A bit of a change in the weather, its really quite mild here in West Sussex. So for the first time in a while I got all my locos (a small collection of 4) out and gave them a run.
I had no trouble at all, I guess because the track has been kept clean by the constant use of the outdoor Stainz over the winter. Theres hardly an evening goes by that that little workhorse doesn't do at least an hours worth of looping the line. Unfortunately he doesn't fit with the loose American theme of my railway, so is removed from the scene when the others come out to play. I plan to 'Americanise' it sometime soon so it doesn't need to hide. (When I started this railway several people suggested it would be a good idea to have some sort of theme, and I laughed it off, saying it didn't bother me to mix things up. However, as things progressed I have to admit I have changed my mind. While still not totally hung up about historical and geographical accuracy, the Stainz as it stands just doesn't fit with everything else).
Heres a pic, which shows all the locos.
The Piko mogul was my first loco, bought with a starter set, and surprisingly its easily the most picky in terms of demanding clean flat track. I'd have thought having more contact points it would be more forgiving.
The modified Stainz was an Ebay puchase from a guy who had started a bash but lost interest. I undid some of his work, added some of my own, and while its not an accurate representation of anything, it doesn't look out of place I dont think.
The little 'Casey' Porter was a Christmas ebay present, bought cheap on a sold as seen basis. It had a few detail bits missing, but to my surprise it runs perfectly. With a bit of tidying up it has turned out to be a nice addition.
I enjoyed seeing everything out, and my appetite is now whetted to get started on this years plans to upgrade the layout! I have a few ideas to improve the look of what's already there, a decent station platform and better lighting for instance. And I have bought a basic shuttle controller, with an eye on creating a simple point to point line through the flower beds.
To think when I started 2 years ago I thought I'd be content with a train circling a basic oval!