Garden Railway Forum

I am proud to say that I'm now the owner of a Roundhouse Dylan, considering she hadn't run for well over 10 years before today everything went well and I'll admit that it was exciting to see her for the first time and watch her gently come back to life after a long time hibernating. I was running on a railway which has quite a few gradients which kept me on my toes through the day, either opening the regulator to keep going or shutting it to avoid breaking Mallard's record! I should be running her tomorrow as well and I'll endeavour to take my proper camera with me instead of using my phone. She's had some modifications through her life, being converted to gas firing then back to meths, resprayed into the rather fetching blue she carries, RC fitted & removed, a water filler valve, draincocks & new couplings fitted, and her meths tank has been modified, I don't intend on making any significant changes to her myself although the 'coal' load she's got will be consigned to the bin at some point!

Out in the sun for the first time in years, already warm from a test run indoors on blocks.


I decided to see what she's like in reverse, here Dylan's waiting for the section to be cleared



I ran Dylan for a bit without her tender, I should have checked if the dumb buffers were straight when taking photos!



Out of meths but reunited with her tender, just before rain thoroughly stopped play for the day


The only jobs she needs doing are reattaching the nameplate & worksplate on the other side & the cab roof needs a new bracket as it has an annoying tendency to move about or fall off at the moment.

That'll be a nice winter loco - no problem with the meths freezing up (unlike gas............)

Very nice purchase, would look good with a bit of lining and some paint in a couple of places but if it runs as well as other Dylan's of similar vintage then you've got a cracking little loco!

MDLR:103481 wrote:That'll be a nice winter loco - no problem with the meths freezing up (unlike gas............)

Assuming I don't drink the meths before Dylan gets a chance!

laalratty:103482 wrote:Very nice purchase, would look good with a bit of lining and some paint in a couple of places but if it runs as well as other Dylan's of similar vintage then you've got a cracking little loco!

I've been told it's Darjeeling blue which give rise to a number of possibilities regarding lining & other embellishments!

Half-inch cylinders with proper crossheads, so it is probably 30 years old.

A true heritage loco, and working well by the looks of things

I do like the look of Dylan! Lovely loco you've got yourself!

There is a chance that it has a brass boiler. Some had copper, some had brass, so worth checking - perhaps by scratching the underside and checking the metal colour.

If it does have a brass boiler it is a good idea not to leave any water in it while it is not in use. The water leaches the zinc out of the brass and eventually the boiler will start leaking.

Very nice! Think I prefer it "as built", without the tender though?

Enjoy your new toy, looking forward to more photos - isn't it going to look fantastic on your red and cream carriages?

Cheers,

Andrew.

Nice looking loco and apparently none the worse for its hibernation. And a meths burner to boot!

I think Dylan is one of the nicest looking of roundhouse's basic locos, nicer than a lady Ann IMHO.

TonyW:103484 wrote:Half-inch cylinders with proper crossheads, so it is probably 30 years old.

There is a chance that it has a brass boiler. Some had copper, some had brass, so worth checking - perhaps by scratching the underside and checking the metal colour.

If it does have a brass boiler it is a good idea not to leave any water in it while it is not in use. The water leaches the zinc out of the brass and eventually the boiler will start leaking.

Sadly there is no serial No. so I'll never know how old exactly but 30 sounds good to me!
Thanks for pointing that out Tony, I've had a scrape around and she does appear to have a copper boiler, doesn't make much difference to me as I tend to empty my boilers although there is still some in Dylan's boiler as the day ended pretty rapidly

kandnwlr:103488 wrote:A true heritage loco, and working well by the looks of things  :D

Ummmmmmm, on the home straight of her last lap today she derailed leaving her at a jaunty angle on the track so when I picked her up to prevent me starting a fire I noticed rods dangling, she's shed a crankpin which threw her off the track. No damage has been done as far as I can tell and I've been assured that the current crankpins will fit so a pack are heading my way. I've lost 2 this year so I probably need some spares!

In fine fettle


About 2 hours later

Mr. Bond of the DVLR:103489 wrote:I do like the look of Dylan! Lovely loco you've got yourself!

Thanks, the blue is a nice shade, although I'm not sure I'll paint the cab roof white!

Andrew:103499 wrote:Very nice! Think I prefer it "as built", without the tender though?

Enjoy your new toy, looking forward to more photos - isn't it going to look fantastic on your red and cream carriages?

Cheers,

Andrew.

The tender is something I'm in two minds about if I'm honest, it reminds me of the Penrhyn ladies on the Festiniog but when running without it she looks more 'typically' narrow gauge. And she does look good with my coaches. Apart from aforementioned minor disaster she's running well and I'm getting better at running her.

Getting her home today has allowed me to carry out most of the work I wanted to do, I've tweaked the cab rear fittings meaning the cab rear is less likely to shift when Dylan's on the move. I've also taken the opportunity to tighten the screws on the dumb buffers so once I've got my new crankpins and made a new cab roof bracket that'll be the major jobs done.

The 'golden spike' moment between Dylan & Minnie, this is probably the only time they'll be seen together as I doubt both will be in steam together any time soon.

Big Jim:103514 wrote:Nice looking loco and apparently none the worse for its hibernation. And a meths burner to boot!

I think Dylan is one of the nicest looking of roundhouse's basic locos, nicer than a lady Ann IMHO.

You can't beat the smell of burning meths and steam oil. I'm not sure about better looking as such but I like the look of the earlier Dylans & a they're more interesting looking than a Lady Anne for sure.

Having seen the boiler backhead, had you considered changing the upper level plug for a right-angled globe valve and blowdown pipe? You could vacuum fill and blow the excess out as she warms up, a la Accucraft!

Before I saw her that was something I was thinking of, allowing a drain & vacuum filling but for now I'm happy with the current arrangement of filling & emptying via the safety valve & using the filler when in steam.