RMweb Gold vjoneslong Posted April 27, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 27, 2017 Very true. I know my limitations at the moment. I am close to buying a cheap German outline R/C model to provide alternative power for now. Sounds good to me. Probably a good place to start getting your teeth into. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted April 27, 2017 Author Share Posted April 27, 2017 The only issue is the reported performance of the loco on some tight curves. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted May 27, 2017 Author Share Posted May 27, 2017 We have now reached the school half term holiday and there has been good weather too. Whilst my wife entertained a friend from church, I set to work on the railway. A start has been made on tackling the unwanted growth. The meerkat wood section has been weeded as has parts of the southern straight. Some further ballast has been added to sections that were looking bare. Some of the bushes will need trimming back to allow trains to pass and that will be a job for later in the week. Hopefully I can manage some track extension too. On the motive power front, the sale of some unwanted items has raised money for the purchase of the R/C German outline loco from EBay (see an earlier post). It is due to arrive during the week so hopefully I will be able to post some pictures soon. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted May 30, 2017 Author Share Posted May 30, 2017 Today has seen the second locomotive arrive at the Keepers a Grange Light Railway. The RC German outline locomotive has arrived and can be seen here photographed on my indoor 00 layout board. The locomotive was briefly tested and ran the length of the line so far running from the western railhead up the gradient past the windmill, through Meerkat wood and through the dinosaur park before ending near Amber house. It ran well, but the battery expired very quickly. It is now on charge and I hope to get it running again tomorrow. More pictures may follow then. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold vjoneslong Posted May 31, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 31, 2017 Today has seen the second locomotive arrive at the Keepers a Grange Light Railway. The RC German outline locomotive has arrived and can be seen here photographed on my indoor 00 layout board. I think it might be a bit big for the OO. Good stuff Andy, looking forward to seeing it run. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted May 31, 2017 Author Share Posted May 31, 2017 I got out late last night to test the loco. No pictures because the light was not good enough. Have to say I am quite pleased with the purchase. It is a fairly detailed depiction of a German loco with plenty of moulded pipe work. The cab has opening doors and the backplate is detailed in moulded black plastics. The printing of numbers and warning notices are clear and legible. One of the plastic steps had become detached during transit and will need to be glued back into place at some point. This should be a simple fix. The boiler features an opening smoke box door which hides the battery connections. Opening is easy, with two small clips rotated to release the door. Once open the battery is connected via a simple two pin plug connector and then slides inside the boiler. A dummy tool box acts as the sliding on and off switch and once slid into the on position, the loco is ready for work. The control is from a large control pad. It features two operating levers that both do the same job. The operator can select to use one of the levers or both via push button switches. There is a button, marked music, that turns the inbuilt sounds on and off. I have not tried these yet because test running took place during twilight. The control pad does seem quite lightweight as does the extendable aerial. It is also turned on and off by a simple switch. Once switched on it is simple to operate. Push a lever upwards for forward, and down for reverse - the further the push, the higher the speed. To stop the locomotive the lever needs to be returned to the central position. There is no catch built in to stop the lever centrally so this will take some practice. In operation the locomotive ran well enough although it did stall a couple of times when some distance from the control. This was rectified by pointing the aerial towards it! It does seem to have quite a turn of speed and it handled the gradient on the line well enough when running light engine. How it copes under load remains to be seen. It did seem to ride rough at times, but that could be due to parts of the line needing to be tamped down. The wheels are all plastic, as is the motion parts. All driving wheels are flanged and that can lead to some of the jerky running as it negotiates the tighter curves. Running at twilight the locomotive lamps could be seen to full effect. The model features a trio of working lamps front and rear. The central top light glows white, whilst the lower pair have a blue glow. Overall, for a price of just under £130, I have a good entry level RC locomotive which should earn its keep at Keepers Grange when I do not want to clean the track to run the track powered locomotive. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narrow Minded Posted May 31, 2017 Share Posted May 31, 2017 Congratulations on the new addition to the KGLR roster Andy I've seen these loco's regularly advertised on that well-known online auction site, but never read a detailed review of them. Your write-up is gratefully received, and I look forward to seeing how it performs when you give it a "load test" and a run with the sound on Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted May 31, 2017 Author Share Posted May 31, 2017 Congratulations on the new addition to the KGLR roster Andy I've seen these loco's regularly advertised on that well-known online auction site, but never read a detailed review of them. Your write-up is gratefully received, and I look forward to seeing how it performs when you give it a "load test" and a run with the sound on I hope to post some pictures and videos of the loco in action very soon. I did purchase it from the auction site you refer to. Now I wonder where I could purchase some KGLR logos to customise this loco, and the LGB "Otto". Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owd Bob Posted June 1, 2017 Share Posted June 1, 2017 Looks like an ideal loco for bashing about and re-bodying for that price. Andy thanks for sharing And all those left other detailing parts off the body can easily be re-used elsewhere. