
The only chap I know who paints his rails outside is Mike (Beevercreek), and it does look really realistic! However, the thought of painting the sides of over 200 ft of track, is not for me....

GlenF


I noticed my Caradoc became a lot messier on the track after fitting a Summerlands chuff pipe. The loco itself was cleaner (not as much oily residue squirting out the chimney) but instead all that oil ended up in the bottom of the smokebox and dripping onto the track.

Glen is right, of course, the oil has to go somewhere -  so it either goes up and sprays over the loco, stock and surroundings, or down on to the track if you fit a Chuffer. The reality is that our steam locos use a lot of oil when compared with the larger model engineering scales (and full size) so there is always some coming out. I just look at the oil on the ballast as weathering.......
Cheers
Chris
Chris