Garden Railway Forum

Black in combination with stainless steel and brass fittings look great. I really like the charm of this locomotive

And here she is running at the weekend:

I didn't take any photos or video myself so created this little video with what I got from other Kent 16mm NGM members:

Looking good! That Charles is a lovely engine, but looks positively toy-like compared to your loco.

Nice-looking line too, I like the canal boat - I shall enjoy watching the video when I have a little more time...

Cheers,

Andrew.

Lovely shots there, shame there isn't more to show. A great occasion no doubt and plenty of railway locos and stock to keep everyone very happy!

Lovely station and oh for smellavision!

Fantastic shots Tom!

Mitch

She is one smooth running loco Tom…you must be so proud to own her.

A possible end to my condensate issue as described here:

https://gardenrails.org/forum/viewtopic ... 29&t=11264

Stay tuned for updates!


Hint, it's a modifed exhaust tee with a valve so that water can drain under the loco rather than out the chimney and all over the bodywork...

tom_tom_go wrote: ↑Thu Nov 22, 2018 8:29 pm

Stay tuned for updates!

Oooh, you tease!

In position and ready to drain:

Good solution, nicely executed. Keen to see results of steam tests

First run with the modified exhaust and it's a success!

Lovely controllable performance. The only thing we couldn't share was the aroma of coal fired steam!

Do you leave the exhaust valve slightly cracked all the time? Tim

Beautiful and very realistic looking engine!! Its a total shame that he will not ship over to the USA/Canada. I think its time for someone over here to built the same kind of boiler set up for a couple of the Roundhouse chassis an sell them affordably. Most coal fired engines over here seem to be tempermental and for the super well endowed in the wallet to buy. For that matter, since the new Mgmt at Roundhouse is going places never gone before like the double Fairlie, maybe its time for Roundhouse to build something like this in house. Then us Yanks can get a coal fired engine that runs as well as these Riverdale boilered engines do. I would build a coal fired Billy if those boilers were available to me. Keep up the excellent modeling with Smokey Sophie! Mike

Love it Tom....

11thHour wrote: ↑Sun Dec 09, 2018 11:28 pm Do you leave the exhaust valve slightly cracked all the time? Tim

I had in mind to connect the valve to a servo or push rod to adjust it (valve closed when building the fire and then adjusted as the run went along) but I have found I don't need to do this as yet and just leave it open slightly.

Thanks for the comments guys, she is so easy to fire (If I can do it anyone can).

Coal firing at least with a Riverdale boiler is not a dark art...

It's an amazing example of what can be done by a skilled enthusiast at home with commercially available parts. The Roundhouse/Riverdale/SSP combination yeilds an impressive machine, but you deserve a lot of credit for the tasteful execution. Everything is very tidy. I especially like the cab fittings.

I'm curious about the "pop" safety valve you've got. All the ones I've seen make a raspy, impolite sound, but yours is almost silent.