Riverdale Coal Boiler Kit

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siclick33

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Long shot, but does anyone have, or know of, a Riverdale Coil Boiler kit for sale? Any model will do but the Elke and Irene may be the most common.

Preferably NIB but will consider others; with or without Roundhouse parts.

I did try to buy a new one but Riverdale won’t sell me one, even though I offered to pick it up from their workshop, because I don’t live in the EU :(
 
Paul M said:
I know you're across the other side, but try the 16mm Association, 16mm.org.uk,
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Dealing with the EEC is difficult now. I had similar problem, bought my boiler from Castle Steam, took a little while to be delivered, longer than they said, but other than the delay, they seem very friendly to deal with, and when it did arrive it looks good. Just need to finish the plumbing to all the fittings and I can give it a try soon. They are in South of England but may send to the other side of the pond, or maybe you could collect if you come to UK sometime. Roundhouse's customer service and speed of delivery was outstanding, which meant I had the kit from them for a long time before the boiler, when then should have arrived at about the same time, which did feel quite frustrating. We are under way now though. I hope you find a suitable boiler soon. Oh and if things in America are like they are in UK, stock up on coal, the last Welsh Steam Coal mine here stopped producing about a month ago, due to a major equipment failure, which they say would cost more to replace than the cost would justify. Full sized heritage railways in Britain are trying various alternatives, so hopefully they may prove satisfactory for our models as well.
 
Thanks. I’m actually from both sides of the pond so have addresses in the US and the UK.

I’m pretty disappointed with Riverdale. I can understand them not wanting to ship outside the EU but they wouldn’t even let me buy one and pick it up at their workshop. If they don’t want to sell any more (which is the feeling that I am getting) they should update their website to say they are no longer selling, in my opinion.

Anyway, enough criticism, I have joined the 16mm association to see if that will help (if nothing else, I’m interested to see their beginners guide that they send out on joining).

If anyone sees a Riverdale Boiler kit for sale (in the US, UK or EU!) then I’m still looking. Thanks for the replies.
 
joining The 16mm Association is well worth the small expense, the 1/4 mag is brilliant. OK its a slightly different scale, but it's still trains!
 
siclick33 said:
I’m pretty disappointed with Riverdale.
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The UK Government put out a scare directive a few years ago telling small manufacturers not to do business in the USA under any conditions, as the Yanks were too litigious. Many similar companies refuse to ship anything to the US, especially a hot steam boiler.

Your mistake was telling them you had a US address. ;)>:)
 
I didn't tell them I had a US address. I initially asked for it to be shipped to the UK, then when they refused, I offered to give them a EU address (half of the people I work with are from The Netherlands or Germany) and then I offered to collect the boiler. It was clear from the outset that he didn't want to sell me anything and he didn't entertain any of my suggestions. :mad:

I now have access to the 16mm association website but, unless I'm missing something, that is of no help. There is no forum, no classifieds and no way of me asking the members for help. There is a back catalogue of their (quite nice) publications, including an article from Nov last year regarding a Riverdale coal boiler conversion, which is just rubbing salt in the wound. That appears to be another dead end :cry:
 
siclick33 said:
I didn't tell them I had a US address. I initially asked for it to be shipped to the UK, then when they refused, I offered to give them a EU address (half of the people I work with are from The Netherlands or Germany) and then I offered to collect the boiler. It was clear from the outset that he didn't want to sell me anything and he didn't entertain any of my suggestions. :mad:

I now have access to the 16mm association website but, unless I'm missing something, that is of no help. There is no forum, no classifieds and no way of me asking the members for help. There is a back catalogue of their (quite nice) publications, including an article from Nov last year regarding a Riverdale coal boiler conversion, which is just rubbing salt in the wound. That appears to be another dead end :cry:
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Sorry to hear about that. There should be several forums available. If you go to their Web page, and click on the lines in the top right hand corner, the drop down box will have "Resources " listed, click on the egroup box there's a dedicated live steam building part. If you click on the blank gap, you should get a very useful list of suppliers
 
Paul M said:
Sorry to hear about that. There should be several forums available. If you go to their Web page, and click on the lines in the top right hand corner, the drop down box will have "Resources " listed, click on the egroup box there's a dedicated live steam building part. If you click on the blank gap, you should get a very useful list of suppliers
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Do the 16mm have a forum, I thought it was Facebook which I pretty well hate. But happy to be proved wrong as always.
 
dunnyrail said:
Do the 16mm have a forum, I thought it was Facebook which I pretty well hate. But happy to be proved wrong as always.
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There is the Garden Railway Forum. Not solely 16mm but pretty much exclusively live steam and battery power (to the point that they barely acknowledge that track power even exists).
 
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Rhos Helyg Loco Works said:
There are many very active pages and groups on FB.

Where do you think everybody is then? If not FB, I have no idea.
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No idea either, where everybody is, or anybody is, I just know that I, along with a lot of other people not NOT like FB, some refuse to use it, others, like myself keep use to an absolute minimum. And this in not just about model railways, lots of other subjects as well.
 
