The Night Mail

[Happy Hippo]

11 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

Oh yes, they were meths fired though - I'll remember his name soon I'm sure.....d'oh.  He also does 009 live steam.....yes.....

Agreed, especially the bit about his name being on the tip of my tongue....

 

Until I remember and to flesh out Neil's comments so far, they were single cylinder meths fired pot boilers, and the locos could only run one way. There was no method for reversing them.

 

The cylinders were about 1/8" bore and were oscillators.

 

Brian Caton!

[Dave Hunt]

Ah,  yes, my forgettery has now got into gear and I can recall that the little locomotives were indeed meths fired. I was captivated by them. It would be nice to see them again. Does anyone know of any photographs that could be posted?

 

Dave

[Stubby47]

7 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

Does anyone know of any photographs that could be posted?

 

Search for 'brian caton live steam' images on google (other browsers used to be available...)

 

 

[Dave Hunt]

Thanks Stubby. They really are fantastic little bits of model engineering. I'd love to see them in action again.

 

Dave

[Happy Hippo]

40 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

Thanks Stubby. They really are fantastic little bits of model engineering. I'd love to see them in action again.

 

Dave

Why don't you make some after you've finished the steam crane?

 

Half a dozen would be fine, you could give them away as Christmas presents to your friends.

 

 

Edit:

 

I just followed Stu's advice and wish to correct my statement about the locos being oscillators:  The pictures I've seen show they were fitted with a piston valve!

Edited June 15, 2021 by Happy Hippo

[Florence Locomotive Works]

Morning all,

 

 

I think this is a video of one of Brian’s engines, if not it’s quite similar. 
 

 

 

Last week when I said that the Midland and GWR were considered equal in Oklahoma, I forgot to mention they were below something, said some being the….

 

 

London & North Eastern Railway, laterally the British Rail Eastern Region.

 

Yes, I am at heart an LNER modeler, as I spent quite a bit of time around Stamford and Peterborough in 2013. And today, after years of stalling, I finally bought a BR livery B12 (the super detailed one). What the layout will look like for it I know not, but I hope to have a plan for the shunting plank by the end of the day.

 

 

Back to those live steamers. They use a very similar design to some crude Bing engine sold roughly between 1908 and 1925, with the tooling eventually sold to Winteringhams. Those were O huge though. 
 

I also managed to find a picture of the IOM layout on this website.

 

 

Douglas

[Happy Hippo]

Douglas, finding the LNER is above all else!

 

Does any one else remember the film 'Dances with Wolves' where John Dunbar charges the enemy line alone?

 

I am reminded of the line by his commanding officer:

 

'Looks like a suicide!'

[Stubby47]

Another example of a traveller's model railway

 

[simontaylor484]

How about this one 

 

[New Haven Neil]

Brian Caton, yes!  Nice chap, chatted with him a few times over the years.  He wanted to move here but finances didn't allow, I don't recall where is is from but he was bemoaning the house prices here, so presumably north of the Watford Gap.

 

Not the smallest live steam in the world though, I have a Model Railways form the 70's with Z Gauge live steam locos in it.

[PhilJ W]

1 hour ago, New Haven Neil said:

Not the smallest live steam in the world though, I have a Model Railways form the 70's with Z Gauge live steam locos in it.

I remember that but the problem with it was it could only run a short distance before running out of water.

[New Haven Neil]

A friend has made two of these - live steam, that's a pound coin.  They run for five minutes or so.

 

[PhilJ W]

In the film Brian Caton said that his locomotives were superheated. That would make their water usage better and increase the range.

[New Haven Neil]

8 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

In the film Brian Caton said that his locomotives were superheated. That would make their water usage better and increase the range.

 

Yes, all our little garden locos are too.  Not hard to arrange.  it amazes me that many larger passenger carrying miniature railways don;t use superheaters, the one I was involved in certainly does.  Makes a hell of a difference.

[simontaylor484]

There was a young lad in Engineering in miniature (last 2 issues i think) he had built a working stationary engine  not much taller than a standard minifigure.

[simontaylor484]

I fancied getting into Z scale but in the end went for N for the trains in the landscape 

[Happy Hippo]

One of the main reasons for 'superheating' (more realistically steam drying in such small locos) is to get rid of as much condensate as possible.  When you have very small pipes there is only a certain size you can go down to before water will not flow down them freely.  So the more heat you can generate which stops the steam condensing back to water the better.

 

He who shall no longer be named, (after professing LNER adoration,) would find his B/L Mogul would run better if it had a loop or two of steam pipe running through the fire before going to the cylinders

[New Haven Neil]

My pal that made the tiny traction engine once did some experiments to measure steam temperature on a garden railway locomotive, IIRC it was superheated in the true meaning of the word, I must ask him if he still has the results.  (looks for old copy of my 'steam tables'.....).

[polybear]

6 hours ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

Last week when I said that the Midland and GWR were considered equal in Oklahoma, I forgot to mention they were below something, said some being the….

 

London & North Eastern Railway, laterally the British Rail Eastern Region.

 

Yes, I am at heart an LNER modeler, as I spent quite a bit of time around Stamford and Peterborough in 2013. And today, after years of stalling, I finally bought a BR livery B12 (the super detailed one). What the layout will look like for it I know not, but I hope to have a plan for the shunting plank by the end of the day.

 

 

 

Wise beyond your years, young Douglas - well recovered 

[Florence Locomotive Works]

55 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

He who shall no longer be named, (after professing LNER adoration,)

 

I do profess to own a pannier though.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alright it may be in several hundred pieces…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Douglas

 

 

 

Edited June 15, 2021 by Florence Locomotive Works

[Florence Locomotive Works]

41 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Wise beyond your years, young Douglas - well recovered 

Thank you PB, here’s a link to my BR eastern region topic if you want a read.

 

 

Douglas

[Dave Hunt]

Douglas,

 

I'll be in Oakham a week on Friday and will be doing some travelling along Rutland Water to Stamford so I'll keep a lookout for any Eastern Region branches I may have missed previously. The Midland evidence is much easier to find

 

Dave 

[Barry O]

25 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

Douglas,

 

I'll be in Oakham a week on Friday and will be doing some travelling along Rutland Water to Stamford so I'll keep a lookout for any Eastern Region branches I may have missed previously. The Midland evidence is much easier to find

 

Dave 

Be careful Dave. My sister (ex Air Traffic Control at Wittering) lives in Cottesmore.. she only liked Victors not Phantoms....

 

Baz

[Dave Hunt]

6 minutes ago, Barry O said:

Be careful Dave. My sister (ex Air Traffic Control at Wittering) lives in Cottesmore.. she only liked Victors not Phantoms....

 

Baz

 

If she lives in Cottesmore though, Baz, she'll have been used to Tornados (even though they were GRs) so I could be OK.

 

I guess I ought to confess to Douglas that I'll be visiting Little Bytham as well and you can't get more Eastern Region than that.

 

Dave

[Mike Bellamy]

I have replied to Douglas in his layout topic suggesting that as his proposed line must have been fairly close to Wittering that you could be one of his passengers . . . . . . . .