Regner Else

[Tropic Blunder]

Hi all, I recently acquired this Regner Else from facebook and it looks to be brand new which is obviously great news for me but its come with no instructions of any kind. I emailed Michael Ragg at Argyle and he said they've never imported one and thus have no documentation on it. has anyone had any experience with these? I'm pretty keen to have a go at steaming it up but at the moment i cant even find a way to get water into it short of pulling the whistle valve out of it or pulling the safety valve off.

thanks
Regner Else by jgptrains, on Flickr
the new arrival

[GTB]

Hi all, I recently acquired this Regner Else from facebook and it looks to be brand new which is obviously great news for me but its come with no instructions of any kind. I emailed Michael Ragg at Argyle and he said they've never imported one and thus have no documentation on it. has anyone had any experience with these? I'm pretty keen to have a go at steaming it up but at the moment i cant even find a way to get water into it short of pulling the whistle valve out of it or pulling the safety valve off.

No direct experience of Regner locos. beyond seeing a friend run his 'Lumberjack'. They have brass boilers, which need more care than copper ones, eg. don't store the loco after a run with water in the boiler.

If you look at the Lumberjack kit page on Michael Ragg's Argyll website, you will find a green 'product sheet' link, which actually downloads the Regner Lumberjack kit instructions in English and this has five pages of running instructions at the back. Including how to use Regner's somewhat idiosyncratic gas filler valve, which does not work the same way as the Ronson valve used by other manufacturers. This should give you a running start. The lumberjack boiler is filled by unscrewing the safety valve, so if there's no obvious filler plug, that is probably how the Else is filled.

Otherwise, Regner's website is here. There's no english version, so the link goes through google translate.

https://translate.google.com.au/transl ... ch&pto=aue

You'll find their email and phone no. by scrolling all the way to the bottom of the home page (it's a long page).......

Where did the loco come from, if Michael hasn't imported any into Oz? If it was imported it from the UK, or the US, the distributor for that country might be able to help. UK is Garden Railways Limited https://www.gardenrailways.co.uk/regne ... steam.html, US is The Train Department https://www.thetraindepartment.com/regner/

Regards,
Graeme

[SimonWood]

I'm pretty keen to have a go at steaming it up but at the moment i cant even find a way to get water into it short of pulling the whistle valve out of it or pulling the safety valve off.

Can't really tell you anything about Else, but to fill my Konrad as it came it was simply a case of unscrewing the safety valve and squirting water directly into the boiler. (I have now fitted a top-up valve.)

[Wattsr24]

My regret Vincent has a Goodall type valve in the cab that you fill with a tube attached to a squeeze bottle.

[Tropic Blunder]

Thanks everyone. I did and some research and as people have noted regner usually only does extremely limited numbers of models with little to no documentation unless its in German! I read the Argyle manual, Filled it with rainwater and managed to get a full boiler of rainwater into it, Filled it with butane and let her rip! Once I figured out that the reason it tried to blow itself up (and me) was that the gas line was loose I managed to get some pressure into it alas I didnt get self sustained movement but I think thats down to me not knowing where the rotary valve has to sit to give me admission to both cylinders. I also inadvertently burnt the paint off the smokebox door while inspecting steam leaks.

More testing required I think... I've ordered a Ronson style filler valve and a goodall valve attachment for the gauge glass from the train department, needless to say i'll have to order some mini spanners from Argyle but I'll get there. Not sure what body ill build to replace the Germanic one once I get it working. The drivers are too large to build a Perry or Barclay style body but I'll figure something out. those red frames will have to go ASAP

Not sure exactly where it came from Graeme I bought it off the chap that owns timbertown.

If anyone in Australia is interested in a pair of home built Edwins that require a fair amount of fettling but appear to be solidly built please get in touch...

[GTB]

Not sure what body ill build to replace the Germanic one once I get it working. The drivers are too large to build a Perry or Barclay style body but I'll figure something out. those red frames will have to go ASAP

I'm no fan of the aesthetics of german locos either, but there were a lot of them around in Australian industrial service, mostly in mining, but also on the cane trams, etc. and in every State.........

I think turning it into something less germanic, is a bit like the Irish saying about 'you can't get there from here'. Maybe just fit it with a more open/tropical cab, paint it dirty/faded black overall and let it trundle around with a string of suitable mine cars.

Graeme

[Chris Cairns]

Else was in the 2009 catalogue, but not the 2011 or later. It was only available as a kit, so German kit instructions plus the generic operating instructions. Cannot find the Else kit instructions, but found the similar Emma kit instructions.

https://web.archive.org/web/20100923044 ... l_emma.pdf

https://web.archive.org/web/20121021050 ... g_2007.pdf

Regner use the dark treacle coloured steam oil. Watch out for the small 'O' ring on the lubricator's drain plug - easily lost. Probably only need 1/4 turn open or less on the lubricator needle for operations. I'd start running in at 1/2 turn open then reducing that setting.

Make sure the gas when lit pops back to the burner, otherwise turn the gas down slightly or fully off & start again. Gas burning in the smoke box is a common error for new Regner owners - I believe the smoke box door opens on the Else so lighting up should be easier (I had lots of problems lighting up my first Regner, a pre-owned Lumber Jack). Do not wipe down a hot loco as the paint used by Regner gets very soft when hot - the exhausted steam oil has stripped all the paint off my Lumber Jack's smoke box door!

You need a 6mm & 8mm spanner, M3 & M2 nut spinners & 1.5mm Allen key.

Chris Cairns

[Old Man Aaron]

Small world; I thought about buying that loco, for an instant - then remembered the backlog of projects already here..

Looking forward to seeing what you do with it.