Live Steam Beginner

[Winsley]

I have just purchased my first Roundhouse loco, (Lady Anne) and am seeking some advice from the collective knowledge out there...

I have had my first loco, an Accucraft Mortimer, for two years which only has a R/C regulator - nice & simple. The Lady Anne has R/C regulator and R/C reverser.

Now, my questions are:

1. The regulator also has a toggle switch on the r/c which allows it to be set fully open or fully off. Why do I need this?

2. The reverser has to be kept pushed in forwards or reverse all the time whilst driving. There is another toggle switch on the r/c which has no function. Shall I set this (I don't know how, but it must be possible) to be either forwards or reverse to avoid holding the reverser all the time?

3. I seem to recall at the back of my mind reading some time ago that some folk leave the regulator slightly open and just drive off the reverser? Do I recall this correctly? I haven't yet managed to do this with smooth acceleration

Any thoughts on this would be much appreciated.

 

[PhilP]

I do not have any experience of 'driving' a live-steam loco, but do of the RC gear.. YMMV!

1. Probably, just the way the RC equipment happens to be?

2. (see 3, as well!) Some live-steam loco's use the regulator as a 'top-speed' setting, and then 'drive' the loco on the reverser.. - If your loco is brand-new, it may just be it needs a little 'running-in' to ease things a little??

3. Yes.. There is probably a 'knack' to getting it right.


4. I am sure someone more knowledgeable will be along in a minute..

 

[PhilP]

Another thought..
If you look at the receiver on the loco.. There will probably be two black three-wire plugs, one to each servo?

If you were to swap these over, the reverser would then be on a stick which 'stayed-put', and the regulator would be on a sprung 'centre-off' stick. - Though you will have to fiddle with the trim controls, to make this work for you.

 

[Neil Robinson]

With full size and, presumably many model locos with accurately modeled valve gear it's often considered good practice to drive with the regulator wide open and the reverser as near mid gear as possible.
However Roundhouse used (and presumably still do) their modified valve gear. With my Lady Anne I find this means running with the reverser in full forward or reverse and controlling the loco with the regulator. The reverser stick on the R/C is sprung to center which stops the loco if you let go of the transmitter.

 

[G-force1]

There doesn't seem to be any 'convention' on how loco R/C is set up, unlike for boats and aircraft. I have several and as it happens they are all set up the same and that is my preferred set up. The reverser (right stick) is sprung to centre and the regulator (left stick) stays where it's put.

As you say, you need to hold the reverser where you want it and once you're rolling and set the regulator you can return the reverser partially towards centre to save steam (notching up). Not all types of valve gear will respond well to this but you will soon see which do or don't. For those that don't, just keep the stick full (either way).

Sometimes if you remove the back from the Tx you can remove the centreing springs, but usually that leaves the stick a bit too floppy. The regulator stick usually has a light friction device on it which isn't on the other one.

I haven't come across a Tx with a toggle switch specifically on any stick. Which make/model is it?

 

[maxi-model]

Lady Anne uses slide valves unlike the Accucraft loco you had previously that would have had piston valves. My first live steamer, 11 years ago, was a Lady Anne. Factory fitted R/C was with two servos, one on the regulator, one on the reverser. Both were proportional operation and the skill was balancing the regulator with the reverser to give a near "prototypical" performance. Nowadays devices like a "Slo-Mo" are used to make things a bit easier in that department. Despite the term "Walchearts" being applied to the Lady Anne's valve gear it cannot really be "notched" on the reverser - it is driven on the regulator. There are no fixed/latched "wide open/full on" settings on any TX I have - that would probably be highly undesirable when trying to control any live steam loco.

My second loco was an Accucraft Lyn that has the same piston valve set up as your old Mortimer, unlike the Lady Anne's slide valves - It was factory supplied 12 years ago with just the one servo operating on the reverser. "Why just one servo ?", I asked the supplier as I was used to the two on my live steam introduction the Lady Anne. I was told as the loco has the piston type valve arrangement, rather than the slide valve on the Lady Anne, it can be controlled by the movement of the reverser alone with the regulator left cracked open 1/8-1/4 of a turn.

