Garden Railway Forum

I was just idly wondering, is there such a thing as a garden railway in, say 3 1/2" gauge or larger without riders, and instead radio controlled?

It's probably a lot of fun to ride behind your little locomotive, but sometimes watching them I feel like the models look really silly with a 1:1 scale old man perched on top of the locomotive tender. Does anyone ever run locomotives like this with no driver and instead install radio controls in them like the little ones? I can't see why you couldn't do it. You could make a jolly good garden railway in this scale and have fun watching the train from your garden chair, and then as the mood strikes you, you could hop on for a ride or not, depending on your mood. Also you wouldn't need to sit on the engine, you could drive the train from a few wagons back, and enjoy the view of the locomotive and some proper scale wagons in front of you.

One of the locos at the Joys of Life Railway is fitted with Radio Control, and I think this might have happened during the lines first life. Unfortuatly the loco in question requires a lot of mechanical work I believe, although it has been converted to 2.4Ghz as a start!

I used to work regularly on a 7 1/4" railway. We had a Radio Controlled loco there. Quite amusing to be sitting at the back of the train with people wonder where the driver was...

You would have to use heavy duty rc gear though wouldn't you?

Shouldn't be a problem as long as the train remains in sight of the operator.

Here's some 1:1 scale R/C. Admittedly only shunting.

http://youtu.be/TIbF2tsbrYE

Coulldn't resist this: Zillertalbahn in Austria 1:1 scale, 2'6" gauge.



Guy on the front bufferbeam is driving. See the transmitter? Note also yellow beacon on roof- when flashing means "moving on radio control".

At Harrogate this year there was a chap that was controlling a riverdale coal fired lady Anne with his phone! He could even control the blower!

Lner fan Sam:83851 wrote:At Harrogate this year there was a chap that was controlling a riverdale coal fired lady Anne with his phone! He could even control the blower!

I'm sure that a gas fired loco can have the gas valve RC'd (which is one thing I would very much like) if that is the case!

I've also seen full size shunter radio controlled diesels with Tranz Rail in New Zealand, and on the Harzer Schmalspurbahnen in Germany.

Regarding controlling gas valves an electronic control was developed by Cheddar Models which adjusted the burner based on the boiler temperature. That was taken over by Stuart Models and of course the price increased significantly - http://www.stuartmodels.com/accessories ... as%20Valve

Alternatively there are gas attenuating valves which are operated by a diaphragm which is connected to the boiler pressure.

Chris Cairns.

Chris Cairns:83856 wrote:I've also seen full size shunter radio controlled diesels with Tranz Rail in New Zealand, and on the Harzer Schmalspurbahnen in Germany.

Regarding controlling gas valves an electronic control was developed by Cheddar Models which adjusted the burner based on the boiler temperature. That was taken over by Stuart Models and of course the price increased significantly - http://www.stuartmodels.com/accessories ... as%20Valve

Alternatively there are gas attenuating valves which are operated by a diaphragm which is connected to the boiler pressure.

Chris Cairns.

It's extremely common here in the US - the technology was pioneered by mines and steel furnaces but has now spread - it's not uncommon to see 18,000 horsepower of remote-controlled mid-train helpers out west.