Advice sought on first live steam engine

[brianwhitehead]

Having installed a 25 m loop of track, with an Accucraft Caledonia, I would like to venture into live steam. I have a couple of questions, on which I would welcome peoples' views.

1. Type of loco

As funds are tight, I see two options: either buy one of the budget steam locos e.g. Accucraft Edrig or Roundhouse Millie; or buy one of Roundhouse's kits for Katie, Lady Anne or Billy. Whereas the latter are more expensive than the former, they do have the advantage that you can buy the different parts for the kit separately, so the upfront cost is likely to be even lower if I go with this option.

I suppose the main issue is whether the more expensive engines are likely to show any real advantages over the cheaper ones. Does anyone have a view on this?

2. Radio control

I think radio control is going to be necessary, as my line does have some quite steep gradients. Is it likely to be cheaper to buy the engines ready-fitted, or to buy them without an get the radio control equipment separately?

Many thanks,

Brian

[pauly]

well Iv managed to fit my Millie with RC
and got it all in the engine instead of a trailing wagon

[laalratty]

It's usually cheaper to buy the radio speratly and fit it yourself, the Roundhouse Kits have a radio fittings kit to make it as easier, though the Accucraft engine also have holes for switches, screws and servos to make fitting radio to them as easy as possible.
As for engine choice, the instructions for the Roundhouse kits are on their website
http://www.roundhouse-eng.com/ click on downloads, if you can understand them without the parts there, then i'd say that is the way to go, you will learn a lot and have the pride of saying that you built that. You can also build in the radio parts, rather then add them later.

[SillyBilly]

Personally I'd get a Roundhouse Bertie rather than a Millie, you get more for your money with a Bertie as it's internally fired, opposed to the pot boiler fitted to the Millie. These locos are however slip-eccentric, so if you want reversing on your Radio Control then you'd probably be best with an Accucraft Edrig, or if you feel compentent enough a Roundhouse kit, these both have a reverser in the cab.

I've hered that fitting 2.4ghz R/C is rather easy, again it's down to how much you know about these sort of things, I don't, so I'll leave it for others.

[pauly]

Personally I'd get a Roundhouse Bertie rather than a Millie, you get more for your money with a Bertie as it's internally fired, opposed to the pot boiler fitted to the Millie. These locos are however slip-eccentric, so if you want reversing on your Radio Control then you'd probably be best with an Accucraft Edrig, or if you feel compentent enough a Roundhouse kit, these both have a reverser in the cab.

I've hered that fitting 2.4ghz R/C is rather easy, again it's down to how much you know about these sort of things, I don't, so I'll leave it for others.

yes but pot boilers gas burners are virtually silent unlike noisy internally fired boilers

[MuzTrem]

Well, I own a radio-controlled Roundhouse Rusell, and have borrowed a friend's manually-controlled Millie a couple of times. I have found that the Millie goes just as well as the Russell, has a longer running time, and the external firing has never proved a problem. Also, the Millie's home line also has some steep grades but controlling her has never been a problem (though admittedly the curves on that line are very gentle).

I would advise against against kit-building an engine unless you have some experience of model engineering and feel confident that you are capable of it. I am quite sure that I would make a mess of building an engine if I tried it, and with fairly substantial sums of cash invovled that's something you don't want to do! Also, doubtless such a project would take time; if you actively enjoy building engines then fine, but if your main interest is in running them it's better to get something running quickly or you may find yourself losing interest. And once you've built your model you have to paint it, which is a challenge in itself...for a first engine I really would recommend a factory-built loco.

I don't know how difficult fitting R/C is but I really don't think you'd save very much by doing it yourself; quicker and easier just to have it fitted at the factory.

[Chris]

Personally I'd get a Roundhouse Bertie rather than a Millie, you get more for your money with a Bertie as it's internally fired, opposed to the pot boiler fitted to the Millie. These locos are however slip-eccentric, so if you want reversing on your Radio Control then you'd probably be best with an Accucraft Edrig, or if you feel compentent enough a Roundhouse kit, these both have a reverser in the cab.

I've hered that fitting 2.4ghz R/C is rather easy, again it's down to how much you know about these sort of things, I don't, so I'll leave it for others.

yes but pot boilers gas burners are virtually silent unlike noisy internally fired boilers  ;)

My Bertie is fairly quiet with the gas turned down low, which is generally all that is needed anyway