A lot of people didn't like this arrangement and added or specified a control for the regulator for these piston valve operated locos, even though they were not really necessary - you bring the loco to a stop by simply allowing the reverser to slip back to "neutral". You've come at the live steam world from the other direction hence your possible bemusement when presented with a Lady Anne. I hope this helps. Max

 

[Paul M]

You can get ratchets to fit the control levers on some RC controllers, or an elastic band can surfice

 

[artfull dodger]

Some of the more recent radios that Roundhouse is supplying, can be programed in the internal menu(does yours have a digital read out screen in the middle?). A friend got a Lilla and he changed the valve gear control from the lever that you had to hold all the time, to one of the toggle switches, so you just flip it one way or the other depending on what direction you want to go. Roundhouse uses semi Walschaerts valve gear as in there is no lap or lead in the motion which is how you "notch" up valve year. My Aster Swiss Eb 3/5 has full Walschearts and can be notched up if I want to.

 

[MRail]

I have just purchased my first Roundhouse loco, (Lady Anne)

Any thoughts on this would be much appreciated.

Sadly, most RC sets supplied with Steam locos are initially designed for aircraft control.
There are a lot of settings not needed for a loco. Helicopters increase the confusion.

We only need regulator, reverser and, occasionally whistle. Rarely, a gas valve may be RC.

Roundhouse reversers are not designed for controlling speed.
They need to be set in full gear, and the loco speed is controlled by the regulator (throttle).
The normal Roundhouse set-up is with the reverser on the right stick, needing to be held in gear & springing back to neutral when released.

Accucraft generic locos have a piston valve reverser, which can be graduated to control speed, as well as direction.
Thus, they are often controlled on a single channel, the throttle being opened manually and left in position.
Yes, I do have both.

 

[dunnyrail]

I have modified my Roundhouse Locomotives to use Peter Spoerer (now Fosworks) Omni TX 3-0 with a new receiver (Rx). Easy enough to fit. I arranged the Servos so that they operte on the other Knob rather than a Button thus meaning that once set over full direction is sorted and the other Knob is used as the Regulator. It surprises me that Roundhouse have never adopted such a system as it is so much better than the klunky Aircraft/Boat/Racing Car systems that they have always supplied with their superb locomotives. Both of mine have also been fitted with a SloMo which really transforms the running. A Lady Ann SloMo is available now. Links to both Websites for you.

Fosworks Product List

S.S.P.

 

[G-force1]

Some of the more recent radios that Roundhouse is supplying, can be programed in the internal menu(does yours have a digital read out screen in the middle?). A friend got a Lilla and he changed the valve gear control from the lever that you had to hold all the time, to one of the toggle switches, so you just flip it one way or the other depending on what direction you want to go. Roundhouse uses semi Walschaerts valve gear as in there is no lap or lead in the motion which is how you "notch" up valve year. My Aster Swiss Eb 3/5 has full Walschearts and can be notched up if I want to.

The only minor problem with that system is that you've got no mid-gear. Steam locos are traditionally returned to mid-gear (like putting your car in neutral) when stationary to stop the possibility of run-away.

I note that Winsley hasn't returned to reply to his thread, have we frightened him off?

 

[MRail]

I have modified my Roundhouse Locomotives to use Peter Spoerer (now Fosworks) Omni TX 3-0 with a new receiver (Rx).

SNAP!!!
Actually I've gone down the alternative route with the Timpdon GigaRad system, also now supplied by Fosworks.
Having tried both, I preferred Timpdon.
I'm not saying it's better, just that it suited me.
I now have a couple of Omni sets in store.

Also converted my Accucraft locos to Timpdon and use 2 channels as Roundhouse.