Possible Foray Into Live Steam

Madman

Madman

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Every once in a great while I get the urge to try a live steam loco. That urge hit me this morning. My first thought was Mamod. I wonder if that's a good place to start. My railway does have some grades. It would also be difficult to operate a locomotive without some sort of remote control device as part of the right of way is not easily accessible.

Ant thoughts, pro or con would be welcomed.
 
just sold my Mamod or to be exact Mss loco on fleabay, was sitting gathering dust for 10 years and in realty was a pile of poop ! had fitted a Gas burner to it but could never regulate the super quick 100mph or no speed on any kind of gradiant....

(Only my opinion but) Get a steam loco if you really realy realy like "tinkering" or just get a nice electric steam loco with a pretend smoker and good sound card, maybe big battery conversion for RC a have fun and sit back and watch it go around ! I also have a lovely Wilsco Stationary engine and I plan to put this into a "forest" sawmill setting and will fire that up when I want some reality and paraffin fumes in the garden.. lol
 
Regardless of the opposing POV, there ARE some steam locos that, by their very design, actually DO go slowly enough for easy control. Locomotives include any of the Regner 'Jack' series locos and 'Challoner' - an unusual De Winton-style loco of great charm as well as huge power, and, of course ANY Shay two or three cylinder, from Accucraft. Even the prototypes were flat out at 8 -10 mph.

I'd leave MMS well alone if it is any kind of remote control that you are considering - a gas conversion CAN slow things down somewhat, but not a lot, and by the time you have added up all the upgrades to make it as driveable as a Roundhouse Billy, you may as well have bought a roundhouse Billy in the fust place.

Many here will advise you, and that includes me, that your best bet is to find a suitable Roundhouse model and add r/c to it. THEN you'll have the fine control, and a loco that will last you decades.

To start off, keep it a simple as you can. Remember that even buying secondhand is going to be a fair chunk of change.
 
Hi Dan. I would agree with some of the above comments. Avoid Mamod / MMS direct drive type locos if you have gradients. On a level line they can run nicely when r/c is fitted, which was from memory not too hard to do myself. Mamod geared locos do work OK on gentle gradients. Mamod are cutting back on their range at the moment as they are moving factory premises shortly I think. Regner geared locos handle gradients well, and are available with R/C, mine runs like a sewing machine (most of the time). Going up in cost Accucraft and Roundhouse locos are very nice, and with R/C should cope with gradients, but will need driving more than a geared loco. Marc Horovitz of Sidestreet Bannerworks is good if you are near him and would probably be able to sort you out, (other sellers are available, as they say). He is the only person in USA, (I am in UK), that I have any dealings with, as one of my locos came to me via him. I certainly enjoy running live steam locos, and have built some as well. They will need a bit more preparing, running, and cleaning, than a track powered loco, but in my opinion much more fun. I hope that helps. Happy to answer any further question you may have, about steam in general, or specific locos if/when you get to that stage. Do feel free to PM me if you wish. David (rdfmts2).
 
As a starter loco i would recommend the Accucraft "ruby".

ACCUCRAFT TRAINS

www.accucraft.com
Available in a kit as well as ready to run.
I have one which is radio control using this and found it easy to run and also a good learning loco.

www.RC-Steamers.com

RC-Steamers.com - Innovators in Remote Control Devices for the Live Steam Hobby. Performance-Proven Products For The Radio Control Live Steam Hobbyist. © COPYRIGHT 2005, All Rights Reserved.
www.rc-steamers.com
I would like have more live steam but cost is what is holding me back.
 
All of the above. Obviously start small and build up. And if there's anyone local to you, have a look at what they have got, and if you're lucky, try some out. The main drawback of live steam is that it's quite addictive!
 
Without doubt for a beginner a geared locomotive is the way to go. Iooks like as said Mamod is out of the question just now, but if they all come back a Brunel would be a good choice as it is a geared loco. They at one stage were doing a Steam Tram, not sure if that was a geared option as well, if it was then that would also be a good bet. Roundhouse always worth having even second hand but be sure to see any second hand loco in steam and insist you have a drive as well to see if it is a goer.
 
dunnyrail said:
Without doubt for a beginner a geared locomotive is the way to go. Iooks like as said Mamod is out of the question just now, but if they all come back a Brunel would be a good choice as it is a geared loco. They at one stage were doing a Steam Tram, not sure if that was a geared option as well, if it was then that would also be a good bet. Roundhouse always worth having even second hand but be sure to see any second hand loco in steam and insist you have a drive as well to see if it is a goer.
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Given that the OP is in the US of A that might present a real problem. All the more reason for him to find a group of like-minded peeps stateside.
 
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For the OP - this is an older movie showing my Accucraft three-cylinder Shay in action on a friend's track near Leicester a few years back. At one time we had fifty-eight wagons in tow - these things are powerful. And s...l...o...w................................................

So only one channel r/c is needed - for the direction. Because it uses a directional steam valve block, with a single piston moving back and forth opening or closing one or other of the steam ports, you can actually 'feather' the position of the valve within its throw to control how much steam actually gets through - ie. the speed. Simples.

 
Thanks for all your replies. I'm still in the research stage. While viewing some videos of Roundhouse locos. I was trying to get an idea of the wheel flange size. My concern would be tracking. In particular, through turnouts. Are the wheel flanges the same size as LGB wheel flanges ?

Some videos I have seen show these locos running on less than perfect track. They seem to negotiate it okay. Any thoughts ?
 