Rhos Helyg Loco Works said:
This is what Joep told me last October: "Because of retirement I produce limited numbers for the EU only (mainly Germany and the Netherlands)." so you would be lucky to get a new one anyway.

Other suppliers of coal-fired loco bits are available.
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That is what is even more frustrating. He is still selling them; he just won't sell one to me!

If he is only selling limited numbers then he could say 'I only make 5 a year and I have a 3 year waiting list' and then I could decide whether to wait or not. He has simply applied some arbitrary restriction on only selling to people who live in certain countries. Again, I understand if he doesn't want to ship outside the EU but I have offered to provide him with an EU shipping address and/or to go to his workshop, but simply due to the fact that I live outside the EU (which is only since Brexit) then he's not interested.

I wonder if it's time for someone else to take over production of his designs if he doesn't want to make them any more. It's his train set (pun intended) so can do what he likes, but it doesn't mean that I'm not annoyed with the situation.


You mention 'other suppliers of coal-fired loco bits'. If you know of anyone with a similar reputation to Riverdale (i.e. multiple online reviews of working products), for coal-fired kits that can be used with the Roundhouse line of kits, then I'm all ears. The only other one that I've found is DJB Engineering, but their design is more complicated and they don't list boilers that fit the standard Roundhouse kits.
 
There you go, 16 mm NGM Facebook page. Private group, you have to join to apply to veiw and post. 16mmngm Association Group | Facebook
The garden railway trading group on FB is a good place to post sales and wants. As is the 16 mm NGM's own quarterly bulletin, mailed with its magazine. With regards to Riverdale's apparently restrictive trading terms - As an EU based business there are now some complications with member nations now trading with the UK, regarding VAT and import taxes, which has left this European grouping. Some traders have got their heads around it, some have not.

I think possibly that a difference in rules and regulations, for manufacture and operation, cover these types of steam boilers, vis US and EU. This might account for their unwillingness to knowingly or otherwise to supply to a US national - the risk of ending up in legal hot water is too great. I suspect the vendor might be able to see the number you are calling from and deduce that you might not be being honest with him as to your location, on initial approach. Or I might have misunderstood you. Either way not a good way to start a business relationship.

Strange thing is, there is no mention of these trading restrictions when I look at Riverdale's website. Max

Edit - just noticed you have posted while I was composing this.
 
I am not a US national, and in my correspondence, I have never mentioned that I split my time living in the US and the UK. I simply requested shipping to the UK (forgetting that it was no longer in the EU!). There are no complications with VAT and taxes if I pick the boiler up from his workshop!

To be fair, his website does say 'we only accept orders from customers living in the EU'. However, I was hoping that he would be more accommodating of UK-based customers, particularly considering that his kits rely on the Roundhouse chassis and body parts, which come from the UK!!

Anyway, this is just getting me more mad and I need to let it go! I'm still looking ;)
 
siclick33 said:
That is what is even more frustrating. He is still selling them; he just won't sell one to me!

If he is only selling limited numbers then he could say 'I only make 5 a year and I have a 3 year waiting list' and then I could decide whether to wait or not. He has simply applied some arbitrary restriction on only selling to people who live in certain countries. Again, I understand if he doesn't want to ship outside the EU but I have offered to provide him with an EU shipping address and/or to go to his workshop, but simply due to the fact that I live outside the EU (which is only since Brexit) then he's not interested.

I wonder if it's time for someone else to take over production of his designs if he doesn't want to make them any more. It's his train set (pun intended) so can do what he likes, but it doesn't mean that I'm not annoyed with the situation.


You mention 'other suppliers of coal-fired loco bits'. If you know of anyone with a similar reputation to Riverdale (i.e. multiple online reviews of working products), for coal-fired kits that can be used with the Roundhouse line of kits, then I'm all ears. The only other one that I've found is DJB Engineering, but their design is more complicated and they don't list boilers that fit the standard Roundhouse kits.
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He wouldn't sell me one either, here in North Wales, hence our exchange of emails. I had a customer enquiry about doing a conversion, which I could not progress due to being unable to get the bits. I'm guessing, but I think the retirement factor is the biggest issue here. Some previous offerings such as the Darjeeling B Class are simply no longer available at all he told me, although still listed. If not that, my impression has been the fear of litigation from outside of the EU should something horrible happen, but again just a guess.

Other than DJB, there is Shawe Steam Services (although John does not do conversions of existing locos, only builds new) but you could do whatever you like. I converted my RH Jack from gas to coal using parts from John. No web site but can be contacted at shawesteamservices@gmail.com, or +44 1438 714383 from overseas or 01438 714383 from the UK. Again, complicated-ish design though compared with Riverdale, with on-board water, axle pump, hand pump, etc., but again you could build something simpler, Go to my page Rhos Helyg Locomotive Works and scroll down a bit to see some of the locos I have assembled, painted and tested for SSS.

Simon Whenmouth at Anything Narrow Gauge recently had a Riverdale Elke kit for sale. It was bought by a chap from the USA so may be the only one over there!
 
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