Allow me to introduce myself if I may….

Hello, my name is Jason & I live in the West Midlands in the UK. I have been interested in garden railways for a while now & have come across this website on numerous occasions when doing a google search of typical questions a newbie might ask. My main interest lies with live steam locomotives & I have already posted my first video of my Regner Heisler, which I assembled from a kit, see here:


My passion for model live steam locos developed from my enthusiasm for toy/model steam engines in any guise, be it stationary or in mobile form. I started off many years ago as a youngster with a Mamod traction engine. This was eventually followed by the now classic Mamod RS1 starter set, which I suppose was my first foray into garden railways. Although having grown up in a flat & having no garden, meant Sunday afternoons laying out the oval of track on the dining room carpet & running the loco round the track, filling the room with the awful smell of those pesky fuel tablets. Until one day when the loco derailed, spilling fuel out of the burner setting the carpet on fire.

Fast forward thirty or so years & with the advent of the internet, we now have worldwide retailers online, eBay, etc. etc, which has rekindled my interest for live steam & this has branched out into garden railways. I don’t have a permanent track as such, but rather a couple of loops of track which I lay out on the patio throughout the summer months to allow me to run a few trains. I have just completed a rake of ten Binnie skip wagons which were great fun to build, as well as four scratch built flatbed wagons, using some unidentified white metal end castings which I picked up cheaply at one of the garden rail shows. My latest project is building the Regner Paul Tram, so any hints & tips from any fellow members who have built the kit would be very welcome. I have heard the cylinder springs can weaken with heat damage over time ?

Well that’s my introduction, I am very much looking forward to being an active member & part of the community, engaging in various discussions with fellow members of the forum. Some of you UK members I may have already spoken to unknowingly at the a the Midlands, or National Garden Rail shows.

Jason.
 
What a great start, it looks like you have all the good stuff covered. Ignore the doom-sayers, our humour is perfectly normal. :wasntme:
There is a vast amount of knowledge and experience here which is gladly supplied by everyone but be warned: ask 10 people the same question, get 10 different answers.
My Mamod was meths fired so mum banished us to the street, my traction engine worked okay but the road roller of my brother stopped at the first piece of gravel. The road was gravel covered.
Enjoy yourself!
 
Welcome to the Forum, Jason..

Perhaps already met you at one of the shows?
There is another, tied-in with the Welshpool and Llanfair Railway gala, at the end of the month.
The Garden Railway show is 'up the hill' at the Llanfair end of the line, but on the Saturday only.

PhilP.
 
Welcome to the forum Jason, lots of good advice to be had, but beware of the 'dodgy' humour, last point, we love photos, lots of photos of any progress, and finished articles - enjoy :)
 
Welcome to the Forum, Jason..

Perhaps already met you at one of the shows?
There is another, tied-in with the Welshpool and Llanfair Railway gala, at the end of the month.
The Garden Railway show is 'up the hill' at the Llanfair end of the line, but on the Saturday only.

PhilP.
Hello Phil, yes on a couple of occasions I believe. Up the A45 at the village hall/scout hut one time & perhaps at one of the shows. I have purchased a few items from RC trains, including my trusty Tx24 transmitter which has been great for my R/C enabled Regner Heisler & Frieda. Now I just need to buy another ten live steamers to fill the rest of the channels ! :rofl:
 
Welcome to the forum Jason, lots of good advice to be had, but beware of the 'dodgy' humour, last point, we love photos, lots of photos of any progress, and finished articles - enjoy :)
Thank you Jimmy. I shall be aware of the dodgy humour !
I shall try & post up a few photos, I ran the Regner Frieda today so will try & get a video posted up over the weekend.
 
Welcome aboard Jason! Plenty of brains to pick on here, oh yes photos, (we're really very nosey :D) especially if you have a problem, they can really help.
You enjoy yourself at the eclectic end of railway modelling, you'll find it a pretty broad church.
Both Northsider Northsider and I help man the Isle of Man 15mm group stand at the National/Stoneleigh.
Cheers Pete
 
Hello, West midlander myself but escaped to the hills ! well the Wrekin and near by, its a right round way to get here ! Started the same way with a Mammod that my dad bought but he lost interest in it quite soon so i took over ! now a battery logo chap now as just want to switch on a go !
 
Hello, West midlander myself but escaped to the hills ! well the Wrekin and near by, its a right round way to get here ! Started the same way with a Mammod that my dad bought but he lost interest in it quite soon so i took over ! now a battery logo chap now as just want to switch on a go !
Hello Dicky, that sounds idyllic…

It would be good to see what is available battery loco wise. I like the idea of having a ‘switch on & go loco’ running around in the background while I can focus on a live steamer. My other track powered loco (an LGB Fieldbahn) seems to struggle with picking up power from the track & requires a gentle nudge now & again.
 
Welcome Jason. National and Midland shows are my usual haunts too. Doing live steam and battery here in North Bucks. This forum has a lot of helpful and very (in-) patient members. I have benefitted loads over the years here and in its former guise, G Scale Mad. You will find over time you will be giving as much as you get. I have not got a live steam Heisler but I have a Shay and Climax. I do like my US logging stuff. Max
 
Welcome from East Anglia, a seething hotbed of model railways - they are all over the place!

I recall that the 16mm Association magazine is currently 'building' the Regner tram loco. Have you joined up yet? Every one of the back issues is now on the webpage for members to use at their leisure.
 
Hello Dicky, that sounds idyllic…

It would be good to see what is available battery loco wise. I like the idea of having a ‘switch on & go loco’ running around in the background while I can focus on a live steamer. My other track powered loco (an LGB Fieldbahn) seems to struggle with picking up power from the track & requires a gentle nudge now & again.
Just back from spending 3 days in central Brumshire looking after the father in law, the crowds, cars and buzz does my nutt even though i was born there and take a breath of relief when i hit the M54 after the M6. always like the idea of converting a mamod to battery just for fun but sticking to swiss outline nowadays..

Sounds like you need to check out ge_rik ge_rik posts and blogs and also PhilP PhilP for the kit
 
Hello Dicky, that sounds idyllic…

It would be good to see what is available battery loco wise. I like the idea of having a ‘switch on & go loco’ running around in the background while I can focus on a live steamer. My other track powered loco (an LGB Fieldbahn) seems to struggle with picking up power from the track & requires a gentle nudge now & again.
At your early stage of development battery would certainly be the way to go. Feldbahn could be a bit of a tricky customer but not impossible if you would be happy to have a coupled battery wagon all the time. A good produced battery wagon would be able to be used on other locomotives so well worth it though not to my personal liming.

Have you seen the Batter section of the forum? Lots of conversions to get your teeth into. I have written about a few of my conversions. As for what is available, many of the manufacturers of kits supply suitable parts but for ready to run at a price Roundhouse takes some beating.
 
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