Madman said:
Thanks for all your replies. I'm still in the research stage. While viewing some videos of Roundhouse locos. I was trying to get an idea of the wheel flange size. My concern would be tracking. In particular, through turnouts. Are the wheel flanges the same size as LGB wheel flanges ?

Some videos I have seen show these locos running on less than perfect track. They seem to negotiate it okay. Any thoughts ?
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Roundhouse locomotives run perfectly well on LGB track.

I did in the past have a couple of Merlin locomotives they were a problem on LGB track as the wheels were set to Gauge 1 fine back to back.
 
Madman said:
Thanks for all your replies. I'm still in the research stage. While viewing some videos of Roundhouse locos. I was trying to get an idea of the wheel flange size. My concern would be tracking. In particular, through turnouts. Are the wheel flanges the same size as LGB wheel flanges ?

Some videos I have seen show these locos running on less than perfect track. They seem to negotiate it okay. Any thoughts ?
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I have a RH Fowler, and generally behaves quite well, but like a lot of locos there is the odd point (turnout) that it doesn't like, in this case it is a Piko R5, other than that it runs fine, as long as I ease the regulator for any curves.
 
JimmyB said:
I have a RH Fowler, and generally behaves quite well, but like a lot of locos there is the odd point (turnout) that it doesn't like, in this case it is a Piko R5, other than that it runs fine, as long as I ease the regulator for any curves.
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As any good driver should
 
My line has gradients ;) Accucraft Shay and Climax types can generally be run without RC control in these conditions. I have their 3 cylinder model and the #4 Climax. The 2 cylinder Accucraft was impressive when I saw it being tested for a publication 6 months ago, operated manual and unattended over long 1:50 incline/declines, all LGB track & switches. Steam Locomotives | Live Steam Station Should be a few around in the US.

Otherwise an 0-4-0/0-6-0, type, but not the little Accucraft tiddlers like the Ruby. Benefit of that wheel arrangement is all the loco's weight is on the drivers. My Roundhouse Darjeeling Class B and Accucraft Countess have proved very contollable and with decent loads on inclines. However you will need RC control to manage their operation best. There are some RC controllers now aimed at the live steam market that are a small hand held device with simple controls for reverser and regulator - not an adapted aircraft or car controller. Fosworks do a nice one.

The only thing one has really to take care of regarding loco wheels is the turn radii of your curves and switches. Some locos with longer fixed wheelbases need larger turns. Keep an eye on the couplings too that there is enough side and up/down movement to cope with any radius on your line. Accucraft's Shays and Climaxes tend to be set up stock with short single link and pin type but can be adapted to others like knuckle and, whisper it, hook and loop. I use minimum 6ft/LGB R5 switches on my line and 4ft for curves. My K-28 will just manage 4 ft, that's a big loco 2-8-2 with a fixed w/b (unlike Bachmann's K-27's Mikes that have a bit of sideplay on their drivers). Note - Piko R5 is LGB R3 (at least on the Piko curved point I have) Max
 
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Madman said:
Thanks for all your replies. I'm still in the research stage. While viewing some videos of Roundhouse locos. I was trying to get an idea of the wheel flange size. My concern would be tracking. In particular, through turnouts. Are the wheel flanges the same size as LGB wheel flanges ?

Some videos I have seen show these locos running on less than perfect track. They seem to negotiate it okay. Any thoughts ?
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Live steam locos tend to be heavier than LGB etc, so the weight hods them on the track better (I think) but yes a lot of the tracks I use with my steamers isn't known for being to mainline standards!
 
Paul M said:
Live steam locos tend to be heavier than LGB etc, so the weight holds them on the track better (I think) but yes a lot of the tracks I use with my steamers isn't known for being to mainline standards!
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However on a bend the weight adds to the inertia and tends to overbalance, or even throw them off, so it is critical (as I have found to my own cost) to ease off on bends, slower than you would take an LGB loco round, and even more so as the flanges are no quite as deep.
 
It is a sad fact that many live steam drivers tend to drive too fast, a cursory look at live steam running on You Tube Vids will show this to be generally so. I have also been guilty of this in the past but slow running as a bit of a gained skill with time and to be honest reflects the real thing. My chose Harz Selktalbahn has or had a 20kph max speed limit some years back and that is not much faster than a pushbike can go unless an olympian is riding it. My own 3 Roundhouse locomotives are fitted with SSP SloMo devices which considerably tame their tendency to want to run away. Keeping the pressure down to under blow off of 40psi helps as well. Just look at any of the Narrow Gauge prototype lines in UK and the speed is quite slow, replicating that on our lines can give greater satisfaction plus less likelihood of derailments to expensive precious live steam dragons.
 
JimmyB said:
However on a bend the weight adds to the inertia and tends to overbalance, or even throw them off, so it is critical (as I have found to my own cost) to ease off on bends, slower than you would take an LGB loco round, and even more so as the flanges are no quite as deep.
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Yes, you can't go too mad on corners, obviously, and anyone who saw, or heard the expensive bang when someone's live steamer decided to see if it could fly, will agree. But on undulating and not very flat track, they seem to hold up well.
 
Thus far we appear to have been concentrating on the down sides or recommending our personal choices. What must be said is how enjoyable it is to own and run live steam. The preparation, anticipation of a full head of steam followed by a perfect well controlled run with a lengthy train behind cannot be equaled.
 
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