To Live Steam or Not to Live Steam

[Paul M]

Well yes the original Mamods do, but in later years there was at least one possibly more geared ones that would be tamable.

Mmmm, I've a geared Brunel, it is very sedate, but it's not a very good runner. Although I like it, and enjoy running it, it does need to cool right down between runs.

 

[K B Lager]

Well Madman you are to be congratulated on raising this topic: to live steam or not. To gain a feeling for playing with live steam search for on line videos of the Great Southern Steam Up (on this weekend 8-9 November at a hall in Emerald, Victoria - the terminus of the NG Puffing Billy heritage railway.
For garden railroaders ease of use is important. First years ago it was clockwork (wind up) powered large scale models in O gauge, then along came LGB low voltage electric resilient plastic models in 1.22 scale on 45mm brass track! at a reasonable cost many people could afford, and now these models can be battery powered, too. Most importantly for enjoyment of ‘live steam’ is the provision of a ‘steaming bay”, fire proof and at about waist height.
Now every thing happens in Victoria this week: today there is the Melbourne Cup, the horse race that stops the Australian nation for a few minutes. The TV room has to be prepared, tasty nibbles and sparkling wine laid on, so as to enjoy the spectacle of rain soaked Flemington race goers attending the event. I will have the best race track view and informative commentary at a dry leisure venue!

 

[David Price]

And for large radius curves - and some very tasty (expensive) live steamers running at prototypical speeds search for Big Sky Rail Steamup April 2024 on Youtube.

KB might be watching the Melbourne Cup today but I'll be in the shed prepping my locos for the GSSU.

 

[K B Lager]

And for large radius curves - and some very tasty (expensive) live steamers running at prototypical speeds search for Big Sky Rail Steamup April 2024 on Youtube.

KB might be watching the Melbourne Cup today but I'll be in the shed prepping my locos for the GSSU.

Do not laugh. I forgot about the Victorian daylight saving time shift and missed the broadcast of the 165th Cup! Anyway a 100,000 people went to a wet Flemington and watched a lady jockey,
Jamie Melham, win riding a South Australian owned and trained horse “Half Yours”. !0 years ago her friend Michelle Payne was the first lady jockey it ride a winner in the Cup. Melham has created her own history in being the first lady jockey to ride the winning horses in the Caulfield Cup (run last Saturday) and todays Melbourne Cup Doub!e. By the way
Maybe another winner will be the ANZ Bank. The Victoria Racing Club is indebted to the tune of 65 million Aussie dollars to the Bank to keep going. They should have earned a profit on today’s race meeting. By the way the Club purchased a new bell to ring when the horses enter the finishing straight to warn people on the track to clear off cf as at Royal Ascot in the UK.
Club members when entering the Members’ Stand passed under a giant red banner inviting them to call into Maccas on the way home for a bite to eat ( the Ronnie McDonald firm was a major sponsor of thre race).
An amusing twist to Melbourne Cup Race Day is the Sydney based Australian Federal Reserve Bank announces its decision on the Australian Bank Cash rate about half an hour before the running of the Cup. Sure enough the Sydneysiders did their spoiler keeping the rate at 3.6 percent ensuring no reduction in the Australian trading banks’ home mortgage lending interest charge. All told I missed an amazing live TV broadcast.
David do enjoy the Great Southern SteamUp in the hall at Emerald, and give my regards to Fletch and thank him for the pleasure his books and Baldwin loco draft drawings and other important input into the Argyle/Accucraft live steam loco models I have been following his work since the early days

 

[K B Lager]

Do not laugh. I forgot about the Victorian daylight saving time shift and missed the broadcast of the 165th Cup! Anyway a 100,000 people went to a wet Flemington and watched a lady jockey,
Jamie Melham, win riding a South Australian owned and trained horse “Half Yours”. !0 years ago her friend Michelle Payne was the first lady jockey it ride a winner in the Cup. Melham has created her own history in being the first lady jockey to ride the winning horses in the Caulfield Cup (run last Saturday) and todays Melbourne Cup Doub!e. By the way
Maybe another winner will be the ANZ Bank. The Victoria Racing Club is indebted to the tune of 65 million Aussie dollars to the Bank to keep going. They should have earned a profit on today’s race meeting which will help pay down the debt. By the way the Club purchased a new bell to ring when the horses enter the finishing straight to warn people on the track to clear off cf as at Royal Ascot in the UK.
Club members when entering the Members’ Stand passed under a giant red banner inviting them to call into Maccas on the way home for a bite to eat ( the Ronnie McDonald firm was a major sponsor of thre race).
An amusing twist to Melbourne Cup Race Day is the Sydney based Australian Federal Reserve Bank announces its decision on the Australian Bank Cash rate about half an hour before the running of the Cup. Sure enough the Sydneysiders did their spoiler keeping the rate at 3.6 percent ensuring no reduction in the Australian trading banks’ home mortgage lending interest charge. All told I missed an amazing live TV broadcast.
David do enjoy the Great Southern SteamUp in the hall at Emerald, and give my regards to Fletch (if in attendance) and thank him on my behalf for the pleasure his books and Baldwin loco draft drawings and other important input into the Argyle/Accucraft live steam loco models. I have been following his work since the early days of his pioneering work of improving the modelling accuracy of the commercially produced D&RGW C-16 many years ago on “My Large Scale” etc.