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narrow Minded Posted June 1, 2017 Share Posted June 1, 2017 Looks like an ideal loco for bashing about and re-bodying for that price. Andy thanks for sharing And all those left other detailing parts off the body can easily be re-used elsewhere. You've read my mind Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted June 1, 2017 Author Share Posted June 1, 2017 I am sure an experienced modeller could alter this loco with a different body. I am going to stick with it for now. Today could see further purchases arrive. I have managed to win a tipper wagon and a left hand point from a certain auction site. The next phase of the development is to extend the track along the Southern boundary, behind Amber house to the garden shed. At this point I am not sure whether the line will curve across the front of the shed or run all the way around the back. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold vjoneslong Posted June 1, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 1, 2017 I am sure an experienced modeller could alter this loco with a different body. I am going to stick with it for now. Today could see further purchases arrive. I have managed to win a tipper wagon and a left hand point from a certain auction site. The next phase of the development is to extend the track along the Southern boundary, behind Amber house to the garden shed. At this point I am not sure whether the line will curve across the front of the shed or run all the way around the back. The loco sure does look like a blank template. Any chance of a photo of the underside when you have a moment? Would be curious to see if it is re-gaugeable if possible... If you can I would go round the back as it would make a nice scenic break. However, try and maintain access to allow maintenance and recovery. Trains always derail in the most inaccessible of places. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted June 1, 2017 Author Share Posted June 1, 2017 The loco sure does look like a blank template. Any chance of a photo of the underside when you have a moment? Would be curious to see if it is re-gaugeable if possible... If you can I would go round the back as it would make a nice scenic break. However, try and maintain access to allow maintenance and recovery. Trains always derail in the most inaccessible of places. I will try and take a photo of the underside of the loco later. The back of shed is accessible so that is the likely option. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted June 3, 2017 Author Share Posted June 3, 2017 (edited) Another update from the Keepers Grange Light Railway. On Thursday the new locomotive had a brief loaded test run with a single flat wagon. Again this was undertaken at twilight so no pictures still I am afraid. The loco ran well, with the only issues being the derailing of the lightweight wagon when being propelled in reverse. The loco remains jerky on the corners and struggles when it meets the overgrown track sections. Other than that I am very happy with it. Here is the promised picture of the underneath of the loco. Today I have been out in the garden and many of the overgrown sections have been weeded to allow the run to be clearer. Here is the view of the cleared track up the gradient through Meerkat Wood. At the bottom of the gradient some new planting has taken place. My wife and I both have a soft spot for lavender plants so there are a few here. Suddenly this may become Lavender bend / lavender curve. Finally some more of the flower bed has been dug out to allow for the extension of the track along the southern straight. The final picture shows the current railhead with the track bed now cleared behind Amber House (the yellow play house on the left) and onwards towards the garden shed. You may notice the black weed proof sheeting has already been laid around the shed and the track is likely to continue along this and around the back of the shed (once the broken washing line has been removed). At present I have enough straight track sections to reach the edge of the black sheet but after that my supply is exhausted. I will need to get searching for some more. Finally; the post office tried to deliver the new items whilst I was out so the new wagon and point will have to be redelivered next Thursday. Edited June 3, 2017 by andyram 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium uax6 Posted June 3, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 3, 2017 Andy, Have you put weed killer down underneath the black sheet? if not you might find the bleeders still get through... Glad to see you are making progress... Andy G Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted June 3, 2017 Author Share Posted June 3, 2017 Andy, Have you put weed killer down underneath the black sheet? if not you might find the bleeders still get through... Glad to see you are making progress... Andy G No weedkiller. I will be covering this whole area with decorative stone and in some areas it is double sheeted! That gives the little blighters a challenge! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold vjoneslong Posted June 6, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 6, 2017 Thanks for the photo on the battery loco Andy. Hmm, tis as I expected, very difficult to re-gauge to 32mm. Ho hum! Maybe something for the future. The extension is looking good. If you are worrying about weeds and its an area which won't be planted, then I would just spray it once a year, should be more than enough to keep them down. Plus, as you are using those concrete blocks for track support they won't be able to get up through the sleepers. Keep up the good work! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted June 6, 2017 Author Share Posted June 6, 2017 Having cats mean we are carefully what treatments we put into the garden. When the track reaches the black sheet I am not sure whether I will continue to use the concrete blocks or lay straight onto the decorative stone that will surround the shed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyram Posted June 17, 2017 Author Share Posted June 17, 2017 Just back from the excellent model railway show at the Great Central with a new purchase for the KGLR. The first passenger vehicle for the line has been unpacked and is out on test with the German loco. It is seen here on the climb past the windmill towards meerkat wood. Sadly a few issues have been found with the carriage. It does not seem to want to couple to the loco properly from the non-hooked end. The coupling seems to be set a little too far back. This results in the loco's trailing bogie derailing on tight turns. This is solved by turning the coach round and coupling it hooked end to hooked end with the loco. However it does not like to be propelled in reverse and will derail on the bends again. In time this won't be a problem once the full circuit is complete. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now