Garden Railway Forum

Thanks for the comments fella's.
Simon, glad you like the Lumberjack, that poor thing has been run into the ground.
To date it's had three complete new machined axles (luckily just 4mm stainless rod machined to length) one replaced set of crankshaft bushes, then they were replaced with ball races. Then it's been re-geared with beefier Meccano gears, as I wore all the teeth off the supplied ones. Don't think they were built for long mileage.
But all said and done, being a geared loco ( 1:63 to 1 as apposed to 2:1) it still potters around the layout without a care, and at a steady pace.
Grant.

What kind of mileage has it done? I've got a couple of Regners, and really enjoy how slow and steady they run. But I can't say they've clocked up that many miles in total, not that I've been keeping track too closely, and so far axles, bushes and gears have all held up (touch wood!)

SimonWood wrote: Fri Oct 09, 2026 9:10 am What kind of mileage has it done?

can't quote mileage probably many hours though, and often loaded up. Because it is so reliable it's often left running around while I'm tending something else on the railway, every so often I think "oh where's the lumberjack got to" and it pops out from behind the trees or out of the tunnel. The gears never impressed me, they seemed to have very little tooth contact being so thin and half my layout is at ground level and the teeth just wore off, despite regular cleaning.
Grant.

LNR wrote: Fri Oct 09, 2026 10:07 am Because it is so reliable it's often left running around while I'm tending something else on the railway, every so often I think "oh where's the lumberjack got to" and it pops out from behind the trees or out of the tunnel.

This is one of my favourite ways to enjoy the railway - pottering around doing some weeding or whatever, and every now and then looking up and seeing 'oh, there's a train' (often my Mk1 Millie whose externally fired boiler is big enough for a 40-50 minute run).

SimonWood wrote: Fri Oct 09, 2026 11:31 am This is one of my favourite ways to enjoy the railway

Totally agree Simon.
Grant.