2nd Merlin arrives on the railway today

[artfull dodger]

Having found the RH Argyll a bit to large on my tight curves, he was sold on to another railway and an order placed with Anything Narrow Gauge for a Merlin Major that was in his shops getting repaired and made ready for resale. This is the bigger brother to the Mayflower I already have. He is also a later model with working valve gear instead of fixed, working whistle and brand new 2.4ghz RC fitted. He is also been detailed with many brass castings and name/number plates and lamp irons. I am well chuffed to say the least. Mike

[Killian Keane]

Does she carry a builders plate with the works number?

[markoteal]

Great looking loco!

[artfull dodger]

Nope. Builders plates are gone. Just the custom name and number plates

[Killian Keane]

A very fine loco indeed, but ultimately outlasted by roundhouse with their lady anne, just goes to show the better loco dosen't always win outright

[Keith S]

It 's a fine loco to be sure, but what makes it "better" than the lady Anne? I don't know much about them I should say.

[Big Jim]

Oooh the early R/H vs. Merlin debate.....

For what its worth.
IMHO, Merlin at the time were building more complex and detailed locos that offered more bang for your buck. RC and internal firing for example and bodies that were slightly more robust than the then RH offerings in tinplate.

However

RH were catching up fast and while Merlin may have heard of good customer service at all times, they didn't necessarily believe in it.

[Killian Keane]

It 's a fine loco to be sure, but what makes it "better" than the lady Anne? I don't know much about them I should say.

Its a matter of taste of course, but heres my two cents:
The major had full valve gear and gas firing before the lady anne
The majors had r/c as standard, and I'm not sure if any roundhouse engine to date has had that
I personally prefer the look of the major to the lady anne (at that time anyway)
Not a down point really, but I'll mention it, the lady anne was originally an 0-4-0
Its rather like bringing up oasis vs blur!  :lol:

[artfull dodger]

I like the Lady Anne as well, but remember, choices for second hand UK style live steam in the states is very limited. Even a used Lady Anne goes for more than this Major cost me, and that includes Simon going completely thru the Major to fix any and all steam leaks, restore the whistle to operation and fit brand new Flysky 2.4ghz RC and even the shipping to the states! I also wanted to maintain the "family" look of my 3 engines, all have the "D" style smoke box. I did find an oval Merlin loco works plate on the cab rear wall, but the area for the serial number is blank. I ran both Merlins last night on my indoor overhead loop for a friend, was the first running of the Major. After a half hour battle to free up a stuck center drive wheel so I could regauge to 45mm, she ran flawlessly. I also enjoy being different, since I am an odd duck anyways. One thing not seen very often at a USA steam up, is a Merlin of any kind. Would l like to have a Lady Anne, sure, but the high cost of them precludes that for awhile. Even a brand new kit is more that Major cost me in total. So, the more "bang for the buck" came into play. Now I need to track down the extra "details" that my Major has installed and put them on Mayflower. I was showing my friend how the extra details take a plain jane model, and really transforms it into something really special. He is looking at a Accucraft Ragleth right now, but would love a Mayflower/Major if someone has one to offer. He already tried to get me to sell one of mine. LOL! Mike

[Keith S]

Aha, some interesting points there lads. I also like the "chunky" look of the Major, with its built-up smokebox. They are nice generic-looking little engines. I didn't know there was a debate!

I prefer manual-controlled engines at this point (I will concede I had a chance to play with an R/C one last time I was in England and enjoyed it greatly however) and I gather the Merlins are built pretty much only to be radio controlled, they lose a point or two for that. But some Roundhouse engines are that way too.

Anyway, nice engine!

[artfull dodger]

Yes Merlins, atleast these two models were RC only, no provision for manual control. That being said, once I have my speed set, I can switch off the transmitter and they will hold that speed till I switch my controller back on. Mike

[Killian Keane]

Has someone deleted a number of posts from this thread ??

Are you thinking of the merlin loco picture thread perhaps?

[artfull dodger]

Anybody know how to roughly date when my Major was built? Was it after Wendy Davies took over management of Merlin that the working Walscherts valve gear came along? It is strange, the single works plate on the back of my Major's cab is blank where a number would have been engraved/stamped. It is the oval brass plate like my Mayflower had, just no works number on it, Factory sample maybe, show display model? who knows? I have read in an old story it was Merlin's answer back to Roundhouse when they upgraded Lady Anne to its current style of valve gear. Wonder if being tied exclusively to RC control was an Ian Pearse idea, since the later Pearse locos were almost the same way, all RC only. I see many features in the old Merlins that I would love to see Roundhouse feature in thier Classic series, the RC whistle being one of them, the "D" smokebox would really change the look of Lady Anne and Katie. But for those who loved the looks of the Merlin line, Accucraft UK is probably the best bet to see them again. Maybe the next generic engine from Ian should be a reborn Mayflower or Major with the quality control that Accucraft has managed to learn, for the most part. Time for them to move away from inside valve gear and maybe readopt the early Merlin fixed outside valve gear that resembled Walschaerts but still used the reversing valve and come with factory RC. Call them the Merlin Heritage Series! Hey, one can dream! RH makes a great product with quality control and parts/customer support that is second to none. If Merlin had found this balance much earlier on, they might be here today, making engines in short batches like RH does. Mike