Live steam/R1 curves/slow runners......

[philbiddulph]

Hi all,

In my search for my first live steam loco I was wondering if people can advise on which of the entry level models £500 -£1300 are ok round R1 curves.

....and also which can run at a nice slow speed; our track is as good as level by the way.

Presumably things have moved on little mamods were whizzing round at breakneck speed.

I'm going to plump for manual rather than rc, I'm one for just sitting down watching trains slowly go round.

Thanks

Phil

 

[stevelewis]

Hi Phil
The problem wth sharp curves & L .S .is although many locos will traverse R1 dimensionally the resistance that the curves exert on the loco's wheels means they need more power to do so, therefore once the curve has been traversed the loco will need its regulator closing a bit or it will race off.

Therefore sharp curves and radio control are a better soluton.

THe problem is compounded when the loco is pulling a train as the rolling stock will also have an increased rolling resistance on sharp curves.

An option would be to try to replan the line eliminating R1s but I appreciate this is not always an option

 

[Old Tom]

Steve is dead right.
I'm new to both G Scale and live steam and my little Caradoc (excellent loco that it is) slows down on my R1 curves. R/C is ever so easy to use (and install) and what's more, it's great fun

 

[stevelewis]

The thing is with RC fitted to a LS loco once you are running at a required speed you can simply switch off the TX and watch it run, provided your line has no steep gradients or sharp curves!

Thats what I used to do with mine!!

I have had a couple of manual locos out of the 14 or so I have owned over the years but must admit they were soon sold off!!

 

[New Haven Neil]

I think you need to consider a geared loco - if you really want a steady manual runner on R1 - Regner is the answer!

 

[stevedenver]

a geared loco would be wonderful-but you do need to check -many of the larger accucraft and the aster shay i looked at require much larger curves

there are 2 that meet your criteria easily

the LGB aster Frank S-designed to take R1

and the Roundhouse SRRL 24 with its blind middle driver

neither binds-both can run slowly and neither balks on R1-having 'set' the franks s  -on relatively level track it will manage the curve and not be too fast on the straights-its not that heavy a loco -even with several wagons it runs rather steadily

with some patience you will find a used Franks s -they appear regularly and should be right in your budget

might i also suggest-strongly-

i initially ran my frank s manually-and its fine on the level and its simple-and its a bit of fun, for awhile, while its till new to you

while not pure and simple-as i was originally inclined with live steam, RC is wonderful-why? simply because you can stop when you wish-and you dont have to chase the thing to be 'at hand' in the event of a mishap-can save your loco and rolling stock-and

the time may come when you wish to have a bit of operations to add interest

the RC -particularly on the franks s -is
1 simple to install-you only need one servo (trust me-as i originally installed both direction and throttle- and only use the directional as it also controls speed-as it was designed to do)

2 very inexpensive

3 done in less than an hour-including installing and measuring linkage-


i think, otoh,  if you had a raised, level-large radius live steam dedicated track you could set it and be done with it with relative safety-those r1s are an issue with any speed -even with electrics

 

[Pauly]

Well Iv ran both of my manual RoundHouse Millies on Annieshalts layout which is all R1 curves and they ran faultlessly.
Never lost any speed on the curves.
Millies are great locos, once youv set the speed they will run around by themselves for 40 minutes before running out of gas or water.

 

[yb281]

I think you need to consider a geared loco - if you really want a steady manual runner on R1 - Regner is the answer!

Having a railway which also has a lot of R1's (it's the only way I could fit it in my garden), I'd have to agree with Neil that a Regner geared loco would best suit your needs. I don't have a live steamy, but from experience with visitors to my railway I agree with what was said earlier - that to get them to go around R1's they will have to be throttled back when they reach the straights or they'll take off like a scalded cat. So really, you'll need remote control. However, you can't then "just sit there and watch trains slowly go round" as the loco will have to be "driven" all the time (ie pretty much constant adjustments to the regulator).

The only live steamy that has visited my railway and, having set the regulator for a sensible speed, has just trundled around and around without having to be "driven" was a Regner Willy.

 

[Sea Lion]

Whilst I agree with mostly all that has been said in this thread (and particularly geared locos) there is one more option.

Run a simple manual tank loco that can handle R1's with a long heavy train and the regulator well open, depending on your track layout you could then always have part of the train binding on the sharp curves and thus keep a fairly constant speed.

So, are you sharp curves more than a long train length apart? And can your curves be less in length than a long train?

Happy steamings,

John

 

[stevedenver]

this is absolutely true

 

[philbiddulph]

Thanks for all your help everyone.

I have enforced R1 in parts, but R2/R3 in most places on my lower circuit; my upper circuit is yet to be constructed but can probably be done with R3 and the occasional R2.

Who out there has got a Lawley; £840 for a RC from Trackshack seems reasonable to me.

Phil

 

[CoggesRailway]

Hi Phil,

I have to 2nd sea lion... my first line had lots of r1 and 1:40 gradients.... but I could run my rc lady anne manually (transmitter off) with a heavy train. I paid £1200. As for constant slow running (i agree it looks so much better) you do need RC or a nice level open circuit. However you will get the slow running chuff through your r1s, and a heavy train will stop it arriving at the next bend too quick. I have to say though it takes some fiddling and chasing to make it work.

The fact that I now have a rebuilt line with a minimum r5 says something though! I don't have a huge garden but imagination and a sledgehammer (to go through the garage) made it work.

Ian

 

[Sea Lion]

I suppose to develop Ians and my way of thinking to the n'th degree you could take what started out as a flat railway and introduce some gradients to it, have some of the straights going slightly uphill and some of the curves going slightly downhill, with a lot of fiddling around and experimentation I bet you could acheive constant speed with a manual non-geared lcoo.

That said I'm all in favour more gentle curves if/where possible 4 foot radius/ R3 preferred.

If the line can't be built to balance the speed of a manual loco hauled train then purchase of R/C solves the problem simply, so long as you don't mind "driving" the train on each circuit.

Of course there is another option for manual speed control we have not yet discussed, this is to turn the gas so far down that the loco runs out of steam and stops for a blow up in certain places. You would have to arrange a suitable bit uf uphill track (or tight bend) to stop the loco when low on pressure, after brewing up it would then set off again, you would have to make sure the inevitable downhill bit that followed had a reasonable run out without sharp curves as you could come down this side at a fair rate of knots, this speed would drain the boiler of steam so eventually you could stop on the upgrade or another tight curve befor brewing up again. Build a simple halt/water tower at the stopping point and sit back leaving your trtain to run itslef!

Happy steamings,

John

 

[Midwalesstokie]

I haven't got a Lawley but I have a Superior which is essentially the same wheelbase with a trailing bogie and this won't traverse R1's at all. Even if it did go round, I think the overhang on a Lawley would be a major issue and you'd struggle to keep any wagons it was pulling on the track. Realistically you're looking at a Caradoc / Ragleth from Accucraft.

I've got a Roundhouse Elsa, same wheelbase as a Lady Anne and this will traverse R1's without any difficulty so most of the Roundhouse locos should be ok.

You definitely need radio control though, you couldn't relax with a manual!